By Maqsood Ahmed OBE
As the new year begins, many people reflect on the time that has passed and whether full use of this precious gift was made. This short paper explains what Islam has to say about time and how to use it effectively.
Nowadays, our attitude towards time can be summarised in two observations:
1. We do not value time, though we know it is such a precious gift from Allah. With so many blessings like money and health, a person can always retain it after losing it. But we cannot turn the clocks back. Once we have lost one minute of our lives, then it will never return. Time cannot be purchased. Billionaires today can buy everything, influence, property, manpower, titles, peerages and so much more. But they cannot purchase more time. Steve Jobs could afford everything, but he could not afford to pay for more time on earth.
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) knew we would be neglectful of this great favour and hence said. ‘There are two gifts in which man is often cheated; free time and health.’
1. We are cheated in the sense that we only value it once we lose it.
2. We often complain of how fast time is passing. If true, then this itself is a sign that Judgement Day is coming. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said in a hadith reported by Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him)
‘The Hour will not come until time feels closer. So, a year will feel like a month, and a month will feel like a week, and a week will feel like a day, and a day will feel like an hour, and an hour will be quick as a flash.’
3. These two points are related. It is precisely because we do not value time properly, we end up complaining about its swift passing. Our ‘we have all the time in the world’ attitude means we spend a disproportionate amount of time in pursuit of amusement and less in serious work. Then when we fall behind in deadlines and realise it is December already, we shift the blame on time by cursing it, rather than lamenting ourselves for not utilising it properly. Cursing time is a form of scapegoating. Many of our woes and ill-fortunes are down to our actions in the time that Allah has given us. It is not time’s fault.
Islam’s position, Allah constantly sends us signs that time is short. For example, we see the passing away of youngsters all the time now. Death is no longer the sole prerogative of the elderly; it is sudden and unexpected, like the Pandemic unfortunately showed.
How do we get the most out of this great gift of Allah in the form of time? What does Islam say on time management? How can we give more time to Allah?
a. Learn to prioritise. The basis for understanding time management in Islam is to appreciate that we will never live long enough to complete everything we want to. Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) explained this brilliantly once when he placed three marks in three places on the bare ground. One was placed next to him, one far away and one a few feet in front of him. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) explained that the line nearest to him represented man. The mark furthest away from him represented his long list of desires, wishes and dreams. In between these two marks was the third one that represented death.
The point that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) made was that man always has a long ‘bucket list’, but death always come in between him and these wishes. In short, he never has time to complete everything he wants to in life. So, he just must learn to prioritise the most important and beneficial things on his long list.
This is the wrong attitude to have. When we are busy with worldly matters, the answer lies in more time to Allah, not less. He is the Creator of time. He will create baraka (blessings) in time for us. This hadith qudsī explains the matter perfectly.
Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said that Allah said: ‘O son of Adam! Find quality time for My worship, I will in return fill your chest with riches and put an end to your poverty. And if you do not, then I will fill your hands with too much to do and I will not end your poverty.’3
Allah asks for us to set quality time aside in our lives for His worship. ‘Quality’ – in the words of Mulla Ali Qārī – means ‘emptying our hearts from everything other than Allah as we worship Him’.4 In return, He will make us rich. But if we treat His worship as a
burden or a heartless ritual, then in return Allah will fill our hands with too many things to do, most of which do not bring benefit. Worse still, we will work ridiculous hours but still struggle to pay the bills.
So, finding quality time for Allah opens and increases our time, it does not restrict it. Give time to Allah and Allah will provide you ample time to finish your worldly duties. The time we don’t have for Allah is the very time Allah has given us.
