"Any one who wants to have his provision expanded,
his term of life prolonged and for people to speak well of him
should maintain ties of kinship"
- Prophet Muhammad (saw)
the practical ordinances of Islam to be kept in mind in our everyday lives. Islam detests idleness and forbids practices such as usury t
hat breeds and perpetuates a culture of idleness and irresponsibility. On the contrary, it envisions the believers as a community of people devoted to constant personal improvement in their spiritual states and collective progress in material conditions. The very lifestyles and priorities on every single day of their lives will reflect this enduring commitment to individual enterprise and collective growth. The believers are to strive for excellence in their chosen fields of occupation or profession so that the world may benefit from their work. Their charity, generosity and service will embrace not just family and kin, but will extend to neighbours and strangers as well. Thus, the Muslim becomes a source from which flow virtue, goodness and peace which everyone around him shall benefit. ‘That which benefits the people endures in the earth’, says the Holy Qur’an. Adhering to the Islamic way has beneficial consequences, including possibly, a long and productive life, asserts the Messenger of Allah. Among the harms or evils that have affected Muslims, we can report the change of their daily schedule. They stay up late at night and go to sleep so late that they miss the Morning Prayer. In this regard, one of the first Muslims had said: “I find it odd that we can win the day when we did the Morning Prayer at sunrise.”
In a Hadith narrated by Abu Huraira (ra), Hazrat Muhammad (sa) said: “During your sleep, Satan knots three knots at the back of the head of each of you, and he breathes the following words at each knot, ‘The night is, long, so keep on sleeping,’ If that person wakes up and celebrates the praises of Allah, then one knot is undone, and when he performs ablution the second knot is undone, and when he prays, all the knots are undone, and he gets up in the morning lively and gay, otherwise he gets up in a dull and lazy mood.”
This charity or social ransom is imposed every day on the Muslim. There is even an authentic Hadith which says that charity is a duty to perform at each time of the day as from sunrise. Thus the Muslim becomes a source from which flow virtue, goodness and peace which everyone around him shall benefit. It is not forbidden for a Muslim to entertain himself by some lawful recreation and this within the moral boundaries, be it, both day and night, provided of course that he does not infringe on the rights of Allah to worship, nor the rights of Muslims to (have good) sleep, his own body to rest, the rights of his family for protection, the rights of his work to application and any rights of other people. We must pray that Allah guides us always on the right path and strengthened our Iman (faith).
