In the Pursuit of Wealth Part 2
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the Name of Allah Most-Compassionate, Most-Merciful
For what price do we sell ourselves for this dunya? This was a question that I became intensely interested in increasingly, particularly as I witnessed more and more people becoming occupied with the dunya and its acquisition. Allah subhanhu wa ta’ala asks the same question in the Qur’an, but is also unequivocal about the position of those who sell their lives for the sake of the dunya:
بِئْسَمَا اشْتَرَوْاْ بِهِ أَنفُسَهُمْ أَن يَكْفُرُواْ بِمَا أنَزَلَ اللّهُ بَغْياً أَن يُنَزِّلُ اللّهُ مِن فَضْلِهِ عَلَى مَن يَشَاء مِنْ عِبَادِهِ فَبَآؤُواْ بِغَضَبٍ عَلَى غَضَبٍ وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابٌ مُّهِينٌ
“Miserable is the price for which they have sold their souls, in that they deny (the revelation) which Allah has sent down, in insolent envy that Allah of His Grace should send it to any of His servants He pleases: Thus have they drawn on themselves Wrath upon Wrath. And humiliating is the punishment of those who reject Faith”. (Qur’an, Al-Baqarah 2:90)
Miserable indeed is the price for more than one reason. The greatest reason is that man takes all the blessings of Allah and then at the same time rejects Allah. Or that man would knowingly reject the Prophets (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon them all) whilst knowing they brought with them the truth and only sought to guide people to the path of truth and never asked from them anything of profit. These two reasons are fairly compelling however, the words with which Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala addresses this situation and anyone who rejects guidance in favour of a life of this world is very strong indeed for they incur the greatest of all punishments which is “wrath upon wrath”. Why is that so? In order to understand exactly what Allah was asking from us in terms of our obedience, which was for our own benefit, and how He was going to reward us for following guidance, we have to examine this issue at a deeper level. I took one very simple example of trade, of what we trade with Allah, what He is asking of us, and how He rewards us for our efforts. For example, through following His guidance and the Sunnah of the Prophet (s) Allah subhanhu wa ta’ala promises us eternity in the Graden. Now, simply put, there is no amount of striving for the sake of Allah that would literally qualify us to attain such an immense blessing. And yet out of His generosity and mercy Allah rewards us beyond our imaginings.
Taking the idea of trade, or what we give to Allah in exchange for what He rewards us with I specifically analysed how we spend our time, and ultimately how much time Allah is asking from us for granting us Paradise. The equation is as follows:
On average, life expectancy for those living in developed countries is approximately 80 years.
LIFE EXPECTANCY = 80 yrs
Of those 80 years one might discount the first 30 years because our knowledge and experience tends to be fairly limited. And we might discount the last 20 years of our life because after the age of 60 our physical strenght has already peaked, most of the strenght in determination to achieve our dreams and aspirations have usually waned and faded, and we’re now in the homeward stretch, closer to death than life. So that leaves us with 30 years.
LIFE EXPECTANCY- YOUTH – OLD AGE = 30 yrs
80 yrs – 30 yrs – 20 yrs = 30yrs
Of those 30 remaining years here’s approximately how they will break down:
SLEEPING = 8 hrs = 10 years
WORK = 8 hrs = 10 years
Out of 24 hrs in a day one third is spent sleeping and one third is spent at work, which leaves us with one third, or 8hrs. Hence, after discounting youth and old age we’re left with 30 years in our equation, from that we lose 10 years to sleep and another 10 years to work which leaves us with 10 years, which if we equate to a 24 hrs period means we have only 8 hrs of life remaining. Of those remaining 10 years/8 hrs here is how they might be spent:
GETTING DRESSED/SHOWERING/WASHING/ EATING = 1.5hrs = 1.2 yrs
TRAVELLING TO WORK = 2 hrs = 1.6 yrs
SHOPPING/TALKING = 1hrs = 0.8yrs
TV/ENTERTAINMENT/INTERNET = 1.5hrs = 1.2yrs
TOTAL = 6 hrs = 5 yrs
When we take into account these mundane activities they will account approximately 5 yrs of our life. This figure will of course vary from person to person according to their habits but as an approximate 5 years is fairly representative. Hence, from 80 years, and after taking into account 75 yrs of our time spent, we’re now left with a mere 5 years! If we equate our 80 yrs life expectancy to a 24 hour day:
80 / 24 = 1 hr = 3.3 yrs
75/3.3 = 22.7 hrs
24 hrs – 22.7 hrs = 1.3 hrs
This means that of our life were 24 hrs long then even before we have begun to live it we have used up 22.7 hrs, which leaves us with 1.3hrs to use for the worship of Allah. This is the trade that Allah subhanhu wa ta’ala presents us with, that merely through giving back this time to Allah in worship and seeking knowledge that He may reward us with Paradise. However, one would be quite confident verging on the edge of arrogance to think that ones salah and the sum of ones efforts in that final hour were so perfect that it is likely they would be accepted and such a person granted paradise. It might happen but one is taking a considerable risk in leaving ones entire eternal existence in ones activity for that final hour.
