Take Advantage of Five before Five

   Take Advantage of Five before Five: The Phases of Life

Allah Almighty has created mankind for some specific purpose. We all have some purpose in our life. We should know about this purpose and the basic purpose of our life is to worship Allah (SWT). Allah Almighty is alone in His worship; we should consider Him alone in worship. He (SWT) has blessed some people with some things out of His wisdom and taken them from others, also out of His eternal wisdom. Allah Almighty has made some of His blessings permanent and will stay with His slaves during their lives. Still, there are some blessings that will vanish at different times of their lives.

In this article, we will discuss those blessings which we should utilize before they vanish. We should take notice of them and begin using them before they begin to disappear. When we want to know or figure out something the best place to know about is the Book of Allah Almighty and the Sunnah of Prophet (SAW).

Our beloved Prophet (SAW) said: 

“I have been blessed with concise speech.” 

So we should consider His (SAW) speech as a source of knowledge given by Allah Almighty. Every word that came out of His (SAW) mouth considers valuable wisdom.  These words might be small but meanings behind them are great.

There is a Hadith of Prophet (SAW) in which He is advising a man while saying:

 “Take advantage of five matters before five other matters: your youth, before you become old; and your health, before you fall sick; and your richness, before you become poor; and your free time before you become busy; and your life, before your death.” (Tirmidhi)

Prophet (SAW) is pointing out that these five matters are very easy to attain. They are easy to chase and very simple to take benefit from. That is because they are valuable and everyone owns but few people appreciate.

Want to know about these five things? In this article, we will discuss these five things that we should consider and utilize them best before their disappearance.

Take Advantage of your Youth before Old-Age:

 It is known that the one, who spends his youth in obedience to Allah, will be rewarded highly. He will also be amongst the 7 to be in Allah’s shade on the Day of Judgment where there will be no shade. It is usually within our youth, we have less responsibility, we are at the peak of our health, and we have great amounts of time which we can let easily slip away. We should try to spend our free time to worship Allah Almighty so that we can earn as many blessings as we can in our youth.

 When a person getting old he has not that power or health that he had while he was a young. Allah (SWT) loves such a youth who is smooth in the worship of Allah and does not turn left or right to the paths of Shaytan. Allah loves this person and is amazed at him because in general, it is the youth, due to their virility and strong desires, who deflect left and right away from the path of the worship of Allah Almighty.

Take Advantage of your Health, Before you get Sick: 

As when we are in youth, we often take for granted our health. We are advised to take advantage of our good health before we are taken with illness. What we usually don’t realize is that our health is a blessing from Allah (SWT). When we are in good health, we take it for granted and don’t always appreciate what we have. It is only when we fall ill then we realize what a great thing we had and how we let it go to waste by not doing as much worship as we know we could and should have done. 

We need to be familiar with the fact that there is no guarantee of our good health. There are so many things that can happen that can leave us full of regret for not having taken advantage of what we had when we had it. The least we can do in our good health are obligatory actions in which we have Salah five times a day, fasting in Ramadan and going for the Hajj. All of these obligatory actions require that we should be physically fit.

Take Advantage of your Richness before Poverty: 

Wealth is another blessing granted by Allah Almighty. We should give as much as we can in the way of Allah, and we are assured of the rewards for doing so by Allah in Holy Quran:

 “The likeness of those who spend their money for Allah’s sake, is as the likeness of a grain (of corn), it grows seven ears, every single ear has a hundred grains, and Allah multiplies (increases the reward) for whom He wills, and Allah is All-Sufficient for His creatures needs, All Knower” (Quran, 2:261).

 So for those of you that Allah has blessed with wealth, use it in ways that will truly benefit you before you wake up one day and it is gone. Spend it in the path of Allah Almighty. Do not forget that the most of the income that we spend, all of the income that he spends, can be for the sake of Allah as well. This means thinking of Allah, spending for the sake of Allah, and having the intention of pleasing Allah (SWT).

Take Advantage of your Free Time before You Become Busy:

 Spare time is another blessing granted by Allah Almighty to us. Just take a look at all the time that you did not take advantage of, in which you could have been earning the reward by doing simple and easy things like glorifying Allah, exalting Allah or reading the Quran. There are religious deeds which are the best deeds to do. Every one of us should recite the Quran every day, even if it’s only for five or ten minutes. 

We should have some relationship with the Quran. Every one of us should pray some extra prayers as well, a few nafls that the Prophet (PBUH) used to pray. This is the most important thing for us to do. But at the same time, do not forget that there can be many acts that can be rewarded if you change your niyyah and do them for the sake of Allah. Just remember do not waste time just by watching television or some movie and other things like that. Remember to do good deeds for the sake of Allah Almighty and earn best rewards and blessings for this world and hereafter.

Take Advantage of Life before Death: 

Life is the greatest blessing of Allah Almighty. We all know that one day we have to die but we should spend our lives in the best way so that we can earn Jannah in the hereafter. Once we die we will never be able to get back. We must not forget what a mercy life is. We should savor every moment of life and use it to our best advantage. This means pleasing Allah Almighty in order to achieve our ultimate goal Jannah.

