Reflections...

Currently I am going through the tape series by Imam Hamza Yusuf: "Purification of the Heart". SubhanAllah, this is THE tape/lecture series set that I would recommend to all. Without fail, this, if listened to with sincerity and with an open mind, WILL change your life, or at least your perspective on life.

The perennial question of "what is life all about" bogs many of our minds on a daily, or at least periodic basis. Unfortunately, too many of us are either too busy to actually sit and reflect on a possible answer, or we are too intimidated by the mere search for the answer and so do not dare to hazard a guess, or venture to seek a plausible response. While it may be difficult to summarize what "life is all about", by examining our own lives, I think on many of our day to day routines, we may be able to tease out the answer of "what life ISN'T about".

In order to answer this question for ourselves at a personal level, let's simply look at the topic of time. How do we use our time? We, as human beings, have a finite time to our existence. We have a set number of heartbeats, a written number of breaths. Now, let's ask ourselves a question. Knowing full well that this is finite, how exactly are we using these precious, yet limited things? Let us ask ourselves another question. If someone were to come up to us and offer a monetary figure for a minute of our lives, what would we sell it for? "Hey buddy, you know when you're on your death bed and you don't have much longer to live...would you be willing to part with a couple of those last minutes?" Name your price. Most of us I would think would say that those precious moments would be priceless...what would money do at a time when life was about to expire. The reality though is that this is what is facing us on a second to second basis. How cheaply is our time given away to frivolous activities? How easily we let time slip through our fingers. If we sit and reflect on different petty things we may be doing in a given day, we will quickly realize that "this is NOT what life is all about". This concept of time is the latest thing that has been going through my mind, and it makes me cringe when I think of all the time that has been wasted...and worse so...the time that I continue to give away.

Just a thought...

P.S. Of course, we have been given the blessing by Allah that there are various different ways in which we can spend our time in a goodly manner. The key is to establish this practice in both spirit and action.