Time is a treasure that that is owned by the rich and the poor, and the prince and the commoner. However, it is regretfully a wasted treasure in the lives of many. Day and night follow each other and time passes without exception for any person.
Whoever contemplates the Quran and Sunnah will find a warning therein of the importance of time. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {“Then did you think that We created you uselessly and that to Us you would not be returned?"} [Quran 23:115]
It is a favor of Allah to make the day come after the night and so on. Whoever misses a deed in one of them can realize it in the other. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {And it is He Who has made the night and the day in succession for whoever desires to remember or desires gratitude.} [Quran 25:62]
The Prophet said: “A servant's two feet will not move on the Day of Judgment until he is questioned about four (things): His life and how he spent it, his youth and in what he wasted it, and his wealth and how he earned it and spent it.” [At-Tirmithi: Hasan Saheeh (Sound)]
Hence, half of the questions will be about time!
The importance of time is augmented in this blessed month of Ramadan. Everyone who wasted time before Ramadan needs to reconsider this in Ramadan to make the most of it, and whoever makes the most of his time before Ramadan needs to duplicate his efforts during Ramadan.
Dear Muslim sister,
The importance of time, as we mentioned, is multiplied in Ramadan. However, there are women who waste the nights of Ramadan in frivolities, staying up late and going out while the days of Ramadan are wasted either in sleeping or in the kitchen. Their slogan seems to be that Ramadan is the month of sleeping in the day and staying up at night! Perhaps, one Ramadan passes these women after another without them realizing their mistakes and shortcomings. This causes us to reset and start again from the beginning in every Ramadan which is a dreadful waste of time and, indeed, life.
Ibn Al-Qayyim said,
“The guidance of the Prophet was to perform numerous types of worship during Ramadan: Jibreel (the angel Gabriel) would review the Quran with him, and when Jibreel met with him, he was faster in spending charity than the blowing wind. He was the most generous of people, and he was at his most generous in Ramadan. At this time he used to give more in charity and treat people even more kindly; he would read more Quran, pray more, recite more Thikr (mentionings of Allah), and spend time in I’tikaaf (ritual seclusion). He would specify worship for Ramadan unlike for other months - to the extent that he used to extend his fasting sometimes in order to save hours of his day and night for worship (and not be eating therein) …” [Zaad Al-Ma`aad]
Dear Muslim sister,
Knowing that the life-spans of the members of the Ummah (nation) of Muhammad are short is a great motive to utilize one's life in beneficial matters. It is narrated that a Prophet from the previous nations passed by a woman crying for losing her son who was more than two-hundred years old. He consoled her saying, “How would you be if you witnessed a nation whose members lifespan is (only) between sixty and seventy?” She said, “Had I witnessed such an Ummah, I would have spent all that time in one prostration.”
However, Allah The Almighty gave this Ummah good deeds that bless its age as if the one who does them is granted a very long life. These deeds are like the praying at the Night of Qadr (decree), fasting six days of the month of Shawwaal, and praying at Al-Masjid Al-Haraam in Makkah, the Prophetic Mosque in Madeenah and Bayt Al-Maqdis in Jerusalem.
The quick elapse of time and swift succession of days is one of the signs of the Hour.
The righteous predecessors were keen on utilizing their time because they were well aware of its value. Ibn Mas‘ood said, “I've not regretted anything as I have regretted a day whose sun has set, making my life shorter, while my good deeds were not increased therein.”
Ibn Rajab narrated that there was a devout woman in Makkah who used to say at night, “O my soul, this night is your last night,” and so she would do her best in worshipping Allah. In the morning, she would say, “O my soul, this day is your last day,” and so she would do her best in worshipping Allah.
Once a man said to ‘Aamir ibn ‘Abd Qays “Stop so I can talk to you.” ‘Aamir replied, “Make the sun stop!”
Dear Muslim sister, if time is not spent in goodness, it will be spent in its opposite. No one can dispute this issue.
Dear Muslim sister, do not think that investing time in beneficial matters is limited to a certain type of women! Every woman can invest her time in her gaining knowledge and skills. She can invest her time in memorizing the Quran, seeking knowledge, teaching people, making Da‘wah (inviting to Islam), supporting the poor and the needy and collecting donations for them, and helping her elderly parent or both of them if they are alive. Each person will find it made easy for him to do what he or she has been created for.
Dear Muslim sister, it is the mercy of Allah that we are rewarded for our housework, sleeping, eating, taking care of one's husband and children and even in fulfilling our desires provided that we seek reward from Allah from these deeds and seek to draw nearer to Allah through them. You can also remember and mention Allah (Thikr) while you are doing your housework or any other work. Hence, you will attain the reward of Thikr and drawing nearer to Allah by this deed.
Dear Muslim sister, many women long to utilize time but lack the resolution that helps them do so. Hence, they ask about the means that help them make the most of their time. We say to them:
Fearing Allah and being watchful of Him drives the person to invest his time in doing acts of obedience and shunning prohibited matters. Among the Names of Allah are The Ever-Knowing, The Most-Wise, and The Observer.
These names of knowledge and encompassing everything fill the heart to become watchful of Allah in activity and inactivity. If the believer feels that Allah observes him, he will not be missing in a place that Allah commanded him to be present in and will never be seen in a place of sin.
Remembering death: When the person keeps death in his or her mind in addition to his or her ignorance of the time and place where death will overtake, this becomes a strong motive to seek a good end and to die in a state of obedience. So, such a person would fill their time with good deeds.
Accompanying righteous people who have sound minds, great determination and who wisely invest their times: we can define these people under the statement. “Those who make you remember Allah upon seeing them; their speech increases you in knowledge, their deeds remind you of the Hereafter and remembering them gives life to the hearts even if these people are dead - unlike those whose company causes the hearts to die even though they are living."
Being aware of the value of time, its importance, and that one will be held accountable for it: all this pushes one to do righteous deeds.
Beware of procrastination, for this is one of the soldiers of Satan. One should hasten to accomplish the deed before death comes between him and his deeds.
Once a prince invited a righteous person to a meal; the righteous man apologized because he was fasting. The prince said, “Break your fast and then fast tomorrow!” The man said, “Could you guarantee for me to live until tomorrow?”
Yes, sister in faith, can we guarantee living until tomorrow? Rather, can we guarantee to live to the end of this article?
Let us hasten to do good deeds and make the most of our time in Ramadan. It is very unlikely that the one who does not utilize her time in Ramadan will utilize it in other than Ramadan!