Kalimat Shahada on death bed

Assalamu alaikum.

There is the general belief that the one who uttered Kalimat Shahada as his last statement at the point of death will enter paradise. However, I do not understand how this could be possible for the one who committed any of the major sins mentioned in chapter 4 and died unpunished or the one who devoured illegally the property of a brother Muslim. Could one utter it hypocritically at the point of death?
Friendship.

As Salamu Alaikum

You must be referring to sunnah of reciting shahadah on death-bed. Due to the progeny od death he may not be in a position to recite shahadah, so its the people around them recite it louder so that the one who's facing death, recites it easily.

We get to read from the books of Islamic history the following instances, which teach us about shahdah while facing death.

one of the prophet's companions  sought his advice about a gravely ill young man {am forgetting his name} whom they visited at his death bed, and tried in vain to make him utter shahada (No diety but God and Muhammad is the messenger of God), that Muslims are very keen to say prior to death.

The prophet asked them to summon the boy's mother. It turned out that the boy was always rude to her and did not treat her kindly. The prophet asked her: Would you be content if these people made a large fire and threw you son in it? The woman immediately said no.  The prophet told her: Then if you want to save him from fire you must forgive him. The woman declared that she forgave her son, who then became able to utter shahada.

The following is an extract from "Muslim Creed", a magazine of salafs

Signs of the evil end may show while a dying person is at his death bed, such as being unable to utter the Shahadah or rejecting to utter it, or talking about sins and wanting to commit them again. There have been numerous examples that depict the evil end, and they have been narrated by the scholars of Islam throughout the ages. Following are some of them:

Imam Ibn Al-Qayyem mentioned in his book, Al-Jawab Al- Kafi, that a person was told to say the Shahadah while he was dying, and he
said, �And what benefit will it bring me while I do not remember praying not even one prayer.� He then died and did not utter it. He also narrated another story, �A merchant had told me about a relative of his who was also a merchant and who was on his death bed. The people kept trying to make him say the Shahadah, and all he could say instead was, �This garment is cheap. This item is good.� He then died while saying this, and never uttered the Shahadah.�

Furthermore, he mentioned a person who was known for loving music and singing and continuously performing them. On his death bed, he would not utter the Shahadah, but he would only hum and sing until he was dead.

Also, Al-Hafith Ath- Thahabi narrated that while a man who was an alcoholic was on his death bed, another person was trying to make him say the Shahadah. Instead, all he could say was, �Drink and pour me some.�

Answering to your question, Allah swt knows the best, that person must have seeked forgiveness earlier. We cannot judge him. You remember a story of a murderer who murdered 99 persons and then he intended to become good, and moved that path to meet a religious person. But death met him on the way. Finally, he was destined to paradise. What i intend to say is, we cannot know what the other person is. As said, he must have seeked forgiveness from Allah swt.



Edited by seekshidayath - 04 August 2009 at 7:11pm

Friendship wrote:   Assalamu alaikum. There is the general belief that the one who uttered Kalimat Shahada as his last statement at the point of death will enter paradise.

Let's take a Quranic example - Firawn made shahada as he was drowning and Allah didn't forgive him. I think this proves that we need to understand that there are conditions placed on this statement, like really believing it and atoning for sin beforehand.