Daily Lesson 64

Memorise and practice a new hadeeth every week!

By Mawlana Junayd Makda Sahib

A True Believer

مِنْ حُسْنِ إِسْلَامِ الْمَرْءِ تَرْكُهُ مَا لَا يَعْنِيهِ

“It is from the excellence of an individual’s Islam that he leaves La ya‘ni (those things which do not benefit him)”

Tirmidhi

Explanation

A true believer is wise and only concerns himself with matters which are of benefit for him in the afterlife.

In this beautiful hadeeth, our beloved Nabi ﷺ very wisely informs us to detach ourselves from all those things which are of no concern to us. Meaning, all those things which are of no benefit in this world, nor in the hereafter.

What we learn from this hadeeth:

1) A Muslim does not just look at Halal (permissible) and haram (impermissible) but also looks at actions which are termed as lay’ani.

2) What is laya’ni? Laya’ni are all those things which bring a person no benefit in this world or the hereafter.

3) A believer does not just do things to pass time. He does things with a purpose which is to bring benefit in this world or the afterlife.

4) When deciding what we should do and not do, we need to prioritise in the following way:

Do the following:
A) Beneficial in the hereafter (reading salah, zikr, dua, reciting Quran, looking after parents, helping others etc)
B) Beneficial in this world and none harmful to our afterlife. (exercising, studying etc)

Don’t do:
A) Damages our hereafter (backbiting, gossip, disobeying parents etc)
B) No benefit in this world or the hereafter (many pass times such as game consoles, social media etc. which could be replaced with good activities and made profitable in the afterlife)

See below for an idea of how easily 90 minutes can be made valuable in the afterlife.

Things to help us save time:

1) Make a timetable and follow it

2) Spend free time learning deen, reciting Quran, performing salah and helping others

3) Engage in zikr whenever we have nothing to do. Simple words such as subhanallah, alhamdulillah and allahu Akbar will weigh very heavy in the hereafter

4) Spend time in the masajid and in the company of those who help us remember the afterlife

5) Avoid activities which are just to pastime. For a believer, every second is extremely precious and not to be just passed and wasted.

6) Make dua to Allah Ta’aala to help us to value every second of our life.

7) Learn about deen so that one is able to decide what to do and what to stay away from.

8) At all costs stay away from sin and disobedience.

9) Learn and follow the Sunnah practices and read masnoon duas at their appointed times

10) Aim to memorise or learn something new about deen each day (for example memorise a surah of the Quran, a Hadeeth, a masnoon dua etc).

Invaluable 90 Mins!



Stones, snakes or books… Which would you buy?

Khalid was a kind young boy, but would sometimes become a little careless. His mother and father would advise him as much as they could. Once his father wanted him to learn a lesson about valuing his time.

He gave him £50 and said go buy whatever you like. To add to his test, Khalid’s father had asked one of Khalid’s friends to go shopping with him and take him to certain shops.

Khalid and his friend left the house and his friend said, I know just the right thing for you. He took him to a second-hand shop. In which there were all sort of items. Here, Khalid’s friend picked up a stone and said this is so good. You should buy this. Without thinking, Khalid paid £50 for this stone and returned home very excited. His parents were very disappointed and told him he had used £50 to buy an item which would neither benefit him nor harm him.

They took the stone from him and gave him another £50. The next day Khalid and his friend again went to the same shop. This time they found a snake in a cage. The shopkeeper said this snake is very dangerous as it is poisonous.

Again, Khalid’s friend became very excited and told him to buy it. And without thinking Khalid paid £50 and returned home with it.

His parents were in rage. They told him off and said not only have you brought something that will not benefit us but this time you have bought something which will now harm us!

The next day the parents give Khalid one more try and gave him £50 again. This time Khalid said to his friend, I will tell you which shop we will be going to today. Khalid took him to an Islamic shop and there he started purchasing books on hadeeth, seerah and lessons from the Quran. He even bought 3 miswaaks.

When he returned home, his parents were overjoyed. Khalid had learnt the lesson of valuing money!

They sat with him and explained to him regarding time saying, the way we gave you money to spend, Allah Ta’aala too has given you a life and time to spend. We now have a choice of how we spend this.

If we commit sins and disobey Him, it is the same example as when you purchased the snake. Not only will that time have been wasted, it will result in danger in the fire of Jahannam.

If we stay away from sin but do those actions which are non-beneficial, it will be just like that stone. When you reach the hereafter, those moments will have no benefit for you what so ever.

But if we spend our time in good actions, it is time well spent, just like the books you purchased, they will benefit us for a long time to come.

Moral:

Like the parents explained to Khalid, time and life are very precious and we have a choice as to where we spend it. Like with Khalid, he was foolish to spend money on buying a stone or a snake, we would be foolish to spend our time in disobeying Allah or engaging in futile activities.

Once a moment passes, it has gone and never to return so we must use every minute we have and do as much as we can with it to make our afterlife full of blessings and happiness.