If death is the one certainty every human being shares, then why do we grieve when it comes? We spend a lifetime chasing eternity while knowing nothing lasts forever. Are we misunderstanding reality, or are we simply convincing ourselves to accept it or forcing our minds to accept a world that may be nothing more than an illusion?
The greatest illusion is not this world but believing that this world is all that exists. In our dreams, we seldom question the world laid before us. We walk its paths, heed its voices, and accept its wonders and terrors alike as truth. Only upon awakening do we perceive that all was but a fleeting vision. Thereafter, we return to what we call reality, to a rat race , to hopes fulfilled and hopes forsaken, to a world that bends not to our desires. Yet one cannot help but wonder: what if this life itself is but another dream? And what if death is not the end of our journey, but the moment our eyes are opened to a greater reality, before which all that we now deem certain fades as a dream at dawn?
“The life of this world is only the enjoyment of deception” (Qur’an 3:185).
What we perceive as the ultimate reality may only be a small fragment of a greater truth that our minds cannot yet comprehend. Like a dream that feels completely real until the moment we awaken, maybe this World is not an illusion but a temporary reflection of a greater reality that is yet to be unveiled.
Perhaps also Death is that state, according to that saying of the prince of prophets: “Men are asleep; when they die, they wake.” Our present life in relation to the future is perhaps only a dream, and man, once dead, will see things in direct opposition to those now before his eyes; he will then understand that word of the Quran :” Today we have removed veil from thine eyes and thy sight is keen”.
Therefore one may wonder why is that all we seek only worldly pleasures, that is but true, what a tragedy, the body that will rot is pampered, and the soul that lives forever is neglected. Such is the heedlessness of man that even the one who digs graves lives as though the grave were meant for others.
The world has made man weak. Every person carries something they fear to lose, something they hold close as though it might remain with them forever. Yet what is this “forever” of which we speak? How can a mortal ever offer eternity?
Therein lies our mistake. Friedrich Nietzsche quotes “The most dangerous form of blindness is believing that your perspective is the only reality”.
We forget that the world is far greater than our fears, our ambitions, and our troubles. It does not begin with us, nor shall it end with us. Yet our troubles may vanish with our final breath upon an ordinary and unforeseen day. And perhaps only then shall a man awaken to a reality greater than all he once knew, a truth beyond the limits of his understanding, waiting beyond the veil of this temporary world. Every soul shall taste death. Such is the decree from which neither king nor beggar may flee. The dreams of men, once cherished as though they would endure forever, fade as the morning mist before the rising sun. Wealth returns to dust, names are forgotten, and even the deepest sorrows perish with those who carried them.
The Qur’an speaks of a day when all that lies upon the earth shall pass away, and only the Eternal shall remain. Yet signs of this truth are not confined to revelation alone. The heavens themselves bear witness to impermanence. The stars that illuminate the night are not everlasting; they are born, they burn, and they perish. Even our Sun, which has governed the rhythm of earthly life since time beyond memory, is destined to exhaust its light.
The world that now appears so firm beneath our feet shall one day grow silent and cold. If the mountains crumble, the stars fade, and every soul must depart, then permanence was never the promise of this world. Perhaps this life is but a passing vision, a brief interval between ignorance and understanding, between sleep and awakening. And if all that we call reality is destined to vanish, while another reality awaits beyond the veil of death, then one question remains: When the final curtain is drawn and the dream comes to its end, shall we discover that we were living in reality all along, or merely in its shadow?
(The author is AS-1 student and a young writer with a passion for thoughtful and reflective journalism)
