Found in Sahih al-Bukhaari the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “There are two blessings which many people do not make the most of and thus lose out: good health and free time.”
Time is a precious gift that many of us waste. Many of us try to “kill time.” Especially the youth. They have time and don’t know what to do with it, so they kill it, not realizing what they’re doing. Some people say time is money. But money comes and money goes. You can make up for what you lost insha Allah. But time is different. You can’t make up for lost time. You can’t get back the hours, the days, the weeks, or the years that have been wasted. When you kill it, then it’s dead. It’s gone for good.
3 Ways to Spend Time
Time can be spent in 1 of 3 ways. Either in a beneficial way. A harmful way. Or a neutral way that’s neither beneficial nor harmful. So for instance you could spend your time reading the Quran, learning a useful skill, cleaning your house. These are beneficial acts. You could spend your time backbiting, cursing, looking and listening to haraam. These are harmful acts. You could spend your time reading a news article. Or watching a nature documentary or something. These are generally neutral acts. But if you were to watch documentary after documentary for hours and hours without gaining any worthwhile benefit from it, now it starts to become harmful, because it’s wasteful. You’re wasting too much time which you’re never going to get back. So really, logically, you should only spend time in beneficial ways.
Ibn Abbas RA 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.
Don’t Follow Other Isms
Living in the west, surrounded by non-Muslims, we need to be firm on living every second in accordance with the Quran and sunnah. We cannot follow their way, nor should we want to. The non-Muslims are not living happy lives. This is according to their own statistics. According to a GALLUP poll 17.8% of Americans currently suffer from depression. And it’s rising. This went up by 4% over the last 4 years. They’re Suicidal. The second leading cause of death among 10-34 year olds is suicide. They’re Constantly medicated. They live unhealthy lifestyles. Every other word is a curse word. Backbiting each other. Living for the weekend where they can zone out on Netflix, watch 3-4 hour long football games, get drunk, get high. They take their guidance from music. These truly evil songs tell them to fornicate, to cheat, to steal, to just enjoy life and not think. They’re trying to forget reality for as long as possible until they have to go back to work on Monday again.
Just completely wasting their time. There’s no guidance in their lives. No Quran. No reflection of their purpose. No thanking and praying to Allah. Allah created us to worship him, so really that’s what we should constantly be doing, whether by praying, fasting, giving charity, treating people good, saying good and doing good. If we follow the disbelievers then we’ll be like them. People are suffering while we’re wasting our time and we don’t have time to waste. We don’t know when our last second on this earth will be.
Human Pleasure can Never be Satisfied in this Life
Look what the rich and famous do with their free time. People like P Diddy and Epstein. They indulge in as much evil as they can. They don’t care who they harm. Who’s lives they destroy. They’ll exploit the poor and needy to satisfy their own lusts and desires. Think about the countless number of celebrities, CEOs, and government officials that attended these parties. They’ll have you think they’re clean and righteous but the reality is they’re sick and twisted. When your goal is pleasure and lust, then you’ll do anything to satisfy them, but they’ll never be satisfied in this world.
Found in Sahih Bukhari and Muslim, Anas bin Malik RA reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “If the son of Adam had a valley full of gold, he would want to have two valleys. Nothing fills his mouth but the dust of the grave, yet Allah will relent to whoever repents to Him.”
If we act like them then we’ll be like them. Rather than being Abdullahs and AbdulRahmaans we’ll be Abdud-Dinar and Abdud-Dirham.
Found in Sahih Bukhari, Abu Huraira RA reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Wretched is the slave of gold, silver, fine clothes and garments. If he is given, he is pleased, but if he is not given, he is displeased.” Source: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6435
If all that’s going through your head is how to make money and what to buy next then are you truly a slave to Allah or to money? If you’ll do any haraam just to make more money or get what you desire then who are you really a slave to?
If you can’t quit an addiction and don’t even want to, then who are you a slave to? Can we say we’re slaves of Allah when we’re not even praying? When we’re wasting our time just like the kuffar? When we knowingly allow ourselves to be distracted for hours and hours by this worldly life mainly in haraam entertainment created by the kuffar?
