Balancing Matters of Dunya & Akhirah - Do We Have Time to Work For The Hereafter

As-Salamu Alaykum (peace be upon you), By Umm Hibathain Allah has sent us to this world (the Dunya) for a purpose, and the purpose is nothing but to worship Him and do righteous deeds to seek His pleasure. And the religion He wants us to follow is one of total submission and obedience - and a complete way of life. Allah says: "He Who created death and life to test which of you is best in action. He is the Almighty, the Ever-Forgiving." [Noble Quran 67:2] And Allah says: "Oh mankind! Worship your Lord (Allah), Who created you and those who were before you so that you may acquire Taqwa." [Noble Quran 2:21] Islam should be inculcated into every action and deed in our everyday routine, be it at our work, in our business transactions, our family life (with our spouse and kids), our parents, our social life among our friends, community and everything that surrounds us and to matters of our heart. And insha'Allah with this in our mind, all of us will be able to balance our time between the matters of Dunya and matters of the Hereafter. For a believer, all matters of the Dunya are also matters of the Hereafter. He does not keep them separate. He indulges in matters of the Dunya in such a way that will him benefit for him and not bring harm or evil to him in The Hereafter. Allah says in the Quran: "The life of this world is nothing but a play and amusement. The hereafter is better for those who guard against evil. So will you not use your intellect?" [Noble Quran 6:32] A true believer will always, therefore, remember his final destination. He does not forget the Hereafter, even for a second. He will live in this life as though he is a traveler, and he has to earn and prepare for his eternal abode, a luxurious, successful life. Ibn 'Umar narrated that Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Be in this life as if you were a stranger or a traveler on a path." [Sahih Al Bukhari] Imagine a man is travelling by road from a point 'A' to his destination 'B' and he has a prescribed time to reach 'B'. He has his GPS with him to guide him to the right place. He needs to have food on his way. What do you think? Should he stop at a point 'C', which is on the way to 'B', or should he take a completely different out-of-the-way direction and go to a restaurant at point 'D' that might be more fancier and more expensive? Should he compromise on his time at this point, and trade his time just to enjoy more fancy food? And then, he sees something else that he feels he has to check out, and he stops there also, all the while moving farther and farther away from his destination. (And hence, 'D' leads him to 'E' and 'F' and so on to greater mistakes and farther from point B) But the Mercy of Allah is this, if by mistake, he does take to point 'C' or even 'D', he can re-calculate and re-route himself to 'B' again through his GPS. And similar is the believer's true repentance. This is a parable of our life in this world. Our final destination is The Akhirah, and we have time to accumulate Ibadah (worship Allah) and do good deeds only till we die. And we don't even have a known prescribed time for this, unlike the example above! It can be anytime, anywhere. If we are consistent in the remembrance of Allah, we will be prepared when Malak-ul-Mawt approaches, and it is time for us to leave. (May Allah bless us to die in a high state of Iman, Ameen) We should use our provisions that Allah has blessed us with, in a way that will please Him, all the while staying on the right path, without going farther from our road to our final abode, Jannah. Allah says in the Quran: "Verily! It is Allah Who causes the seed grain and the fruit stone to split and sprout. He brings forth the living from the dead, and it is He Who brings forth the dead from the living. Such is Allah, then how are you deluded away from the truth." [Noble Quran 6:95] The Quran is like The GPS and more, that keeps guiding us, and we should pay serious heed to it, with strong faith in the instructions and guidelines it provides endlessly. The Quran is perfect in all senses and flawless, and if we stick to it, we will never be led astray with The Mercy and Blessings of Allah. Allah says: "That is the Book in which there is no doubt, guidance for the Muttaqin." [Noble Quran 2:2] If a matter of Dunya that will not benefit us, attracts us from a distance away from the straight path we are on, we should not think that maybe for once, we can move towards it, and then run back to the path we are supposed to be on, as we never know what is in store for us at that point. Maybe we could end up moving further away because of other worldly mirages, and ultimately leave us in darkness and lead to Hell-fire. Shaytan has a way of making our evil thoughts and actions look like "harmless fun" and nothing more. Allah says: "Those are the people who trade the hereafter for the world. The punishment will not be lightened for them nor shall they be helped." [Noble Quran 2:86] Insha'Allah, let's be cautious of ourselves so that we will not be included in this type of people, may Allah save us all. Allah says: "Leave alone those who take their religion to be mere play and amusement, and are deceived by the life of this world." [Noble Quran 6:70] This does not mean that one cannot have fun in this world. Have fun, but within the boundaries of Islam. And keep it balanced. And now to the question: how do we balance it? I have heard people talking about the comparatively few people who try to live their life as much "Muslim" as they can: Come on, he is too orthodox. One is supposed to balance the Dunya and The Akhirah. Answer: For one, like mentioned above, a true believer tries to make his whole life an Ibadah. And his life can be an Ibadah only if he is obeying His Lord at all times. For example, at his work place, he follows the etiquettes and laws of Islam by being nice to his colleagues, trying to give Dawah when he gets a chance (needn't be through speech, his actions speak too), abstaining from intermingling (talking unnecessarily, coming in contact like shaking hands, patting each other etc.), being sincere to his work not just for worldly gains but out of fear of Allah and most of all, having a Halal job. In his business transactions, he will be fair, stay away from interest and any other kind of dealings that are against the Shari'ah of Islam. Even when he relaxes and has fun, he keeps thanking Allah. Secondly, let's weigh the time we spend to make our life here better and the time we spend to make our Akhirah better, by keeping in mind that the Akhirah is eternal and this world is for such a short span of life. Surely, we spend quite an amount of unavoidable time for the Dunya. How can we then, be satisfied with ourselves for the amount of time we spent only to worship Allah and the little or no time we spend in learning His Deen? (Indeed, He is The Most Merciful that insha'Allah, we will enter Paradise, for the little we do here for our own Akhirah's sake as gratitude for this life he has Blessed us with!) Allah says: "Oh mankind! Have Taqwa of your Lord, and fear a Day when no father can avail aught for his son, nor a son avail aught for his father. Verily, the promise of Allah is true, let not then this present life deceive you, nor let the chief deceiver deceive you about Allah." [Noble Quran 31:33] Thirdly, let's always stop ourselves and think twice when we feel tempted to think/say, "We have no time", when it comes to doing a good deed or an act or worship. Allah has given each and everyone of us 24 hours a day and 7 days in a week. All men are equal. If the companions of The Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) and the rightly guided scholars of the Islamic Era were able to run homes (sometimes more than one) with many kids, run businesses or do some work in order to earn their bread, govern the nation/state, do Dawah and teach Islam to their people, recite the Quran and contemplate on it on a daily basis, participate in battles, travel to seek knowledge of Deen, pray Tahajjud and other extra prayers etc, why cannot we find time then? "O Lord! Give unto us in the world that which is good and in the Hereafter that which is good and guard us from that doom of the Fire"

Khadejah Jones Share Islam Team ShareIslam.com

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