By Dr. Norlain Dindang Mababaya
By
Dr. Norlain Dindang Mababaya
Of all religions, only Islâm guides mankind not only to the importance of time
but also how to value it. Allâh I
the Almighty and His Messenger, the Prophet Muhammad r,
very clearly tell us the value of time, why we must not waste it and how we can
make use of our time wisely for our eternal success.
Both the Qur’ân and the Sunnah enjoin Muslims to be conscious of time.
We are reminded that life in this world is nothing but temporary.
We never know when death has been appointed for us. We must value time
for the pleasure of Allâh I the Almighty. For our
guidance and success, we must never waste time nor abuse it. We must take admonitions from the following authentic Ahâdîth:
Abu
Hurairah t
narrated that the Prophet r
said,
“Allâh said 'The son of Adam hurts Me by abusing Time, for I am Time;
in My Hands are all things and I cause the revolution of night and day.’” (Bukhâri
6/351; 9/583
and Muslim 4/5581)
Bin ‘Abbas t
narrated that Allâh’s
Messenger r
said, “There are two blessings
which many people lose: (They are) health and free time for doing good.”
(Bukhâri 8/421)
Indeed, we displease Allâh the Most High when we abuse time.
We must remember that time must be spent to fulfill our very purpose in
life ¾
that is to worship Allâh I all throughout our lives (51:56-58 and 15:98-99).
Worship in Islâm is a comprehensive term. Everything we do in accordance
with the Qur’ân and the Sunnah is an act of worship.
Such worship must be done sincerely for the pleasure of Allâh I
alone. We should make use of our
time (which includes our “free time”) in doing beneficial things especially
those that will make us closer to Allâh and earn His Mercy.
“By the time, verily man is in loss, except such
as have Faith, and do righteous deeds, and join (together) in the mutual
enjoining of Truth, and of patience and constancy.”
(103:1-3)
Knowing the importance of Islâmic knowledge, it is
imperative that we must spend time acquiring it.
We must remember that one of the characteristics of a believer is love
for the search of knowledge. The
following Hâdîth should inspire us to continuously seek for Islâmic
knowledge:
We must be prompt in doing good deeds, which will
increase our faith and subsequently enable us to gain Allâh’s pleasure and
mercy. We have to remember that on
the day of judgment we shall be asked how we spent hour lives, wealth and
knowledge. In other words, we will
be questioned on how we spent everything that Allâh has given us as implied in
the following Hâdîth:
Abdullâh Bin Mas’ud t
narrated that Allâh’s
Messenger r
said, “A man shall be asked
concerning five things on the day of resurrection: concerning his life, how he
spent it; concerning his youth, how he grew old;
concerning his wealth, whence he acquired it, and in what way he spent
it; and what was it that he did with the knowledge that he had.”
(Tirmidhi 5197)
Abu Barzah Nadlah ibn Ubayd al-Aslami t
narrated that the Prophet r
said “A servant of Allâh will
remain standing on the Day of Judgment till he is questioned:
about his age and how he spent it; and about his knowledge and how he
utilized it; about his wealth from where he acquired it and in what (activities)
he spent it; and about his body as to how he used it.”
(Tirmidhi 407)
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