Everything goes by so quickly.
You don't feel baraka / blessings in time.
And there's a collective manifestation of that.
And then there's on the individual level,
when you start to look at yourself and you say,
Where is it going?
And I read about people that are so productive
in the past and in the present.
Where is the Blessing in my time?
How to have Baraka in your time?
How to have Blessing in your time.
What do we learn from the messenger (pbuh) about having blessings in our time.
There's a very famous narration where the Prophet (pbuh) said that,
Time; the hour will not come until time shrinks.
Time literally shrinks.
So the Prophet (pbuh) said that
a year will feel like a month and a month month would feel like a week,
and a week would feel like a day, and a day would feel like just an hour,
and the hour would feel like a burning Bush or like the flare of a fire.
Quickly, everything goes by so quickly.
You don't feel Baraka in time.
You don't feel blessing in your time.
And there's a collective manifestation of that.
And then there's on the individual level,
when you start to look at yourself and you say, Where is it going?
And I read about people that are so productive in the past
and in the present, where is the blessing in my time?
And the Messenger (pbuh) in another narration, also in Bukhari,
he directly tied the shrinking of time
to the decrease of good deeds and the increase of certain types of corruption.
So he (pbuh) said, that time would shrink
and so the deeds, the output of good deeds would be less,
and greed, miserliness, stinginess would be placed in the hearts of people,
and the Prophet (pbuh) said,
and murder would become prevalent, murder would become prevalent.
And so there is a direct connection
between the shrinking of time and the shrinking of the output of deeds.
And of course, the battle with time,
to make the best use of your time is one that even the Sahaba / companions felt.
And most people do not realize the value of their time
until things start to become different,
until you start to get older, until you start to get busier,
until your health starts to wither as well,
until you see some of the consequences of your wasted time later on in life.
And then you go back and you say,
Subhanallah, I should have done things differently.
And that's why the Prophet (pbuh), of course, mentioned that
there are two blessings that people just do not take advantage of;
and they are health and free time.
So what does it mean to have Baraka, to have blessing in your time?
The technical definition to be able to do more with less time,
to be able to do more with less time.
That doesn't always mean more in terms of quantity,
but to do more, because Allah says
He tests you to see who will do the best with their deeds,
not necessarily the most.
So it's not always something that's quantifiable, but to do more with less,
waki... (Rah) says in one of his wisdoms,
he says, Some people live a very long life but bear very little fruit,
and some people live a very short life but bear much fruit.
So there are long fruitless lives and short fruitful lives.
And so if a person is sincere with Allah (swt)
and takes the of time, the blessing of time seriously,
then what they can accomplish in a week is what someone else can accomplish in a day,
even in a time where overall time has shrunk even now.
Right? So this isn't just something that
we lament the past and we say, yes, they used to be able to read that much Quran
and do all of these good deeds, but they were different than us.
Because even now, even now,
with sincerity and steadfastness and taking your time seriously,
you can accomplish more with the same amount of time as someone else.
A person might even in today's world
accomplish more at the age of 18 than someone else at the age of 80.
Right? It is still a thing if you take the trust of time seriously.
And so I wanted to just go over seven things
that I extracted from the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh)
about how to have blessing in your time.
What do we learn from the messenger about having Baraka in our time?
And the first thing is that the Prophet (pbuh) was a morning person
and that wasn't just by accident.
He was a morning person, peace be upon him,
And there's an authentic Hadith from Sakhr Al-Ghamidi (ra) was a companion.
He said, I heard Rasulullah (pbuh) saying,
Oh Allah, bless my nation in its early hours, bless my Ummah in its early hours.
Put Baraka there.
And he said, I didn't just hear the Prophet (pbuh) say this,
When he used to send out a Battalion or an army,
he always sent them at the beginning of the day,
anything he (pbuh) did solely on an individual basis
and anything he commanded within the Ummah he started early in the day,
sallallahu 'alaihi wasallam.
It was always the morning hours with him (pbuh), starting with his fajr Prayer
and after the remembrance of Allah, that came after the fajr prayer
and the conversations and the commands
and the work that started at the early morning hours.
