Smile, Life's Too Short!

by Mohsin Asharia

Walking through the subway of South Kensington tube station, a sign in front of a busker caught my eye. Scrawled neatly in large, even letters, the placard read: “Smile- Life’s too short”. And that’s what got me thinking.

Most of us can hardly sit through a 45 minute class in school or university before anxiously anticipating the school bell or the words “Thank you, you can go now”. Yet at the same time hours can fly by when playing on the PS3 or aimlessly navigating through the wonders of Facebook.

Ask your grandparents and they’ll most likely agree with the busker’s statement, probably mentioning how it seems like yesterday that they reached the shores of the UK. Ask a bored pupil in a geometry lesson at school and he’ll do anything but agree. However, although our perception of time may be relative, twenty four hours is still an awful lot of time.

It is phenomenal yet thought provoking that we spend over a third of our lives unconscious in the comfort of our beds. All this achieves is making the other two thirds even more prized. Eliminating the hours of grooming, travelling and earning a livelihood in this bustling society we live in, and we are left with precious little. And it is how we use this precious little time which can truly shape our lives.

You see, it’s easy to get away from a hard day’s work and spend the remaining hours around the obligatory shisha that now defines (and with its adverse effects will probably shorten) our social lives. It’s even easier to use them by simply doing nothing other than catching up on the sleep we lost the day before when we decided to spend one more hour watching random YouTube videos. 

When it comes to time management, I’m definitely no angel and I’m admonishing myself in all that I write here. But I can’t help but think that I could use my time so much more wisely.

You’re probably wondering what this article is doing in an Islamic newsletter. However time is a concept embedded in the jewels of Islam, be it in the Qur’an, the traditions of the infallibles or in the lives of scholars. In Surah Munafiqun, after advising us not to let material possessions engulf our time, Allah (swt) gives us a chilling warning:

“And spend out of what We have given you before death comes to one of you, so that he should say: My Lord! why didst Thou not respite me to a near term, so that I should have given alms and been of the doers of good deeds?” (Qur’an 63:10)

How ironic that we have so much time now, yet one day we will beg for a few extra minutes to shift the balance of our deeds!

The traditions at the end of the article demonstrate that time is of the utmost significance in our lives. Indeed, it is all we have and once it passes it never returns. Every second we spend on this earth is a second closer to death, and hence discipline is required to spend our lives in a worthy fashion. Imam Ali (as) encapsulates its importance with the narration: “There is nothing worthier than gold save what remains of a true believer’s life” (Ghurar-ul-Hikam, p. 257)

There is perhaps more to this narration than meets the eye. Whilst we use our free time for material pleasures, the time itself is more valuable than the materials we yearn for.

And so, as I continue to stroll down the subway, free of any other distractions, I use the opportunity wisely. A warm smile forms on my face as I glance back at the busker. Because, after all, life is too short!

_____________________

“Opportunity is something which is quick to vanish and late to return.”

Imam H.Askari (as)

“Take advantage of 5 opportunities before 5:

1. Your youth before your old age

2. Your health before your illness,

3. Your wealth before your poverty

4. Your leisure before your haste

5. Your life before your death.”

The Holy Prophet (saw), (Bihar-ul-Anwar, vol 77, p77)

Blessings man will be asked about on Judgement Day:

“his life, how he spent it his youth, how he grew old; his wealth, from where he acquired it, and how he spent it; and his knowledge, what he did with it.”

 The Holy Prophet (saw)