Short answer
Repent sincerely, pay or record your debts, return what you hold in trust, write an Islamic will, make up missed prayers and fasts, mend broken ties, and keep doing good that continues after you, such as sadaqah jariyah. Remember death often, without despair, and think well of Allah.
Making up missed fard prayers and fasts (qada) is fard. Writing a will becomes wajib when you owe debts, hold trusts or have unpaid duties such as zakat, and a will for fidya for any prayers and fasts still owed is wajib.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- There is no fidya for missed prayers; they must be made up during life.
- Maliki
- There is no fidya for missed prayers; they must be made up during life.
- Hanbali
- There is no fidya for missed prayers; they must be made up during life.
Explanation
Every soul will taste death, and none of us knows where or when. Preparing for it is not morbid. It is one of the most loving things you can do for yourself and for the family you will leave behind.
- With Allah: make sincere tawbah and keep renewing it; make up missed fard prayers and Ramadan fasts as far as you can; perform Hajj if it is due on you; remember death often, as the Prophet ﷺ taught, and let it shape your choices.
- With people: pay your debts, or write them down clearly with the lender's name and amount; return trusts and borrowed things; ask forgiveness from anyone you wronged; mend broken family ties.
- Write an Islamic will that is valid under your local law; see the Islamic will builder and is a will obligatory.
- Record your wish for a Muslim burial, and name a guardian for young children.
- Leave instructions for fidya for any prayers or fasts you could not make up; see the fidya calculator.
Leave good behind you: sadaqah jariyah, knowledge you taught, and children raised to pray. The Prophet ﷺ said: be in this world as a stranger or a traveller passing through.
And hold on to hope. He also said that none of you should die except while thinking well of Allah. Preparing for death is not about fear alone; it is about meeting a Lord who is more merciful than any mother. See what to do when someone is dying.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Aal-i-Imraan 3:185
كُلُّ نَفْسٍۢ ذَآئِقَةُ ٱلْمَوْتِ ۗ وَإِنَّمَا تُوَفَّوْنَ أُجُورَكُمْ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ ۖ فَمَن زُحْزِحَ عَنِ ٱلنَّارِ وَأُدْخِلَ ٱلْجَنَّةَ فَقَدْ فَازَ ۗ وَمَا ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَآ إِلَّا مَتَٰعُ ٱلْغُرُورِ ﴿١٨٥﴾
Every soul will taste death, and you will only be given your [full] compensation on the Day of Resurrection. So he who is drawn away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise has attained [his desire]. And what is the life of this world except the enjoyment of delusion.
Death is certain for everyone.
Quran, Surah Al-Munaafiqoon 63:10
وَأَنفِقُوا۟ مِن مَّا رَزَقْنَٰكُم مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِىَ أَحَدَكُمُ ٱلْمَوْتُ فَيَقُولَ رَبِّ لَوْلَآ أَخَّرْتَنِىٓ إِلَىٰٓ أَجَلٍۢ قَرِيبٍۢ فَأَصَّدَّقَ وَأَكُن مِّنَ ٱلصَّٰلِحِينَ ﴿١٠﴾
And spend [in the way of Allah] from what We have provided you before death approaches one of you and he says, "My Lord, if only You would delay me for a brief term so I would give charity and be among the righteous."
Good deeds should be done before death comes.
Jami' at-Tirmidhi 2307
Grading to be checked... أكثروا ذكر هاذم اللذات يعني الموت ...
"Remember often the destroyer of pleasures, meaning death."
Remembering death is a sunnah that keeps the heart ready.
Sahih al-Bukhari 6416
Sahih... كن في الدنيا كأنك غريب أو عابر سبيل ...
"Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveller."
This is the mindset of one prepared for death.
Sahih al-Bukhari 2738
Sahih... ما حق امرئ مسلم له شيء يوصي فيه يبيت ليلتين إلا ووصيته مكتوبة عنده ...
"It is not right for a Muslim who has something to bequeath to spend two nights without his will written down with him."
Writing a will is part of preparing for death.
Sahih Muslim 2877
Sahih... لا يموتن أحدكم إلا وهو يحسن بالله الظن ...
"Let none of you die except while thinking well of Allah."
Hope in Allah is part of a good death.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Salah, Bab Qada' al-Fawa'it. The will for fidya of missed prayers and fasts.
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Wasaya. When a will is recommended and when it is required.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.