Hence, it is for this reason that those endued with understanding and intellect seek, as much as possible, to converge all their actions into one action, so that they increase the time available to them to worship Allah and hence maximise their chances of success, and then, the greatest possible success. Hence, for example 10 yrs would be returned to us, giving us 15 years, if our work consisted of serving Allah in some way. If we reduced our sleep from 8hrs to 4hrs then another 5 yrs would be returned to us, giving us 20 years instead of 5 years.
Of course there is also considerable overlap in that, 8 hrs of work may be considered as worship if undertaken for the sake of Allah although one wasn’t directly doing something for the benefit of others. Or that the time spent shopping or cooking was done for the sake of Allah and to feed ones family, friends, guests, travellers, relatives and the poor. And this example may be extended to almost all the other human activities we undertake. But what has been presented here is the scenario of the one that either does not seek to follow guidance, and hence the pittance for which he sells his existence, or the one that seeks only to give back to Allah the absolute minimum. This minimum by the way includes praying five times a day, fasting completely every year, giving charity, giving zakat and if possible going on Hajj or Umrah. Hence we if return to our last equation of 24 hrs – 22.7 hrs = 1.3 hrs, then we have just over 1 hour left in our day. If we assume that 5 prayers a day equate to approximately 1 hour, then we have barely a few minutes left of our life. Thus on the basis of the assumptions presented above, and one would have little reason to despute those assumptions of time spent, then what we might say is that once all that time is taken into account, our life, through the way we are likely to spend our time, has already been taken into account before its begun. The question then arises as to what can we alter in those variables that will increase the possible time we might be left with?
Maximising Time
It is this very principle the Prophet (s) came to enjoin, which was to maximise our time as much as possible through undertaking all our activities for the sake of Allah. So rather than live in the hope that we might give back to Allah those 5 yrs or that final hour with perfect prayer and worship, we seek to be in a constant state of worship in the remembrance of Allah. Hence it is for this reason that Taqwa is consider the highest state of ibadah. The saliheen, the people of righteousness constantly seek out people to help rather than wait for people to find them, they seek to feed the poor, give of their time and wealth to those that really need it, seek knowledge and teach it to others, enjoin the virtues of patience and forgiveness, embodying their beliefs into their actions and into their state of mind. You will find these people in the constant remembrance of Allah, in Whom they find their greatest joy, and to Whom they constantly yearn to return. Insha’Allah in the next post I will present a more detailed description of the righteous as according to Imam Ali (ra).
وَاذْكُرِ اسْمَ رَبِّكَوَتَبَتَّلْ إِلَيْهِ تَبْتِيلًا
“But keep in remembrance the name of thy Lord and devote thyself to Him whole-heartedly”. (Qur’an, Al-Muzzamil 73:8)
May Allah bless our time here on earth, enable us to seek Him in all our endeavours, to Him remember Him constantly, and sincerely take as our guide the Prophet (s) who said about his sleep, ‘My eyes may be closed but my heart is awake and in the remembrance of my Lord’. Ameen.
