TAKE ADVANTAGE OF 5 BEFORE 5 Alhamdulillaah,was-Solaatu was-Salaam alaa man laa Nabiyya badah. Before I proceed, the Prophet (sallqllaahu alaehi wa sallam) said, “I have been blessed with concise speech.” Therefore, when we look at the precious pearls that came out of the Prophet’s mouth, we find that many of his Ahaadeeth are in fact treasure chests of wisdom. The words might be small, but the meanings behind them are #great. The speech might be succinct, but the benefits and the blessings that can be derived from them are #innumerable. & of the Ahaadeeth that are jawaami’ or comprehensive in nature, is the Hadeeth of Ibn Abbaas (Rodiyallaahu anhu) reported in the mustadrak of Al-Haakim, musnad Imaam Ahmad, & others, with an authentic chain of narration. In this Hadeeth the Prophet said to a man while he was advising him:- “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 your preoccupation - And your life before your death.” YOUTH BEFORE OLD AGE One of the things that most people take for granted is their youth. When people are young, they are full of energy & are capable of doing so many things, but often we see that this energy is wasted in one way or another. When people lose their youth, they inevitably find it harder to do those deeds & acts of worship that they found somewhat easier to do at a younger age. With old age, people find it harder to keep Fard (obligatory) fasts, they may not be able to perform wudoo properly or to pray properly, & they may not have the energy to recite the Qur’aan very often. But when we are young we are full of energy, & we should use that energy to help others when we can...& in helping those in need, we don’t have to have deep pockets or donate thousands of pounds to charity every month, there are so many ways in which we can benefit others. The Prophet (Sollallaahu alaehi wa sallam) said: ‘Every Muslim has to give in charity… [and if he has nothing to give] he should work with his hands … and give in charity (from what he earns)… [and if he cant do that] he should help the needy who appeal for help…’ (Bukhari) & we know ‘Charity’ in Islaam does not necessarily mean just giving money. In the Qur’aan, charity is referred to as ‘spending out of what Allaah has given you.’ This reminds us that charity does not have to be purely monetary. It can be given through the spending of energy, talent, resources, or whatever else, to help & do good to those in need, as the Prophet said: ‘Every act of goodness is a charity.’ (Muslim) It is common to hear young people claim that they will start ‘practising’ Islaam when they get older. We should always be mindful of the fact that ‘older’ may never come around for us. We have no guarantee that we will even be alive tomorrow, let alone be alive to see our pensions, or our grandchildren. & even if we are blessed with a long life, how can we be sure that we have the health – physically & mentally – to practise Islaam? On top of all this, we should remember that people do not just magically become ‘good’ overnight; often, we find that bad habits are hard to shift – what if we can’t get rid of our bad habits when we get old? #ThinkAboutIt HEALTH BEFORE SICKNESS As with our youth, we often take for granted our health. We are advised to take advantage of our good health before we are overcome with illness or disability. What we often don’t realise is that our health is a blessing from Allaah, when we are in good health, we take it for granted & don’t always appreciate what we have. It is only when we fall ill that we realise what a great thing we had & how we let it go to waste by not doing as much ‘Ibaadah (worship) as we know we could & should have done. One example of where people are restricted from carrying out acts of ‘Ibaadah due to poor health, is fasting. When most people are young & have the health to fast, they don’t make the time or effort to keep Naafil (non-obligatory) fasts. Often we find that we struggle to keep our fard fasts during Ramadan, & we have no intention at all to keep the sunnah fasts during the rest of the year. Subhaanallaah! While we have our health, we often find ourselves making excuses for missing optional Prayers (Solah) – ‘I have class/lecture’ for not making the time to recite or memorise the Qur’aan – ‘I have an essay deadline tomorrow’ for not attending circles or sittings of knowledge & so on. We need to be aware of the fact that there is no guarantee of our good health. There are so many things that can happen that can leave us full of regret for not having taken advantage of what we had when we had it. What if something was to happen to you on your way home from university/school or work tomorrow? An