Ibn Abbas reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Take advantage of five before five: your youth before your old age, your health before your illness, your riches before your poverty, your free time before your work, and your life before your death.”

Source: Shu’ab al-Imān lil-Bayhaqī 10250

1. Seize Your Life Before Your Death

Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says in the Quran, “Hasten, hasten to your Lord and to this forgiveness that your Lord is offering you, and hasten to a paradise, the width of which is like the heavens and the earth.” In one verse, Allah says to hasten, and in another, He says it again. Both indicate hastening—like the poet who said: “Hasten quickly, quickly, in word and deed, and warn the self (nafs) about the grief of the Day of the Losers.” The losers are those who didn’t take this opportunity, the opportunity of life.

The Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said something really amazing. He said, “Seize five before five,” and here it means to seize, like what you do in war—you take hold of something. He lays out a plan for putting your life into proper perspective: your life before your death. This is the big picture. We’re alive, and then we’re going to be dead.

There were people who prayed this Friday prayer over 1,400 years ago. Many people prayed this Friday prayer—some for 60 years, every Friday, unless they were sick or something. They’re all gone. They’re all gone. All they left behind are their deeds in this world, whatever good they did. But they’re gone. They saw sunsets, they said, “SubhanAllah,” they said, “MashAllah.” They got angry, they laughed, they told jokes—all of these things that humans do. Now it’s our time, and then we’ll be gone. There will be other people here with all the same problems, the same arguments, the same debates.

“Why isn’t your robe shorter? Why isn’t your beard longer?” This is some of the silliness of our community. Al-Mutanabbi once said, “Is this the extent of your religion? The length of your beard? The nations are laughing at us.” It shows you that even back then, people were making these same petty arguments.

Al-Zamakhshari has a famous line: “Don’t tell people your mazhab, because they’ll always find faults in you.” You think cancel culture is new? Cancel culture isn’t new. People have been canceling each other since Cain and Abel. Cain canceled Abel. This is human nature.

So, have the big picture in mind. Your life is here now—you’re living, you have your Hayy—but not forever. Just for a short time.

2. Seize Your Health Before Sickness

And then the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam reminded us: the next most important thing after life itself, in order to do things, is health. You need to have health because, once you're sick, you can’t do anything. So now, if you have time and you have health, those are blessings you shouldn’t take for granted. I’m warning myself first and foremost. See, I’m old now, I’m not young anymore. Many of you are very young people. We were young like you, but let me tell you—it goes very quickly.

The Romans used to say, “Tempus fugit,” meaning time flies. It flew for them like a bird, and now it flies like a jet plane, but it still flies. Time flies. Your health—what a gift it is. The Arabs have a saying: “Health is a crown on the heads of healthy people that only the sick can see.” What a blessing it is just to be healthy—not to be in pain, not to be suffering, not to be sick.

Today, many people suffer from dementia. Dementia has become a global problem, and partly, it’s because people forgot Allah, so Allah caused them to forget themselves. And what greater tribulation (balā’) is there than to forget your Lord? The next greatest tribulation is to forget yourself. That’s what dementia is. Now, we also have spiritual dementia. You can know everything—remember everything you did yesterday—but if you forgot your Lord, then you have spiritual dementia.

The Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: “Take your health before your sickness,” because everybody gets sick. People in the past, when they got sick in the desert, there was no 911. Like Shaykh said, one day we were driving in the desert, and there was a car crash. People were seriously hurt, and others were trying to help them. He said, “There’s no 911 here, no ambulance to call.” People get sick, and sometimes they just die. That’s the reality.

The Prophet said, “Your health before your sickness,” because sickness comes to everyone. Murabit al-Hajj said, “There’s no good in a body that doesn’t get sick—it’s part of life”. One of the greatest blessings of sickness is that you come to know blessings through their opposites. When you’re sick, you suddenly realize the great blessing of health. When you’re sick, you often can’t even remember what it felt like to be well. You think you’ll never get out of it. Even with the flu, you feel like it’s going to last forever. And then, suddenly, you’re well again.

Salman al-Farsi said: “When the disbelievers get sick, they’re like a camel that gets hobbled. When they get well, it’s like the hobbling cord gets taken off—they just wander again, forgetting everything.” But sickness is a blessing for the believer. Even so, the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam used to ask for well-being. When he saw people in tribulation, he would remind them: “Ask Allah for afiyah.” We want afiyah—well-being—in everything.

