Time Management

The fourteenth sermon delivered By

Sheikh Muhammad Al-Yaqoubi Al-Hassani
18 The First Jumada 1429 H.
Corresponding to 23 March 2008
Translated by Arfan Shah Al-Bukhari Copyright 2010

Dear believing brethren. Among the widespread social diseases, which are common among
the young and the old, is wasting time. I would like to describe the problem so that every
one of us will examine himself and reflect upon his state, does this apply to him? The
majority of people, these days, spend their evenings and nights in pleasures, distractions,
amusements and wasting time; Pleasures that might be permissible or may not permissible.
Perhaps the state of most of the people does not foretell good. So after the 'isha prayers or
after closing down shops, people return to their homes and sit in the front of the Television
channel hopping between stations. Ponder about the loss of time and what you spend your
time doing.

Boredom has spread amongst people so it is even getting harder for satellite Television
channels to satisfy the audience’s perceptions! So they are trying to innovate by varying
their styles in order to amuse people and move them from the state of boredom. Most people
spend their evenings up to midnight or later watching news, listening to new, or watching
series, till they get tired and then sleep!

We never thought that the state of Muslims would reach this level! This is the state of the
unbelievers in the west and in Europe. One of them would return home and sit on his bed
or sofa and put a bottle of alcohol in front of him and sips while watching a movie. He eats
and drinks till he gets tired and sleepy. Then he sleeps wherever he was and wakes up the
next morning like animals do! He sleeps like an animal and wakes up like an animal!
We have been informed about this state by Allah (mighty and majestic) in the Glorious Book
when He described the unbelievers: (They are only like cattle;- nay, they are on
an astray Path) [Sura al-Furqan (25):44] and (those who reject Allah will enjoy (this
world) and eat as cattle eat; and the Fire will be their abode ) [Sura Muhammad
(47):12].
We are not born just to eat and drink. The aim of life on this planet has never been for
humans to eat and drink. Rather eating and drinking is meant for a higher purpose and
another life. The human uses it as a means to worship Allah (mighty and majestic). And He
(exalted is He) in this life has given him a precious capital, is this not the lifetime?

Lifetime is the duration of a human's life on the face of the Earth from his birth to his death,
is his capital, it is the most valuable of gift that Allah (mighty and majestic) granted him. It
is a vessel which he may wish to fill with honey or if he wished, he could fill it with urine. A
lapse of time which he could spend in disobedience, distraction, meaningless play or
perversion, if he so wishes. Or if he wished, he could spend it in obedience of Allah (mighty
and majestic), His remembrance, getting closer to Him, or reciting His Words, so that he
would have filled it with great good.

Why did we sink to this level, why did we get to this state of imitating the west?! It's a lack
of knowledge of the fundamentals of wisdom! The elderly used to advise the young to
heed the importance of time, the importance of lifetime, religiously and worldly. The one
who does not wish to spend his time in obedience to Allah is heedless and is far from
his Protector. Therefore it becomes necessary for them to take stock of his matters in his
world, business, lessons and his actions. It is necessary that he busy himself by building for
what will come, to develop, to acquire new knowledge every day and not to fritter away his
time and energy.

Most of the people, these days, when you go the markets at nine o'clock, you would rarely
see people open their shops until after nine or ten o'clock. In front of you is the Al-Hamara
Street, anyone wanting a proof then go at nine o'clock and you may not even find three or
four shops open.

These are the markets of Damascus, in front of you, the shops used to open early with the
divine magnifications in search of provision, as the Prophet (upon him peace and blessings)
clarified in various narrations. The Prophet (upon him peace and blessings) prohibited us to
make haste for the worldly life, therefore he disliked us, in some narrations, to be the
first Muslim in the market or the last one to leave. "Do not be the first to enter the market
nor the last to leave." To ward off the people from coveting the worldly life but coveting the
worldly life have overcome us these days, so people in our days got used to stay late at their
shops and staying up the whole night. If the government decreed to open shops during the
night, people will stay up day and night, people will stay up day and night in their shops.

