Picture this scenario: You are standing in front of your Lord, Allah (swt) on the Day of Judgement and all your deeds are being exposed. You know that your good deeds are not enough to intercede for you, and you are shaken and mortified by the impending doom of eternal punishment that awaits you. At that moment you regret all the times you disobeyed Allah (swt) in your life and wish for the impossible – you wish for a second chance at life so you can correct your deeds.
What if I told you today is your second chance? Every morning Allah (swt) allows us to wake up to a new day, although He could have kept us sleeping. Everyone knows of a scenario where someone has passed away in their sleep, deprived of another chance to change. In fact, every single moment of our life on this earth is a second chance that Allah (swt) is giving us so we can fix our deeds and change our destiny so that we may enter paradise, if He wills. It is never too late to become a righteous, God-fearing believer – the only time this becomes too late is on the Day of Judgement. In this worldly life (dunya), being a firm believer can be difficult and is even sometimes considered ‘uncool’ and therefore lead to being mocked, but as emphasised in the Qur’an (26:102), every single human being will wish they were a believer and those who had firm faith will be the successful ones:
فَلَوْ أَنَّ لَنَا كَرَّةً فَنَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
If only we could live our lives again, we would be of the believers!
Think of all the things you may regret on your deathbed: disrespecting your parents and those older than you, neglecting prayers, abandoning the Qur’an, not helping those in need, being excessively materialistic, holding grudges and cutting off relationships, being unthankful to Allah (swt) for His blessings, stressing over petty things, wasting time and so on. Try making a personalised list of what you anticipate you may regret once it is too late, and use this precious second chance to improve yourself and avoid this painful scenario.
Allah (swt) says:
لَّقَدْ كُنتَ فِي غَفْلَةٍ مِّنْ هَٰذَا فَكَشَفْنَا عَنكَ غِطَاءَكَ فَبَصَرُكَ الْيَوْمَ حَدِيدٌ
[It will be said to the denier,] “You were totally heedless of this [day]. Now We have lifted this veil of yours, so Today your sight is sharp!”
Qur’an 50:22
While it may be easy to overlook your bad deeds in the dunya, remember that on the Day if Judgement they will stand out to you so clearly that you cannot avoid them, so don’t wait until then.
Let’s make the most of today, as it is the second chance we will wish we could have on that day when it will be too late!