And some of the Scholars also mentioned that Allah swears by Al-fajir Walasr,
Allah swears by the two timing, the beginning of the day and the ending of the day,
because most people are either waking up or winding down
and the believer can take advantage of those times to get ahead.
And Allah has put special blessing in those times of the day.
So that's the first thing starting early.
Number two; avoiding sins and drama.
And they are interconnected.
So I'll start with the obvious here with sins.
Imam Malik (rah) when he met shafi (rah),
this amazing child who at the age of eight years old
just clearly was way ahead of everybody else.
One of those kids that would make multiple world records happen,
that there would be coverage of the brain
of imam shafi (Rah) and what he was doing.
He was clearly a genius.
He clearly had something special going for him at a young age.
And his teacher, Imam Malik (rah) says to him,
Listen to me, O young man,
I see that Allah has put a light in your hearts.
He didn't attribute it to his upbringing.
He said, Allah has clearly put a light inside of your heart.
Don't extinguish that light with the darkness of sin.
Allah gave you something special.
Don't mess it up with sin.
So whether it's your memory or it is, as Allah says,
had the people of the town believed ...
avoided sin, they feared Allah, they avoided sin.
The implication of Taqwa / Piety is avoiding sin,
then the blessings of what was coming down upon them would have been present.
But it was the sins that took away the blessing of what was given to them.
And so sins decrease the blessings of wealth.
They decrease the blessings of time.
They decrease the blessings of intellect.
They pollute everything that they are present within.
Because all of those things,
those faculties and those blessings that Allah gives to you are gifts from Him.
And He will not allow you to keep those gifts
if you tarnish them with disobeying Him.
So the light will be extinguished in your time.
The light will be extinguished in your mind.
The light will be extinguished in your wealth also.
And so many other things,
some of the scholars also say, and this is why I said avoiding Sins and Drama,
There is the anxiety that sin causes.
When you're a messy person, you get yourself into a lot of messy situations.
And so you only have a certain amount of head space
and a certain amount of heart space and a certain amount of time space.
And if you occupy that with sins and the consequences of sins,
the messiness of sins, then naturally that's going to paralyze you
from being able to be productive with your time,
because you're always trying to get yourself out of a sin that you committed.
They're mostly self inflicted, right?
Grudges take up heart space.
Drama takes up time space.
All of it takes up head space.
It just takes away from what time you have.
And so if you're a person who's not messy, who generally avoid drama
and causing drama and inflicting wounds and gossiping and things of that sort,
you likely have a lot more time to focus on what's important rather than always
trying to climb out of something that you've inflicted upon yourself.
So that's the second thing. The third thing;
And there's something very interesting about this hadith,
spending time with your family,
you say, Wait a minute, that's why I feel like my time is going, right?
I can't find time to spend with my family.
I can find time to do all this other stuff,
but I can't find time to spend with my family.
Anas ibn Malik (ra) narrates that the prophet (pbuh) said,
Whoever wants to be granted more wealth and have their life extended,
then let them keep a good relationship with their family ties.
Let them establish their family ties.
You think to yourself, Wait a minute,
family pulls me away from being able to make money properly.
I've got to do more in my career.
And that's why I don't have time for my family.
I don't have time for my family because I got to do this.
You still find time for the leisure.
You still find time for all the...
but I don't have time for my family because I got to do this important stuff, okay?
And the Prophet (pbuh) is saying, in the design of Allah,
spending time with your family, being good to your family
actually increases the Baraka of your earning and the Baraka of your time.
And we trust in Allah with that.
That's why you read about the Prophet (pbuh),
You say, how was he able to balance,
Allah put blessing in what the Prophet (pbuh) did in his time, in every way possible.
And .... starts with your parents, starts with your parents.
If your parents are alive, right?
It starts with your spouses, then your children,
then the closer your uncles, your aunts, and so on and so forth.
There's blessing that comes
from that blessing that comes from the dua of those people,
blessing that comes from... from the pleasure of those people.
And so all of us should take that as a sign.
You know what?
No, I'm not going to relinquish those family ties in the name of what?
In the name of making more money or making better use of my time.
Because the prophet (pbuh) said, the opposite is in fact true.
