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Fatwa CenterMeaning of hadeeth: ‘...an hour and an hour.’
Question
Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu. Sheikh, does the hadith about an hour for you and an hour for your Lord means 12 hours of worshipping or subtracting around 6 hours of sleep from 24, meaning 18 hours, so then 9 are for our Lord? So should we worship this much hours a day in our daily life? I mean, should we worship that much that if we count the hours of worship of a whole day, it should be that particular amount of hours? Please explain. May Allah reward you well.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, "By the One in Whose Hand my life is, if your (spiritual) state remains the same as it is in my presence and you are always busy in remembrance (of Allah), the angels would shake hands with you on your beds and in your roads; but, Hanthalah, an hour and an hour. He said it three times." [Muslim]
As-Sanʻaani 
wrote, "It means that one hour should be devoted to Allah, the Almighty, and to remember reward and punishment, and an hour to yourselves and your essential worldly needs." [At-Tahbeer]
The hadeeth does not mean that the day should be equally divided between worship and lawful worldly activities! No; it means that the believer is not commanded to devote all his time to pure worship such as Thikr (remembrance of Allah) and the like. Rather, because of his human nature, he should devote some of his time to the lawful worldly activities such as fulfilling needs, spending time with the family, and the like. Note that if these lawful activities are accompanied by a good intention, they turn into acts of worship. The Muslim is obliged to perform his religious obligations and avoid all that is unlawful in all cases. For more benefit, please refer to fatwa 86279.
Ibn ʻUthaymeen said:
"There is no doubt that the human being cannot maintain the same level of faith and attentiveness of heart all the time. This is why we are enjoined to observe the religious obligations at different times of the day and night; the Fajr, Thuhr, ʻAsr, Maghrib, ʻIshaa', and voluntary night prayers, so that the remembrance of Allah is revived in our hearts. It is natural that the human being might feel tired or lose enthusiasm for worship, and this is why the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, 'An hour and an hour.' It means an hour for worship and an hour for spending time with one's family, enjoying their company, talking to them, and the like."
It should be noted that the Arabic word Saaʻah (hour) used in the hadeeth does not mean an actual hour (60 minutes); rather, it means an interval of time, without specification of length. Ibn Al-Atheer said, "The word Saaʻah, in principle, has two meanings: first, it denotes one part of the twenty-four parts making up the day and night. Second, it means a short time of the day or night ..."
Allah knows best.
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