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Ramadan Calls For The Preservation Of Time
Shaykh `Aa'id Abdullah al-Qarnee
Thirty Lessons for those who Fast
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Allah describes the discourse between Himself and the reckless and negligent
on the Day of Judgement: '[And] He will ask [the doomed]: "What number
of
years have you spent on earth?" They will answer: "We have spent there
a day,
or part of a day; but ask those who [are able to] count time... .[Whereupon]
He will say: "You have spent there but a short while: had you but known
[how
short it was to be]! Did you then think that We created you in mere idle
play, and that you not have to return to Us? [Know,] then, [that] God is
sublimely exalted, the Ultimate Sovereign, the Ultimate Truth: there is no
deity save Him, the Sustainer, in bountiful almightiness enthroned!"'
(23:112-16).
One of the righteous predecessors noted: life is short, do not shorten it
with negligence. This is, certainly, true. Negligence shortens the hours and
consumes the night. Hence the Prophet sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam said: 'Two
favours that many people are deceived by: health and spare time.' The lesson
being that many people are healthy and have a lot of time on their hands yet
their lives pass by quickly before them without their using them or
benefiting anyone. He also warned: 'The foot of a believer will not move on
the Day of Judgement until he is asked about four things and mention his life
span and how he utilized it.' Life is, undoubtedly, a treasure, whomsoever
spends it in obedience to Allah will find his treasure on the Day when wealth
and sons will be of no avail but instead only those who returned to Allah
with clean hearts. Thus, those who spent their lives in negligence,
disobedience and play will on that Day regret in such a manner that will
never be equalled thereafter. They will say: 'Alas for us, that we
disregarded our lives.'
In effect, both the night and day are like riding animals that transport man
to either eternal happiness or loss. Our righteous forbears used to take
every initiative to preserve their time. There are strange stories about them
concerning this matter. There were among them those who used to read the
Quran and they were on the threshold of death. Such an example was Junaid ibn
Muhammad. His sons said to him, 'You are exhausting yourself.' He replied,
'And should there be among the people one who exerts himself more than me?'
Al Aswad ibn Yazid used to stand in prayer for most of the night. Some of his
friends advised him to relax at least for a small portion of the night. He
told them it is this very relaxation he is in search of; meaning in the
Hereafter.
Sufiyan al Thowri once sat in the Sacred Mosque speaking to some people. Then
suddenly he arose terrified and said; we are sitting here and the day is
doing its work. There were among our forbears those who used to divide their
days and nights into hours. Hence they allocated specific hours for prayers,
recitation, remembrance, meditation, acquisition of knowledge, work and
sleep. They ascribed no time for merriment.
As for their successors, they have been afflicted by the calamity of
time-wasting. Except, of course, those to whom Allah has shown mercy. They
indulge in excessive sleep, idleness, aimless wandering, spending on
amusements and sittings in which there is no benefit; or in meetings which,
if they do not involve disobedience, are definitely the cause of disobedience.
Among the greatest things that organize time and work are the five daily
prayers. Allah the Sublime and Most Excellent Speaker affirms in the Quran:
'Verily, for all believers prayer is indeed a sacred duty linked to
particular times [of day]' (4:104).
The month of Ramadan is a school in which the Muslim's time is organized and
invested in matters that lead to closeness to Allah. Notwithstanding, some
people do not know the meaning of fasting. They engage in ample negligence
and deep slumber. They spend their days sleeping and their nights in wasted
wakefulness.
O Allah! Preserve for us our lives. Plant our feet firmly on Your path, and
make us obey You always. O Lord of all the worlds
