In his Friday
Sermon of 27 April 2012, Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam International Hazrat Muhyiuddin Al Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim of Mauritius (aba) continued
his discourse on the significance of leading a full life in this world. Good
deeds form half of the Faith. Believers are to diligently pursue their noble
objectives on every single day of their lives. One must rank
one’s priorities and set objectives in terms of importance and try to
accomplish each of these tasks in the required time. The main duty or sacred
duty (Farz deed) must be fulfilled before performing a
supererogatory one, and this is equally valid for other cases. ‘Exploit
(your) time fairly and effectively’ and ‘not be among the
thoughtless and forgetful’, exhorts the Messenger of Allah of
our times.
Read the Extracts from the Sermon:
“...There is no favour to any particular person where time is
concerned. This is because the latter is split equally between men.
But some have more merit in how to manage, operate and profit from it. Allah
(swt), who evaluated time, and shared it among His servants,
distinguished some moments that are better than others.
In terms of ritual actions, Allah
(swt) has spared some time for the seasons where expected rewards are
increased, as the month of Ramadan and the first ten days of Dhul-Hijjah. Other
moments are more favourable to the fulfillment of prayers, as the last third of
every night, every Friday afternoon, the breaking of the fast for the faster,
and the sacred night (Laila-tul-Qadr) in the month of
Ramadan!
Every day you have before you a moment in the morning, a moment in the
evening and another at dawn, where you can raise your pure mind to the heavens
to win both favours of this world and the hereafter. Before you, there
are the seasons of the submission, the days of meditation and nights of
sacrifices, to which you refer to the Holy Book (the Quran) and the teaching of
the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him). Try then to be among those who
remember and call on their Lord, and not be among the thoughtless and forgetful.
Be those who act, not of those who laze. Enjoy your time, time is like the
sword, and neglect procrastination because there is nothing more harmful.
At the level of earthly actions, concerning the efforts of man to improve his
stay here on earth, Allah has made the precocious actions one of the factors of
their effectiveness and success. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him)
said: “O my God, let the precocity of mine (that is, my people) be
blessing and happiness for them.” The Muslim must therefore
be on the lookout for these precocious times, to want more (of them), so as to
bring together his life and religion.
Time planning and organisation of these priorities are factors which the
Muslim must absolutely hold on to, because these factors are crucial to exploit
time fairly and effectively. The people of the past understood this
wisdom, for while on his deathbed Hazrat Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (May
Allah be pleased with him) called Hazrat Umar (May Allah be
pleased with him) to give him the Khilafa and gave him this
advice: “Allah has rights during the day that He does not accept by
night and rights during the night which does not accept during the day. The
supererogatory deed is only accepted when the sacred duty has been fulfilled”.
These are words which Hazrat Abu Bakr (May Allah be pleased
with him) murmured in the ear of Hazrat Umar (May Allah be pleased with him) so
that he may carry the torch (of Khilafat) after him. He must
therefore be careful in planning and organising his time. He must rank his
priorities and set objectives in terms of importance, and to accomplish in the
required time each of his task. The main duty or sacred duty (Farz deed)
must be fulfilled before performing a supererogatory one, and this is equally
valid for other cases.
Planning time by the Muslim, his good exploitation (of time), are among the
principles, recommended by Hazrat Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (may
Allah be pleased with him) just before his death, and this is because he knew
full well the importance of time and the need to exploit it. That's why his
last wishes were a call to manage it well. This is a valuable rule that can be
summarised as follows: The importance is not that man accomplishes
anything at any time, but to perform an appropriate action at the right time.
Islam has encouraged Muslims to meet deadlines and keep promises.
Allah (swt) has praised the believers in these words: “And they who
are attentive to their trusts and honour their promises.” And
about Moses, He (Allah) said: “Then you came, O Moses, according to
a decree,” referring to actions which must arrive at the right
time, because the meaning of the verse is: You came at a time when We have
decreed (wanted) to send you as a messenger to Pharaoh.
The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) warned against broken promises, which he
counted among the signs of hypocrisy. And he (peace be upon him) said: “The
hypocrite is perceived by three signs: When he speaks he lies, when he promises
he breaks his promise, and when he is given something, he betrays.” Not
holding true to his engagement or pact, not realising the promises (made to
others) indeed to harm these other people and cause them to lose their time
waiting unnecessarily (for that person to honour his promise).
Islam has warned against losing time. It establishes the principles
that allow the Muslim to safeguard his own time. It requires that the Muslim
ask for permission: no one has the right for example, to just barge in
someone's home without asking permission. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him)
said about this: “You ask permission three times (knock on the door three
times). Then, either they give you permission or (then) return back on your
steps (that is, go away).”
Allah (swt) said: “O ye who believe! Do not enter houses other than
your own houses until you ascertain welcome and greet their inhabitants. That is
best for you; perhaps you will be reminded. And if you do not find anyone
therein, do not enter them until permission has been given you. And if it is
said to you, "Go back," then go back; it is purer for you. And Allah
is Knowing of what you do.” All this is to preserve the time of
Muslim and to prevent him from losing time in unannounced (and also
unnecessary) visits.
Among the diversions that waste time, we can name postponement of a good
deed and dishonoured promises (or such promises which people take a
very long time to honour). Whoever drags hopes (by not accomplishing his
promises) can only interfere with the action. Excessive hope leads to laziness,
encourages laziness and procrastination. It also leads to diversions and a
perverse want to be idle, and even to physical inactivity and extreme idleness
(which more often happens because of the pleasure they take in such
inactivity).
O son of Adam, beware of procrastination, because you live only today, not
tomorrow. So when you're in tomorrow do as you are today. And if you
have no tomorrow, then you will not regret anything today. Another word before
I end this sermon: One for whom today is like yesterday suffers harm, one for
whom today is worse than yesterday is cursed.
So, my brothers and sisters understand that the time for action is now behind
and will not return, the world is the scene of action, not of accounts,
while the Hereafter is the place of accounts, and not of action...”