Reading Quest 3 An Nuhaah

The Chronocycle

 

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

قال الله تعالى :

وَالعَصرِ ﴿١﴾ إِنَّ الإِنسٰنَ لَفى خُسرٍ ﴿٢﴾ إِلَّا الَّذينَ ءامَنوا وَعَمِلُوا الصّٰلِحٰتِ 
وَتَواصَوا بِالحَقِّ وَتَواصَوا بِالصَّبرِ ﴿٣﴾

Meaning : By time ﴾1﴿ Indeed, mankind is in loss ﴾2﴿ Except for those who believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience ﴾3﴿                                                                    [Surah Al-‘Asr : verse 1-3]

Have we ever wondered how precious time really is? In the West, time is considered as money. If we waste our time, we shall waste our money. In Malaysia especially among  Malays, we are being told that time is gold. But in Islam, we are being taught that time is life. We will put our life in vain if we spend our time for absolutely nothing at all. Overall, we can observe that time is too valueable and those who are wise are not the one who excel in studies alone but capable of managing their time wisely. It is ungrateful to spend the time with non-beneficial activities, not to mention about commiting sins. As being mentioned by Al-Muhasibi, a Sufi during the reign of Abbasiyah : ̏ I wish that time could be acquired with money. If so, I would buy time from wasteful and ungrateful people so that I could spend it serving Allah ̋ . We may regret when the time slip through our fingers, but there’s nothing actually we can do as it’s irreversible. Ibn Mas’ud said : ̏  I never regretted anything except a day that passed by without having increased my deeds ̋ . Let us ask ourselves. Are we ready for change or is it all talk with no commitment? Are we willing to make an adjustment to our time? It is widely mentioned : ̏ الوقت كالسيف فإن لم تقطعه قطعك ̋  (Time is like a sword, if you don’t cut it then it will cut you) – Famous Arab proverb.

VOCABULARY QUEST

1)    Chrono – combining form (n, adj, adverb) synonym : time

                 Meaning : connected with time

2)    Slip through the fingers (idm) meaning : to miss or fail to use an opportunity

Written by :

An Nuhaah