accident that can leave you paralysed so that you cannot perform your prayers properly. You may develop health problems that stop you from fasting. You can lose your eyesight so that you cannot see or recite the Qur’aan. Any of these things can happen at any time to any one of us wallaah!. #ThinkAboutThatToo WEALTH BEFORE POVERTY Wealth is another blessing granted to us by Allaah. Wealth in this context does not necessarily mean that we have large amounts of savings, or the fact that we can afford a huge house, a top-of-the-range car & a state of the art media system. The simpler things such as a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs & food in our fridges or cupboard make us amongst the world’s wealthiest people – Abi you dont know? A fact that we, more often than not seem to overlook, particularly when we see people that have a lot more worldly possessions than we do. There are millions of people in the world today that don’t even have a drop of clean water to drink, & they don’t know where their next meal will be coming from. These are the people that we need to be helping with our wealth. Even a small donation can go a long way. We should give as much as we can in the way of Allaah, & we are assured of the rewards for doing so by Allaah, as He says: The likeness of those who spend their money for Allah’s sake, is as the likeness of a grain (of corn), it grows seven ears, every single ear has a hundred grains, and Allah multiplies (increases the reward) for whom He wills, and Allah is All-Sufficient for His creatures needs, All Knower. (Al-Baqarah: 261) FREE TIME BEFORE PREOCCUPATION Islaam always encourages us to make the most of our time, & to spend as much of it as possible in the way of Allaah. We should utilise the time we have available to do as much good as we can, because before we know it, this time will have pass. As mentioned above, we should use the time we have in our youth to do as much in the way of Allaah as possible, because as time passes as well as having to contend with old age & all that entails, we will inevitably have a lot more things to worry about, like jobs, homes & families – things that most of us at this present moment aren’t necessarily worried about. If we think that finding the time to practise Islaam is difficult now, what will we do when life really starts to pick up pace? There is nothing wrong with getting married & having a family, but we should appreciate the relative freedom that we have now, & spend as much of it as we can on good deeds. The concept of time is so important in Islaam that Allaah swears by it in the Qur’aan: By [the token of] Time. Verily Man is in loss, except such as have faith and do good deeds... (Surah Al-‘Asr) In line with the above verses we have to discipline ourselves by giving value to the importance of time. We should be prompt in doing good deeds, which will increase our faith & subsequently enable us to gain Allaah’s Pleasure & Mercy. LIFE BEFORE DEATH The last thing that we have been advised to take advantage of is our life before our death. Every night when we go to sleep, we enter a state where our soul leaves us. When we wake up, it is only because Allaah has blessed us by returning our souls & granting us the opportunity to worship Him for time. Upon waking up in the morning, the Prophet (Sollallaahu alaehi wa sallam) used to say (and we are also encouraged to do the same): Alhamdulillaahi Alladhee ahyaanaa bada maa amaatanaa, wa ilaehin-Nushoor. Meaning - ‘Praise be to Allaah who gave me life after death, and to Him is the final return.’ (Bukhaari) Often we do not fully appreciate how great a blessing it is to be given another chance. We become relaxed about death, & we don’t fully comprehend or appreciate that at some point – & only Allaah knows when our life will be taken away from us for good, leaving no second chance, no opportunity to make up for the wrongs we have done, & no turning back time. We must not forget what a mercy life is. We should savour every moment & use it to our best advantage. This means pleasing Allaah in order to achieve our ultimate goal – Al Jannah. Good things don’t just come to us – we have to strive for them, day in & day out. Whether we are at school or work, or if we are raising a family to excel in what we do, we know that we have to work hard, & the harder we work, the better the reward. Jannah is no exception to this. & we know that, if we strive hard enough, Allaah will reward us with the ultimate prize (Al Jannah), insha Allaah. Subhaanaka Allaahumma wabihamdik, Ash hadu an laa ilaaha illa anta, Astaghfiruka wa atoobu ilaek.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 06:18:23 +0000