Our Surroundings Influence us
We have to be careful of what we allow ourselves to be influenced by. We think we’re in charge of our own hearts but we’re not. Our hearts are constantly turning and shifting. The Prophet SAWS would supplicate:
يَا مُقَلِّبَ الْقُلُوبِ ثَبِّتْ قَلْبِي عَلَى دِينِكَ
“Oh Turner of hearts, keep my heart firm on your religion.”
This is one reason why music is so harmful. Music sways the heart. When it’s sad music your heart hurts, when it’s joyful music, your heart is happy. But it’s not just music that affects our hearts.
قُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَغُضُّوا۟ مِنْ أَبْصَـٰرِهِمْ وَيَحْفَظُوا۟ فُرُوجَهُمْ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ أَزْكَىٰ لَهُمْ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ خَبِيرٌۢ بِمَا يَصْنَعُونَ ٣٠
Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and guard their chastity. That is purer for them. Surely Allah is All-Aware of what they do. [24:30]
When you’re constantly scrolling on instagram and tiktok looking at haraam things, your heart yearns more and more for that haraam.
The prophet said if you can’t marry then fast. Why? Because if you can stay away from halaal then staying away from haraam should be easy. And when you fast your desires lessen. Look at those who can’t control their desires. It’s like a mental illness. They can’t help but smoke, drink, swear and listen to music.
Friends are a Mirror
But when you’re around negative influences they intensify your desire for haraam. Bad friends talk about girls, parties, hours and hours about sports, politics, backbiting and gossiping and so on. They’re not pulling you to Jannah. They’re pulling you to Jahannam.
Found in Sahih Bukhari and Muslim, Abu Musa RA reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Verily, the parable of good and bad company is that of a seller of musk and a blacksmith. The seller of musk will give you perfume, you will buy some, or you will notice a pleasant smell. As for the blacksmith, he will burn your clothes, or you will notice a bad smell.” Source: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5534, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2628
This is the case with all influences. Either they’re benefiting you or harming you. Either they’re pulling you to paradise or pulling you to hellfire.
Run to Allah
At least 17 times a day we ask Allah to guide us to the straight path, not the path of Jews or the Christians. Those who Allah is angry with and those who are misguided. So what more for the secularists, atheists, feminists and so on? Are they not more astray than the Jews and Christians? Should we not keep away from them and their negative influences? We’re asking Allah in our prayers to guide us away from these evil influences, but when the prayer ends we run to them. But Allah says in a hadith Qudsi found in Sahih Muslim Whoever comes to Me walking, I will come to him running. But rather than walking to Allah we’re running to TikTok, Call of Duty, Marvel and DC movies and so on.
These influences are addicting yet harmful to us. But if we work hard to leave them, Allah promises to replace them with something better.
Found in Musnad Ahmad, Abu Qatadah RA reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Verily, you will never leave anything for the sake of Allah Almighty but that Allah will replace it with something better for you.” Source: Musnad Aḥmad 23074
And what’s the better thing Allah will replace it with?
أَلَا بِذِكْرِ ٱللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ ٱلْقُلُوبُ ٢٨
Surely in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find comfort. [13:28]
Our Goal
And one of the greatest comforts is dying and seeing the angels of death with beautiful faces softly pouring your soul out of your body and wrapping it in a perfumed cloth taking you up through the heavens and calling you by the best of names. But are any of us assured this? If you were to die right now, are you satisfied with your life? Or do you feel anxiety like I do?
“No. I haven’t done enough. There’s more I need to do. I didn’t ask Allah’s forgiveness of this sin I did. or that sin. I didn’t give in charity today, or this week. I didn’t pray in the night enough. I didn’t read enough Quran.”
When’s the last time we cried while reading the Quran. People cry watching movies, and listening to music. Do we cry while reading the revelation sent by Allah? We need to get off the devices and return to basics. It’s not hard, but it’s not easy either. It takes work. We need to put in the work. May Allah help us in doing that.
Practical Steps for Time Management
- Write down your daily and weekly goals.
- Write down what stops you from accomplishing these goals.
- Remove or reduce any distractions you can.
- Keep your phone away from you as much as you can.
- Remove any unnecessary apps. If you can’t remove then, then block their notifications.
- Try to remember that Allah is watching you, and rewarding you for the good you do.
- When you pray, ask Allah to help you in spending time wisely
Your Suggestions
Please let me know if you have any time management tips. Let me know if this article was helpful for you. If you have any suggestions on future articles please let me know as well.
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