Our Dying Days

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

عَنِ الْحَسَنِ قَالَ: «ابْنَ آدَمَ، إِنَّمَا أَنْتَ أَيَّامٌ، كُلَّمَا ذَهَبَ يَوْمٌ ذَهَبَ بَعْضُكَ

Hasan Al-Basri said: “Son of Adam you are only made up of days. Every time a day passes so does a part of your life.”[1]

Life lessons from this Subject:

• Imam Al-Basri’s speech teaches us that we really don’t have a lot of time and that we mustn’t be tricked into thinking we do.

• This narration tells us that we are running out of time in the life of this world with every second that passes.

• This narration refutes the capitalistic approach towards time. They say :”Time is money.” Their focus on time is how much you make per hour, per year a day , and so forth.

• Allah created time. He swears, by the Time: Asr and Fajr, the Sun, the Moon, the Night, and the Day. This shows their significance and their value of importance.

• The wisdom found in these words inform us that with every hour, minute and second to pass we are older in age, and closer to death.

• The insight mentioned in the words of Imam Hasan reiterates the fact time is the origin of a man’s life. Allah (تعالى)said:  And He has made the sun and the moon, both constantly pursuing their courses, to be of service to you; and He has made the night and the day, to be of service to you.[Ibrahim 33]

• Allah connects times of worship to the time. He(تعالى) said:  Verily, the prayer is enjoined on the believers at fixed hours.[An-Nisa’:103].Allah made prayers attached to certain time periods. Likewise, there are times throughout the day, the month, or the year when other acts of worship are more superior when performed therein compared to other parts of time. For example, remembering Allah after Fajr until sunrise is equal to that of Hajj, or Umrah. Dua on Wednesday between Thur and Asr is answered. Worship during Layatul Qadr is better than 1,000 months, and fasting on Arafat expiates sins, etc.  

• These words of insight from Hasan Al-Basri teach us that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed.

• Hasan Al-Basri said: Today is a guest and when it departs it either praises you or criticizes you.” Accordingly, make the most of today!

• These words coach us to make short-term goals in life. Abdullah ibn Mas’ud said: I hate a man to see a man living meaninglessly. He’s not working  towards attaining anything in this world, or anything of the hereafter.”[2]

• The language Hasan Al-Basri conveys in these words shows the stupidity of those who celebrate birthdays. People celebrate birthdays with total heedlessness to the day they are going to die.

• This statement urges us to be charitable every day we live. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “Every joint of a person must perform a charity each day that the sun rises: to judge justly between two people is a charity. To help a man with his mount, lifting him onto it or hoisting up his belongings onto it, is a charity. And the good word is a charity. And every step that you take towards the prayer is a charity, and removing a harmful object from the road is a charity.[3]

Prepared by the one in need of Allah’s Mercy

Abu Aaliyah Abdullah ibn Dwight Battle

Jakarta , Indonesia 1445©

Dhul-Hijjah 21^st.

The Life of this World is Only 3 days : The Abu Aaliyah Gazette

Your Life hasn’t begun yet, you have Only One Shot at It : The Abu Aaliyah Gazette

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[1] Hilyah 2/148

[2] Az-Zuhd,Imam Ahmed ,847

[3] Collected by Al-Bukhari/Muslim

Don’t
Curse or Blame Time for Where You are in Life Right Now

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 قَالَ
النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ “‏ قَالَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى يُؤْذِينِي
ابْنُ آدَمَ  يَسُبُّ الدَّهْرَ وَأَنَا
الدَّهْرُ  بِيَدِي الأَمْرُ أُقَلِّبُ
اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ
‏”‏‏.‏

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Allah said: “The son of Adam abuses Me by cursing Time, for I am Time; in My Hands are all things and I cause the revolution of night and day.’ ” [1]

أنَّ
رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏ “‏ لاَ يَقُلْ أَحَدُكُمْ يَا خَيْبَةَ
الدَّهْرِ ‏.‏ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الدَّهْرُ ‏”‏ ‏.‏

The Messenger of Allah, said, “Let none of you complain about time, for Allah is time.’[2]

Benefits of this topic

• These are a couple of hadith that encourage us to have faith in the Qadr by avoiding cursing time. The 1^st  hadith is  Qudsi, which is narrated in word and meaning by the Prophet (ﷺ) directly from Allah.

• This hadith shows that it’s prohibited, in other words, Haraam to curse to time. [3] Imam Al-Haytami mentioned that cursing time considered a major sin in Islam.

• Cursing time means a person devaluates or attributes a displeasing action to it blaming it for whatever happens. In reality, time only passes. For example night into day and day into night, Sunday then Monday and so on.