And subanAllah,
you look at the way the scholars pointed to this or explain this idea
of the prolonging of life, the prolonging of life.
Some of them said that Allah blesses your health
and blesses your ability expands you.
In that sense, some of the scholars say,
Allah blesses them by just putting more in their time, Baraka in their time
and guides them to do actions of good deeds, of obedience.
Some of them said, and this is beautiful.
Allah extends his life with the good memory
that he leaves behind with those people that you love.
They have a beautiful way of remembering you.
And that extends you because when they remember you beautifully,
then they do things in your name
that encourages them to make dua for you and to give charity in your name.
And that allows for your extension on life to exist.
And some of the scholars said, of course,
that this is the actual extension of years that Allah puts in his books on a person,
when a person has Barak in the sense.
The fourth thing; acts of gratitude.
Allah says,
if you are grateful, I will increase you.
Now,... in regards to faith as a whole,
your perspective, but also in regards to the specific things
that you are showing Shukor with what does it mean to be, grateful with your health.
Allah will increase you when you're grateful with your health,
when you use your health to work. acts of gratitude.
Sadhaqa / Charity is a means of gratitude with wealth.
It increases your wealth and so gratitude with your time,
sparing your time for service to do acts of Shukhur, volunteerism.
Some people think, well I can't find time
for the volunteerism and doing the acts of gratitude.
Allah extended the years of Dawood (a.s),
who worked acts of gratitude and it extends his life (a.s)
And so a person should always have some notion of charity with their time.
This is not just swiping a credit card or
now whatever doing it online and just donating something, charity with your time.
Acts of gratitude with your time will put Baraka in your time.
Volunteering your time for something good
in an act of gratitude will actually bless your time as well.
Number five,
a daily recitation of the Quran specifically surah al baqarah is
where we find the Prophet (pbuh) talked about Al-Baqarah
when it comes to Baraka in time.
The Prophet (pbuh) said an authentic Hadith.
He (pbuh) said possess, recite surah Al-Baqarah
When you do so, you are unlocking all sorts of blessings
and to abandon it is a form of regret
and it cannot be penetrated or overcome by ... can be as neutral as Laziness
as nefarious ... as sorcery and magicians.
Okay. It's somewhere there as well.
So some of the scholars say that
a person who is lazy will not be able to read Al-Baqarah
if they have that characteristic of just not being motivated.
...is a condition;
I just don't feel like doing anything.
And then you have a narration from Muawiyah (ra),
Muawiyah (ra) said I was taught is
that baTala here refers to the sorcerers.
So it's a protection of the house.
And we know the Prophet (pbuh) told us to read surah Al-Baqarah in the home as a means
of protecting it from anyone that tries to cause you harm.
And so the scholars say in regards to time here,
right, the longest surah of the Quran is Al-Baqarah,
You read it.
The blessing that it unlocks in your life is significant, significant.
And so there is a general rule here that if a person has a daily recitation
of the Quran, it will increase the blessing of their time.
And specifically, of course, here surahtul Al-Baqarah that has been given to us.
And it is as long as it is, subhanAllah,
as long as it is, you will find many people able to memorize surah Al-Baqarah,
can't memorize the whole Quran,
but you will find many people that were able to memorize surah Al-Baqarah,
And that's something that Allah (swt) has placed within as a glad tiding,
that it's not as hard as you think
to approach the Quran with memorization.
It's not as hard as you think.
And when a person memorizes it
“by Allah's will”, it will unlock much Baraka, much blessing for them.
Number six, incorporating remembrance into your routine,
dhikr / remembrance into your actual routine.
The Prophet (pbuh) was once walking with the companion Abu Hurairah (ra),
He said that we reached a mountain on the outskirts of Mecca called Jumdan.
So the Prophet (pbuh) said, go on for JumDan,
Jumdan is a mountain that's all by itself.
It means frozen, right?
So it's all by itself.
There's nothing around it and it's a staple there.
So the Prophet (pbuh) is saying, Go,
those who have lived a life of being alone have proceeded.
And ....have gone ahead. They said, Ya Rasulullah,
What do you mean the loners?
