People fear death because they are not prepared for it. By accepting that death is inevitable and being prepared for one will not fear it.
Man wishes to live forever. If he thinks that this world is his only abode or if he has not prepared himself for death in spite of believing in another world then he will fear it and will try to run away from it. But is it possible to escape death?
Running away from death in the words of Imam Ali (as)
Imam Ali in a tradition has been quoted as saying:" O people! Every person will see what he is running from on his escape. The soul is pushed towards Death and running away from it will end up meeting it. How many days I spent trying to unravel its reality but God wants it to be a secret".[1] So, as the Imam says, death is a reality that there is no way to escape it. How about neglecting it?
Neglecting death
Realities are those facts which our negligence or ignorance does not affect their existence. Death is one of those realities. A big lie which is promoted in our age is that happiness is in forgetting death and neglecting it and thinking about the beauties of life. The biggest treachery against man is making him forgetful about death and the journey that he has ahead of him, a journey that he must prepare himself for it. In fact our coming into existence is for the purpose of getting prepared for death and the life after death. Imam Ali (as) said:" I advise you to remember death and reduce negligence regarding it. How do you neglect that which does not neglect you and rely on that which does not give you chance. It suffices to be a preacher seeing the death of the dead".[2] In another hadith he has been narrated as saying:" I'm surprised at who forgets death while he sees who dies".[3]
Fear of death
Scientifically speaking, the cause of fear is ignorance and not knowing the reality. Thus to eliminate the fear one should eliminate the ignorance. Once again we refer to one of the profound sayings of Imam Ali (as). He said:" If you fear doing something, then do it because your fear is greater than the deed itself".[4]
Accepting death or running away from it
By accepting the reality of death which is transmission from this world to the other man understands that there is no way to avoid death thus he will focus on preparing himself for it. Also he will not fear it. He will only fear it provided that he hasn't been thinking about it and hasn't prepared himself for it. The true servants of God never fear death. They even accept it willingly if it is necessary. Imam Ali (as) willingly slept in the bed of the Prophet (PBUH) on the night in which the Prophet (PBUH) embarked on his migration to Medina, knowingly that the pagans had planned to kill the Prophet (PBUH) on that night. Imam Husain (as) though outnumbered by the enemy but stood against them for the sake of Islam. By following in the footsteps of these exemplars of humanity one can get rid of fear of death.
Footnotes:
[1] Nahj al-Balaghah, sermon 149, أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ كُلُّ امْرِئٍ لَاقٍ مَا يَفِرُّ مِنْهُ فِي فِرَارِهِ الْأَجَلُ مَسَاقُ النَّفْسِ وَ الْهَرَبُ مِنْهُ مُوَافَاتُهُ كَمْ أَطْرَدْتُ الْأَيَّامَ أَبْحَثُهَا عَنْ مَكْنُونِ هَذَا الْأَمْرِ فَأَبَى اللَّهُ إِلَّا إِخْفَاءَهُ.
[2] Ibid, sermon 188, اُوصيكُم بذِكرِ المَوتِ و إقلالِ الغَفلَةِ عنهُ ، و كيفَ غَفلَتُكُم عمّا لَيس يُغفِلُكُم ، و طَمَعُكُم فيمَن لَيس يُمهِلُكُم ؟! فكفَى واعِظا بمَوتى عايَنتُموهُم.
[3] Ibid, Short Sayings, No. 121, عَجِبتُ لِمَن نَسِیَ المَوتَ وَ هُوَ یَری مَن یَمُوتُ.
[4] Bihar al-Anwar, Vol. 68, p. 362, إِذَا هِبْتَ أَمْراً فَقَعْ فِيهِ فَإِنَّ شِدَّةَ تَوَقِّيهِ أَعْظَمُ مِمَّا تَخَافُ مِنْه.
Source: http://www.btid.org/fa/news/94838