Our Death is Written

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

Dr. Colin Turner wrote, “At the time of the wise king prophet, Solomon (a.s.), a barber was out walking in the streets of Jerusalem when he suddenly spotted the Angel of Death, who looked at him with such surprise that the barber screamed with fright and ran away.  Knowing that the Prophet Solomon (a.s.) had special powers, the barber ran, still shaking and screaming, to Solomon’s (a.s.) palace and demanded to see the king. 

‘Oh Solomon,’ he cried, ‘I have just encountered the Angel of Death, who gave me such a terrible look that I thought I would die there and then!  Please do something and save me!  Summon a cloud to take me to India so that I may escape the Angel of Death, I beg you!’ 

And so, Solomon (a.s.) called on the wind and the clouds, and commanded them to pick the barber up, and take him thousands of miles away to India. 

Later that day, Solomon (a.s.) was out walking with his servants when he, too, spotted the Angel of Death.  ‘Tell me,’ said Solomon (a.s.) to the, Angel of Death, ‘Why did you give the poor barber such a frightening look?’ 

The Angel of Death scratched his chin and said, ‘It was not my intention to scare him.  The truth is, I was most surprised.  I was surprised because at the very moment that I saw him here in the streets of Jerusalem, God had just Commanded me to take his life... but in India!  And, of course, I wondered how that could happen, given that he was here in Jerusalem.’ 

The moral of the story is clear.  Our death is Written, and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.”