Saif Morad – What are you investing your time in Surah Asr
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Assalamu alaikum wa Rahmatullahi
wabarakah to whom my dear brothers and sisters,
may Allah
bless us with the best in this world
and the next.
Allah tells us in the Quran that all
people are in loss.
They are not profiting from their time, except
Whenever Allah
swears by something in the Quran,
it shows its importance,
and Allah only swears by that which is
important.
And him being the creator,
he can swear by anything that he wants.
But us, the creation, we only swear by
Allah
And in the Quran, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
swears by time on multiple occasions,
like wal fajr, wadduha.
And in this surah he says,
walaasr.
Allah swears by the time of Asr, and
the scholars differ in regards to what is
the meaning of Asr here.
And many of the scholars say that Asr
here is referring to all of time,
And in the flow of time, there's so
many lessons to be learned.
The rise and fall of nations,
the fluctuation of economies,
pandemics come and go. History teaches us so
many lessons how far we've come as human
beings, but it also shows us what the
consequences are of those who don't listen to
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Allah swears by time and says,
Indeed, in sand, the human being is in
loss.
They fail to invest their most important capital,
which is their effort and their time in
things that will benefit them, in things that
will bring them profit.
And this is general for all of us
that we're all in a state of loss.
The Prophet
said that 2 nirmas,
2 blessings
people feel to utilize it in the best
manner. People are losing out on them, which
is free time
and their health.
The prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam is telling
us in this hadith
that we fail to utilize our time
and our health
in a manner that benefits us. We don't
take full advantage of it to utilize it
in the best manner to get closer to
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala makes the exception.
The people who have the following descriptions,
they are the one who are not losing
out.
And Allah starts with the ones who believe,
the ones who have faith, the ones who
believe in Allah
and everything that he told us to believe
in. They believe in all that Allah and
his messenger told us to believe in. And
this faith, it sinks into their heart. It
becomes certainty,
and it comes out in the form of
good deeds.
Both the inward good deeds, such as relying
on Allah
seeking his aid, hoping in him, and also
the outward actions by doing the physical actions
and also the remembrance of Allah
And other than these, these individuals,
they believe in Allah
and they do the righteous actions.
And if we notice in the Quran that
generally Allah
usually only mentions those who believe and do
righteous deeds. These are the individuals
who end up with heaven. But if we
want to be from the elite, from the
high performers, then there's more we need to
do, which Allah says in
enjoin
the truth upon one another, they teach one
another, They're a source of benefit for one
another.
They correct each other's mistakes.
They are a source of benefit for their
communities. And in Islam,
there's so much encouragement to do good, to
be a source of benefit for other people,
such as the statements of the of
the prophet The best of you are those
who are the most beneficial towards others.
Allah is in the aid of a person
as long as that person is in the
aid of his brother,
And from the most beloved deeds to Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that the prophet
taught us
is to enter happiness in another person's heart.
This is where true excellence, true lies
in belief in doing righteous actions
and in being a source of benefit towards
others. But when we strive for excellence,
we need to have patience because there is
many obstacles on the way. And the people,
the elite performers,
they enjoin one another with patience. They remind
one another to be patient.
They remind one another
keep going, don't ever give up, don't ever
lose hope in the promise of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. Yeah, it's difficult right now
but remember the promise of Allah.
They remind one another that Allah is with
the people who show patience,
that their reward has no limit with Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And in general, patience is of 3 types.
Number 1, we need to be patient while
doing the good deeds.
We need to overcome ourselves and do that
which Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and his messenger
have commanded.
Number 2, we need to be patient in
staying away from sins.
These things are beautified for us, and we
need to be patient in staying away from
them and striving to earn the pleasure of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And thirdly,
we need to be patient with the decree
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Things that happen
around us, we need to be patient. And
remember that patience is when calamity first strikes,
not after we've lost our cool and we've
blown up and then we start being patient.
No. Patience when it first hits, that's when
we need to show patience
and be pleased with that which Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala has decreed.
Time is always moving.
After bad times, there's always good,
And we should be pleased and happy with
the decree of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. As
we know that he only decrees for the
believers that which is good,
even though we might not see it in
that way. And this surah despite only being
3 verses,
the meaning is so profound and deep that
Imam Shaif Ali Rahim Allah he said,
had Allah not sent down a surah except
this surah, it would be sufficient for them.
As it directs us to what we need
to succeed at the highest level. And to
recap, Allah tells us the importance of time
and that our natural state is that of
loss. That is why it is important to
have a plan,
To plan out our day, our year, to
set our priorities,
that way we benefit as much as we
can from our time,
and we try to improve in each area
of our life.
And number 2, that excellence in Islam lies
in 4 things.
In belief,
in doing the righteous deeds, in being a
source of benefit towards others, in joining good
towards one another, and in recommending
patience.
In belief
and in doing the righteous actions lies the
perfection of oneself,
and in enjoining good and enjoining patience lies
the perfection of others.
As the believer is a source of benefit
for others, we encourage one another, we help
each other grow and stay patient in our
quest for jannah,
and the degree to which we implement these
four things,
limits the degree to how much we lose
out.
So let's strive to improve each and every
area of our life by seeking the aid
of the most high and taking all the
means that we can
with certainty in the promise of the almighty.
Until next time.