Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Life of this world -- finger dipped in ocean.....

Rasul Allah (Sal Allahu alaihi wasallam) said: “By Allah, this world in comparison to the Hereafter is nothing but as though one of you dipped his finger in the sea. So ponder how much (of sea water), the finger returns with.” [Mishkaat]

The duration of the Day of Judgment is equal to 50,000 years. The sun will be brought overhead so that it is unbearably hot. People will be drenched in their sweat according to the amount of their sins. Some will be ankle deep in it, some will be in it up to their ears. In this condition, people will be standing for hundreds of earth years and not even a minute of that day will have gone by. Those who love Allah (Subhana wa ta’ala) in this world will be under the shade of Allah’s Throne on the Day of Judgment – the only shade available that Day.

That is why Luqman Hakeem advised his son: “Serve this world according to the time you are going to spend in it, and work for the Akhirah according to the time you are going to spend in it.” After we have been standing in the same spot for thousands of years, our life on earth is going to look like nothing!

We need to make a ration of our time on earth compared to our time on the single Day of Judgment. If we live for a hundred years, it is 100: 50,000. The time to spend each day in the pursuit of dunya comes out to be less than 3 minutes! The rest of the day should be spent preparing for the Day of Judgment. If we were to make a ratio between the time to be spent in dunya compared to the time in Akhira, it would be 100 years: infinity. Any number compared to infinity becomes zero. Effectively, the significance of the duration of dunya becomes zero. 0 minutes, not even 3 minutes! How is it possible that we spend all our time preparing for the Akirah?

We can be in the state of worship (ibadah) every single moment of our lives just by living according to the Quran and the Sunnah. We need to evaluate what we do -- shun the things Allah has prohibited, and act upon the things we do in accordance with the teachings of our Deen. We need to realize that our lives are too precious to be wasted -- not trying to please our Creator/Sustainer every moment of our lives.

Our dunya can be spent working for the Akhirah -- at the same time that we fulfill our duties on earth just by fulfilling our roles and responsibilities according to the guidance of Allah (Subhana wa ta'ala). We need to ask ourselves, "Are we spending all our time on earth working for the Akhirah?"  May Allah grant us tawfeeq and the company of those who bring us closer to Himself, ameen.

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