بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) advised us to: “Take benefit of five before five: Your youth before your old age, your health before your sickness, your wealth before your poverty, your free time before you are preoccupied, and your life before your death”
(Narrated by Ibn 'Abbas and reported by Al Hakim)
Take your youth before your old age.
The finest part of a Muslim youth is finding the purpose of being, striving for the hereafter and in the paths of righteousness. It’s all very easy to attain inshaa Allah. Just instill the importance of bestowing your life to applying Islamic values, no matter how trivial.
Some of the most delightful characteristics beloved to Allah: being grateful and dutiful to your parents, being truthful, being trustworthy, exercising patience and self-restraint, staying focused, being determined, avoiding idle talk/chats, not being wasteful (by wasting your blessings, including your time and health), striving to be pious (having taqwa), and not being attracted to worldly things or being indifference towards the material world (zuhd). Try possessing these qualities and grow to be an honorable adult in the community of Islam.
Be grateful and dutiful to your parents.
Our youth usually try to avoid their parents. They don’t want their parents interfering in their lives. But no guidance is better in this world than that of your parents’. They too have dreams about you and they yearn to see these dreams come true. They might have endured a lot of difficulties that you haven’t seen. So be grateful and dutiful to your parents and seek their advice in everything you do, no matter how successful or knowledgeable you think you are. Remember, one day you will be old like your parents, if you live to old age, and you will reap what you sow.
And We have enjoined upon man [care] for his parents. His mother carried him, [increasing her] in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning is in two years. Be grateful to Me and to your parents; to Me is the [final] destination. [Quran, 31:14]
Be truthful.
“This is the Day when the truthful will benefit from their truthfulness.” For them are gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever, Allah being pleased with them, and they with Him. That is the great attainment. [Quran, 5:119]
The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, as narrated by Abdullah (ra): Truthfulness leads to righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise. And a man keeps on telling the truth until he becomes a truthful person. Falsehood leads to wickedness or evil-doing, and wickedness leads to the (Hell) fire, and a man may keep on telling lies till he is written before Allah, a liar. (Bukhari)
Be trustworthy.
The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) was trustworthy among His companions, among His wives, and among non-Muslims, and many relied on him when involved in business transactions.
There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion. The right course has become clear from the wrong. So, whoever disbelieves in Taghut and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy handhold with no break in it. And Allah is Hearing and Knowing. [Quran, 2:256]
Exercise patience and self-restraint.
These are some common circumstances teenagers face in this challenging world and if you exercise self-restraint and patience, you will have no regrets and will attain great heights in your life. Allah (swt) will be pleased with you and you will be rewarded with highest ranks in the hereafter.
But none is granted it except those who are patient, and none is granted it except one having a great portion [of good]. [Quran, 41:35]
Stay focused.
Do you daydream during class? Can you make a brief account of what you learned few minutes ago? Can you pay full attention when performing a task?
These are just a few attention problems faced by teenagers. A simple way to solve them is to focus on prayer. If you pay complete attention to your salah, you’ll be learning to grant the same concentration to your other activities.
And they who carefully maintain their prayers – Those are the inheritors Who will inherit al-Firdaus. They will abide therein eternally. [Quran, 23:9-11]
Be determined.
If you are not firm with your purpose, you will never know where you are heading and what your life is. All your activities, from your school works to the prayers, everything will be in vain. The main aspect that requires to succeed is determination.
O my son, establish prayer, enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and be patient over what befalls you. Indeed, [all] that is of the matters [requiring] determination. [Quran, 31:17]
Avoid idle talks/chats.
It’s a custom among youth to involve in idle talks and chats.
And of the people is he who buys the amusement of speech to mislead [others] from the way of Allah without knowledge and who takes it in ridicule. Those will have a humiliating punishment. [Quran, 31:6]
It won’t be a mistake to your eyes. Even if it is so, you will consider it as a very minute mistake, but Allah will bring it forth on the day of judgement.
[And Luqman said], “O my son, indeed if wrong should be the weight of a mustard seed and should be within a rock or [anywhere] in the heavens or in the earth, Allah will bring it forth. Indeed, Allah is Subtle and Acquainted. [Quran, 31:16]
Don’t waste time and money.
Spending lavishly on unnecessary things, spending your time unproductively, watching TV, listening to music, wasting money on weddings, etc. Avoid wasting, even if you are to eat and drink.
. . . and eat and drink but be not excessive. Indeed, He likes not those who commit excess. [Quran, 7:31]
Strive to be pious.
If you’re a pious believer, then you’ll most probably possess all the qualities listed above. If you fear that Allah is watching you all the time; you will be in gratitude to your parents, you will be truthful and trustworthy, you will avoid idle talks, you will be cognizant about how you spend your time and money, and how you use the blessings of Allah, etc. Thus, try to be pious. You will observe how the above qualities come within you.
O children of Adam, we have bestowed upon you clothing to conceal your private parts and as adornment. But the clothing of righteousness – that is best. That is from the signs of Allah that perhaps they will remember. [Quran, 7:26]
Don’t be attracted by worldly things/being indifference towards the material world (zuhd).
Remember Allah is watching and that we will be recompensed for everything we do.
O mankind fear your Lord and fear a Day when no father will avail his son, nor will a son avail his father at all. Indeed, the promise of Allah is truth, so let not the worldly life delude you and be not deceived about Allah by the Deceiver. [Quran, 31:33]
If you live according to what Allah has said, obeying His commands and controlling yourself from the youthful passions, you will not only be victorious in this life, but also in the hereafter.
There are sevensuch persons for whom Allah will provide shade from His shade on that day where there will be no other shade except His. They will be: A just ruler, a youth who was nurtured in the obedience of Allah . . . [Bukhari]
May Allah make us among the righteous and shade us under His Shade. Ameen.
Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wasallam.
And Allah knows best and is Most Wise, and He alone grants success, and to Him is the final return of all.
Wassalaam
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