Time Management In Islam From Imam Musa al-Kadhim (A)

When we take a look at this. And this is all research being done today. If you go read papers, especially if you read the business magazines like Forbes magazine, for example, Forbes other magazines, they have a whole bunch of these articles, calls about time management, how much it costs, for example, per year, or et cetera, to not manage your time, and so on, so forth.

The hadith I started with from Imam al-Kadhim 'alayhi as-salam. Allahumma salli ala Muhammad wa ala ali Muhammad, in essence, is what those guys are saying, but again, in a different language. Imam al-Kadhim 'alayhi as-salam says: ijtahidu, he says in the hadith: "ijtahidu, fi an ayakuna zamanukum arba'a sa'at", put in the effort, ijtahidu, put in the effort. That's exactly what those guys are saying. Put in the effort. Develop the habit. That's what those experts are saying. You need to develop the habit to manage your time. Because time management is a habit.

If you start accepting too many tasks, that's a bad habit. You got to learn at some point that you have to prioritize, you have to delegate some tasks. Sometimes you cannot do everything on your own. And that sometimes they say, what makes a really good leader? A good leader sometimes is one who knows how to delegate, because a leader cannot do everything on his own, but he knows how to delegate the tasks, so he knows how to accept or what to accept and how to delegate the tasks.

Imam salamu Allahi 'alayh, almost saying the same thing. He says: ijtahidu, put in the effort. In other words, turn it into a habit. Put in the effort. That your day is divided into four slots. Again, time management, but in a different language, in a language that was used back then, not in today's modern world, corporate world. "ijtahidu, fi an ayakuna zamanukum arba'a sa'at", try to make your time into 4 hours. 4 hours does not mean literally 4 hours, but four slots. First slot: sa'atan li munajati Allah. A slot for ibadah, worship. Worship Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. You need to take time to worship Allah. Interestingly, one of the things that they recommend also when they talk about time management, they say you need to take breaks.

I tell people, Subhana Allah, we work so hard, we put in so much time. But you know what? Work will never end, but your life will. Our life will end, finish. And then once we die, you think the work is going to stop, the company is going to shut down, the corporation is going to shut down? No, khalas, they will hire somebody else and life goes on. That's it. All the inheritors will just grab everything they sell the corporation, liquidated. Ma'a as-salamah, khalas, life goes on. That's it. So let's invest a little bit of time for our akhirah.

That's what the Imam salamu Allah 'alayh says. One time of your day, a slot of your day should be for ibadah. So when you want to come to the mosque, just khalas say, this is mosque time. I want to come to the masjid. I want to hear du'a Kumayl, I want to read Sura Yaseen, I want to praise salat ul-jama'a. This is part of my weekly schedule. People who tell me I am too busy to come to the mosque. I tell them, then make the Mosque part of your busy schedule. If you say I am too busy, khalas put this part. I have to attend this particular slot. I am busy. Just like you make a slot for food, you make a slot to sleep. Then you have to make a slot for attending the Masjid or attending the majalis.

That's a time for also salat. Salat is important. Make a time for salat. End the day khalas. Everything stops. I do my wudhu and I stand in the Mihrab and say: Allahu Akbar, khalas. This is my time between me and Allah. That's it. This is something important. This is one slot. Slot of ibadah. What else? The second one.

"Wa sa'atan li amri al-ma'ash" Another time, another slot for work. You have to work. That's right. So work does not take your whole life. Work is a part of your life. That's what people in the past, they used to work to live, not live to work. If you remember, maybe I would say the elders here, maybe your parents, the younger ones, maybe your grandparents. You remember the time when they had that little shop, that little tiny shop and he used to sell, I don't know, some grocery vegetables, whatever, and subhana Allah. He had his children, he raised his family and he was happy. He was not a millionaire, but alhamdu li-Llah. He's happy. That's his life.

He is working to live, that's it. He earns his living so he can sustain his family, his children, himself. When you find this older man too, he comes to the mosque. He has time to go for ziyarat, he has time to go for hajj. Because work is not the whole thing of his world. It's a part of his life. Especially back, if you go back 50, 60 years ago, when people used to go to hajj on camels, the shop is closed for six months. Khalas, nobody's at the shop. That's it. Business is closed six months, until he goes on a camel to hajj and he comes back, that's when he makes it back.

People used to make that time and they used to live happy. Do you remember? I don't know if some of you when you were young, do you remember the elders? No. They used to be happy. They didn't complain as much as we do. We are complaining. Complaining. They used to be happy and they didn't have much. Maybe that's a problem. We have too much. That is why we complain. So another time for work. So you need to work, but don't make work your whole life. Get enough so that you can also invest time with the family, travel, have fun instead of just working night the whole week. That's the second.

