Losing Time

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم 

Time is a precious capital and we are losing it with each breath we take.

Allah tells us in Surah Al-'Asr the fact that all human beings are actually drowning in loss, i.e. failing, except those who can accomplished these four things -- they believe, they do good deeds, they counsel/advise each other truthfully, they counsel/advise each other patiently.

وَٱلْعَصْرِ‌ ﴿١﴾ إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ لَفِى خُسْرٍ‌ ﴿٢﴾ إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ وَتَوَاصَوْا۟ بِٱلْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوْا۟ بِٱلصَّبْرِ‌ ﴿٣

By time, (1) Indeed, mankind is in loss, (2) Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience. (3)

[Qur'an, Al-'Asr 102:1-3]

When you read any passage in the Qur'an, it talks about one of these four things -- 1) how to believe and what to believe, 2) tell about faith or some kind of good deed, 3) how people give advise, and 4) they didn't just give counsel and ran out of steam, but they are patient and stick to it.

In this Surah, Allah swears by Time. Why? Could be for a number of reasons - Allah is possibly angry; or people are not taking Time seriously - people hear but they don't care; a way to grab our attention with time itself; or Allah himself is testifying that human beings are in loss. The idea of Time is a sense of urgency. Allah will swear by something in order to give us evidence and in order to describe a witness. This is the Qur'anic reason, and is the most powerful. Allah will take whatever He swears by (in this case Time) and He will bring it forward and make it a witness to reality.

Time, as in history, is the greatest witness that human beings are in loss. Time itself has been watching human beings played out the drama of their lives over and over again. If you can ask Time, how we have been doing, Time will say, 'Human beings are just in loss!' Nations come and they think they are doing well and they disobeyed Allah. So they get destroyed. For example, the nation of Thamud and 'Ad. People have wealth and they lose their sense of right and wrong. A young man hits puberty and he thinks he owns the world and talks to his parents how ever way he wants. A girl feels she is an adult now and she can dress how ever way she wants and hangs out with who ever she wants and you can't control her. And then they crashed.

Time has witnessed everything over and over again throughout the ages, no difference in what people do and desire, except different players. Allah is calling Time as a witness. In fact, in our personal life, Time is a witness. Whatever you have gone through in life, Allah created Time as a witness -- the lies you've made, the mistakes you've made, the moments of regret, the decisions you've made and you wish you didn't make, the things you've done in secret, time is always there witnessing.

You don't have a whole life ahead of you. Who knows how long you will live. Did the people in the graves knew when they were going to die? Some people had a lot of time on this earth and some people didn't have a lot of time on this earth. People died at different age, not just old people, not just sick people. This means, all of us who are still breathing should have a sense of urgency and make good use of the time we have left.

If we look back at our life, every one of us can say, "I could have done better." It doesn't matter who you are, young or old, rich or poor, sick or healthy, one thing we can never get back is time that we have lost. Once this moment is gone, once today is over, they are not coming back. They are gone forever. It's a loss that cannot be recovered. And every single day, the time that we lose increases. The ultimate proof of loss is time. People who think they are on top of the world because they have money, health, status, titles, beauty, youth and so on, when time passes through, those things don't mean anything. You can hold on to it as long as you can but what you cannot hold on to is time. Don't be obsessed with the wrong things.

Like any business the aim is to maximize the return in our investment. We can profit, break even or even lose all our capital. It all depends on how we use our capital. So, invest your time prudently -- work on and strengthen your faith, rush to good deeds, counsel/advise each other truthfully, and counsel/advise each other patiently.

May Allah keep us on the straight path, make us of those who are consistent in doing righteous deeds and grant us sincerity and patience. Ameen.

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