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S01E22 – Punctuality (Part 1) – Why it’s Important to Be On Time!
Date:
Channel: Muslim Life Hackers
Series: Muslim Life Hackers - Season 1
File Size: 8.45MB
Episode Notes
Being late once in a while, be it an emergency or a situation completely out of your control is one thing but what about if it’s habitual?
You always seem to be find yourself being late for everything?
If that sounds familiar to you then check out this week’s podcast.
In the first of the two part series, Mifrah explains why it is important to be on time and what is expected from us as a Muslim.
Episode Transcript ©
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Episode 22 Welcome to the Muslim life hackers podcast, the weekly podcast providing you with tips and tricks on how to hack your life and maximize its potential. And now for your hosts Mithra maroof and Mahima lake.
As we said, the crisis see
Assalamu alaikum Muslim life hackers, this is me for America with the 22nd episode of the Muslim life hackers podcast. In this podcast, I'm going to be speaking to you about why it is important to be on time. So you see, being late once in a while being an emergency, or a situation completely out of your control is one thing. But what about if it's regular? Like you always find yourself being late for everything? If that's the case, then you might want to listen to this podcast. Because in these two podcasts I'm going to be speaking to you about First of all, why is it important to be on time, and what's expected from us as a Muslim. And in my next podcast, I'm going to be discussing
why exactly we are late and how to make sure we're early like put things in place to make sure that we turn up on time. Also Show Notes for this episode can be found at Muslim life hackers.com slash 22. That's the number 22. But before I begin, did you know that will sim life hackers is releasing a free ebook called the Race to the Top the Muslim life Hacker's guide to a successful Ramadan. If you haven't been check it out by going to Muslim life hackers.com slash Ramadan, and make this Ramadan extra special for yourself. Okay, so going back to our topic, why is it important to be early and on time, you know, for example, you gave
you gave the other party, your word that you're going to be there on a certain time, or it can be that the other party expected you to be there at a certain time. So we can say it can be a meeting, it can be a class or work, or anything which you have to be there. Like you have to be that certain time.
Why is it so important to be early to these places and not late? And why is it that we should strive to be on time when we attend these commitments? Well, first of all,
the thing that you know, we can all relate to is that it you're avoiding stressful situations. So imagine that you had an important meeting to go to. So you're running late, and you're probably speeding, you're taking a short route, you know, you're watching every red light in anticipation, or, you know, if you were catching public transport, then you might find yourself running behind a bus or, you know, like, that's my trainer, like jumping on it as fast as he can. And, you know, after all that double Oh, seven James Bond action, how would that leave you? It would, you know, make you feel stressed, exhausted. And really, it's not a good state. And imagine if you came to
this important meeting in that state, I mean,
you won't be able to perform that well. And by being there early, and on time, you can be more calm, you can be control of the situation, and you can operate at your best. So just that simple thing makes a difference makes a difference to the actual, to the actual time that's being spent. The second reason why it's important to be on time, is that it's because people will take you more seriously. There was a quote by Benjamin Franklin, in which he said to one of his employees who was always late, and he was ready with an excuse each time and Benjamin Franklin said, this quote, I've generally found that the man who is good at an excuse is good for nothing else. So you see, when
you're on time, to your commitments, then you become a person of integrity, you you're known as a person of integrity that you keep your word. And when you're early, you're actually showing discipline that you're able to take care of your time, you're able to fit in a commitment be there on time, and you can be trusted with time and in turn, it means that you can also be trusted with other things and people would find that they can trust you more. Because you see, if a person is careless with their time, then the question will arise. What else are they careless about? Would they be careless with with with Evie killers, if they were given that extra promotion or that
opportunity or, you know, these little things actually matter. And when you're punctual, it actually shows that you can organize your time successfully. So that's another thing. So the second reason being people will take you more seriously. The third reason why it's important to be on time, is that it builds your confidence. Because you see, the more you show up on time, the more you
Keep the promises you make. And the more control you feel, ultimately, and all these things, what it does it, it builds your confidence. And when you have an increase of confidence, then that opens the door to our next point, which is one of the benefits of being on time is that it opens the doors to opportunities in life. There's another quote that I'd like to mention, and it was by a person named Rev. W. Fisk, and he said, I give it as my deliberate and solemn conviction that the individual who's habitually tardy in meeting an appointment will never be respected or successful in life. So, pretty much he was saying that a person who can't keep on like he's always on, he's always running
late to an appointment, or he's just can't be on time will never be respected or successful in life. I mean, this something to think about there. So when you start taking your commitment seriously, and you, you know, aim to be early and on time, then what would happen is that people will take you seriously, you be known as someone that can be trusted, and you will build confidence yourself. And what that does is open the doors to more opportunities in life, which in turn really benefits you. So it's amazing how just being some minutes in advance for a meeting or something that you've decided to attend, would actually carry all these benefits along with it.
