On time, health and old age

If you are a regular reader of this blog you would have noticed that I have not posted anything for a while now. Well, what can I say; sometimes life comes in the way of blogging!

So here’s the thing, I’ve been really busy with work. I’m sure you must be familiar with those extremely busy moments, you know, those sleepless nights, I can’t think of anything else accept all the work I have to do moments.

Then to top it off I had a few “off days” last week where I wasn’t feeling too well. I think it was a bug or something.

Also, my grandmother is staying with us again and although she won’t admit it (she must be the youngest 81 year-old around, always wanting to be on the go), my grandmother needs help. Things are not easy for her anymore; in fact, even walking from one room to the next tends to leave her out of breath.

So I have some very valid reasons for my short disappearance from blogosphere, but I’m not writing about these things to make excuses, and definitely not to complain.

Alhamdullillah (Praise be to Allah), my work seems to be easing off, and I am able to do other things once again, (as you can see). My health is back to normal and I feel good once more, and I actually enjoy having my grandmother around. But the real reason I’ve mentioned these things is because it reminds me of a very special hadith. Perfect words of wisdom uttered by our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH);

The Prophet (saw) advised to: “Take benefit of five before five: Your youth before your old age, your health before your sickness, your wealth before your poverty, your free time before you are preoccupied, and your life before your death”
(Narrated by Ibn Abbas and reported by Al Hakim).

After reading this beautiful hadith, which happens to be one of my favourites, I’m sure the purpose of my post is much clearer. When I am so busy with work, I definitely miss my free time, when I am sick I long for my health. When I don’t have enough money to buy the things I really want, I look back at times when I could get everything I wanted, and I’m sure that like my grandmother, when I am old, I will fondly recall my youthful days and long for times when I could do all the things I wanted to do without getting tired or ending up sick.

So this makes me wonder, what about taking benefit from my life before my death? Am I doing enough to ensure that my life is beneficial for me so that I don’t have many regrets in the hereafter, or will I look back and wish that I had not taken my life for granted?  Sometimes we all need to self-reflect and ponder about our lives.

Alhamdullillah that we have been blessed with the best of wisdom and if we follow it, Inshaa-Allah we will be successful. So let us try harder to take benefit from these 5 things, before we don’t have it anymore. Or, in the very least, let us start by taking benefit of just one of these things, and as time progresses we can move on to another.

May the Almighty Allah ease all of our burden’s and help us to be the best of people, Inshaa-Allah