Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.0MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Email | Youtube Music | RSS
Auto-generated transcript:
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem, Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen, Wasalatu wasalamu ala sharafi al-anbiya wal-mursaleen, Muhammadur Rasulullah ﷺ wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam, Tasleeman kathiran kathira humma badu.
My brothers and sisters, today I am planning to start a new series of our reminders. I call it the Four Truths. There are four things which are Haqq, and it is very important to recognize these truths because if we do not recognize them, then we do not benefit from them, and then we are harmed by ignoring them.
The first of those truths is that time passes. We all know this. There is nobody who does not know this. For example, in Ramadan especially, every single Ramadan we will hear people saying how fast the time passes. This Ramadan is the fastest. I mean, we know logically that’s not possible because time is a function of the rotation of the earth. There cannot be something which is faster than the last year. The earth did not start spinning faster or slower. But we say this: “Time passes.”
When we come for Ithaka, we think that Ithaka, by God, 10 days, how will it finish? Those of us who have been in Ithaka, you know how fast it goes. You come on the 20th night, and then before you know, it is time, Chandra. It is time for Eid. It just disappears. Time passes. No matter what you do or do not do, time will pass. And it will not return.
This is the biggest thing about time. What is gone is gone. If it went well, Alhamdulillah; if it did not go well, it is still not coming back. You cannot make time. We use these terms: “I’m making time,” “I’m killing time.” Time will kill you. You cannot kill time. You cannot make time. You cannot save time. You cannot store time. Right? You cannot manage time. That is another thing. We will say, “I’m taking time management classes.” How can you manage time? Time is not in your control. How can you manage something which you cannot control? You can manage your life. You can manage your priorities. You can manage what you will do and what you will not do.
People cannot manage time because they try to manage time. You are trying to manage something which is not in your control. How will you manage it? For example, we are sitting in Hyderabad, Alhamdulillah. I am delighted with these temperatures because I just came from Massachusetts, which was minus 20. So, I am very happy that we are plus 20 and we are plus 32 and we are plus 40 and what not, right? But the point is, if I say “I’m managing the summer,” see, talking nonsense. If it is too hot, what can you do? Go find a room with an air conditioner in it and run the AC and sit there peacefully, right? You’re not managing the weather. The weather is not in your control. You can’t say “I’ve brought down the outside temperature.” You cannot do that. You put yourself in a situation where that outside temperature does not affect you.
Now, in the winter, in where I live, to go from the front door to the mailbox, right? It’s a whole expedition in itself. You put on boots with cleats because otherwise the ice will kill you. You’ll slip and fall and break your neck. You put on boots with cleats. You put on line trousers. You put on a jacket, a heavy jacket. Then you put on a hoodie. You put on a cap which covers your head. All for the sake of walking from the front door to the mailbox, which is got to maybe not even a hundred meters from the house. Just to pick out one letter from there, you have to do all of this. And if you say, no, I don’t care. I mean, I just here, I just go and come back. Believe me, there have been cases. There have been cases where people have died. It’s as serious as that. There have been cases where people have died because they went to take the mail from the mailbox. The weather is so severe. So, you cannot manage time.
What you can do is to value the time. Add value to the time. Value the time by using time intelligently and managing your priorities. I remind myself and you that excuses do not change reality. Just because you have an excuse, it will not change a loss to a gain. If I lose my wallet and may Allah Ta’ala keep us and our wallet safe. If I lose my wallet and then I come here and I tell you I lost my wallet and you say, “How did you do that?” Well, you know, I was passing through this very big thing and there was a big fair and there were thousands of people and whatnot and so on and so on. And, you know, really I tried my best. So, if all of you say, no, Sheikh, absolutely you’re right. It’s not your fault. Right? It is not your fault. Will my wallet come back into my pocket? You can say it’s not your fault. It doesn’t make any difference. What’s gone is gone. It won’t come back.
So, it is very, very important. Excuses will not change reality. If you have an excuse for wasting time, that time will not return to you. Many times when I teach classes, the class has been from this time to this time. Right? This is announced. This is posted. Everyone knows. But some people come late. So somebody will come half an hour late. And then they will say, “I’m sorry, I’m late.” So, I tell them, you may be sorry, I am not sorry. Makes no difference to me. I am running this class from 9 to 5. I am doing my best to give you the best that I can give you. If you come late, if you came half an hour late, you missed half an hour of the class. I am not repeating that class for you. So, in that half an hour, if there was something which was said, which was critical to your life, which would have completely changed and transformed your life, guess what? You missed it. You lost it. Right? Up to you.
