Live
the life when you can
Abdullah
ibn Umar tells of how Rasulullah ﷺ once took him by the shoulders and said: “Live in this
world as though you were a wayfarer.”
Of
our passage through life Abdullah ibn Umar used to say: “In the evening do not
wait for the morning and in the morning do not wait for the evening. Make
the most of your life before you are struck down by illness or death.”
(Al-Bukhari).
Rasulullah ﷺ's advice and the above-quoted saying clearly indicate what attitude a
believer should adopt towards his earthly existence. He
should feel that he is a traveler in a foreign land, making a temporary
sojourn, with his true and ultimate destination always in his thoughts.
He
should not feel that he is at home, in his own country, and that he has made a
permanent niche for himself. If
he does, his life will most likely be cast in the wrong mould: he will give all
of his attention to this life and not to the next.
What
he must focus his attention on is the temporary nature of his stay on this
earth. This will enable him to bear all kinds of afflictions and losses without
becoming embittered, in view of the fact that at any moment he may be on the
brink of the new life which death will open up to him.
Even
strong feelings of revenge will be stifled by this thought, for will not the
Great Avenger Himself see that justice is done in the Afterlife?
The
time-conscious believer will strive to live his life in the most positive way
