Stop Wasting Time
Ash-Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abdil Aziz bin Ma’na (1385H)
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
A poet once said:
الوقت أنفس ما عنيت بحفظه و أراه أسهل ما عليك يضيع
The time is the most precious thing you try to preserve
Yet, I believe it’s the easiest thing to lose
When reflecting over theses words and what is included in their meanings a person should be drawn to give their time extra care by not wasting it, or letting pass by without doing good deeds. Thus, wasting time is wasting one’s life. Once time passes it can’t be replaced or exchanged for something else. The only thing a person can feel once he’s wasted time is regret and disappointment.
The regret and disappointment one feels can be explained in the words of Imam Ash-Shafa’I (رحمه الله)
زمانك سبف إن قطعته و إلا قطعك
Your time is a sword if you don’t cut it will cut you
و نفسك إن شغلتها بالحق و إلا شغلتها بالباطل
As for your soul; then either you busy it with what’s right or it will busy you with what’s wrong

When the intelligent person thinks about the words of Imam Ash-Shafa’I and words of the poet, he should be drawn to pay more attention to his time and how he spends it. For that reason, he must follow the righteous predecessors by doing the things they did with their time to avoid letting it go by being lazy or inactive. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Take advantage of five before five. Your youth before your old age, your health before your illness, your wealth before your broke, your free time before your busy, your life before your death.[1]
The Prophet (ﷺ) ordered us to regularly practice good deeds while we have the time and the ability to do so, before there comes a time when we are unable to do anything due to old age or a sicknesses , or being burdened with large responsibilities. A person can’t be so sure that once that time has past, he’ll be able to have that chance again. Moreover, a person should use their wealth Allah gave them while they have it; thus, spending from it regardless of the amount; seeking a reward in the next life. When a person contemplates over the Prophetic advice found in this hadith, he acts by it pursing happiness and success.
Among the most deprived and most miserable person is the one who wastes his life quarreling in falsehood and propaganda. The Prophet (ﷺ) warned against this in an authentic hadith collected by Abu Dawud(3597). The Prophet (ﷺ) if anyone disputes knowingly about something which is false, he remains in the displeasure of Allah till he desists.”
For this reason, the people who persist in supporting the spread of oppression of by way passing on lies and propaganda must be warned that their life is passing them by while Allah is angry with them.
Another way a person wastes his time is reading and looking at indecent magazines and books. Doing this corrupts a person’s behavior and this a this isn’t a noble trait. Instead a person should read books from reliable people who are educated in Islam and known being upright.
Taken from: Newspaper Articles of the senior scholars of KSA, vol 2,pg 282-284
Translated by Abu Aaliyah Abdullah ibn Dwight Battle
Doha, Qatar 1441 ©
Take Advantage of Five before Five : The Abu Aaliyah Gazette
[1] The hadith is collected in (9575 شعب الإيمان للبيهقي الحادي والسبعون من شعب الإيمان ) graded as Sahih by Imam Al-Albani