(S.O.S. – ‘Saving Our Seconds’ Series – Part Three)

Surah ‘Asr is a surah of the Quraan Majeed dedicated to the importance of time. In this surah, Allah Ta‘ala explains that every person is in a loss regarding his time, unless he holds onto four actions. Hence, we understand that spending one’s time fruitfully and productively revolves around a person engaging himself in these actions.

These four actions are; making effort on imaan, carrying out righteous deeds, encouraging others towards righteousness and encouraging people to remain steadfast and persevere.

In essence, these four actions revolve around a person either improving his own Deeni condition, or the Deeni condition of others. In this regard, every person is able to influence certain people in certain ways. Parents have authority over their children, the older siblings have some control or at least influence over their younger siblings, and friends are able to encourage and motivate one another as well.

In this day and age, when we and our children are exposed to influences of kufr more than ever before, it is utterly vital that we make a concerted effort to strengthen and fortify our imaan. After going through the educational mill of the secular system, there are many who are left confused, unsure as to whether we are descended from Nabi Aadam (‘alaihis salaam) or some ape in the jungle. With the majority of our time spent in this system, it is easy to understand how the imaan becomes weak, until even a fundamental belief is eroded and destroyed.

It is an undeniable fact that the world has ‘progressed’ and times have changed. However, from an Islamic point of view, things have changed for the worse. Sin is now easier to commit, haraam is now easier to consume, shame and modesty are now ‘endangered qualities’ and the list of threats to the imaan of Muslims goes on. When the threats to Islam and imaan are now so much greater than before, it demands that we too step up our efforts to safeguard our imaan. The key is to implement a programme within the home which will cater for all the imaani needs of a Muslim in the twenty first century.

The foundation of this programme is daily ta’leem in the home. This ta’leem will comprise of reading from Fazaail-e-Aa’maal and Fazaail-e-Sadaqaat. Additionally, making du‘aa as a family and sitting together to engage in zikr and recite the Quraan Majeed will transform the environment of the home into one of imaan and Deen.

Furthermore, we have to watch our children with a hawk’s eye. Before, a person would have to leave the home to commit zina. Now, a child can lie in his bed, plugged into his earphones, viewing the most obscene and filthy acts imaginable, with no person the wiser (may Allah Ta‘ala save us all, aameen). If we do not adopt certain steps, such as controlling internet access and usage, there will be a great chance of us failing in our parental responsibility of saving our children from sin.