Recently when my beloved mother passed away, I went into a state of prayerfulness, deep thinking and contemplation. The experience was a reminder that there is very little time at our disposal and at any moment death can come calling.

Fifty years ago my father said that only that person has truly taken part in a funeral who has actually felt as if it is he who is being buried. This means that he should feel that at any moment his turn can come, as if the counting has reached up to the last but one, and now it is his turn. Therefore, a visit to the graveyard becomes a source of awe and acts as a reminder of death.

However, we are so involved in worldly things that we never stop to think about the day which is fast approaching us. Prophet Muhammad said: "People are asleep, they will wake up only when they die". All of a sudden, death will bring you standing face to face with God, at which time you will be held accountable for all your deeds.

That will be the moment you realise that what you were doing was one thing and that what you should have been doing was something else. Prophet Muhammad once said that on the Day of Judgment, a man's foot will not move unless he has answered four questions: Where he earned his money from, and where he spent it; how he spent his youth and how he used his knowledge.

The Creator has divided human life into two parts:the pre-death and post-death periods. The pre-death period is very short (like the tip of an iceberg) in comparison to the post-death period, which is eternal. The pre-death period is the preparatory phase in which you prepare yourself to become eligible to enter Paradise in the post-death period.

This worldly life is a "test" for everyone, whether poor or rich, powerful or powerless, strong or weak. Man is required to pass in all these tests and trials by leading a need-based life rather than a desire and greed-based life, so that in the life hereafter, God allows him to enter Paradise, to live there forever in close proximity to his Creator.

On the death of a loved one, one should not go into a state of mourning. The gives us great hope in moments of grief and loss: It says that God will reunite all the righteous members of the family in Paradise.

Moreover, if a member of the family has reached a higher level of Paradise, all the righteous members of that family will be "upgraded", so that they may all enjoy eternal bliss and nearness to God. This idea gives great solace and it acts as an incentive and encouragement to do good work, and lead a pious and righteous life.

The Qur'an reminds us of our parents' painstaking care in our upbringing, especially that of our mother: "We enjoined man to show kindness to his parents, for with much pain his mother bears him, and he is not weaned before he is two years of age".