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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| What we lose and what we gain |
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| UmmWafi |
| 08/28/03 at 12:00:14 |
| [slm] Fear not my brothers and sisters, this is not yet another 3 am rambling :) Actually, since my workload escalated, I more often than not work on my assignments till like 2 or 3 in the morning :( I am so exhausted most of the time that switching on the laptop would have required strength equal to that of Samson's :-/ It is strange though since it is precisely because of my exhaustion that I started to have some very strange thoughts yesterday. I was talking to Wafi about his lost toy and when he went off I reflected on what I told him to make sure that I did not impart negative values. That was when I realised something. Usually when we talk about loss, we more often than not refer to a tangible loss. A loss of possession or loss of someone dear etc. Usually these losses cause a great pang and sadness in us. The question to us then, would we ever lose something we don't have in the first place ? No, because that would have been a logically impossible thing. If we understand truly the concept of Allah's ni'mah and blessings, we would realise that we often consider things that do not belong to us as ours. Our children do not belong to us. They are a temporary gift from Allah SWT, precious gifts for us to take care of to the best of our abilities. Still, we don't own them. Wealth, jobs, material condiments, they are not ours. They are loans from Allah SWT to ensure that we can have comfort in our life. Yet, why is it when Allah SWT Decides to take back any one of these things, which is rightly His, we feel a great sense of loss ? The ironical thing is, things we did actually lose, we didn't miss. Not only did we not feel a pang, but we did not even consider them as losses. I am talking of things like time. Indeed, when we have lost time on something totally unrelated to our journey to Allah SWT, why do we not mourn the loss ? Why do we not realise that we have lost something precious. When we get angry with something or at someone and allow our anger to overcome us, we lose the ability to hold rein over our iman and mind. Why do we not feel sad and grieve ? I realise, sitting there, that I am totally whacked in the head. I have had losses, huge losses in the course of my life. I think I need to do a lot of grieving, not for that broken piece of crystal vase but for all those times I lost sense of what time really means. Wassalam |
| Re: What we lose and what we gain |
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| Nisa |
| 08/28/03 at 12:32:09 |
| [slm] Dear ukthi....truly inspirational words....indeed all the things we possess are not our possessions at all. We are loaned these things instead as you rightly said, by the Almighty. This surah came to mind as I read your thoughts: bsm 1 By Al-'Asr (the time). 2 Verily! Man is in loss, 3 Except those who believe (in Islamic Monotheism) and do righteous good deeds, and recommend one another to the truth (i.e. order one another to perform all kinds of good deeds (Al-Ma'ruf)which Allah has ordained, and abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds (Al-Munkar)which Allah has forbidden), and recommend one another to patience (for the sufferings, harms, and injuries which one may encounter in Allah's Cause during preaching His religion of Islamic Monotheism or Jihad, etc.). It is only when we realize how precious the time in this existence is, and how when we use each and every moment in the submissive state we were created....that we can be hopeful of the eternal bliss that is concealed from us. May we all use our time in the best way, so we may return to Allah swt with Him well pleased with us, Ameen! JazakiAllah khair sis UmmWafi. :) [wlm] |
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| WhatDFish |
| 08/28/03 at 22:36:13 |
| Ensure Benefiting From Time Khaled Al-Jeraisy Time Management - An Islamic View © Author Islam encourages Muslims to care for time, to utilize it and not to waste it. Besides, it holds them responsible for their time. The Righteous Salaf were aware of that responsibility, so they acted accordingly. Describing their care for time, Hassan Al-Basry said, "I saw those people and how they were more careful about their time than about their Dirhams and Dinars [i.e. their money]." [Abdullah Ibn-Al-Mubarak, "Az-Zuhd" (Asceticism), p.51.] An important requirement for a Muslim's life is to be careful about time, to invest it wisely and to benefit from it. In this regard, Ibn-ul Qayyim says, "The highest, most worthy and most useful of reflection is what is intended for Allah and the Hereafter. There are various forms of reflection intended for Allah. One of them is reflecting on time duty and function and focusing entirely on it, for the knowledgeable one is the breed of his time. If he wastes it, all his interests are wasted, for all interests arise from time. If he wastes his time, he can never regain it." Also, Imam Shafi'i said, "Out of my company with Sufis, I benefited only two things, one of which is their saying: like a sword, time will cut you if you do not cut it. ..." In other words, if you do not spend time doing something useful, you are the loser by wasting it. As expressed by Imam Hassan Al-Banna, "Time is life itself." This reflects Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah's saying: "One's time is in fact his age. It is the material of his eternal life either in everlasting joy or painful torture. It passes more quickly than clouds do. It is only the time one dedicates to Allah that constitutes one's real life and age. The rest does not count; the life he leads in it is only animal life. Compared to a life of indulgence in appetitive activities, false aspirations and negligence of Allah's remembrance - and at best in sleep and being idle - death is a much better alternative." Time is considered a vehicle for work. According to Ibn-ul-Qayyim, "The year is like a tree, months are its branches, days are the branch sticks, hours are its leaves, and the breaths are its fruits. Therefore, if one's breaths are in obedience [to Allah and His Messenger], the fruits of his tree are good. If they are in disobedience, his fruits are bitter. The harvest is on the Appointed Day, when one's fruits are found out to be either good or bitter." Such is the Islamic view of time, and such were the ways of the Salaf ways with it. How do we compare with them now?! Obviously, there is a big gap between the way they cared for time and the way we are wasting it. The sad and painful thing about us now is that "our nation has been improvising ways of wasting time at the public and the private levels. As a result, the world is already proceeding to the future without us, as if we were the 'orphans of history'. If such improvisation is not directed to investing and utilizing our time properly, the gap between us and the future will widen further, and we will remain importers and consumers of cultural products. Eventually, our survival will be entirely dependent on the producers of those products." [Khuldun Al-Ahdab, "Reflections on the Value of Time"] Therefore, Muslims must unite their efforts to identify weaknesses for treatment, and must give time its due attention as demanded by Islam. The following are some of the most important duties demanded of Muslims: Ensuring benefiting from time Utilizing leisure time Racing for good deeds Learning from the passage of time Seeking the superior times Planning and organizing time Fulfillment of time commitments Necessary awareness of time wasters |
| Re: What we lose and what we gain |
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| Anonymous |
| 09/03/03 at 04:12:40 |
| n the name of Allah Peace be upon you all! Jazakee Allah Khair sister for putting things into perspective. This is so important that I wish you would change the title of this post to 'Marriage' or some other popular Madina topic -just for the sake of the message. You are correct. Most of us are lost in our wordly counts that we don't know what we are losing. |
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