'Why do we hate or dislike death?' as asked by Caliph Sulayman ibn 'Abd al-Malik

[Exerpt from Anwar al-Awlaki, Why do we hate death?]

So one day Caliph Sulayman ibn 'Abd al-Malik (سليمان بن عبد الملك‎) was accompanying a scholar from a Tabi`in, and asked him a question, he said,

‘How come we hate death?’ Why, why do we dislike death?’

So the scholar responded and said,

“O Amir ul mu`mineen (Commander of the Believers or Commander of the Faithful), you have constructed this world, this present world and you have destroyed your akhirah (hereafter). So you would not want to think about leaving from what is constructed to what is destroyed.”

He is saying that, all you have done is prepare for yourself a good life in this world but haven’t done much for akhirah, you built for yourself a palace here but you didn’t build a palace there. You made an easy lifestyle for yourself here but didn`t make sure you would have a similar one in akhirah. That’s why you don`t like death. But for someone who is investing all of their money and their efforts and time in building for themselves a better life in akhirah for these they would love to go from this world to the akhirah.