• Imam AL-Qurtubi mentioned that abusing Allah is to
  ascribe that to Allah which isn’t befitting of His Majesty and whoever does
  that earns Allah’s Anger.[4]

• The one who curses time either curses Allah or falls into Shirk. If he believes that the passing of time together with Allah is what causes the occurrences to take place then he has committed joined partners with the Most High, and if he believes that it’s Allah alone who has caused these things to happen over time, then he has cursed Allah. [5]

• “The son of Adam Abuses Me…”  Whoever curses time has abused Allah, and just
  because someone is abused it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are harmed, and
  Allah could never be harmed from anyone in His creation. [6]

• Allah said:

 إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُؤْذُونَ اللهَ وَرَسُولَهُ لَعَنَهُمُ اللهُ
فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالآَخِرَةِ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ عَذَابًا مُهِينًا 

Verily, those who annoy Allah and His Messenger () Allah has cursed them in this world, and in the Hereafter, and
has prepared for them a humiliating torment.[7]

• This hadith illustrates that the Human-being curses Allah through his cursing of time. Therefore whenever something befalls him that he dislikes he blames the event on time, the day, the hour, and the year. Time is what Allah has created. Time is just a period, which doesn’t control anything at all. A disaster, a calamity, an accident, and a tragedy that occurs by Allah’s Will. So when these things happen people curse time, which is equivalent to cursing Allah, since He allowed them to happen.

• The pagan Arabs of Jahiliyah used to curse time and
  blame it for their deaths or if they didn’t get what they wanted. They didn’t
  see their deaths were a result of Allah’s Qadr. [8]Allah
  said:

وَقَالُوا مَا هِيَ إِلَّا حَيَاتُنَا الدُّنْيَا
نَمُوتُ وَنَحْيَا وَمَا يُهْلِكُنَا إِلَّا الدَّهْرُ

And they say: “There is nothing but our life of this world,
we die and we live and nothing destroys us except Ad-Dahr (the time).[9]

• “ for I am Time…”  Ibn Dawud denied the authenticity of this
  hadith saying that it would mean, “Ad-Dhar – Time” is one of Allah’s names. Conversely, Ibn
  Hazm erred by saying Ad-Dhar is one of Allah’s Names. 

• “ for I am Time…”  This doesn’t mean that one of  Allah’s names is time, but rather it points the fact whoever uses a swearword against time, has used a swearword on Allah, as time is a period and it’s Allah who changes these periods. Each and every single name of Allah is derived from His traits, and thus they can’t be taken from inanimate traits. Allah’s names point to His characteristics. Nonetheless, every trait and characteristic isn’t derived from a name. There are attributes of Allah which didn’t give Him a name. This is similar to hand and face. [10]

• “ in My Hands are all things and I cause the revolution of night
  and day.’”  These are words directly from the Prophet which
  explain Allah’s Words.

• Cursing time isn’t allowed in Islam, so how do we
  understand the words of Lut when he said,

وَقَالَ هَذَا يَوْمٌ عَصِيبٌ

“This is a distressful day.[Hud 77]

In these words, Lut isn’t trying dispraise time but instead, he is just mentioning the kind of day it was and when a person does this with the intention to inform someone about the kind of day it was itself then this is fine. This is similar to say,  a bad day, a dark day, a bad year, etc. Hence it goes back to the intention.[11]

• The people of Iman must always have good suspicions about Allah. Whatever befalls him he must praise Allah and remain content in the Qadr of Allah practicing patience anticipating Allah’s reward. Moreover, the servant has been reminded that any calamities which befall him are a direct result of his sins and disobedience, so he repents and returns to Allah.

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[1]
Sahih Al-Bukhari (7491) Muslim(2246)

[2] Muslim
2246

[3]
Explanation of Sahih Muslim, Vol 15,pg 2

[4] Sharu Al-Zarqani ala Muwatta Imam Malik vol 4,
pg 514

[5]
Zadul Ma’ad Ibn Al-Qayyim vol 2, pg 355.

[6]
Explanation of Kitabu At Tawheed from Sahih Al-Bukhari, Sheikh Abdul Aziz
Ar-Rajhi

[7]
Al-Ahzab, 57

[8] Kashful Mushkil min hadeethi Saheehayn, by Ibn
Jawzi , vol 1, pg 892 and Sharu Al-Zarqani ala Muwatta Imam Malik vol 4, pg 514

[9]
Al-Jathiyah, #24

[10]
Explanation of Sunnan Abu Dawud vol 8, 208, Sheikh Abdul Muhsin Al-Abbadd.

[11]
Refer to Leeqa, babul Maftuh, Imam Al-Uthaymeen, vol 8, pg
33, Majmou Fatawa , Imam Al-Uthaymeen, vol 1,pg 199