What do you mean they've proceeded?
They've gone ahead of everybody else.
And he said, the men who remember Allah frequently
and the women who remember Allah frequently.
Now there's so much to take from this.
The Prophet mention this remembrance in the context of what....
They've gone ahead.
They have succeeded.
They've beat the bunch in the race.
They're ahead of the lines.
And the scholars say here is the emphasis of the Prophet (pbuh), right?
If you look at his life is that
Dhikr is not something that was isolated to a place or a time of worship.
Dhikr was in the Prophet's gatherings, salallahu alayhi wasalam.
His tongue was moist with it.
Dhikr is when you're cooking.
Dhikr is when you're walking.
Dhikr is when you're working out.
Dhikr is when you're doing anything that is not Haram.
You don't want to be doing Dhikr while
you're Haram unless you're doing it to get you out of the Haram.
Dhikr is something that you incorporate
into your daily life and you set those goals.
You don't have to separate like I can only do Dhikr in the mosque after Salah.
Dhikr is something that you bring into your routine.
And that's when you find the story
of the Baker in the time of Imam Ahmed (rah), whose Duas were all answered.
Why? Because as he was baking his dough,
SUBHAN ALLAH, ALHAMDULILLAH, la illah ila Allah, ALLAHU AKBAR,
the output in the Dunya that you saw was some loafs of bread.
The output in the sight of Allah (swt) was a bunch of palaces
and trees in jannah at the end of every day and answered duas for him.
So for the brothers and the sisters,
incorporate Dhikr into your actual routine,
Don't just relegate it to a place.
And that will increase what you earn
in the hereafter as well as what you bless in this life.
The last thing to your brothers and sisters.
Keep the company of productive people,
righteous people are of categories, but specifically productive righteous people.
Keep their company.
Allah (swt) says
Keep the company of those who are calling upon Allah (swt) night and day,
Seek patience through them.
Keep yourself resilience by their company.
And there is a story I'll end with here.
It's a story of Ibn Abbas (ra),
One of my favorite stories of a young man who had a vision.
He had been ibn Abbas (ra), the cousin of the Prophet (pbuh),
loved by the Prophet (pbuh) who used to sleep in the home of the Prophet (pbuh).
he used to be behind the Prophet (pbuh) on his camel and on his horse.
He was always with him (pbuh),
from the age of ten to 13 shadowed him (pbuh),
brought his wadu /ablution,
It was very traumatic for him when the Prophet (pbuh) passed away
but he also had an eye and he had a heart that was looking for the pleasure of Allah.
So when everyone came back to Medina
after the death of the Prophet (pbuh),
all these Sahaba that had gone on journeys were all there in Medina
tells his friends 13 year old friend, 13 year old Ibn Abbas,
He says, hey
the Assad, the companions of the Prophet (pbuh) everywhere today.
Let's go seek knowledge from them.
They're all here in Medina.
Let's go ask them to narrate their Hadith,
their time with the Prophet (pbuh),
Let's get something for them.
And his friend is narrating the incident.
He says that I told him you go ahead and do that.
I'm going to keep playing and relaxing.
Let's go play with the pigeons instead.
Ibn Abbas (ra) says,
I let him go.
I left him, I went and I started to sleep
on the doorsteps of the companions of the Prophet (pbuh),
Collect a Hadith, collect their knowledge, their jurisprudence.
Years later they've grown up and that man is walking by
and he's still playing with the pigeons as an adult.
And Ibn Abbas (ra)'s house has become the first University in the history of Islam
saying that young man knew better than I did.
He got it. He clicked.
Keep the company of productive people.
Keep the company of people that are goal oriented.
Keep the company of people that are trying to get ahead.
Work with them together.
We are all in loss except for those of us who enjion one another.
Push one another towards the truth.
Push one another towards enjoying good
and forbidding evil and patience and prosperity.
May Allah put Baraka in our lives.
Baraka in our time, Baraka in our sustenance.
Baraka in our deeds.
May Allah Subhanahu ta'allah allow that
Baraka to be embedded with His pleasure with us
until we meet Him
and we enter into paradise in the company of His beloved Prophet (Pbuh).
Ameen.