Third: "wa sa'atan li 'l-muasharata il-ikhwani ath-thiqat, alladheena li yuarrifunakum uyubakum wa yukhlisuna lakum fi 'l-batin", a time a slot make it to spend with mu'mineen, with your brothers, thuqat, trustworthy brothers. People who, the Imam gives two criteria: "alladheena li yuarrifunakum uyubakum", those brothers that you hang out with, they should tell you about your shortcomings. Subhana Allah. We get upset when somebody criticizes us. Don't tell me I have a problem. No, I am ma'sum, I am infallible. I am perfect. I am an angel. Allah created me as an angel. That's it. That's who I am. I have no shortcomings whatsoever.

That's how we are, unfortunately, in this day and age. I remember once my supervisor told me, alhamdu li-Llah, I didn't listen to that voice. He says, if you want to be successful in this business, you have to be arrogant. That's the way it is. If you want to be successful, you have to be arrogant. When I thought about this, there is a difference between being proud of your work versus being arrogant about your work. Yes, I am proud of my accomplishments, I am proud of my work, alhamdu li-Llah, but that doesn't mean I am arrogant about it. Where I think all your work is nothing and I am the only one who deserves all the credit, wa al-ayyadhu bil-Lah.

But if we have such a mentality where if you want to be successful, you have to be arrogant, if that's our mentality in this world, then what do you think this world is turning into? And there is no surprise that the world is turning into whatever is turning into today. We don't care about the whole world. And you see that man in that big position. He doesn't care about anything in this world. All he cares about is himself. Just today, they say, when he met our prime minister, he is boasting about making up facts. I don't know if I call them facts. Fabricating. And he is like, yeah, I didn't know, but I made them up. Ajib. The guy doesn't care about anything. No wonder the whole world is turning into chaos.

Imam, salamu Allahi alayh, says, the people you hang out with, they should tell you, your shortcomings. That's one of their criteria. They should tell you what your problems are. But of course, privately. And that is why he adds: "wa yukhlisuna lakum fi 'l-batin" and they should really be sincere to you on the inside. In other words, they love you, they care about you. People who care about you, but at the same time, they tell you, your shortcomings. You should invest a slot of your time with such people. That's three.

Fourth: "wa sa'atan takhluna fiha fi 'l-adhdhatikum fi ghairi muharram, wa bi adhihi as-sa'a takhdiruna 'ala thalath sa'at", he says, and the last slot, the fourth slot, is something where you do to relax, and you relax yourself. In something that is not haram. Relaxing doesn't mean you go do haram things. I have to do parties, I have to do this, I have, wa al-ayyadhu bil-Lah, to drink in order to relax. No, that's haram. But spending time with the family, unwinding, as they say, and interestingly, the Imam says, it is with this last hour, when you unwind, is when you are going to be capable to perform the other three slots.

Subhana Allah, you read this, and that is exactly what those researchers are saying: you need time to take a break. The brain needs time to unwind. You go relax and then come back and solve the problem. That's why they say, take a break. Don't be a workaholic every single day. You need time off, time off, relax. And that's why I tell the mu'minin, go to ziyarat, go to umrah, go to hajj if you are able to. If not, take your family with you. Of course, take it with the family, go into hajj and umrah, if you have a family with you. If not, then take the family, go for a vacation, even a one day. Take time, invest time with them, invest time with the family.

Even if you don't go on a vacation, just relax together as a family, khalas. One researcher says, once in a year, for one week, I go off to an island, a remote island. I turn off my mobile phone, email for a whole week. And she says, this week kind of reenergizes me. I get really reenergized and come back and start doing my work. But look at the work of the Imam salamu Allah alayh. People who talk about time management, time management. Ahl ul-Bayt touched on this concept, on this issue. First of all, the Imam salamu Alllah alayh, says, put in the effort, and that's what researchers say. Try to make it a habit. Second of all, the Imam, salamu Alllah alayh, says divide your time into slots. In other words, he is not talking about task shifting or multitasking. He is saying, no, concentrate on a particular task at a particular time.

When it's time for munaja ibadah time for ibadah, khalas. You don't do ibadah and for example, I don't know, think about your emails and think about your business at the same time. No, khalas separate ibadah is ibadah, business is business, and so on and so forth. Family time, family time, friend time, friends time. Try to divide your time. Concentrate on it. That is what the Imam is saying, that is what those people are saying. Try to focus on your task. Stay away from the distractions. That's what the Imam, salamu Alllah alayh, is also saying.

Take a break. That's what the Imam, salamu Alllah alayh, is saying. Take a break. The only difference is, the Imam is saying it in a language that is suitable for 1400 years ago or 1200 years ago, whereas today they are using this fancy, nice language, a modern language, for example, contemporary language. That's the only thing.

And therefore, brothers and sisters, if we really hang on to the teachings of Ahl ul-Bayt 'alayhum as-salam, and to the words of Ahl ul-Bayt, we will achieve the happiness and the success, in dunya and in akirah.