If a person’s home burns down, it can be rebuilt or another home can be bought… If a car is stolen or wrecked, it can be replaced or repaired… If wealth is lost, it can be recovered or re-earned… If a child is lost, then even though the child cannot be replaced, one can still have another child… However, if TIME is lost, it can NEVER be recovered or replaced, and there is nothing in the world that can compensate for lost time.
Whether a person is healthy or sick, young or old, wealthy or poor, intelligent or unintelligent, no matter who he is or where he is – he cannot escape time. As the clock ticks and moments pass, his death draws ever closer. Every moment that passes is relegated to history, to be remembered but never relived.
We all have aspirations and ambitions. “Perform my qadhaa salaah… Observe my qadhaa fasts… Ask so-and-so to forgive me… Repent from my sins… Change my life…” However, procrastination is the thief of time. We always decide that we’ll start ‘tomorrow’… Until it becomes the following day… And then after the holidays… The problem is that death does not discriminate, and death is not deterred by excuses. Death can strike at any moment. In order to secure our Jannah before we die, we need to make the change not today, but IMMEDIATELY.
When most people are asked why they don’t perform their qadhaa salaah, or recite the Quraan Majeed, or make ta’leem at home, or engage in some zikr of Allah Ta‘ala, the typical answer is, “I don’t have time.” The truth of the matter is that if a person considers something important enough, he won’t wait for some free time to stop by – he’ll make the time.
As such, we need to engage in some deep reflection. Let us identify our shortcomings, our ‘bad-debts’ (outstanding rights owed to Allah Ta‘ala or the creation) and those areas where we are wasting time. To our surprise, we may find that we are spending more time on our phones or tablets than we realized! Remember, even a few minutes here and there eventually add up and become hours. Instead of whiling away these hours, let us be savvy and smart and capitalize on every moment that we can.
The first step is to have a timetable. Allocate time for every responsibility (kids’ homework, chores, family time, ‘ibaadah, salaah, etc.) as well as a small amount for relaxation and unwinding. However, we need to be fair, realistic and practical in our allocation. For example, we should not allocate thirty minutes for a task that requires one hour, nor should we allocate one hour for Quraan recitation when we know that we will not manage more than twenty minutes.
After formulating a timetable, we have to monitor our progress, by daily noting whether we achieved our goals for that respective day (e.g. qadhaa salaah, zikr, etc.). At the end of the week, we should look back over the entire week to see whether we are progressing or not. If we are falling short in meeting our commitments, we need to identify the factors that ‘stole’ our time and work at eradicating them.
If we take this effort to value and utilize our time seriously, Allah Ta‘ala will bless us with great strides of progress, and through His mercy, we will achieve that which we never imagined possible.