there are four causes of death without faith (iman). eventhough the person prays and spends his life doing good deeds, he might die without faith due to any one or more of the following reasons:
1. rosak aqidah
2. banyak melakukan maksiat
3. tidak istiqamah
4. iman yang lemah

1. aqidah kita boleh rosak jika kita tak banyak beramal. ia juga akan rosak jika kita melakukan amalan2 yg tak betul ie amalan2 yg syirik (menduakan Allah s.w.t.). kita harus berhati2 dgn ajaran yg pelik2 yg boleh membuat kita sesat (eg. berzikir dgn menyebut nama tok guru). aqidah juga boleh rosak jika kita tak kenal tuhan / percaya Allah berkuasa tapi ada mahluk lain yg berkuasa juga (eg. pergi ke makam utk meminta sesuatu & jika hajat tercapai, akan membuat penyembahan di makam. this shows that the person believes that the makam has the power to grant his wishes instead of believing that Allah is the one who makes his wishes come true.)

2. walaupun kita byk membuat ibadah, kita juga byk membuat maksiat dgn secara sedar mahupun tidak. melakukan maksiat do not only refer to committing major sins like killing, adultery and stealing. nowadays, ppl want fame n public acknowledgement when doing a good deed (eg. donate a few thousand with the presence of the press. why can't he just donate as anonymous or without the presence of the press? amalan yg terbaik adalah amalan yg org tak tau bak kata pepatah 'tangan kanan memberi, tangan kiri tak tahu' coz if u make the donation public, then it seems u r not sincere in donating but merely donates to enhance ur good name). ramai di antara kita juga mahu buat amal jariah tapi amal ini bercampur dgn benda2 maksiat (eg. nak menderma tapi ada joget2, unsur2 hiburan n campur-haduk lelaki perempuan tanpa mengambil kisah mahram atau bukan). syaitan selalu melalaikan kita. sesuatu yang salah kini tak dianggap salah kerana ramai org yg melakukannya (eg. wanita2 yg memakai baju2 yg menampakkan bentuk badan mereka ie blaus jarang n seluar ketat, walaupun bertudung dan tak tinggal solat. bentuk badan itu termasuk dlm aurat wanita n tak seharusnya di nampakkan pd lelaki bukan mahram).
talking bad about others is one of the common ways of committing maksiat. when we hurt other's feelings with our words, we r also committing maksiat (eg. org dtg rumah kita pd hari raya n tanya "tak dtg rumah?". biadab lah kita sekiranya kita menjawab "rumah abg pun blum pergi". it's as if to imply that the person who invited you to his place is a nobody coz you haven't gone to your relative's. org tu dah jemput kita dgn ikhlas, jgn kita mencemuh dia. sebaliknya kita boleh menolak pelawaannya dgn baik: "saya takle janji, kalo ada masa n keizinan Allah, saya akan sampai") Nabi Muhammad (s.a.w.) advised us to "say only good things with our tongue. either that or we remain silent".
however, it does not mean that  if we repent after committing all these sins, we will still die without faith. Allah maha pengasih lagi pengampun. As long as we repent with sincerity, he will forgive us.

(to be continued)

tomorrow is the 10th day of Muharram (the 1st mth in d Islamic calendar aka Asyura). it is encouraged that Muslims fast on this 10th day of Muharram (preceded or followed by another day of fast i.e. to fast on 9th n 10th day or 10th n 11th day. in order to distinguish d Muslims way of fast from that of the Jews who also fast on Asyura, we fast on two days instead of one).

here are some events that happened during the month of Muharram, most of them on 10th of Muharram:
1. taubat nabi adam (a.s.) di terima. nabi adam (a.s.) dan hawa telah diusir dari syurga dan hawa diturunkan di jaddah sementara nabi adam diturunkan di ceylon. mereka bertemu semula di arafah dan taubat mereka diterima.
2. bahtera nabi noh (a.s.) berlabuh setelah enam bulan berada di lautan. kerana terlalu lama di lautan dan bekalan mereka hanya tinggal beberapa jenis kacang/grains, nabi noh (a.s.) perintahkan mereka campurkan semua bahan2 yg ada utk dijadikan bubur. maka terciptalah bubur asyura (asyura=10).
3. nabi ibrahim (a.s.) telah dicampakkan ke dlm api yg menyala (tetapi dgn kuasa allah beliau tidak terbakar dlm api itu) kerana memecahkan semua berhala yg ada di dalam kaabah kecuali satu berhala besar (where he put an axe ard d neck of the berhala. when he was asked by d ppl whether he was d one who broke them, he told them to ask the big berhala since it is the one holding the axe. the ppl then told him tat the berhala cant talk or do anyting so y shd they ask it. to which nabi ibrahim (a.s.) asked them y they still worship it if it cant do anything. they got so angry n built d bonfire to throw him in)
4. nabi yusof (a.s.) was rescued from a dry well that he was left in by his brothers who were jealous of him coz their father (nabi yaakob (a.s.) favoured nabi yusof very much)
5. nabi yaakob (a.s.), who's eyes became blind fr excessive crying after being told that his fave son has been eaten by a hungry wolf, could see again after his son threw a shirt (once worn by nabi yusof (a.s.)) at his face.
6. nabi yunos (a.s.) terlepas dari tiga kegelapan (gelap perut ikan, gelap lautan, gelap malam) apabila beliau dpt keluar dari perut ikan. nabi yunos (a.s.) telah fed up dgn kaumnya dan meninggalkan tmpt itu dgn menaiki sebuah kapal (he left without perintah allah). di tengah lautan ada ribut yg kencang dan kapal hampir karam. so d ppl on board drew lots to see who has to be thrown overboard to lighten the ship's load (they have already thrown overboard some of their supplies). three draws were made n all three contained nabi yunos' name. he knew tat he must have done something wrong so he asked to be thrown n no sooner was he thrown, a fish swallowed him.
7. nabi musa (a.s.) serta bani israel melarikan diri dari firaun dan laut merah dibelah dua utk membenarkan mereka selamat dari ditangkap firaun dan askar2nya.

Muslims do not hold mourning or lamenting ceremonies on Asyura... not even in memory of the martyrdom of Saiyiddina Hussain (ra). as mentioned in the following hadith:
"He is not from our group who slaps his cheeks, tears his clothes and cries in the manner of the people of jahiliyyah." (Sahih Bukhari)