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Your Time Is Your Life *
By Amr Khaled ** Sept. 28, 2005
Do you understand how precious time
is? Muslim scholars appreciated
their time long before the West ever
did, and this is how they
achieved their revival. Their
sayings and practices bear testimony
to this.
Ibn Mas`ud:
I never regretted anything except a
day that passed by without
having increased my deeds.
Al-Hasan Al-Basri:
Every day the sun rises it calls
upon us, "O people! I am a new day;
I am an observer of your actions.
Take advantage of me for I will
not return until the Day of
Judgment. O son of Adam, you are nothing
but a few breaths. Once one breath
goes out, part of you goes with
it. In the same way that part of you
has gone, soon all of you will
go."
Ibn Al-Qayyim:
Every gulp of air that goes out in a
cause other than the cause of
Allah will turn to sorrow and regret
on the Day of Judgment.
A sign that Allah despises you is
when you find yourself wasting
your time with trivial matters; in
this way you miss your chance of
going to Heaven. And a sign that
Allah likes you is when you find
yourself fulfilling more duties than
you have time for.
The devil makes work for idle
thumbs. If you want to know whether
Allah is pleased with you, then
think: Are you busy or idle?
Al-Muhasiby:
I wish that time could be acquired
with money. If so, I would buy
time from wasteful and ungrateful
people so that I could spend it
serving Allah.
You should know where your time
goes. You should know when you can
go out and when you have some extra
time. When you do have extra
time, don't waste it—watching one
soccer game is enough. You needn't
watch six.
Abu-Yusuf, a prominent student of
Abu Hanifah, once said, "Abu
Hanifah was on his deathbed when he
asked for a paper and a pencil
to solve a problem in jurisprudence,
saying, `If I have but one
instant to live, I would spend it
doing something that pleases
Allah.'"
A man asked Ibn Al-Jawzi to chat
with him for a while. The imam
replied, "Only if you could stop the
sun from revolving." That's how
in a very short period of time, a
few generations offered humanity
many advances. Allah blessed their
lives; they were able to
accomplish what would take us many
years.
When 16 years old, Usamah ibn Zaid
was an army commander. Under his
command were Abu-Bakr and `Umar (may
Allah be pleased with them).
Usamah fought the Romans and
prevailed. The Companions said, "No
army was ever rewarded like Usamah's
army and the Muslims didn't
suffer any casualties."
Sa`d ibn Mu`adh accepted Islam when
he was 30 years old and died
when he was 37. Despite living only
seven years as a Muslim, the
throne of Allah was shaken for his
death, and seventy thousand
angels came down for his funeral.
`Umar Al-Mukhtar led the struggle
against the Italian occupation of
Libya from the age of 60 until he
was 70.
Muhammad ibn Al-Qasim conquered
India when he was 17 years old. He
fought twelve battles in one year
and won them all.
We waste a great deal of time: For
eight hours we sleep and another
eight we use for meals and personal
needs. That's two-thirds wasted,
and the remaining third is where
productivity can be achieved.
Imagine that every breath you take
is stored away in a locker and
that on the Day of Judgment these
lockers will be opened. Can you
see them empty? Or do you see them
full of service, help, invention,
and worship? Picture someone
throwing a hundred thousand dollars in
the sea—he would be considered crazy
and be put under great
restriction. You do the same if you
waste your time, for your
greatest assets are your breaths in
this limited life.
Now, are you ready for change or is
it all talk and no commitment?
Are you willing to make adjustments
to your time? If you are truly
ready, let us agree on the details
that will help you to organize
your time:
1. Every day write down in a daily
planner what you are planning to
do the next day.
2. Focus on your work and don't stop
for any reason. Time gets
wasted because of all the
interruptions. Press hard on yourself and
you will notice a great increase in
productivity.
3. Cut down on your sleeping hours;
even an hour a day will add up
to 365 hours a year. You can use
this time to prepare for a PhD or
memorize the Qur'an. Imagine that!
4. Stay away from idle and careless
people.
5. Do things in parallel; for
example, while waiting at the doctor's
office or traveling on the bus, read
a book. Instead of wasting your
time waiting, take advantage of that
time and do something
productive. A great example is Ibn
Al-Qayyim, who wrote his famous
book Zad al-M`ad during his journey
to Makkah for Hajj.
6. Be cautious of all the free time
you have in the summer; use it
wisely, for example in voluntary
work.
7. Every night, ask yourself what
you have accomplished that day,
and soon you will be thrilled with
your results. Assess how much you
were able to complete from the
productive week project. You may
start with anything as low as 30
percent, but everyday your
productivity and efficiency will
increase.
8. Never leave the house without
your daily planner.
Finally, never forget that you can't
utilize your time wisely unless
you have a goal in life. When you
do, you will be vigilant with your
time and you will be able to divide
it so you can achieve your goal
efficiently.
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* Based on the episode "The Value of
Time" of Amr Khaled's
television series Life Makers.
** Amr Khaled is an Egyptian da`iyah
who hosts the popular series
Sunaa Al-Hayah (Life Makers) on Iqra'
satellite channel. He is the
founder and chairman of Right Start
Foundation International, based
in the United Kingdom. He is
presently studying for his doctorate at
Wales University, UK, with the
thesis title "Islam and Co-Existing
with Others."
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