Fear of death causes tremors and chills. How can I get rid of it?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Death is actually a door that ends the worldly test and opens toward the afterlife. In other words, in a sense, it is the end of worldly suffering, the lifting of the burden, and the journey toward eternal rest.

From this viewpoint, death is not something to be afraid of, but something to be pleased with.

However, death is also the separation of a person from his beloved ones throughout his worldly life. It is loneliness.

In this respect, death causes sadness and pain due to being apart for a while.

It is also a bit scary for a person who does not know what he will face after death and how to account for what he did.

Therefore, it is normal to be afraid of death and to organize one’s life accordingly.

However, as far as we understand, your fear of death is a bit too much. It might stem from your traumatic experiences, sudden deaths, witnessing the death of an acquaintance, divorce of parents, a sibling or relative going to another place, or watching scary movies about death or reading scary books about death and its aftermath, or the loneliness you are in, similar emotional problems, not feeling safe, having intense anxiety about the future, or depictions of belief about death and afterlife, or severe health problems that were experienced.

As it can be seen, the reason for the fear of death, which is severe, varies from person to person. We do not know what the cause of this fear is in you. However, we think that the age range you live in has a big impact.

We hope you will get rid of this fear in future. In this context, our advice to you will be as follows:

- The most important thing to do to overcome the fear of death is to accept the reality of death.

- More importantly, to think about what death really is because people are afraid of things they do not know and of uncertainties. If we perceive death as annihilation and eternal separation, of course we will be afraid. However, if we understand death as Badiuzzaman Said Nursi describes in his work called Mektubat, we hope we will not be afraid.

Death is a demobilization, a place of abode that Allah has created in an orderly manner. It is to go to Paradise, which is a place of pleasure and rest, from the grueling, suffocating and troubled life of this world. Death is a delivery to Paradise, which is the home of eternal bliss and the real home of man.

Death is a change of place. That is, when a person migrates from one city to another, his existence is no longer mentioned in the first city, but he continues to exist in the second city. Similarly, death is a departure from this world, but not annihilation. With the separation of the spirit from the body, a person ceases to be related to all things in the world. No longer does the sun guide him, nor does the earth carry him on his back, nor does the air clean his lungs. However, the spirit, which does not need any of them, continues its life in a new realm called the “realm of the grave” after passing away from this realm.

The realm of the grave is also called “the realm of barzakh”. In other words, this new realm is a bridge realm between this world and the afterlife. Our Prophet (pbuh) gives the good news that this realm is “a garden among the gardens of Paradise for believers.” (Ahmad b. Hanbal, Jannah, 2-5).

The realm of the grave is more beautiful and more luminous than the world. All luminous beings, especially one hundred and twenty-four thousand prophets, are in that realm.

- Try not to be alone. Stay in touch with someone from your family in particular or close friends, visit your relatives, and do joint activities with your beloved ones.

- Have positive dreams about the grave lives of your deceased relatives. Imagine that they are happy and resting there.

- Engage in hobbies in line with your interest, especially on the days you are in.

- Work with voluntary organizations.

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