ALMISKEENAH

 

Time for a ramble….. on TIME.

I’ve been procrastinating!

PROCRASTINATING!!! The word itself seems to extend and stretch one into a mesmerized stupor…..PROCRASTINATING…..aaarrrggggggg……

Astaghfirullah…one of Shaytan’s magical ploys in his gigantic box of tricks. I have so many projects on the go, so many emails to answer, so many tasks I wish to complete….all unfinished, all floundering in this befuddled mind….the process of deciding which one to tackle swirls around as a murky maelstrom…. I am wasting time….a catastrophe.  

Take a few moments to click here….then allow the eyes relay to the heart what you see….try to comprehend the speed of life as it literally flies by and the events that accompany this disappearance…..the capital of our existence….seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years…..on and on…..quickly passing…..spiritual and material potentialities vanish, abilities fade into an oblivious well…..continual loss as each ordained breath diminishes another fragment of one’s life …..unless.

We have been gifted this potential investment, TIME, and how we invest it is entirely up to us. Wisely and we profit, heedlessly and we not only lose, but also attract and accumulate numerous sins. According to one Hadith of our Beloved Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasllam said: When a person wakes up in the morning, he invests his soul or life in a business enterprise: some of the investors free or save the capital from loss and others destroy it.

Woe to procrastination…..woe……it is not enough for the mind to understand that ‘time’ is like melting capital and thus taking every moment of this life as valuable, but the heart needs to be activated into ensuring the best capital return for the investment we have been entrusted with.   

It seems a universal condition….we have become so time poor, even though “technology” has produced an incredible explosion in time saving gizmos to supposedly free our time. We seem to be tangled in a web of busy-ness…so busy that we cannot recall what has even made us busy. Gadgets….technological whiz bang thingamajig inventions kidnap the brain…. millions of mouse clicks, recording devices and agile button pressing gobble our time as if it is the latest gourmet treat, spitting out a benumbed brain that then needs “timeout” before the next bout. Ya Allah, Ya Lateef.

The Mubarak streets of Al-Madinah Al-Munarrawah witnessed the Sahabah RadhiAllahu anhum reciting Surah al-Asr:

By the time. Verily man is in a state of loss. Except those who have faith and do righteous deeds and exhort one another to truth and one another to endurance. (103:1-3)

to each other before they departed company to remind themselves of the eternal loss if we squander ‘time’, and additionally, concisely outlining the complete way of human life: faith, righteous deeds, advising each other for Truth, and advising each other for patience.

A beautiful recipe for salvation in both Worlds……and such a profound sharing of love and concern for each other’s destiny. They understood that it was not ‘time’ to be cursed as we so often do, but our neglect towards it.

Allah Ta’ala said in Hadith Qudsi:

The son of Adam does me wrong when he curses the course of time. I am the course of time, for the affair is in My hands as I turn the day and night over one another.

Rasulullah SallAllahu alaihi wasllam said: There are two blessings that most people are deluded by: health and available time.  And:  Value five before five: youth before old age; health before sickness; affluence before poverty; leisure before becoming too busy; and life before death.  SubhanAllah, ‘time’ to wake up from our delusionary slumber…..

Once our Noble Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam was passing by a graveyard along with some of the Sahabah RadhiAllahu anhum, when he said to them: You often offer two Rak’ats of Nafl prayer hurriedly without realizing their value. However in the sight of the man lying buried in the grave, these two Rak’ats are more valuable than all the wealth of the world. The soul confined in the grave might be earnestly and regretfully wishing if he could find in his life two minutes more to offer two Rak’ats of Nafl prayer and add its reward to his Record of Deeds.

Jurjani Rahmatullah alaihi for forty years ate simple roasted barley flour….not bothering to make it in to bread as in the time it would take to chew one mouthful of the bread he could say SubhanAllah seventy times!

