Fatima Barkatulla – Seize Youth Before Old Age!

			I was just reflecting the other day on the fact that my father, throughout my childhood, I noticed
that he would spend the last 10 days of Ramadan in a teacup in a Masjid. And you know, it's not easy
to do. If you're in the masjid for 10 days, you're away from your family, you disconnect from the
world, and you disconnect from your normal routine, in order to devote that time, devote your energy
devote that space
		

			purely for the worship of Allah, and Allah and you spend that time in the masjid, a place where you
really feel away from the dunya from from the material world.
		

			And he used to do that every single year from when he was a teenager.
		

			Until recently, so nice in the 60s, and sometimes he's not able to do it tick off anymore. And I was
thinking about that. And then I saw this Hadith, in which the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
said that if a servant of Allah becomes ill, or he's traveling, then Allah subhanaw taala will write
for him.
		

			This the same deeds, as though he were not ill. And as though he were not traveling. So all the
deeds he would normally have done, if he wasn't ill. And if he wasn't traveling, a las panatela will
write those down as good deeds for him. So Pamela, what an amazing message. So what I realized is,
all those years my father had spent doing, it took off and all the good things that he was able to
do. Now that due to health due to old age, there were certain things he couldn't do as much of it
was okay because Allah Subhana Allah had seen him, do it in his youth. And so now, he would continue
to get that reward. Even though he wasn't spending that time in the masjid.
		

			I think from that we learn brothers and sisters that we really need to take benefit of five before
five as the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us to right take benefit of your life before
your death, your health, before your sickness, your free time before you are preoccupied your youth,
before your old age, and your wealth before your poverty. I wanted to give that message to you. So
that all of us, myself included, would really make the most of our youth make the most of these
years when we find it easy to worship Allah so that one day, if the day comes, when we can no longer
do the things that we used to do will continue to get the reward.