This was not the custom of the pious predecessors of our fathers and grandfathers, perhaps
the elders know this. One of their grandfathers would open their shops after the dawn
prayer or after sunrise, and would recite the words of Allah (mighty and majestic), keep
company of their relatives and friends in the market. If some provision was granted to them
and sold enough to suffice their needs they would close for the day at the time of the
midday prayer or late afternoon prayer and leave. The pious would go to sit in circles of
knowledge and divine invocation and the worldly people would stroll in the orchards and
gardens. There was never any covertness for the worldly life previously; now the desire of
the world has overcome us, we squander the worldly life and the religion. We do not
succeed neither in our worldly life nor in our religion. One of the poets of old said;

“We amend our worldly life by fragmenting our religion

So that neither our religion remains in nor what we amend.”

Pounder over the importance of time and how Allah (blessed and exalted) divided the time...
The night, "By the night enshrouding." The night (92:1). "And the night when it
enshrouded him," Sura the Sun (91:4). The day, "and the day in splendour," Sura the
Night (92:2). "And the day when it revealed him," Sura the Sun (91:3). The Dawn, "By
the Dawn "And ten nights," Sura the Dawn (89:1-2). The glorious morning, ""By the
Glorious Morning Light, And by the Night when it is still," Sura the Morning Hours
(93:1-2). The late afternoon, "By the afternoon! Surely Man is in the way of
loss,"(103.1-2). It was stated that this is the time of the late afternoon prayer, another said it
was all time. Allah (mighty and exalted) swore an oath by its importance.

We find, in the noble Quran, oaths on lifetimes. The lifetime of a person is ennobled only by
what is filled with. Like a container is honoured by what is placed in it of drink, or of jewels
or pearls placed in it. A shell would not have any value if it did not contain jewel and pearls
or likewise. And indeed the noblest of all lifetimes is the lifetime of the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him), the most noble lifetime of a being is the lifetime of the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) because he was the most knowledge
being about Allah, the most pious creation of Allah, the most fearful creation of Allah, as he
informed us himself (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in authentic narrations.
As Allah (mighty and majestic) swore an oath by his lifetime (peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him) in the majestic Quran, "By your life (O Muhammad) they moved blindly
in the frenzy of approaching death." (Al-Hijr 15:72) the Arabic word used in the verse is
'amru. 'umru or 'umuru are synonymous and mean lifetime. Has this become the condition
of mankind? Like a drunken man lost in a desert! He cannot find his way, he eats, he drinks,
he watches television series and wastes his time.

Ponder over the narrations of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), the
guidance of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) on using time well. In
an authentic prophetic narration reported Al-Hakim in his Masdarak, agreed and
authenticated by Ad-Dhahabi, The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah said, "Profit from
five things before five things," Profit from five things before five things overtake them,
"Your life before your death; your health before your sickness; spare time before being
busy; your youth before old age and your wealth before poverty."

One profits from something precious that necessitates that one be keen that he does not lose
it. "Profit from five things before five things, your life before your death," You are alive, right
now, you do not know when death will take you and you cannot believe it will miss you. It
has taken your neighbour so it might take you. It might have taken your father, your
grandfather, your mother, your brother ... Maybe this will be your turn. The lifetime is an
unseen knowledge, “You do not know which land that you will die in," (Sura Luqman
34.) The lifetime is an unseen knowledge which Allah (mighty and exalted) has veiled from
his servant, as a mercy for them to allow room for him to hope and to open the door of
action for all of creation. Even if mankind knew the period of his life, hope would not
remain in his life nor would the incentive of action be there. His life would be terrible and
hopeless. Therefore Allah (mighty and exalted) withheld the knowledge of their lives, the
time of death and the place of death.

"Take advantage of your life before your death," Right now you are alive, you can act. When
man dies his actions are cut off, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
said, "The world is action without reckoning and the afterlife is reckoning without action."
Would you like to be one of those who will say: "If only I was dust!", or one of those who
will say: "Lord return, perhaps I would perform pious works that I abandoned." Then
Allah (mighty and exalted) say to the likes of him, in rebuke, "By no means! It is but a
word he says."- Before them is a Partition till the Day they are raised up." (Sura The
believer 99-100) or, one of those who will say: ""Would that we were but sent back!
Then would we not reject the signs of our Lord, but would be amongst those who
believe!""(Sura al-An'am 27). The door of action is open for you as long as you are among
the living. You are alive, able to breath and move, physically able to work. Allah the exalted
has opened for you doors of action to earn righteous works and not to commit sins.

