Make the most of your life before your death.

Make the most of your life before your death.

Tarbiya 19: Hadith- 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 (pbuh) 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)

Life before death

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 (pbuh) 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 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.

Good things don’t just come to us – we have to strive for them, day in and day out. Whether we are at university or at work, or if we are raising a family, to excel at what we do, we know that we have to work hard, and the harder we work, the better the reward. Jannah is no exception to this. And we know that, if we strive hard enough, Allah will reward us with the ultimate prize, insh’Allah.

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 grant us the tawfiq to make the most of all that He has blessed us with, and that He accepts all our efforts insh’Allah.

Anything good is from Allah, anything bad is from me.

Jazakumullahu khairan.