Another point is that being on time shows respect to others. Because you see our actions speak words, and the words our action speaks many times louder than the ones on our tongue. And arriving late is just a way of saying that our time is more valuable than the time of the person who was waiting for you. And also, when you're late, what you're also doing is you're stealing from the other person's time. Because really, you don't know what the sacrifices that person had to go through in order to make it at that time. Even if they don't tell you that it may be something else, they had to wake up earlier, they had to cut the exercise time short, they had to cut their family
time short. And just so that they can make it early. And then because you arrived late, there, the time that they had left for their other commitments is also stolen. I'm sure that we wouldn't like that happening to us either. I mean, just say that we did. We did have many important commitments happening that day. And we had to be somewhere else at a certain place. But we got delayed because someone because someone couldn't show up on time.
So now the second question is asked, okay, so that's some reasons on why we should be on time. What about, you know, what's expected from us as a Muslim, like, being on time and being early? Let me just give you a small disclaimer at this point. If you're guilty of habitude being late, then maybe you feel that you're, you're feeling a bit disappointed with yourself at the moment. And some of the things I mentioned, may make you feel worse. So if that's the case, I totally understand where you're coming from. But you know what, that's a good sign. It's a sign that you actually want to do something about this habit, and inshallah, God willing, you can set your intention and this bad
habit, your this bad habit of yours can be a thing of the past, and open up amazing opportunities for you in the future.
So now, what about what's expected from us? With regards to being early and on time for meetings? What are some things that we should know as Muslims? Well, the first thing that I wanted to point out at that is that when we're early and on time for a meeting, we're able to avoid a situation in which we can potentially end up lying or really twisting the truth. Because you see, when you're late to something, you need an excuse. I mean, you need an excuse, in order to save your reputation, you know, in order to be able to save face right there. And not that I'm saying that an excuse is a must when you arrived late, because sometimes you can get away with an early note, no excuses,
really. But in a case in which you know, you had to be
you, you are asked exactly why you're late. And if you don't have a good reason, then you may fall into a situation in which you are caused to say things that you'll end up regretting later on, you might be tempted to you know, twist that excuse a bit more or even end up lying, which is really not something that a Muslim should be doing, where we don't lie. And so what happens is, you find yourself in a situation in which you can commit a sin. And if you're just, you know, take some effort into being more punctual and being early to that
Meeting with an intention at least or doing it to please Allah subhanaw taala that you want to save yourself from potentially when you know sinning and getting good deeds on the way as well, because we know that we get rewarded for our intention. So that's a side benefit there.
Okay, so the second reason on what we should know as Muslims regarding, you know, being early on on time, is that agreed to be somewhere similar to giving a promise. Earlier, we just discussed that, you know, when when you're early to something, then essentially you're giving someone your word. And when you're not giving, when you're unable to fulfill that, then you're, you're not fulfilling your word pretty much. And what happens is that that's not befitting with the noble character that we are told to uphold in our religion, because the Messenger of Allah May peace and blessings be upon him, said, the closest of you, to me on the deaf judgment are those best in character. And part of risk
character is that we keep to our words, we keep our promises, we don't just, you know, say our promises and,
you know, be very lacks in fulfilling it. And something worse is that if you from a someone,
you know, you promised someone a time you have no intention of fulfilling it. For example, you know, you might tell your parents that or your, your parents, your family, that you're going to be home at nine o'clock, and you have no intention to be at nine o'clock. And then it's actually similar, similar to the characters, characteristics sorry, of a hypocrite, which is the Prophet sallallahu alayhi salam described to be someone, if he promises he breaks his promise. And this was found in Al Bukhari and Muslim the collection of a hadith. So I'm not saying that if you're, if you'd be late, you're a hypocrite, please don't misquote me on that. But I'm just saying that
when you don't keep your promises, when when you promise, sorry, when you promise, and you break your promise, like you have no intention of fulfilling your promise, then it resembles a characteristic characteristic of a hypocrite. But on a side note, if you do give a promise, and you're unable to fulfill it due to other reasons, then this, this doesn't apply here.
