Inventory

It is time.

Yep, it is time for me to take stock of my possessions. I need to know truly what ties me to this world. I need to know what I own. And what I owe. And what I need. And what I don't.

I've written my will (depressing...all it had was debts), and I've sort of dealt with my possessions through the will, but its in a very sort of vague way, ("I want my estate to be dealt with as per the Sharia rules of of the Shia school of thought on distribution of property after death" - what a mouthful). This would be adequate, but its the bare minimum, and I feel I have to do better.

There are a few reasons. One leads on from the above...If I don't catalogue properly what I do and do not own, then I burden the executors of my will to do the same. Not good...me already dead, yet oppressing people beyond the grave. A related point would be that if I know what I have, and what I want done, I need not wait until death to do those things..I can do them whilst I still can, and not make the duty of my executors so tough...I seem to remember a related hadith on this point, but can't recall the exact wording.

The other is that a detailed inventory will allow me to know exactly what I have accumulated, and subsequently what I don't really need to accumulate anymore, and maybe stuff I don't even need at all, which I can begin giving away. Also interesting to see would be what I'm most attached to, and whether I can work on cutting the ropes that tie me to this life. (I don't see the point of this part much....as I already know I'm not attached to much, except for my laptop...but this has to be done, as there could always be something I've missed.)

Some sources for my current thoughts:
– "Take what you need, and enough for you is what you reach your destination by" - Im sure that this is the wording of the hadith, though I can't provide a reference.
– the verse that mentions how one of the marks of a believer is that he gives what he truly loves, in charity, for the sake of Allah... (which probably means I'll have to give this laptop away one day....) again, no reference, but I will find it.

So when does this happen? Well...not now, but in the near future. I need a dedicated block of time, where I can solidly work on this, and dedicate perhaps a whole week or so just to this. I want an incredible amount of detail, which should give me the potential for an incredible amount of scrutiny. So the upcoming easter holidays should be ok, or, failing that, the summer. If anything happens to me then, the will I made before should be adequate cover.