And a good conclusion to one’s life—may Allah grant it to me and to you—is the most cherished thing a person can attain, for it marks the moment of leaving this world for the hereafter. At that hour Satan is more determined to snatch the children of Adam than at any other time, because it is the decisive moment that will place a person either among the people of Hellfire or among the people of Paradise.

In the ḥadīth reported by Ibn Masʿūd, the Prophet ﷺ said: “One of you may perform the deeds of the people of Paradise until there remains between him and it only an arm’s length, yet what has been written overtakes him and he performs the deeds of the people of Hell and thus enters it. And one of you may perform the deeds of the people of Hell until there remains between him and it only an arm’s length, yet what has been written overtakes him and he performs the deeds of the people of Paradise and thus enters it.” Deeds, therefore, are judged by their endings.

Charity—in which zakah holds pride of place—repels an evil death. Among its merits is that the Prophet ﷺ informed us that every person will be shaded by his charity on the Day of Resurrection. On that Day the sun will be brought down above people’s heads at the distance of a mile, yet those who were charitable, and foremost among them those who paid their zakah, will be sheltered beneath the shade cast by their own acts of giving.

A righteous man once told me of someone who used to forbid his family from giving any charity from the household, saying, “Do not give in charity.” One day he fell asleep and dreamt that the Hour had begun. Above his head was a canopy shielding him from the sun, but it had three holes. Suddenly three dates appeared and sealed those holes, and he was astonished by what he saw.