So coming to our third reason, what is something else we should also know as Muslims regarding being early and on time, the third reason is, the third thing is that it is a part of fulfilling contracts. Now, the above is, from what I mentioned above is when you give your word to someone, but things like work in which a person is expected to be there at a certain time, and is even paid for that time, then it's even more important, because Allah Subhana Allah says in the Quran, which is translated to be a you who believe fulfill your obligations, and this was in certain, marry that in verse one, moreover, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that a Muslim should fulfill their
conditions within within what is permissible. Therefore, scholars have actually said that if a person arrives late without an excuse, or permission for the places working out, then he's being sinful. So ultimately, what that means is that we need to be on time, not because our boss or manager is watching, rather, because Allah subhanaw taala is watching, Our Lord is watching. And this is what he expects from us. Okay, so coming to a final thing that we need to keep in mind as Muslims with regards to being early and on time, is that, you know, our religion actually seeks to nurture this habit into us. Because as we know, Islam is a religion that has been given to us, by
God, but Allah subhanaw taala. And so it's perfect in every way. It gives us a way to eat a way of life. And so one thing I noticed is that our religion seeks to nurture this habit into our lives, the habit of being early and on time, through something that we do on a daily basis. And this is seen in a narration from the Prophet salallahu alaihe salam, may peace and blessings be upon him, in which he was asked, which deed is the dearest to Allah Spano Tata, to which our Prophet sallallahu wasallam May peace and blessings be upon him replied back to offer the prayers at the early stated fixed times. So think about that a minute, amongst the deeds that is dearest to our Lord, is to
offer our prayers at an early stage at fixed time. So if there's one habit that's trying to been instilled through that is being early, doing things early, and so you know, if you're able to get your prayers in early then Wouldn't that you know, train you to also be on time and be early for other things in life? Something to think about. On a lighter side. Have you heard of the term
called MST, the timestamp called MST, it stands for Muslim Standard Time. And for those who don't know, it's this special times of the only Muslims know that. So pretty much. If an event is on at 6pm MST Muslim standard time as it's called, then it should really start at around 637 o'clock or eight o'clock, you know, depending on which Muslim you ask and what part of the world they're from. So you know what this essentially is today, I call for a standardization of this special timezone. So it just makes life easier. Like, I'm thinking something like 6pm MST should equal to 6pm local time. It just saves that awkwardness, you know, when you arrive at an event at say, 6pm. And you
look around and notice that you're the only one there and you look to see the time on the fly, and you're like, Look, have, you know, have I got the date, right the time, right? And then you realize that, Oh, it was 6pm that or 6pm MST time. So well, jokes aside, but seriously, this whole MST thing needs to change for the better, we really need to start making punctuality something very important into our lives, and into our events and projects that we run.
So another question still remains, why are we late? Seriously, I mean, I'm sure that many of us have the best intentions when setting up and we still find ourselves arriving late. I mean,
when we arrived late, are we really doing so because we want to hurt others, like we want to disrespect them or we want to jeopardize ourselves? I mean, there must be something else. Another bad habit that's causing us to be late. Or is it because we don't know how to be on time. Like we don't know how to be punctual Exactly. This subject is going to be another subject that's going to be discussed in my next podcast. But in the meantime, I'm interested to know how do you be on time, you can let us know by going to Muslim life hackers.com slash 22. That's the number 22. Head over to our show notes and comment below. Let us know how do you be on time? Okay, that concludes today's
episode of the Muslim life hackers podcast. This week, we want to give a shout out to our listeners in Ontario, Canada, Ontario. For those who don't know, it's a place where you find the beautiful Niagara Falls, a place that I really want to visit one day have seen the photos and inshallah God willing, I want to see the Niagara Falls. So, to my brothers and sisters they're tuning in from Ontario, Canada. Thank you very much for tuning into the show. Until next time, select hackers. Aim high. Take action and be awesome.