Time as an economic resource

The author treats time as an important factor of production. Every work needs time, so time must not be wasted, and it is treated as money ¹. He cites the hadith on being questioned about one's life and wealth ², and holds that time has a monetary value in deferred sales, while in a loan only reward applies ³. Time is not sold separately, but enters the price when it takes the form of work or money ⁴.

He counts time among the factors that enable people to work and produce: people act only through time, a worker increases output with time, and may be paid for time ⁵.

He cites the hadith "The feet of a servant will not move on the Day of Resurrection until he is asked about his life, his knowledge, his wealth and his body," which al-Tirmidhi authenticates, as he notes ². From this he holds that productive years, the years of youth and strength, are the first thing a person will be held to account for ⁵.

He notes that jurists permitted a higher price for deferred payment: in a salam contract the increase is in the goods, and in a credit sale the increase is in the price; time has a share of the price ³. He holds that this principle is useful in feasibility studies: a project that yields its return sooner is preferred to one equal in return and other considerations ³. In a loan an increase for the term is not permitted, because it is a contract of kindness ³.

He presents the hadith "Two blessings in which many people are cheated: health and free time" ⁴, and holds that permitted recreation in Islam is three things: training horses, playing with the family, and archery ². He distinguishes time from independent resources: time is not an independent factor that is sold separately; it has effect when it takes the form of work, money or debt ⁴.

The sheikh says the nation wastes its time in a way that calls for attention, and begins his talk on the value of time by calculating a human lifespan ⁶. He estimates a young man's average life at thirty years, so that a third goes to sleep, ten years to work or study, and ten to childhood (needs_source: illustrative-arithmetic) ⁷.

He says the week, the month and the year remain as they are, and that the fault lies in how we use time, not in time itself, and cites the verse on the months of the year the verse on the months of the year ⁸. He holds that a reader with many interests gains general culture alongside his specialty, and that whoever organises his time has time subjected to him and blessing put into it ⁹.

He says time has not changed and that the human being has changed, citing the verse on the months and that some of them have a particular sanctity the verse on the months of the year ¹⁰. He says days are creatures of God, in which blessing is put for the righteous, and blessing is taken from those who waste them ¹¹.

He says the four whom God excepted console the believer for the loss of his life, and God compensates him with the life that remains for what is lost in travel and study (needs_source: illustrative-arithmetic) ¹². He mentions a hadith about the nearness of the Hour to the time of the mission without naming its narrator, sets out the counting of centuries since the Hijra, and cites the verse on the reckoning of days with God the verse on the reckoning of days with God, calculating that what has passed since the Hijra is a day and a half with God (needs_source: derived-calculation) ¹³. He holds that what matters is not the age of the world in millions of years, but the span a person lives in it, and so calls himself to account for his life ¹⁴.

The sheikh says that wasting time is a serious failing, and that time is a person's most valuable possession ¹⁵. He says time is a soldier of God, that God, family and self have rights that must be given, and that a person needs a plan for his life; he says a mother should embrace her children first ¹⁶. He says a person who fears God is wise, and that God makes time serve him so that it works for him ¹⁷. He sees time as a soldier of the obedient: when a person obeys God, time becomes his helper and works for his good ¹⁸. He says that when a person obeys God, time becomes subject to him rather than he to time, so that much is achieved in short periods ¹⁹.

He says a day can be for a person or against him, and that the fortunes of days alternate among people, a principle that scholars call the rotation of days ²⁰²¹. He says a Muslim lives with his eye on the next stage, staying close to God in every movement ²². He says scholars divided people into four categories by their attitude to time: those who race to good, those who consider consequences, those who live the present hour, and those who waste their time on others ²³. He says that one who lives the present hour spends it in good, and asks what a person has given his nation in this hour ²⁴.

He says that people begin their day either cheerfully or gloomily, and that every day brings a person closer to his reward ²⁵. He says God demands the obligations, the Prophet ﷺ demands the sunna, and time demands its circumstances, bringing rises and falls to different people ²⁶. He cites a verse on the alternation of days and God's power to give and take kingship, without naming the verse ²⁷. He says no one has two days of ease or two days of hardship: life alternates, so a person should thank God in ease and be patient in hardship ²⁸. He says a person should be a child of his hour, present in it, and not live in fear of the past or in worry about the future ²⁹.

He narrates from Hasan al-Basri that he met companions who guarded their hours more than others guarded their dinars (needs_source: the report is not sourced in the recording) ³⁰. He says that losing time in coffee shops is a sign of God's displeasure, and criticises those who spend hours there ³¹. He cites a hadith forbidding the insulting of time ³². He recites a line of verse attributed to Abu Kabir al-Hudhali on bearing the turns of time with patience, and says the believer must be patient (needs_source: the attribution is not given in the recording) ³³.

He cites a hadith that the removal of blessing from time is a sign of the Hour, and says that the swift passing of time is one of its properties ³⁴. He cites a hadith describing time as seeming to shrink, so that a year seems like a month and a month like a week ³⁵. He says a life is measured by what it gives rather than by its years, and asks the viewer what he has given his nation ³⁶. He says al-Nawawi lived only thirty-four years, by his account, and left a large legacy of books and knowledge (needs_source: the length of life is not sourced in the recording) ³⁷.

He quotes Hasan al-Basri, who said that a person is a collection of days and that each day that passes takes part of him; he gives examples of lives of thirty, fifty and seventy years ³⁸. He recites a line of verse on youth that does not return, and tells an older listener to be grateful to God (needs_source: the author of the verse is not named in the recording) ³⁹. He says there is no good in grieving over youth that has passed, and asks why the early generations endured while later ones did not ⁴⁰.