In short, we must give attention to these blessings for what they are. We must begin to use them while they exist and we do not have access to them. May Allah protect us from being inconsiderate of His blessings and write us down with those who are not only taking full advantage of His blessings but also thankful for them. Ameen!

FIVE BEFORE FIVE

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate

All praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the most noble of the Prophets and Messengers

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)said:

“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 your preoccupation,

*and your life before your death.”  (Hakim)

1. Youth before old age
2. 
   

One of the things that most people take for granted is their youth. When people are young, they are full of energy and are capable of doing so many things for the sake of Allah Ta’ala, but often we see that this energy is wasted in one way or another.

When people lose their youth, they inevitably find it harder to do those deeds and acts of worship that they found somewhat easier to do at a younger age. With old age, people find it harder to keep fard (obligatory) fasts, they may not be able perform wudhu properly or to pray properly, and they may not have the energy to recite the Qur’an very often.

It is common to hear young people claim that they will start ‘practicing’ Islam when they get older. We should always be mindful of the fact that ‘older’ may never come round for us. We have no guarantee that we will even be alive tomorrow, let alone be alive to see our pensions, or our grandchildren. And even if we are blessed with a long life, how can we be sure that we have the health – physical and mental – to practice Islam? On top of all this, we should remember that people do not just magically become ‘good’ overnight; often, we find that bad habits are hard to shift – what if we can’t get rid of our bad habits when we get old?

1. Health before sickness
2. 
   

As with our youth, we often take for granted our health. We are advised to take advantage of our good health before we are overcome with illness or disability. What we often don’t realize is that our health is a blessing from Allah Ta’ala. When we are in good health, we take it for granted and don’t always appreciate what we have. It is only when we fall ill that we realize what a great thing we had and how we let it go to waste by not doing as much ‘ibadah (worship) as we know we could – and should – have done.

1. Wealth before poverty
2. 
   

Wealth is another blessing granted to us by Allah. Wealth in this context does not necessarily mean that we have large amounts of savings, or the fact that we can afford a huge house, a top-of-the-range car and a state-of-the-art media system. The simpler things such as a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs and food in our fridges make us amongst the world’s wealthiest people – a fact that we, more often than not, seem to overlook, particularly when we see people that have a lot more worldly possessions than we do. 

There are millions of people in the world today that don’t even have a drop of clean water to drink, and they don’t know where their next meal will be coming from. These are the people that we need to be helping with our wealth. Even a small donation can go a long way.

We should give as much as we can in the way of Allah, and we are assured of the rewards for doing so by Allah:

‘The likeness of those who spend their money for Allah’s sake, is as the likeness of a grain (of corn), it grows seven ears, every single ear has a hundred grains, and Allah multiplies (increases the reward) for whom He wills, and Allah is All-Sufficient for His creatures needs, All Knower’.(Al-Baqarah: 261)

1. Free time before preoccupation
2. 
   

Islam always encourages us to make the most of our time, and to spend as much of it as possible in the way of Allah. We should utilise the time we have available to do as much good as we can, because before we know it, this time will have passed. 

As mentioned above, we should use the time we have in our youth to do as much in the way of Allah as possible, because as time passes, as well as having to contend with old age and all that entails, we will inevitably have a lot more things to worry about, like jobs, homes and families – things that most of us at this present moment aren’t necessarily worried about.

 If we think that finding the time to practise Islam is difficult now, what will we do when life really starts to pick up pace? There is nothing wrong with getting married and having a family, but we should appreciate the relative freedom that we have now, and spend as much of it as we can on good deeds.

The concept of time is so important in Islam that Allah swears by it in the Qur’an:

 ‘By Time. Verily Man is in loss, except such as have faith and do good deeds, and in the mutual teaching of truth, of patience and constancy.’ (Surah Al-‘Asr)

In line with the above ayat (verses), we have to discipline ourselves by giving value to the importance of time. We should be prompt in doing good deeds, which will increase our faith and subsequently enable us to gain Allah’s pleasure and mercy.

1. Life before death
2. 
   

The last thing that we have been advised to take advantage of is our life before our death. Every night when we go to sleep, we enter a state where our soul leaves us. When we wake up, it is only because Allah has blessed us by returning our souls and granting us the opportunity to worship Him for at least one more day. Upon waking up in the morning, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to say (and we are also encouraged to do the same):

‘Praise be to Allah who gave me life after death, and to Him is the final return.’(Bukhari)

Often we do not fully appreciate how great a blessing it is to be given another chance. We become relaxed about death, and we don’t fully comprehend or appreciate that at some point – and only Allah Ta’ala knows when – our life will be taken away from us for good, leaving no second chance, no opportunity to make up for the wrongs we have done, and no turning back time. We must not forget what a mercy life is. We should savour every moment and use it to our best advantage. This means pleasing Allah in order to achieve our ultimate goal – Jannah.

I’ll end with a final hadith that I feel sums up the importance of all these issues:

‘A man shall be asked concerning five things on the Day of Resurrection: concerning his life, how he spent it; concerning his youth, how he grew old; concerning his wealth, how he acquired it and how he spent it; and what he did with the knowledge he had.’(Tirmidhi)

I pray that Allah Ta’ala grant us the tawfiq to make the most of all that He has blessed us with, and that He accepts all our efforts Insha’Allah.