"Take advantage of five things before five, your life before your death, your health before
your sickness," we do not know the extent of health nor the extent of this amazing blessing.
"The blessing of health," except those who have been deprived of this blessing, there is no
doubt that the sick, in Islam, earns more reward than any other. There is no doubt that he
who is tested in his well being and his body, Allah opens for him doors of elevation, by
worship and nearness to Him, praised be to him, that are not open to others. This is a great
meaning as the servant may not be able to do good works but he will be elevated through
his patience during tribulations and he attains closeness to Allah mighty and exalted. But as
long as you are strong and honoured, as long as you are able, as long as you are healthy and
free from tribulations, thanking Allah (mighty and exalted) for the bounty of strength is
achieved through helping the weak. Showing gratitude to Allah, the exalted, for the blessing
of well being, is not possible without using this blessing for what we were created for; To
worship and obey Allah (mighty and exalted).

"Your free time before being occupied," you have limited time. He who does his utmost in
seeking knowledge during the night and the day, these are the times of examinations, so
most of our children and youth, are studying the days and night in order to attain
knowledge, they struggle to attain knowledge. I give glad tidings to the youth, the teenagers
and the children, if they amend their intentions solely for Allah (mighty and exalted),
by that what they seek of knowledge is for the sake of discovering the wonders of the
sovereignty of Allah (mighty and majestic), increasing faith, benefiting people in; medicine,
architecture , history, mathematics and other types of sciences. If they correct their
intentions for the sake of Allah (mighty and exalted) they will be rewarded for this toil and
hard work and Allah (mighty and exalted) allow theirs to be in vain. I beseech Him to grant
our sons and daughters success and acceptance, truly He is the all hearing, the watchful
and the responder.
For he who desires success it is necessary to exhaust himself and work hard. If such a
person finds some free time, how can he waste it?! Because aiming high requires hard work
and exhaustion. If you want to become one of the best people then it's necessary to seek it. If
you want to become one of those close to Allah (mighty and majestic) like the foremost
righteous it is necessary to seek it, it is necessary to sacrifice your time for Allah (mighty and
majestic) during the night and the day, to praise Allah (mighty and majestic) during the
night and the day, to stand on night vigil prayers for Allah's sake, to recite His words, to be
helpful to His creation, to do good deeds, to be kind and generous to people, to frequent the
mosque, to be among the forerunners! Do you expect to enter Paradise without exerting
yourself?! Yes entering Paradise is by the grace of Allah (mighty and exalted) but the means
of success is obedience. He who wastes his days and nights, will not succeed neither in his
religion nor worldly life.

We need to precede all other nations. The Islamic nation was the leader in the previous
centuries. What we see now, in the Western lands, where Europeans and Americans are
using time so effectively that people are astonished by it. We board a bus and see people
open books or novels. They read something. Enter a doctor’s clinic whilst people are waiting
for their appointments, you will see a woman taking a book out of her bag, a man holding a
book and reading it. Perhaps it is a trivial novel but they do not want to waste time. The
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) when we look at his life story, he
would invoke Allah the exalted in all his times. Why are you silent? Why are you wasting
time?

In a prophetic narration from Hind ibn Abi Halla, Imam Hussain (may Allah be pleased
with him) said, "I asked my father about the entrance and the exit of the Messenger of Allah
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)." This narration is weak, taken from Al-Tirmidhi
in the Prophetic characteristics, however, we may use it to acquaint ourselves in how the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) spent his time. "When he returns home
he would divide his time into three parts; one for his Lord, one for himself and one for the
people."

