What Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim thinks is worse than death…
Assalamu Alaikum.
“Worse than death?”, you say?
Yes.
“Well, what is it??”
Well, pictorially speaking, it is:
“Huh?”
Let me try again:
“Huh?”
Okay, one more time then:
Yes, Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim (rahimahullah), one of the greatest scholars in Islam, thinks that wasting time is worse than death.
Why, you ask?
Let him explain why:
إضاعة ألوقت أشد من الموت، لأن إضاعة الوقت طقتعك عن الله والدار الآخرة، والموت يقتعك عن الدنيا وأهلها
“Wasting time is worse than death, as wasting time keeps you away from Allah and the hereafter, while death keeps you away from the dunya (worldly life) and its people.” [Al-Fawaaid]
What is “wasted time”?
Well, it was time that was not spent obeying Allah.
We’ve fallen into two extremes with regards to time:
1) Some of us want to “kill time”.
Kill time?
What would we think of a person who burns their money? We would think that he was crazy!
Well, the person who wants to kill time is even crazier because time is more important than money.
To the people who want to “fill their spare time”, what do you have to say about the following statements of the Prophet (salallahu alaihi wasallam):
1)
اغتنم خمسا قبل خمس : حياتك قبل موتك ، و صحتك قبل سقمك ، و فراغك قبل شغلك ، و شبابك قبل هرمك ، و غناك قبل فقرك
The Prophet (salallahu alaihi wasallam) said: “Take advantage of five before five others: your life before your death, your health before you fall ill, your free time before you become busy, your youth before your old age, and your wealth before you become poor.” [Saheeh Al-Jaami, Hadeeth No. 1077. I got this reference from Dorar.]
[There’s a nice explanation of this hadeeth over here.]
2)
نعمتان مغبون فيهما كثير من الناس : الصحة والفراغ
Narrated Ibn Abbas (radiallahu anhu): The Prophet (salallahu alaihi wasallam) said, “There are two blessings which many people lose: (They are) health and free time.” [Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume No. 8, Hadeeth No. 421]
3)
لا تزول قدما ابن آدم يوم القيامة من عند ربه حتى يسأل عن خمس : عن عمره فيما أفناه ، وعن شبابه فيما أبلاه ، وعن ماله من أين اكتسبه وفيما أنفقه ، وماذا عمل فيما علم
لا تزول قدما عبد حتى يسأل عن عمره فيما أفناه ، وعن علمه فيما فعل ، وعن ماله من أين اكتسبه وفيما أنفقه ، وعن جسمه فيما أبلاه
Abu Barzah Al-Aslami (radiallahu anhu) narrated that the Messenger of Allah said: “The feet of the slave of Allah shall not move (on the Day of Judgment) until he is asked about five things: about his life and what he did with it, about his knowledge and what he did with it, about his wealth and how he earned it and where he spent it on, and about his body and what he wore it out in.” [Sunan At-Tirmidhi, Hadeeth No. 2417. Graded “sahih” by Al-Albani in Sahih Sunan At-Tirmidhi, Hadeeth No. 2417.]
[Note: Both of the above narrations have some weakness in their chains.]
I’d also advise you to read this article.
2) Some of us are “too busy”.
I’ve already discussed this issue in a previous post.
A question to those people who are “very busy” and “have no spare time”: I’m assuming that you have no time for parties, watching tv, reading the news, etc, correct?
Just wondering…
[Note: We should never curse time.]
Do we really want a day in our lives to look like this:
Or do we want our life story to look like this:
No!
We need to use our time properly – every minute of it.
So, to pictorially summarise this post:
It’s worse than death, remember?
I repeat:
[Note: This post is first and foremost for….me.]
[If you’re wondering why my posts have become so colourful lately, you clearly don’t remember this memorable post.]
The Greatest Month 
Much needed reminder jazakillahu kheira
Assalamu Alaikum.
Wa iyaaki.
A picture is worth a thousand words- I’ll be sure to remember this one!