The Value of Time

Do you understand how valuable time is? Muslim scholars appreciated their time a long time before the West ever did. This is how they achieved their revival:

Al-Hasan Al-Basri said, "Every day the sun rises it calls upon us, "Oh people! I am a new day; I am an observer of your actions. Take advantage of me for I will not return until the Day of Judgment." "Oh, son of Adam you are nothing but a few breaths. Once one breath goes out, part of you goes with it. In the same way that part of you has gone, soon all of you will go."

Ibn Al-Quaym said, "Every gulp of air that goes out in a cause other than the cause of Allah (SWT) will turn to sorrow and regret on the Day of Judgment." He also said, "A sign that Allah (SWT) despises you is when you find yourself wasting your time with trivial matters; in this way you miss your chance of going to heaven. And a sign that Allah (SWT) likes you is when you find yourself fulfilling more duties than you have time for." A saying goes, 'The devil makes work for idle thumbs.' If you want to know whether Allah (SWT) is pleased with you, then think: Are you busy or idle?

Al-Muhasiby said, "I wish that time could be acquired with money. If so I would buy time from wasteful and ungrateful people so that I could spend it serving Allah (SWT)."

Ibn Masoud said, "I never regretted anything except a day that passed by without having increased my deeds."

Ibn Akeel wrote 'The Book of Arts', which contains 800 volumes. He used to say, "I don't eat like you do - I mix dry bread with water until it becomes liquid. This way I save time by just swallowing it instead of chewing it."

Abu-Yusuf, who was a student of Abu-Hanifa, once said, "Abu-Hanifa was on his death bed, when he asked for a paper and a pencil to solve a problem in jurisprudence, saying, if I have but one instant to live, I would spend it doing something that pleases Allah (SWT)."