What is Islam - eBook
Fear of the Hereafter
Marroozi (rahimahullah) mentions:
When Abu ‘Abdillah (Imaam Ahmed bin Hambal (rahimahullah)) would remember death, he would cry so excessively that he would be choked by tears. Imaam Ahmed (rahimahullah) would say, “At times, fear of the Hereafter prevents me from eating and drinking. When I think of death, every affair and difficulty of this world becomes easy for me to endure. The life of this world is nothing more than passing phases, wherein a person consumes one meal after the next and wears one set of clothing after the next. The life of this world only remains for a few days. I do not regard anything as virtuous (in assisting one to the Hereafter) as possessing less of the world. If I was able to, I would have not associated with people so that nobody would speak about me.”
(Siyar A’laam min Nubalaa vol. 9 pg. 459)