He says one life is worth more than wealth: wealth exists for the human, not the human for wealth, and asking help when necessary is lawful ⁴¹. He says a person should count the years since his last illness or financial hardship, to notice how much God has given him ⁴². He says ten years of good conduct outweigh one bad act, as a drop of ink disappears in a cup of clean water ⁴³.

He says that prayer, fasting and the pilgrimage are each tied to fixed times, which cannot be moved ⁴⁴. He describes the prayer times by the lengthening and shortening of shadows, and by sunset and the disappearance of twilight ⁴⁵. He says that scholars called the five prayers the measure of the day, Friday the measure of the week, Ramadan the measure of the year and the pilgrimage the measure of a lifetime ⁴⁶.

He criticises Muslims who do not observe time as Westerners do ⁴⁷. He says appointments should be set by prayer times, such as after Maghrib or after Asr, rather than by vague terms, and that Islam discourages long evening gatherings after Isha ⁴⁸. He calculates that half an hour's lateness each day adds up to hours in a week and a full day over a month, and says this lost time is taken from money and family (needs_source: the calculation is the speaker's) ⁴⁹.

He says no work prevents prayer: the time between dawn and noon is over seven hours, and between noon and the afternoon prayer three or four (needs_source: the figures are not sourced in the recording), and he holds that the prayers should not be combined ⁵⁰. He cites a hadith that the best deed is prayer in its time, and a hadith comparing the five daily prayers to a river at a door in which a person bathes five times a day ⁵¹. He says God answers in His own time and way, not ours, because human understanding is limited ⁵². He cites a hadith listing times when prayer is answered, among them after Asr on Friday, between the call to prayer and the iqama, and in the last third of the night ⁵³. He says that five minutes for each of the five prayers comes to about thirty minutes a day, a small price for the life of the soul (needs_source: the calculation is the speaker's) ⁵⁴. He tells how Hajjaj ibn Yusuf kept preaching the Friday sermon while the prayer time passed, and a man told him that time does not wait (needs_source: the anecdote is not sourced in the recording) ⁵⁵.

He describes an employee who arrives late and gives excuses such as traffic, and says the job is a contract that must be kept ⁵⁶. He says the relationship between an employee and an institution is a contract, so the employee must keep his time ⁵⁷.

He works through a sixty-year lifespan, subtracting eight hours of sleep a day, childhood, work and screen time, to show how little remains for God (needs_source: the arithmetic is the speaker's) ⁵⁸. He cites a hadith that the belly is the worst vessel a person fills, and says overeating leads to sleep and to regret ⁵⁹. He says sleep does not decide the length of a life, and that a few hours spent in obedience can be more valuable than a long sleep ⁶⁰. He says doctors, police and others on night duty are rewarded if they intend to serve people, even while they sleep ⁶¹.

He says repentance should be renewed every night: the believer sleeps committing his soul to God and asking forgiveness for what has passed ⁶². He cites a hadith on the acceptance of repentance by night and by day ⁶³. He says that one whose life is hard should turn to God at night, and cites a hadith on God's descent in the last third of the night to answer those who ask ⁶⁴. He cites the same hadith elsewhere: God answers those who ask, forgive or repent ⁶⁵. He says the Prophet, waking at night, would remember God and call upon Him, and that such moments are times of answered prayer ⁶⁶. He says the last third of the night should be used for prayer and seeking forgiveness ⁶⁷.

He says excessive sleep wastes a life, and gives an arithmetic of eight hours a day amounting to twenty years out of sixty (needs_source: the arithmetic is the speaker's) ⁶⁸. He quotes a saying of the righteous that it is better to sleep sinning and repentant than to pray through the night in self-admiration (needs_source: the saying is not sourced in the recording) ⁶⁹. He cites a hadith on Umar weeping at the marks of the mat on the Prophet's side, and the Prophet's reply that that era was prophethood, not kingship (needs_source: the narration is not sourced in the recording) ⁷⁰.

He cites a hadith that deeds are presented to God on Monday and Thursday, and that the Prophet liked to fast on those days ⁷¹.

He cites a hadith that a servant will not move on the Day of Judgement until he is asked about his life, his youth, his wealth and his knowledge ⁷². He says a person stands between a past that cannot be changed and a future he does not know, and should take from his youth for his old age and from his life for his death ⁷³. He says a person should live a second life that comes from the good deeds he leaves behind, which go on accruing reward ⁷⁴. He asks each viewer what he will do for his second life, however small the sum, such as a single dirham ⁷⁵.

He says a person is free to act within his capacity, and asks each viewer to reflect on what he will do for his second life and for tomorrow ⁷⁶. He says a person should organise his time for worship, relieving the distress of others and meeting the needs of those who ask ⁷⁷. He closes with advice to respect time and organise it, so that time becomes a soldier in the service of God and of the person's own record ⁷⁸.

He says a believer plans his children's education and future while keeping his soul connected to God ⁷⁹. He says believers are responsible for upholding and applying their religion, and that everything given is a trust ⁸⁰. He says children are a trust from God, that a believer must raise them on God's book and the Sunna, and that this is part of gratitude ⁸¹.

He says that if a believer goes forty days without illness, loss or worry, he should review his account with God, and he cites scholars on this figure (needs_source: the figure is attributed to scholars and not sourced in the recording) ⁸². He gives advice attributed to Abu Dharr: prepare the boat for the deep sea, provide for the long journey, and make the intention pure because the Critic sees all (needs_source: the attribution is not given in the recording) ⁸³. He cites a verse that prayer, sacrifice, life and death belong to God, and says every act should be done for Him ⁸⁴.