Time

In the Quran it says in a surah we all know well:

1. By Al-'Asr (the time).
2. Verily! Man is in loss,
3. Except those who believe and do righteous good deeds, and recommend one another to the truth and recommend one another to patience. (Surah Al-Asr 103:1-3)

Imam Malik said that if this surah itself were revealed to Mankind it would be sufficient enough guidance for Man, because it essentially summarizes Man's condition. If we are to use this as we contine our discussion in prioritizing thing in our life it's simple: time is running out and it's working against us. Taking advantage of the moment you are in is crucial. In Islam, we know wastefulness is discouraged and forbidden in the Quran and Sunnah of the Prophet SAW.


We think we're young and will live forever, we can have fun now and get religious later. Who guarantees tomorrow? There are brothers I know who have died young. I know brothers who have been in accidents, good brothers who are now paralyzed, wishing they could walk again. Your life can end at the blink of an eye. But again, why are we so arrogant to think we'll live long into old age and even then who guarantees then we'll change or even have the time to repent for our wrong doings in our youth? This topic's been beaten to death, but seriously when will we change and realize the importance of time?

Now in relation to priorities how does time teach us to prioritize? Well it's simple we have challenges every day: do we wake up for fajr or do we sleep, do we pray dhuhr or do we watch the TV show, do we read Quran or do we go out at night and waste time with friends? We waste our time talking about the most useless and mundane things that have no benefit. Sad thing most of us are doing this during Ramadaan, a time where every second, minute and hour is blessed in which should be filled with ibaddah (worship), not idle talk and useless comments, jokes, etc.

We place such an emphasis on parties/hanging out and dress up for those occasions and are on time for those occasions. We go to Eid parties, MSA parties, parties with friends dressed up and looking nice, yet when we come to masjid or for jumuah we're dressed in street clothes. We give more respect and importance to parties and hanging out with our friends. We look nice for our friends, but we're standing in front of Allah SWT on the blessed day of Jumuah in street clothes. We don't even come on time to Jumuah, yet we come on time for our own parties/hang outs. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but think about how we treat our deen and the importance we give it and think about how much importance we give other things in our lives.

There is a sense of urgency we must show those who don't have it and remind them of Allah and our short time here on Earth. When we see our fellow brothers or sisters going down the wrong path, don't think twice about whether or not to help them, advise them in an intelligent and effective manner. Remind them of their short time here on Earth. Spread knowledge even if it's an ayah. Change yourself for the better and people will in turn change too.

We always complain about not having enough time, but when it's given to us we waste it. How many of us actually use that time wisely or productively? And then we have the gaul to complain about not having enough time in our "busy" lives to pray, read Quran, etc. Thing is, we put everything that doesn't involve Allah above our fard (obligatory) deeds that need to be done. We complacently say "Oh Allah will forgive us," who guarantess that forgiveness? If the Sahabah, the greatest of people after the Prophet SAW feared Hellfire as much as they did, then where does that put us with our complacency. Sometimes we stress Allah's Rahma (Mercy) so much, but forget His wrath and punishment. I don't mean to diminish Allah's mercy which is all encompassing, but it's a cop out for alot of us when we neglect fard deeds.

How many times have we asked our friends to pray with us and gotten the answer "We'll pray later." Who guarantees there will be a "later"? Your'e turning down a good deed to pray in jam'aah. We have so many deeds we turn down that are in front of us. We're young and we think we'll live forever, but no one guarantees tomorrow.

Ibn Abbas narrated that Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) said:
"There are two blessings which many people lose: (They are) health and free time for doing good." (Bukhari 8/421)