THE BEST SUMMER

THE BEST SUMMER


Summer time is here and in full bloom. Some render it as the best season of the year. In much of the modern world, it is traditionally known to be the major school break of the year-a period of 2-3 months which marks the ending passage of one year and the rest before the next year/stage begins. And because of the large percentage of the population out on break, it is also a traditionally wide-celebrated time for weddings.

But one of the more widely-practiced activities of summer time world-wide seems to be that of 'inactivity', rather than activity. In other words, laziness, apathy, and hence non-achievement.

Following is a glimpse of some of the lyrics of a song by Nat King Cole which rated #6 on the charts in 1963:

'Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
You'll wish that summer could always be here'

This song evolved into a world-wide known jingle not only celebrating but even idolizing laziness, and equating laziness with summer time.

Is this the was that we Muslims should view our summer vacation time? Or any vacation time or other 'free' time throughout the year?

Without a doubt, we all-regardless of our religion or occupation or position in society-need a break from the routine and pressures of daily life in order to refresh ourselves for a return to the daily life renewed with the vigor needed to face the challenges that the life presents us with.

Just because our normal daily routine presents us with a change-sometimes a change which comes with it more free time on our hands-does not mean that we should carelessly let that time pass by us without putting it to some good use. In fact, for the Muslim, there is no such thing as 'free time'.

Allah the Almighty says (translation of the meaning): 'Truly, to Allah we belong and truly, to Him we shall return.' (s. 2, v. 156)

And:

'And I (Allah) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone).' (s. 55, v. 56)

From these two verses alone, we find a great lesson to be had-that we do not own our own lives as we may assume, but even our very essence of our souls is for Allah. And we have been created by Him to worship Him Alone. Then how is it and why is it that so many of us are so often careless and mindless of this important fact of our relationship with Allah and our relationship with ourselves?

The prophet Mohammed(SAAW0 was quoted as saying: 'There are two blessings which many people lose: (they are) health and free time for doing good.' (Bukhari, v. VIII, The Book of Ar-Riqaq, pg. 282, #421)

He (SAAW) also said: 'Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveler.' (Bukhari, v. VIII, pg. 284, #425).

These two ahadith demonstrate to us the importance of timr.

Summer cannot always be here. Nor can any other time of the year remain for longer than it's assigned period. Time stops for no one. Once a moment of time is gone, it is gong forever.

Someone, ages ago, stated a formidable ideal, that time is money. And as we all know full well in this day and age, it is a basic necessity of this earthly life to have money or some other form of valuable in order to basically live day to day.

But is that all there is to all this? To merely struggle for the day to day existence of this worldly life?

For the Muslim, time is more precious and important than merely having the value of earthly money. Time is essentially an important factor of our eventual salvation and reward with the Creator. Bascially, time, and how we spend it, comes second only to our underlying faith.

For we are to be judged eventually on how we spent our time-in wasteful activities or perhaps in beneficial acts of worship or helping others.

Don't just kick back this summer on those hazy days, wasting your time away in daydreaming or simply lazily lying around, or perhaps even indulging in haram (prohibited) activities. Rather, organize yourself and your time towards benefiting yourself by tending to more acts of worship.

Remember that we have been created for worshipping Him, so let's focus our attentions and set our goals towards achieving just that-worshipping Him and Him Alone!

The best possible summer experience to be had is that which is void of wasted time-that from which you can draw memories of fulfilling achievement in worshipping the Creator and benefiting mankind.

We all tend to actively pursuit our careers or our education in seeking the benefits and riches that this life has to offer. It is now way past time that we should actively pursuit the goal of attaining salvation and a reserved spot in His heaven. And a beginning towards that is proper arrangement of time so as not to waste it, but rather to spend it in acts of worship for Him.