Time is a trust

Time is a blessing (ni`mah) and it is also a trust (amanah) of Allah. It is reported in a Hadith that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Do not swear at time, because it is Allah Who is time.” (Muslim)

The scholars say this is a metaphorical (majaz) way of speaking. The meaning is that it is Allah who has created time and it is He who has given it to you. It is important that we use every moment wisely and do good and useful things. If we do wrong we should not blame time but ourselves.

Striking balance

Islam teaches us that we should manage our time in a proper and balanced way:

• Some time we should devote to our Lord and Creator by doing the acts of worship, remembering and thanking Him.
• We should give time to ourselves taking care of our physical needs.
• Also, we need to spend some time in study, Halal (lawful) earning and useful work.
• We should also dedicate some time to our families, our spouses, children and for other social needs.
• Sometime we should give to voluntary and charitable work to help others.

Watch out!

We should not spoil our time by committing sins or wasting it  in useless things. Let us not just count our days, weeks, months and years; let us make them countable and valuable in this life and in the eternal life.

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Let us make them blessed for us as well as for others. We have to be conscious of every moment of our life and keep in mind that we shall have to give the account of every moment. On the Day of Judgment Allah will ask:

{He will say, ‘How many years were you on earth?’ They will reply, ‘We stayed a day or a part of a day, but ask those who keep count.’

He will say, ‘You stayed but a little, if you had only known.

Did you think We had created you in vain, and that you would not be brought back to Us?’} (Al-Mu’minun 23:112-115)

4 Critical Questions

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained this: In a hadith reported by Mu`adh ibn Jabal, the Prophet said,

“The feet of any person shall not move from their place o n the Day of Judgment until he/she is asked about four things:

About his life, in which deeds he spent it?

About his youth, how he utilized it?

About his wealth, how did he earn it and how did he spend it?

About his knowledge, what did he do based on it?“ (At-Tabarani)

These are very serious questions. No one can avoid answering them or give false answers. Let us use our time in such a way that on that Day we would not regret or be ashamed and embarrassed by our answers.

May Allah bless us and keep us on the right path. Ameen.