The Day of Judgment is quickly approaching. That day where you will be standing in front of your Lord to be brought to account for that which you have done, as well as those things that you have not done. This is a major day that every single individual should be preparing for. How do we do this? We do this by doing as many good deeds as possible, and trying our hardest to obey the commands of the Lord of the worlds.
The only way for us to accomplish this, is by busying ourselves doing as much good as possible in this life. We should not be those that waste the blessing of time that Allah has bestowed upon us. This opportunity will end when our lives come to an end. Even though this is nothing that we like to think about, nor is it something that we think about often, we must remember that it is a situation that will come knocking on everyone’s door. It is a promise that Allah has told us is coming quite a few times. Look at what Allah says about death and its coming to each and every one of us;
{كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ وَإِنَّمَا تُوَفَّوْنَ أُجُورَكُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فَمَنْ زُحْزِحَ عَنِ النَّارِ وَأُدْخِلَ الْجَنَّةَ فَقَدْ فَازَ وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ}
[آل عمران: 185]
{Every soul will taste death, and you will only be given your [full] compensation on the Day of Resurrection. So he who is drawn away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise has attained [his desire]. And what is the life of this world except the enjoyment of delusion.}
[3:185]
Being as though this is the case, do you not agree that it is upon us not to waste any of our time partaking in frivolous activities? We should definitely refrain from this if they are things that Allah has commanded us to stay away from. Even those things that are permissible for us to do, but they bring about no reward for us to send forth, we should try to refrain from as much as possible. We never know when our time will come, when Allah will call back our souls. We never know when the cut off line will be, where we will no longer be able to perform deeds that gain reward.
Remember, that as Muslims our purpose is to worship Allah alone. We should be trying our hardest at all times to gain His pleasure and staying away from those things that earn His anger. By doing this, we are able to send forth good deeds that we will meet again on that day that every soul will need all of the good deeds it can get.
Have you thought about the fact that there are 24 hours in a day? When we convert these hours into minutes, we see that there are 1440 minutes in the course of every day. Now ask yourself how much time you spend out of these minutes per day really worshiping Allah. Now compare that to the number of minutes that you feel like you waste per day. I don’t know about you, but for the average individual the numbers do not even begin to compare.
We find that we spend way too much time searching the net, playing of facebook, google, istagram, twitter and whatever else is out there. How much of this time is actually spent gaining some type of knowledge? How much of this time is spent teaching someone, or giving beneficial reminders. If we are honest with ourselves, we will be forced to say that the answer is ‘Very Little’. When was the last time you went to one of these social media networks and took part in a serious religion discussion, or class? I am not talking about copying and pasting one status or picture a day, even though there are many of us that do not even do that. I am referring to those who spend the majority of their time remembering Allah and reminding others about Him.
Do we really have the time to waste? Should we not be racing to see how much good we can send forth before the time that death comes and cuts off any opportunity to do this? You have to remember that the shaytaan has sworn that he would try to lead you astray and to show Allah that you are an ungrateful worshiper. Don’t just look at but ponder upon that which Allah mentions from the statements of the shataan;
{فَبِمَا أَغْوَيْتَنِي لَأَقْعُدَنَّ لَهُمْ صِرَاطَكَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ – ثُمَّ لَآتِيَنَّهُمْ مِنْ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ وَعَنْ أَيْمَانِهِمْ وَعَنْ شَمَائِلِهِمْ وَلَا تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِينَ}
[الأعراف: 16 – 17]
{[Satan] said, “Because You have put me in error, I will surely sit in wait for them on Your straight path. – Then I will come to them from before them and from behind them and on their right and on their left, and You will not find most of them grateful [to You].}
[7:16-17]
It is your job not to fall into this trap. You must resist his misleading and misguiding call. Know, without a doubt that he has made clear his intention towards you as an individual, as well as mankind as a whole. Emnity, hatred and jealousy is all that he feels for you. He is an open enemy to you, and you must take him as such. Have you not read what Allah said about him in His book? Allah states;
{إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ فَاتَّخِذُوهُ عَدُوًّا إِنَّمَا يَدْعُو حِزْبَهُ لِيَكُونُوا مِنْ أَصْحَابِ السَّعِيرِ}
[فَاطِرٍ: 6]
{Indeed, Satan is an enemy to you; so take him as an enemy. He only invites his party to be among the companions of the Blaze.}
[35:6]
So being as though you realize this, you need to work against him in every way possible. When you see that he calls you to be distracted by conversations, arguments and anything else that distracts you from working to do good deed to send forth, you need to fight against this call. You need to increase in your worship. At the end of the day, by you being aware and being firm on trying to gain Allah’s pleasure and not allowing yourself to be distracted, you and you alone will reap the reward. The same holds true though if you allow yourself to be distracted. You and only you will be held responsible. So don’t put yourself in that situation.
May Allah allow us to be of those whose hearts are tied to worshiping Him and gaining His pleasure. And may Allah pardon us for all of our sins… Allahuma ameen.
