The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was blessed with the most concise and meaningful speech, meaning he only had to say a little in order to convey a huge message. It is reported the Prophet Muhammad SAWS said to a man to “Take advantage of five matters before five other matters: your youth, before you become old; your health, before you fall sick; your richness, before you become poor; your free time before you become busy; and your life, before your death.”
We can truly learn a lot from these few sentences, and is especially applicable to us youth in society today.
#1: Take Advantage of Your Youth before Your Old Age
- We are in a time of our life when we are the mostenergetic and willing to take on the challenges of life. We should channel this enthusiasm to please Allah SW through acquiring knowledge, being modest, respecting elders, being involved in the community, and most importantly, worship.
- Thisenthusiasm and energy that we have been blessed with will never be given to us again after we age and we should take advantage of it because Allah especially loves the youth who keep themselves on the straight path because generally kids of each new generation are being taken away from this path and the Prophet Muhammad SAS said that the youth who obey and worship Allah will be among one of the seven types of people who will be in the shade created by the throne of Allah SWT on the day of judgment, a day in which there will be no shade and people will be drowning in their own sweat out of fear
#2: Take Advantage of Your Health, Before You Fall Sick.
- Health is one of the greatest blessings Allah has bestowed upon us.We should always not only be thankful for it each day where we can get up and do our activities with ease but also use it for the sake of Allah.
- We shouldnot become distracted by the health Allah has blessed you with. Rather, take advantage of it by committing acts that please Allah before it is taken away.
- We shouldreflect on the example of those who are blind, deaf, mentally disabled, etc. and thank Allah for all he has given us. Because of this, we should make it a goal to at least complete the obligatory actions which require a healthy body such as praying Salah five times a day, fasting in Ramadan, and going to the masjid.
#3: Take Advantage of Your Richness Before Poverty
- Islam does requireus to invest in the dunya ( such as getting a good education, being involved in school groups, and helping out in the community, etc) but Allah also does not want us to focus all of our attention and time just to those Rather, we should also be mindful about what we are investing in the hereafter for ourselves and what we will present to Allah after our death.
- Later on in life as we grow older and get a job, we should be mindful about how we spend our money on the path of Allah. As we earn money, whether it be from a part time job, or from an allowance, we should try to spend at least some of it to please Allah (swt).
- We should also be mindful that spending little amounts of money over a long period of time is more beloved to Allah SWT rather than a big sum at one time because Allah SWT loves consistency.
#4 Take Advantage of Your Free Time Before You Become Busy
- Think about it.Think about all the free time we had, have and are going to have
- We should realize that we have morefree time as teenagers now than we will later on when we move onto college, getting a job etc. We should always be mindful of how we use our time and make sure we are making the best of it.
- Spending time wisely does not necessarily meancommitting all of our time to religious deeds such as reading Quran, praying Salah, or fasting, etc.). Spending your time wisely can be something like learning something that can benefit you in this world or can benefit other people, or just helping out family or friends, just to name a few examples. \
#5 Take advantage of your life before your death
- Everyone is going to die eventually. And as Allah said, Rasullulah SAW passed away and so did the people who opposed him and believed in him. They all passed away. And the turn came for those after them, and then those after them, and soon ours will too.
- We should all be mindful of how we prepare our Dunya for our death. For the Kuffar, they will totally waste it because they will make this life their goal. They will live only to satisfy every desire of theirs. Then on the Day of Judgment, they will beg to Allah to be sent back to this life for a second chance. When the day of judgement comes, the disbelievers will remember Allah, whereas throughout all the years on Earth that they lived, they were never more disconnected from their Lord.Allah obviously will say: For every good you do you will be rewarded, and for every evil you do you will be punished.
Allah SWT also describes them in the Qur’an as saying on the Day of Judgment:
“O our Lord, we have seen and we have heard. Let us go back to do good deeds; we are now believers.”
They claim to believe in Allah and his messengers on the Day of Judgment but Allah will not allow second chances because everyone has only one life. That is what Allah has given and this is why we must make the best of it in this world so that we are compensated accordingly in the Hereafter.
So the main point here is that we should not act like the disbeliever during our life, and instead we should make the best effort to follow our deen so that after our death and on the day of judgement we will not be among those who regret their actions and wish for an impossible second chance.