“So turn away from them and wait. Indeed, they are waiting.” (Qu’ran, 32:20)
This refers to those who disbelieve. They are waiting for the punishment, although they disbelieve in it. That is a sign of hypocrisy. Conversely, the believers are told to wait as well, because they believe in the punishment of Allah (God in Arabic). They know the truth, and are just waiting as the disbelievers are waiting. The difference between the two groups is that one is patient, the other is not. The believers are patient for the decision of their Lord, while the disbelievers are indulging in sin left and right and are so impatient they think it will not come, so they might as well have all the fun they can in this world. Little do they know that they should “live in this world as a wayfarer or a stranger.” –Prophet Muhammad (SWS)
That is because every moment counts towards the Hereafter. What happens here is like a mirage in the desert, it may look enticing, but it leads to a false hope. So don’t have false hopes and dreams. The Prophet Muhammad (SWS) said those who have foolish hopes and dreams will leave the religion of Islam as an arrow leaves the bow.
Tomorrow may not come. Yesterday is gone. What happens is in fragments. Like a video, life is captured in fragmented pictures of moments. Every moment counts. You have to cherish the small moments you have for the sake of the Hereafter and hasten to good deeds.
“Hasten to do good deeds; (there will be) fitnah like a portion of a dark night, wherein an individual wakes up as a believer and begins the night as a disbeliever or he begins the night as a believer and wakes up as a disbeliever. He sells his religion for a portion of the dunya (this worldly life).” –Prophet Muhammad (SWS)
Fitnah is what Muslims define as evil, in a way. One may already attest to the facts stated by the words of Prophet Muhammad (SWS), by seeing another who acts on his sins one moment and acts as a good person the next. One may find that in his very self.
This doesn’t mean all hope is lost. One must keep fighting oneself until they enter the grave, striving for perfection. How does a person do this? He would to this by following the Prophet Muhammad (SWS)’s words. Hasten to do good deeds. Time slips away like fragments from your very fingers.
It’s not about what happened, nor what will happen. Not yet. It’s about taking every moment by bite-sized pieces, and doing good in those very moments. You focus all your energy in those moments and put all the good you can muster into them. You break apart the linearity of time to take it as you must. You make it clear and concise so that you can enlighten every moment with righteousness. Don’t be certain you’ll live tomorrow, and regret your sins. Time comes like a spray of machine-gun bullets firing into your consciousness. You can either sit there, wasting the time you have allotted and let the bullets hit you, or you can catch every bullet with your Matrix skills and make use of each one of them.
Heighten your perception so that you can perceive time with stronger clarity. How does one do this? That’s easy. It’s called work. Time works in proportion with a physics formula: Work=force x distance. One who took Physics in high school might remember that force=mass x acceleration. The mass is you, and the acceleration is how speedily you do something. Furthermore, the more distance you progress with something, the more work you’ll put forth, and also the more force you put in your work, as in, the more energy, progress, and enthusiasm, the more work you’ll accomplish. So when one works towards something with stronger force and/or distance, time will seem to slow. You are in a sense warping time. The days will go slower because you are cherishing them more. You focus on the present, and leave the later and the past for another time. But one should remember the future constantly, especially death, for indeed it is the destroyer of pleasures.
“Remember often the destroyer and cutter off of delights, which is death.” -Prophet Muhammad (SWS)
So time is imbedded in physics. One will find that in acceleration, because acceleration is the exponential speed of something. Acceleration is distance/seconds2. Seconds, or time, is inversely proportional to acceleration, meaning the exponential speeding of a car will mean the slowing down of seconds. At least, what is perceived of it. But the slowing down of the car means the speeding up of seconds. Like this, time warps around you. It changes based on circumstance. It fragments in ways that are subtle and superfluous.
Not only because of that, but various other reasons, man should never curse time. Time always helps him, and is always good for him, but man is generally ungrateful to time. It’s true, because the Prophet Muhammad (SWS) said, “Do not curse time, for verily, time is Allah (SWT)”.
One will return with complete happiness focusing on the present and doing good deeds as much as possible. And in the end, he will receive a happiness like no other, and neither past nor future will matter at that time, because all time will coincide. They will coincide into one. They won’t matter, more correctly, for those who have succeeded, because they will have attained success and all that will be left will be eternity. They are the ones, the ones who do many goods, who will achieve eternal happiness!!!
‘Verily, those who say, “Our Lord is Allah,” then they istaqaamu [stood straight, i.e., truly followed Islam], on them the angels will descend (at the time of their death) (saying): “Fear not, nor grieve! But receive the glad tidings of Paradise which you have been promised!”’ (Quran 41:30)