Both the Quran and the Sunnah emphasize the importance of time in the life of a Muslim. Allah swears at the beginning of many Soorahs (Chapters) by time or moments in time, for example, Allah Says (what means): “By the dawn and the ten nights (i.e. the first ten days of the month of Thul-Hijjah)...” [Quran 89: 1-2]

Allah also Says (what means): “By the night when it covers, and by the day when it appears...” [Quran 92:1]

Another verse reads (what means): “By the morning brightness and by the night when it covers with darkness...” [Quran 93:1]

Also, Allah Says (what means): “By the time...” [Quran 103:1]

When Allah swears by something of His creation, it is evidence of its importance, and this directs our attention to the benefit of that thing. The Prophet also emphasized the value of time in many authentic Ahadeeth (traditions of Prophet ). For example, Mu'ath bin Jabal narrated that the Prophet said: “A person will not move on (on the Day of Judgment) until he has been asked about four things: his life and in what he spent it, his knowledge and what he did with it, his wealth, from where he acquired it and on what he spent it, and his body and how he wore it out.”

Youth is considered the peak stage in human life, because young people have the capacity and energy to accomplish many good deeds, but when they get older, they cannot do so. These are stages of development as mentioned in the Quran; for example in Soorah Ar-Room (The Romans), Allah Says (what means): “Allah is He Who created you in (a state of) weakness, then gave you strength after weakness, then after strength gave (you) weakness and grey hair ...” [Quran 30:54]

If we do not use our time effectively for something good, then we will definitely use it for something bad, which destroys our reward and our lives. For example, if you do not praise and mention Allah, you will be saying something else, perhaps backbiting or talking about your children, your work, your neighbors, your friends or your enemies. What counts for you is using the time for something useful, doing good deeds and saying good words.

Try to hold your own self into account at the end of each day. Ask yourself: What did I do today? What did I do that was bad today? You should repent for the bad things that you have done and said, and be sincerely determined not to do them again. As regards the good deeds that you did, then be determined to do them again, probably more often, and do them in a better way.

Our lives are judged according to what we did, and not according to how many years we lived. Life is very short. Death awaits us. We do not know when we are going to die, so we have to make sure that we do as many good deeds as possible before we pass into the next life. Once dead, we are unable to return to this life in order to repent from our bad deeds, or to do more good deeds. Time passes very quickly as Allah Says (what means): “The Day they see it, (it will be) as if they had not tarried (in this world) except an afternoon and a morning.” [Quran 79:46]

Allah also Says (what means): “And on the Day when He shall gather (resurrect) them together, (it will be) as if they had not stayed (in the life of this world and graves, etc.) but an hour of a day.” [Quran 10:45]

Time is very precious; if it goes by, you cannot make use of it again. YESTERDAY can never become TOMORROW. A time that has passed will never come back again.

When it is time for a person to die, he asks that his life be extended in order to do more good deeds, as Allah Says (what means): {“And they will cry out therein, "Our Lord, remove us; we will do righteousness - other than what we were doing!" But did We not grant you life enough for whoever would remember therein to remember, and the warner had come to you? So taste [the punishment], for there is not for the wrongdoers any helper.” [Quran 35:37]

We say that we are so busy with our work and our children, but Allah warns us against this saying. Allah Says (what means): “O you who have believed, let not your wealth and your children divert you from remembrance of Allah. And whoever does that - then those are the losers. And spend [in the way of Allah] from what We have provided you before death approaches one of you and he says, "My Lord, if only You would delay me for a brief term so I would give charity and be among the righteous." But never will Allah delay a soul when its time has come. And Allah is Acquainted with what you do.” [Quran 63: 9-11]

Many people before us used their time effectively by performing good deeds, teaching, doing something for the benefit of the Muslims, their families and their relatives, or by advising others to be good, and calling others to Allah and Islam, etc. They considered every day that passed which they did not use effectively for the sake of Allah as denying the favors of Allah.

Today we have those who “kill time.” People gather to talk about things that are of no benefit to them, things that are not related to Islam or to the affairs of the Muslims. They spend their time in idle talk, in backbiting and so forth. TIME IS PRECIOUS. IT SHOULD BE PRESERVED.
The Prophet said: “There are two blessings concerning which many people are cheated: health and free time.” [Al-Bukhari]

People underestimate the value of these two favors, and thus, they are cheated. This is like a person who has a house that he wants to sell. Someone comes and offers him 50,000 dollars for it. He isn’t sure of its value, so he hesitates. Finally, he agrees and sells it for that amount. Later he finds out that his house was actually worth a million dollars. Imagine how cheated he feels; imagine that feeling that if he had only known beforehand what it was really worth, he could have gotten more!

It is the same with our time. We underestimate its great value, and once it is gone, we feel that we have been cheated because we didn’t get everything out of it that we could have. But just as the one who sold his house for less than its real value, he cannot get it back and sell it at its real value. It is the same thing, we cannot go back and do more with the time that is already gone. At the end of our lives, we will not be able to go back and live our lives over again. We will not be given more time to do good deeds and try to make up for the time we wasted.

So, we must organize our time wisely, being very careful about what we use it for. We must consider the free time that we have, in which we could do good deeds, as a precious resource, guarding it against waste or misuse.

TIME IS PRECIOUS. WE SHOULD PRESERVE IT.