5 before 5, A Critical look At The Managment Of Our Self-Resourcesfulness in Ramadan And Beyond

Assalamualaikum,

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Indeed all praise is due to Allah, we praise Him and seek His help and forgiveness, we seek refuge with Allah from our soul’s evil and our wrong doings, he whom Allah guides, no one can misguide, and he whom He misguides, no one can guide.

May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon Muhammad the Messenger of Allah and his family and Companions and all who follow them in righteousness until the Day of Judgment.

O my dear brothers and sisters in Islam.

Ramadan is a here again Masha Allah and one of the challenges that the Ummah face is not only how to make the best of the month receive from it a maximum blessing but setting up ourselves to continue in those acts and ways we have embarked on in Ramadan to beyond Ramadan till we are called to Allah Subhanahu Wa taala

It is to this that I see the emphasis of relating in expanded terms the Hadith of the Prophet (SAW) where he said “Take benefit of five before five: Your youth before your old age, your health before your sickness, your wealth before your poverty, your free time before you are preoccupied, and your life before your death” (Narrated by Ibn Abbas and reported by Al Hakim)

1.    Youth before old age

One of the things that most people take for granted is their youth. When people are young, they are full of energy and are capable of doing so many things for the sake of Allah, but often we see that this energy is wasted in one way or another.

When people lose their youth, they inevitably find it harder to do those deeds and acts of worship that they found somewhat easier to do at a younger age. With old age, people find it harder to keep fard (obligatory) fasts, they may not be able perform wudhu properly or to pray properly, and they may not have the energy to recite the Qur’an very often.

When we are young we are full of energy, and we should use that energy to help others when we can. In order to help those in need, we don’t have to have deep pockets or donate a lot of money to charity every month, there are so many ways in which we can benefit others, The Prophet (SAW) said
‘Every Muslim has to give in charity… [And if has nothing to give] he should work with his hands … and give in charity (from what he earns)… [and if he can’t do that] he should help the needy who appeal for help…’ (Bukhari)

2.    Health before sickness

As with our youth, we often take for granted our health. We are advised to take advantage of our good health before we are overcome with illness or disability. What we often don’t realize is that our health is a blessing from Allah. When we are in good health, we take it for granted and don’t always appreciate what we have. It is only when we fall ill that we realize what a great thing we had and how we let it go to waste by not doing as much ‘Ibadah (worship) as we know we could and should have done.

One example of where people are restricted from carrying out acts of Ibadah due to poor health. When most people are young and have the health to fast, they don’t make the time or effort to keep nafl (non-obligatory/Sunnah) fasts. Often we find that we struggle to keep our fard (compulsory) fasts during Ramadan, and we have no intention at all to keep the Sunnah fasts during the rest of the year.

3.    Wealth before poverty

Wealth is another blessing granted to us by Allah. Wealth in this context does not necessarily mean that we have large amounts of savings, or the fact that we can afford a huge house, very expensive cars and properties. The simpler things such as a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs and food in our fridges make us amongst the world’s wealthiest people, a fact that we more often than not seem to overlook particularly when we see people that have a lot more worldly possessions than we do. There are millions of people in the world today that don’t even have a drop of clean water to drink, and they don’t know where their next meal will be coming from. These are the people that we need to be helping with our wealth. Even a small donation can go a long way.

We should give as much as we can in the way of Allah, and we are assured of the rewards for doing so by Allah Subhanahu Wa Taala where He says
“The likeness of those who spend their money for Allah’s sake, is as the likeness of a grain (of corn), it grows seven ears, every single ear has a hundred grains, and Allah multiplies (increases the reward) for whom He wills, and Allah is All-Sufficient for His creatures needs, All Knower”.
(Al-Baqarah 2: 261)

4.    Free time before preoccupation

Islam always encourages us to make the most of our time, and to spend as much of it as possible in the way of Allah. We should utilize the time we have available to do as much good as we can, because before we know it, this time will have passed. As mentioned above, we should use the time we have in our youth to do as much in the way of Allah as possible, because as time passes, as well as having to contend with old age and all that entails, we will inevitably have a lot more things to worry about, like jobs, homes and families, children upbringing and extended community support, things that most of us at this present moment aren’t necessarily worried about at all or in a larger context that will grow with time. If we think that finding the time to practice Islam is difficult now, what will we do when life really starts to pick up pace? There is nothing wrong with getting married and having a family, but we should appreciate the relative freedom that we have now, and spend as much of it as we can on good deeds.

The concept of time is so important in Islam that Allah Subhanahu Wa Taala swears by it in the Qur’an where He Says
“By [the token of] Time. Verily Man is in loss, except such as have faith and do good deeds, and [join together] in the mutual teaching of truth, of patience and constancy”.(Surah Al-‘Asr 103:1-3)

In line with the above a Surah, we have to discipline ourselves by giving value to the importance of time. We should be prompt in doing good deeds, which will increase our faith and subsequently enable us to gain Allah’s pleasure and mercy, and avoiding time wasting deeds that do not increase us in earning rewards from Allah Subhanahu Wa Taala but his displeasure (further explanation on by Nouman Ali Khan’s Brief Explanation of Surah Al-Asr at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=547B7XbTicI )

5.    Life before death

The last thing that we have been advised to take advantage of is our life before our death. Every night when we go to sleep, we enter a state where our soul leaves us. When we wake up, it is only because Allah has blessed us by returning our souls and granting us the opportunity to worship Him for at least one more day. Upon waking up in the morning, the Prophet SAW used to say (Indeed recommended that we say also) “Praise be to Allah who gave me life after death, and to Him is the final return.”(Bukhari)

Often we do not fully appreciate how great a blessing it is to be given another chance. We become relaxed about death, and we don’t fully comprehend or appreciate that at some point and only Allah knows when, our life will be taken away from us for good, leaving no second chance, no opportunity to make up for the wrongs we have done, and no turning back time. We must not forget what a mercy life is. We should savor every moment and use it to our best advantage. This means pleasing Allah in order to achieve our ultimate goal which is Jannah.

The Prophet SAW said “A man shall be asked concerning five things on the Day of Resurrection: concerning his life, how he spent it, concerning his youth, how he grew old, concerning his wealth, how he acquired it and how he spent it, and what he did with the knowledge he had.”(Tirmidhi)

Kindly note that any mistake in the contents of this article is due to my imperfection as a human being, only Allah Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala is perfect in all affairs.
May Allah Forgive us our sins, guide us right from the evil of insincere intention, save us from misguided knowledge and grant the entire Ummah benefit from this work AMIN.
Kindly feel free to make comments, contributions or corrections where necessary.
May Allah Bless us all, AMIN

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