- English translation
Your death is at the door, you who skip your prayers.
- Literal wording
Death has come for you, you who neglect the prayer.
- Meaning and lesson
Taken at face value, the line addresses someone who has stopped praying, a grave lapse in religious terms, and tells them that death now stands before them. The tone is stark and final, as if the hour they ignored has caught up with them at last.
As a saying, it is turned on anyone whose wrongdoing went unchecked for a while and whose day of reckoning has finally arrived. The image of an unprepared sinner meeting death frames the moment as overdue and deserved; this describes the saying, not an endorsement of judging anyone's religious practice.
- When it is used
Said when someone who long escaped the consequences of misconduct is finally cornered, exposed or called to settle the score. It carries grim satisfaction or mockery; aimed directly at a real person, it can sound like taunting or a curse rather than neutral observation.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: Your death is at the door, you who skip your prayers.