I say to you by God, if one of us enters his homes, and spend six, five hours or something
similar watching the Television, what time remains for his Lord? What is left of his worship;
in order to obey his Lord (praised and glorified)? Rather I say what remains for his
children? What remains for his family? Sitting with ones family to keep them company to
them in obedience and worship of Allah (mighty and exalted). Sit with children and guide
them, tell the children stories, stories of the righteous instead of cartoons, Children's movies
poison the minds of the young. Tell stories of the righteous, stories about our parents, our
grandparents, stories of truth and loyalty, stories about their ancestors. I go into some
houses and the children in them do not know the names of their living grandparents! To tell
your children stories about your parents and grandparents is better than sitting in front of
the television. Why do you waste time with pleasure and entertainment? Relief
from boredom? Most of the people do this and they know its prohibited. They know it has
no benefit but boredom has entered into the hearts of people.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) divided his time into three parts:
one for himself this was for food, drink and necessities. A second for Allah (Blessed and
exalted), acts of worship, obedience, reciting the Quran, invoking Allah (mighty and
majestic) and night prayer. The third part was to help the people alleviate difficulties in
their known fields or something similar. The key to this is to organise your time. One of us
does not know which part of the night in which they will sleep nor which part to be awake.
Nor what to do in the day or during any part of the day.

The Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would divide his time and organise
his time, for example it is narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him), which is taken from the collection of Al-Bukhari and Muslim, that our lady Aisha
(may Allah be pleased with her) states that the Prophet (peace and blessing of Allah be upon
him) would sleep until half of the night has passed and get up (peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him). The commentators mention that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him) would divide his night into six parts, he would sleep three parts of the night then
pray in the fourth and fifth parts then sleep the for the sixth part until Bilal (may Allah be
pleased with him) would come and wake him up (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him).

So the arrangement of time of the night is six parts as distinguished by the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him) used to sleep during the first half of the night. Doctors have proved that sleeping
the first half of the night is the most beneficial for people from the bouts of anger and
raving and shift nervous affecting humans, this is widespread these days, this is only
because of a lack of sleep in the first part of the night because some endocrines produce
excreta only in the first part of the night. The Sustainer of the worlds has made the night
tranquil for us as you informed us (praise be his), "We appointed night for a garment,
and We appointed day for a livelihood." (78:10-11). The night is tranquillity for people,
the night is a garment for people, a covering of well being. To clothe with a garment
serenity and tranquillity, it is not appropriate for people to change, as they say now there is
biological clock that Allah (mighty and majestic) put into people. Therefore reports have
been authenticated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) about the
night prayer (isha), "He disliked sleep before it and speaking after it." So when prayed the
night prayer he would go to bed. I say there is an exception for those want desire to study,
those who want help others from worries and those who intend to worship.

As for he who loses his time and does not organise it, then he will not be seen as counterpart
in negligence and folly. Time is the principal capital of a person. One counts his wealth then
why does he not count his hours? The righteous and the Gnostics of Allah (blessed and
mighty) count their breaths. Not one single breath leaves them without relying on Allah
(mighty and majestic), whilst remembering Allah (mighty and majestic), whilst watching
what comes from Allah (mighty and majestic). I am not saying it is necessary to count our
breaths rather count the hours, "Life is minutes and seconds." So lets count the minutes and
the seconds then look at what we do in them because this is what we will be shown on the
day of judgement. This is what you will find on the day of judgement, your works that you
have filled your time with.

The Imam Ibn Ata'allah As-Sakandari (may Allah show him mercy) said in The Aphorisms,
"Rights in time, can be fulfilled but the rights of time cannot be fulfilled." Meaning: If time
passes, it is not possible to perform an action in it, it is possible to make up for an action due
in that time but you cannot make up the time itself. If a day passes without action, without
exertion and hard work, a new day is not added to your life. As this is realised in this
wisdom, "Rights in the time, can be fulfilled." If you lost period of study then it is possible
that you could study the next day but your life does not increase a day. So you have truly
lost one day. Likewise in prayer, if you miss a prayer then its necessary to make it up but
you should have used this time in another act of worship and benefiting anew.

Let us seize these opportunities and these times, especially these days: The days of study,
exertion and struggle. Dear youth, Dear elders, Dear fathers maintaining the times, organise
the times, investment in times as man invests his capital. As man manages his capital then
let him invest in his time adequately, spend his time struggling and working hard
for religious and worldly affairs. I ask Allah (mighty and exalted) to give us success in our
good in the religion and worldly life. He is the hearing, close, responsive and all praise is for
Allah, the Sustainer of the worlds.