So, if you are… You may be sorry. I am not sorry. Why should I be sorry? I did my best. But this is our ingrained nature. This is how we are ingrained. From little child comes to class, comes late. Teacher, “I’m sorry.” It’s okay. Johnny, Tommy, Zahid, Makar. Whatever. Sit down. Have a seat. It’s okay. Teacher says… Somebody in authority says it’s okay. So, we are conditioned that as long as somebody in authority is saying it’s okay, it is actually okay. Believe me, that is the biggest nonsense that anyone has ever taught you. If that is in your mind, reject it. It’s not okay. It can never be okay. Nobody with any authority can make it okay. If you miss a train and somebody says, yeah, it’s okay. What the hell does it mean even? You miss the train, right? So, you are supposed to go from place A to place B. You are not going, brother. You are right here. Somebody in authority says, whatever. Oh, I’m sorry. Yeah, no, it’s okay. What does it mean? You are still on the platform. What does it mean okay? How can it be okay?
What is gone is gone. Let us get this into our minds, into our hearts. If you want something, very well, work for it. Make sure you get it. No “okay.” Right? Time has gone. If you wasted your time, that time has gone and you are the loser. That is the reality. That is the truth and you are the loser.
The general truth is, think about this. We all use social media. We all consume social media. Right? You are scrolling screen after screen. The truth is that if you are consuming, you are the product. You are not consuming; you are the product. The creator creates content, feeds it to you. When you use that content, the creator gets paid by the advertisers. Let me tell you. Right? So, you are what? You are the product. You are being used. You are not the user. If you are consuming, you are the product. And remember that no matter what your age may be, today you have the most number of doors open for you. Today, as we speak, whether you are 20, whether you are 70, whether you are 80, whether you are 10, whether you are 5, today you have the most number of days open for you. As they say, somebody said, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. Right? The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The next best time is now. 20 years ago, I wish we had planted a tree. Forget that wish. Do it now. Do it now. Today, the most number of doors are open for you. As each day passes, they shut. One by one. Never to open again. Some doors open only if you have the key. That depends on the door. All doors depend on your recognizing them as doors and having the key to open them.
To those who sit around and do nothing and say that they are killing time, my submission to you is: you don’t kill time; time kills you. Right? Think about that. Inshallah, we’ll go slowly every day each lesson. But think about this. Time will kill you. You don’t kill time. You cannot make time. You cannot store time. You only have time. That’s why somebody said, the past is gone. Whatever it was, whether it was good, whether it was bad, it’s finished. It’s over. Don’t sit there. People are sad because they are sitting in the past. Oh, “I wish I had done this.” Oh, “I wish something.” Oh, “I wish this.” It’s gone. It’s over. Take the lesson from it and forget it. Move on. Taking the lesson is important. If you do not take the lesson, that past will come back and haunt you again and again and again. So take the lesson from the past. Whatever you did, if it was good, Alhamdulillah; if it was not good, make sure you learn the lesson. You do not repeat that. After that, finish it. End of past. The future has not come. It may never come. Because whatever you are expecting and whatever your apprehensions are or whatever your expectations are, good or bad, it may not happen. It simply may not happen. Or you may not be there when it happens. So both ways you miss it. So the future has not come. It may never come.
So don’t worry about the future. Worry about today. Now. And that’s why somebody said, The past has gone. It won’t come back. The future is not here yet. It may not come. What you have is now. And that is why it is called a present. It’s called a present because it’s a gift. So I remind myself when you use that gift. Allah Ta’ala gave us this gift of the here and now. So let us live in the here and now. Because we are living in the here and now. Whether you like it or not, we are living in the here and now. Our choice is: am I going to live fully in the here and now? Or will I be in the here and now and I’m living in the past or I’m living in the future? Living in the past and living in the future is unreal. It is not possible. What is only possible is now. Don’t let something which happened before or something which may never happen in the future. Don’t let that steal the benefit of what you have. What you actually have, which is here and now. Use the here and now to the best of your ability. We ask Allah Ta’ala to help us to do that in the best possible way. Alhamdulillah, Islam teaches us what to do. You don’t even need to think. We have been shown. We have been told. We ask Allah Ta’ala to help us to maximize our present and to give us the greatest benefit from it. Because Allah gave us the present, we ask Allah Ta’ala to help us to utilize that to the best of our ability. And may Allah’s peace, mercy and blessings be upon the noble Prophet and his family and all his companions.