How Precious is TIME in the life of a Muslim?

By the token of Time! Verily, man is in a state of loss. Except for the one who believes, and does righteous good deeds. And recommends one another to the truth and enjoins each other to be patient. — Qur’an 103[Al-Asr]:1–3

Glorified and Exalted is Allah — The Highest above all His creations. He is the Inventor of time, and He understands best the sacrosanctity of time. That is one reason why He cautioned mankind relatively using timely illustration in the Qur’an. Verses like Wal Asr, Wal Fajr, Wad Duha are not strange to many of us. These phrases are used to call our attention to the importance of time in our lives. We are discussing time because we live in a time when people see time as limitless. As Muslims, we cannot afford to waste a single moment of our life. Every moment is precious and should be seen as a means of striving productively for both akhirah and duniya.

As every day passes by, we are moving closer to our graves. Hence, we need to hold ourselves accountable before the day of accountability. We should have the urge to strive harder while blood flows in our veins. As the great scholar, Imam Ash-Shaafii (rahimahullah) once said:

Oh mankind! Each of you is only a bunch of days and each of you passes away as the day passes by.

Do not be one of the Losers

You may never understand how precious time is until you picture yourself in this scenario. Imam Ar-Raazi (rahimahullah) once met an ice-seller in the marketplace calling out: “have mercy on a man whose wealth is melting away”. This means, please buy my ice before it melts away or I will lose it and have no money to feed myself and my family. For every minute that passes by, the man is losing money as the ice is melting. The scholar then said: “by Allah, it was at this moment I understood what Allah meant by wal asr innal insaana lafee khusr — by the token of time, indeed man is in a loss”. Our lives are like blocks of ice and they are melting away with each second, never to return. We will all be losers if we don’t make the best use of our time by investing in good deeds, which will be rewarded in the hereafter.

Utilizing your Time Effectively

The great scholar Ibn Al Qayyim Al Jawziy once said:

wasting time is worse than death because death separates you from this world, whereas time wastage separates you from Allah. He also pointed out in his book Al-Fawaaid, the two things that kills the heart are: incessant hope and waste of time.

Many of us keep hoping, procrastinating and dreaming in vague. Our lifetime can only be utilized maximally and productively depending on how we choose to address the following action plan vis-a-vis;

• Connecting with Allah (SWT): One of the most important things in life is to understand your purpose. What is your purpose of creation? Why are you here on earth? Obviously, the answer is to worship Allah. Hence do not forget your purpose and always remember you will one day go back to meet your Creator. Plan your time around salah and build your schedule not to affect it. If we fail in our obligation of keeping salah at appropriate times, then we’ve lost connection with Allah. For verily, salah helps to organize our lives and time.

A busy life makes salah harder, but salah makes a busy life easier— Azeemah Sahul

• Ignoring time wasters: Time wasters are the worst of people because they truly separate us from achieving our goals. And that is why it is important to identify time wasters, even if it costs you to list out their names on a piece of paper. One of the greatest sources of time wastage in modern times is social media. It is quite pathetic that Muslims today waste a lot of time sharing images and updates in return for likes. This is something many will regret on a day the reckoning is made. Other forms of time wastage include loitering and wandering, gossiping, obsession with games, and avoidable social hangouts.
• Planning appropriately: We need to organize our lives as Muslims. Our life is a trust from Allah and it has a timeline. Hence, the need for daily, weekly, monthly and yearly plans is inevitable. We plan in awe of a bright future, hoping Allah (SWT) spares our lives for good. So set high standards for yourself, keep your eyes focused on your goals and see the big picture. Trust Allah’s decision but put in the time and efforts to achieve what you plan. If the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) did not plan a strategy ahead of the battle of the trench, then something worse might have happened. So planning eliminates failure and paves way for success. However, failure to plan is tantamount to planning to fail.

• Subscribing to a ‘Not-To-Do’ List: A To-Do list is a very useful tool for highly productive people, right? In the times we live now, a not-to-do list is more important in order to avert distractions. It is as simple as spelling out the things that are not productive and finding a means to do away with them. On the other hand, prioritizing is necessary in order to get things done and produce meaningful results. Steven Covey’s time management matrix may help in this realm. It categorizes things into four quadrants: urgent, not-urgent, important, not important. The urgent and important helps to identify things of necessity, hence the need to do them. While the not urgent but important helps to define quality. The other two quadrants are trivial and of less importance and urgency, so the better we do away with them the best we are with our time.

• Avoiding procrastination: Procrastination is from shaytaan, so whenever we are faced with such, we should quickly seek refuge with Allah (SWT) against the accursed. It is equally important to say categorically ‘In sha Allah’ when you intend doing something. For it’s only by the will of Allah that deeds are accomplished. The perfect remedy for procrastination is to nurture sound faith in the manner of the Salaf as-Salih (pious predecessors). Prior to Islam, they were a people without any sense of human achievement or performance, but once they were exposed to the empowering message of the Qur’an, they became energized and utterly transformed. They shook off their lethargy and became top-notch achievers.
• Remembering your time is limited: Death is enough as an admonition to propel us to do good deeds and abstain us from evil. Once you’re dead, your book of life is over. Act wisely, while you still have time! The Noble Prophet PBUH said, “Remember often the destroyer of pleasures. Never does a servant remember it during hardship except that it will become easier for him, and never does he not remember it during ease except that it will become harder for him.” — Ibn Hibban
• Sticking to a schedule: Following a schedule is highly effective for accomplishing an important task. It is not how much you do, it’s the consistency that matters. What works for Hassan may not work for Hussein. Find what works best for you and stick to it. Also, avoid multitasking for it often leads you to accomplish nothing. Focus on one thing at a time and create time for the other things that matter in your life. Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace, and blessings be upon him, said, “Take up good deeds only as much as you are able, for the best deeds are those done regularly even if they are few.” — Ibn Majah

Conclusion

The well learned companion Abdullah Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace, and blessings be upon him, said:

“Take advantage of five before five: your youth before your old age, your health before your illness, your riches before your poverty, your free time before your work, and your life before your death.” — Sahih

Each day has 1440 minutes and every week births 10,080. So think of it, we have a lot we can accomplish with this precious time. Remember time = life and you will be accountable for how you spend it. Use it wisely!!!

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