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Where does the time go?
By Owais Jafrey, Seattle, Washington
(From his Friday Sermons)
Another year of the Christian era has come to an end. A year
that has been taken off from our life and a chapter from the
book of life is closed for ever. In other words, an opportunity
to perform reward-able work has been lost, and year-long acts of
negligence and disregard have been added to life’s history
sheet. For a Momin though, not only years, months and
weeks, but every single day serves as a reminder of life’s value
and the worth of time.
Sentences like: “Oh’ the time has gone by, or, a year has
slipped by” are common expressions in our daily life, but except
a few, people in general don’t even deliberate as to where the
time goes? Since every single thing that is there comes to an
end and everything that goes by has its destination. A question
arises. What is the end of time and what is its destination? It
may be a difficult question for others, but for a Muslim, the
answer is straight and simple. He has been taught that
everything is from Allah swt and ultimately returns to Him.
Allah swt is the final destination. Similarly years, months,
weeks, days, hours, and minutes return to Allah swt and become a
part of His concealed treasure. The Holy Qur’an and the
Traditions of our beloved Prophet (s) define this destination as
the Day of Judgment, a day which will echo the time gone by.
That Day of Reckoning, which seems to be a remote future, will
in fact turn into “present” to mirror our entire past. That is
why it is imperative to keep the Hereafter in mind in using
every single moment of our available present time most
judiciously by turning it into a reward in return.
Imam Abu Dawood, the eminent scholar and compiler of
four thousand eight hundred traditions of the Prophet (s)
in his book “Sunan Abu Dawood had said that out of this entire
collection, just four traditions would be enough for a person to
become a faithful and a
Momin in the
real sense. These four traditions are:
All Acts and deeds are based on their intention.
<!
The quality of one’s Faith in Islam lies in giving up all
useless activities.
A person cannot be a perfect
Momin unless
he likes for his brother what he likes for himself.
<!
Halaal
and Haraam,
that is the permissible and the forbidden have been made crystal
clear, but there are things which are doubtful between the two.
To avoid and refrain from the doubtful is the sign of Piety (Taqwa).
You can find the very essence of the entire religion in these
four traditions, only if you deliberate. The great Muhaddath,
Shah Abdul Azeez
Dehlvi writes that the practice of the first tradition is
sufficient to educate us in the sincerity of intention and the
correct performance of worships. The second tradition teaches us
to safeguard the precious moments of our life. The third one
reminds us of the rights of others, which we are required to
fulfill. And the fourth
tradition warns us against the doubtful and teaches us to lead a
pious life, a life of piety and purity.
The Holy Qur’an in verse 3 of
Surah
Mominun defines the believers as, who
“shun idle talk.”
Activities which have no purpose, or don’t yield any positive
results need to be shunned as they waste time and age. The time
that is lost can never be recovered.
People pursue different professions and spend their life to
achieve their desired goals. It will be sad if a Muslim leads a
life without any purpose. To give such people a jolt, who are in
deep slumber, the Holy Qur’an warns them in these words in verse
1-2 of
Surah Anbiya:
“Ever closer to people
draws their reckoning, while they run away heedless.”
Believers are supposed to lead a disciplined and organized life,
a life full of positive thought and action, which ensures
success. There is no denying the fact that time is the key
element to achieve this goal. Waste of time is waste of life.
Modern age with its immense progress has also introduced many
frivolous, silly, and non-productive means and ways of
entertainment. Many precious hours are put to misuse and abuse,
and in general people are insensitive to their own loss. The
person who is prudent, wise and has a foresight puts his time to
its best use. He distinguishes himself in Here and the
Hereafter. Few moments
spent in the recitation of the Holy Qur’an can help accumulate
many blessings. Investing time
in the remembrance of Allah swt will ensure countless rewards.
Saying Alhamdulillah once tilts the scale in our favor
and reciting Subhaan Allah and Alhamdulillah fills
up the void between the earth and the sky with blessings.
Dawood Ta’ee
(r) was a great puritan of his time.
An example from his life tells us how he valued time. He
developed a habit to hurriedly soak the pieces of bread in water
and then get busy in his work. He used to take short break to
eat them and then used to return to his routine.
Someone once asked him as to why he didn’t eat the bread
with gravy and the cooked food? He replied that after
calculating and comparing the time spent in eating with gravy
and the cooked food and without it saved him enough time to
recite fifty verses from the Holy Qur’an. He added that he was
better off with eating water-soaked bread rather than spending
time to combine bread with gravy and cooked food.
People who value time and spend it prudently always rise and
succeed in Here and the Hereafter. Let us make a habit to assess
and evaluate the time we daily spend productively and which we
just waste in purposeless pursuits. In the strict obedience to
the Holy Qur’an and the Traditions of our beloved Prophet (s),
let us shun the idle talk and frivolous activities and train
ourselves to make the most and best use of the available time,
and let us make the rest of our life meaningful before it goes
to waste and is no more.
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