Is not time ripe for the believers to humble their hearts to the remembrance of Allah and the Truth that has been revealed? (57:16)

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Imam Al Ghazali Rahmatullah alaihi wrote this in his book: ‘The Beginning of Guidance’

"You should not neglect your time or use it haphazardly; on the contrary you should bring yourself to account, structure your litanies and other practices during each day and night, and assign to each period a fixed and specific function. This is how to bring out the spiritual blessing (baraka) in each period.

But if you leave yourself adrift, aimlessly wandering as cattle do, not knowing how to occupy yourself at every moment, your time will be lost. It is nothing other than your life, and your life is the capital that you make use of to reach perpetual felicity in the proximity of God the Exalted.

Each of your breaths is a priceless jewel, since each of them is irreplaceable and, once gone, can never be retrieved. Do not be like deceived fools who are joyous because each day their wealth increases while their life shortens.

What good is an increase in wealth when life grows ever shorter? Therefore be joyous only for an increase in knowledge or in good works, for they are your two companions who will accompany you in your grave when your family, wealth, children and friends stay behind.”

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The following was from somewhere on the WIDE WIDE www…..from ages ago when I did not record the source…..so credit to whomever, and apologies……

Shaytan called a worldwide convention.
In his opening address to his evil Jinns, he said, "We can’t keep the Believers from going to Masjids. We can’t keep them from reading their Qur`an and knowing the truth. We can’t even keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship with Allah".

Once they gain that connection with Allah, our power over them is broken. So let them go to their Masjids; let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can’t gain that relationship with Allah.

This is what I want you to do Jinns. Distract them from gaining hold of their Lord and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day! "How shall we do this?" shouted his Jinns. "Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon, their home will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"

"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive, to keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-Qur’anic recitation constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Allah."

"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes. Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines so their husbands will believe that external beauty is what’s important, and they’ll become dissatisfied with their wives. That will fragment those families quickly!"

"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted, and unprepared for the coming week. Don’t let them go out in nature to reflect on Allah’s wonders. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead. Keep them busy, busy, and busy! And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions. Go ahead, let them be involved in soul winning; but crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Allah."

"Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause. It will work! It will work!" It was quite a convention. The evil Jinns went eagerly to their assignments causing Believers everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there. I guess the question is; has the devil been successful at his scheme?

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The Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam said: Every person goes forth in the morning trading in his own self. He either earns its freedom or consigns it to perdition.

O Allah, I seek divine guidance so that I remain steadfast in what is just.

I seek divine guidance in order to be firm in righteousness.

I seek divine guidance in the manner that I express my gratitude for Your favours and worship with devotion.

I seek from You a tongue that speaks the truth and a heart which is pure and clean.

I seek from You the ability to utilize the time You have entrusted me with for the best of purposes that will lead me to You.

O Allah, I beg you to grant me the good of this day and the good of what comes after it.

O Allah, I seek refuge with You from the evil of this day and the evil of what comes out of it.

O Allah, I beg you to grant me the good of this day, its victory, its assistance, its light, its blessing and its right guidance.

If Allah brings you to it,
He will bring you through it.
In Happy moments, praise Allah.
In Difficult moments, seek Allah.
In Quiet moments, worship Allah.
In Painful moments, trust Allah.
In Every moment, in every time, thank Allah.

And make Du’a for this humble speck and her battle with PROCRASTINATION….and all time wasting things, and, and, and, and forgive me if you are one of the many awaiting my communication…..and Insha’Allah I will do the same for you for the sake of Allah Ta’ala.

I conclude by sharing as our illustrious Sahabah RadhiAllahu anhu did as they departed in these very streets: 

By the time. Verily man is in a state of loss. Except those who have faith and do righteous deeds and exhort one another to truth and one another to endurance. (103:1-3)

 

All good is from Allah Ta’ala whereas mistakes are from this humble speck. May Allah Ta’ala Bless all readers, bringing you all closer to Him and His Rasul SallAllahu alaihi wasallam. May He accept our humble efforts and grant us the capacity to be good and do good. Ameen. 

An additional link, 

http://www.nikon.co.jp/main/eng/feelnikon/discovery/universcale/index_f.htm

see brother Irving’s comment and link also. Amazing!