Lessons and Lessons from the Passing of Days and the Elapsing of Time
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Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.
To proceed: This is the meeting that completes the three hundred and thirtieth of the Open Door meetings, which take place every Thursday of every week. And this Thursday is the first day of the month of Muharram, 1421 AH. I ask Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) to make it a year of good, blessing, victory, and honor for Islam and the Muslims.
We speak on this occasion about the passing of time and days. The passing of time and days, as you know, consists of moments, minutes, hours, days, months, and years. They all pass as if they were a single hour of the day.If you asked yourself: How many years have passed for you? How many months? How many days? How many hours? How many minutes? How many moments? You will find that even if they were long, they were like a single hour.Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said: [Al-Ahqaf: 35] .
We must take a lesson from the past regarding the future. The future will pass, if our life is prolonged, as if it were a single hour. This should make the Muslim, indeed the firm believer, in the best state of preparation for the Day of Resurrection, so that no hour passes for him without him having spent it in obedience to Allah, if he wants the true life. For the true life of a person is what he spent in obedience to Allah, and what remains is a loss for him, either punishment or safety, and how little is the safety.
Reflect on the entire world and you will find that it is a coming and a going. In the day, the dawn appears illuminating the horizon, then it increases in illumination and strength, then it recedes into decrease and complete disappearance. You find the moon first appearing as a small crescent like an old rope, then it increases in light until it is full, then it recedes into decrease. Thus is the life of a person. A person appears to be approaching life with energy and firmness, then he returns to weakness, then he vanishes.
Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said: [Ar-Rum: 54] .
I advise you, O brothers, to be proactive and seize the times, and to increase in repentance and seeking forgiveness, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded, saying: (O people! Seek forgiveness from Allah and repent to Him, for I seek forgiveness from Allah and repent to Him a hundred times a day) This is from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), of whom Allah informed that He opened for him a clear opening to forgive him what has passed of his sin and what has come. Increase in the remembrance of Allah, increase in glorification and praise, and this does no harm, because it is an action of the tongue, and an action of the tongue does not involve fatigue.
Increase in righteous deeds as much as you can. Be good in character with Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and with the servants. Give what you can of good and benefit, for that is among the causes of the expansion of the chest and the tranquility of the heart.
And think about yourself: what did you do in this day? If you find that you did good, then praise Allah, for it was by the success of Allah, and had it not been for the success of Allah for you, you would not have done it. And if you did otherwise, then make up for it by repentance, for repentance demolishes what came before it.And how quickly we say: The year entered and then exited.
So the year that has passed is like an hour of the day, and so it will be with what is to come, especially in the end of the world, for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) informed: that time will become close, while you are at the beginning of the week and suddenly it is Friday, and at the beginning of the month and suddenly the crescent, and at the beginning of the year and suddenly the crescent, with extraordinary speed.And this is the verification of the hadith: (And time will become close) And the meaning is not as some scholars thought: the expansion of lands until some become close to others, and the distance between two cities becomes two days after it was four days. Nor is it the speed of communications or transportation. Rather, the most important thing is that Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) makes time such that some of it is close to some, and this is the reality.
O Allah, grant us the seizing of times with righteous deeds, and expiate for us our sins, and cause us to die with the righteous.
To proceed: This is the meeting that completes the three hundred and thirtieth of the Open Door meetings, which take place every Thursday of every week. And this Thursday is the first day of the month of Muharram, 1421 AH. I ask Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) to make it a year of good, blessing, victory, and honor for Islam and the Muslims.
We speak on this occasion about the passing of time and days. The passing of time and days, as you know, consists of moments, minutes, hours, days, months, and years. They all pass as if they were a single hour of the day.If you asked yourself: How many years have passed for you? How many months? How many days? How many hours? How many minutes? How many moments? You will find that even if they were long, they were like a single hour.Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said:
It will be - on the Day they see that which they are promised - as though they had not remained [in the world] except an hour of a day. [This is] notification. And will [any] be destroyed except the defiantly disobedient people?
كَأَنَّهُمْ يَوْمَ يَرَوْنَ مَا يُوعَدُونَ لَمْ يَلْبَثُوا إِلَّا سَاعَةً مِنْ نَهَارٍ بَلاغٌ فَهَلْ يُهْلَكُ إِلَّا الْقَوْمُ الْفَاسِقُونَWe must take a lesson from the past regarding the future. The future will pass, if our life is prolonged, as if it were a single hour. This should make the Muslim, indeed the firm believer, in the best state of preparation for the Day of Resurrection, so that no hour passes for him without him having spent it in obedience to Allah, if he wants the true life. For the true life of a person is what he spent in obedience to Allah, and what remains is a loss for him, either punishment or safety, and how little is the safety.
Reflect on the entire world and you will find that it is a coming and a going. In the day, the dawn appears illuminating the horizon, then it increases in illumination and strength, then it recedes into decrease and complete disappearance. You find the moon first appearing as a small crescent like an old rope, then it increases in light until it is full, then it recedes into decrease. Thus is the life of a person. A person appears to be approaching life with energy and firmness, then he returns to weakness, then he vanishes.
Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said:
Allah is the one who created you from weakness, then made after weakness strength, then made after strength weakness and white hair. He creates what He wills, and He is the Knowing, the Competent.
اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ ضَعْفٍ ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِنْ بَعْدِ ضَعْفٍ قُوَّةً ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِنْ بَعْدِ قُوَّةٍ ضَعْفاً وَشَيْبَةً يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ وَهُوَ الْعَلِيمُ الْقَدِيرُI advise you, O brothers, to be proactive and seize the times, and to increase in repentance and seeking forgiveness, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded, saying: (O people! Seek forgiveness from Allah and repent to Him, for I seek forgiveness from Allah and repent to Him a hundred times a day) This is from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), of whom Allah informed that He opened for him a clear opening to forgive him what has passed of his sin and what has come. Increase in the remembrance of Allah, increase in glorification and praise, and this does no harm, because it is an action of the tongue, and an action of the tongue does not involve fatigue.
Increase in righteous deeds as much as you can. Be good in character with Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and with the servants. Give what you can of good and benefit, for that is among the causes of the expansion of the chest and the tranquility of the heart.
And think about yourself: what did you do in this day? If you find that you did good, then praise Allah, for it was by the success of Allah, and had it not been for the success of Allah for you, you would not have done it. And if you did otherwise, then make up for it by repentance, for repentance demolishes what came before it.And how quickly we say: The year entered and then exited.
So the year that has passed is like an hour of the day, and so it will be with what is to come, especially in the end of the world, for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) informed: that time will become close, while you are at the beginning of the week and suddenly it is Friday, and at the beginning of the month and suddenly the crescent, and at the beginning of the year and suddenly the crescent, with extraordinary speed.And this is the verification of the hadith: (And time will become close) And the meaning is not as some scholars thought: the expansion of lands until some become close to others, and the distance between two cities becomes two days after it was four days. Nor is it the speed of communications or transportation. Rather, the most important thing is that Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) makes time such that some of it is close to some, and this is the reality.
O Allah, grant us the seizing of times with righteous deeds, and expiate for us our sins, and cause us to die with the righteous.