Take the Key to All Righteous Deeds

Imaam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah stated: 

Whoever is prepared for the  meeting with his Lord, his heart becomes disconnected from this world, its contents and the ardent search for it. The individual would quench in his heart, the fire of desires, submit his heart to his Lord – the most High – and devote his energy to Allah, His love and give preference to seeking His pleasure. Likewise, he has to invent a distinct energy, knowledge and be born again, which would make the connection of his heart to the Hereafter like the relationship of his body to this worldly life after it had been in the belly of his mother.

So his heart has to be born in reality as his body was born in reality. Just as his mother’s womb was a veil to his body from this world, his soul and desires are veils to his heart from the abode of the Hereafter. The exit of his heart from the soul towards the Hereafter is like the exit of his body from his mother’s womb into this worldly life. This is the meaning of a saying attributed to al-Maseeh (Jesus Christ) that he said: “O children of Israel, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven until you are born again.” Since most people have not gone through this spiritual rebirth or imagine it let alone believing in it, the individual may wonder: “How can an elderly man be born again”, or “how does the heart become born again?”

Unfortunately, they were not interested in it neither did they aspire for it. How can  a person resolve to do something he does not know  or believe?

However, if the veil of heedlessness is removed from the heart, he will believe in it and know that his heart had not gained spiritual rebirth. What this means is that: sincere preparation for the meeting with Allah is the key to all righteous deeds and faith-based actions. It is the line of conduct of the travelers to Allah and the stations of those following His path including alertness, repentance, love, hope, awe, entrusting affairs to Him, submission and all other deeds of the heart and limbs.

The key to all of that is sincere readiness and preparation for the meeting with Allah; and the key is in the Hands of the Opener and the All-Knowing. There is no god other than Him and there is no lord but Him.

Source: Keys To Endless Bliss, From the Works of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, Compiled by Umar bin Muhammad al-Uwaydee. translated by Abdus-Samee Abdus-Salaam, edited by Abu Naasir Ibrahim Abdur-Rauf.