A good ending (husn al-khatima)

The Sheikh tells of a famous female singer who lay dying for months, asked for a drum to be brought and beaten to her rhythm, and whose soul departed to the beat of the drum (needs_source) ². He mentions that Abu Hamid al-Ghazali devoted a chapter to good endings and bad endings ^{2 3}. He recounts a man who worked in auctions and who, while dying, kept repeating the calls of the auction, asking who would bid higher, each time he was told to say the declaration of oneness (needs_source) ³.

He recounts a man addicted to playing chess who, while dying, spoke the words of the game each time his sons prompted him to say the testimony of faith, and who died in that state (needs_source) ⁴. The Sheikh says that people die on what they lived by and are raised on what they died on, and he prays that God grant us a good ending ¹. He then returns to the surah of al-Nazi'at, saying that the "Nazi'at" (Qur'an 79:1) relate to the criminal disbelievers, and that the "Nashitat" (Qur'an 79:2) are angels who draw out the believer's soul to meet its Lord ¹.

The Sheikh relates a conversation with a man who said he loves God; asked what keeps him from meeting Him, the man answered that it was the departure of the soul, and the Sheikh reminded him of the hadith that whoever loves to meet God, God loves to meet him, and whoever dislikes meeting God, God dislikes meeting him ⁵.