Still, when sickness comes, you can’t do anything. You’re just in bed, like the Arabs say, “A bedridden person is like someone bound.”

3. Seize Your Leisure time Before Preoccupation

And your leisure before your preoccupation. Because, by Allah, we all get preoccupied. When you're young, one of the reasons they say young people in Mauritania have prodigious memories is not because they have better memories—they don't. It's because they’re not preoccupied. When you become an adult and take on adult responsibilities, your mind becomes distracted.

The word "distract" comes from the Latin meaning "to tear apart." You’re being pulled in all directions, thinking of so many things. It becomes hard to just sit down with an empty heart and fill it with useful things. That’s why leisure is so important. But leisure doesn’t mean wasting time or indulging in play. Leisure is free time to work on yourself, to study, to learn, to make dhikr of Allah. Unfortunately, we waste so much time, and time is an invaluable thing.

The Arabs say that time is something so precious it cannot be measured. In other words, it cannot be evaluated in comparison to anything else. For most things, there’s a way to assign value—a relationship. For example, gold is precious, and its price can be measured. Gold is not priceless; it has a price. But time? Time is priceless. It cannot be evaluated because there is nothing like it. It has absolute pricelessness - there's no valuation of time

The loss of time is a loss that can never be replaced. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever. Ibn Ata Allah said there are two types of rights within time. The rights within the time. For instance, if it’s time for Jumu’ah, that’s the right of this specific time. If you miss Jumu’ah, you can make it up with a valid excuse by praying at another time. If you didn’t have a valid excuse, you make istighfar and hope Allah forgives you.

Some rights of time can be redressed if they’re missed with valid reasons, like prayers. But others, once gone, are gone forever. The rights of time you owe your parents, the moments you could have spent in dhikr, or opportunities for learning—they cannot be replaced.

You have a haqq (right) over your body to exercise. That’s a right of the body. If you’re not exercising every day, you are oppressing yourself, because eventually, you’re going to get sick. And sickness, as one of my teachers said, is largely a choice. Most sickness comes from people not doing what’s necessary to maintain their health. That’s why preventative medicine is so important.

The Arabs have a saying: “An penny of prevention is better than a pound of cure.” You have to exercise and take care of your body, or it will turn against you. The oppressed fights the oppressor. The body is like the oppressed; it fights back. That’s the nature of the oppressed — the oppressed always resist. People wonder why Palestinians resist the way they do, but it’s the nature of the human being. You can’t oppress someone without provoking some type of reaction.

Similarly, if you oppress your body, your body will fight you—it will get sick. But you’re the oppressor - the one who caused it. How many people pray for good health, yet they don’t exercise? They eat poorly. They ignore the simple things that maintain health. The angels—if they were like us, — they’d be laughing at us. You pray for health, and then you don’t do anything to take care of it.

Every moment of time comes with its own rights. There are certain rights of time that cannot be replaced. For example, if your parents are alive, especially if they are old, and you don’t have filial piety toward them—meaning you’re not showing them the respect and care they need in their old age—you are neglecting one of the greatest rights of time.

The Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said he couldn’t comprehend how someone could have their parents alive, one of them or both, in old age and not use it as a means to enter Paradise. Just that alone should be enough to earn Paradise. If a prostitute was forgiven for giving water to a dog in the desert, then what is the reward for taking care of your parents when they are old?

One man came to Sayyiduna Umar and said, “I’m washing my mother the way she used to wash me when I was a child.” In other words, he was cleaning her because she had reached an age where she was like an infant again. He asked Umar, “Is this recompense? Have I fulfilled her right?” Umar replied, “No.” The man asked, “Why not?” Umar said, “Because when she was cleaning you, she was praying that you would live a long life. But when you’re cleaning her, you’re hoping she dies soon.” SubhanAllah.

This shows how precious time is, especially for students. You have this time—don’t waste it. Some students won’t waste their time, and you’ll see them honored. They’ll be the ones receiving accolades and recognition when they graduate because they seized the moment and made the most of their time. The same on day of Qiyamah, they will be people that are honored.

And then there will be others who wasted their time and have nothing to show for it.

4. Seize Your Youth Before Your Old Age

"Your youth before your old age." Those of us in old age now—I’m speaking now from this stage of life—you need to understand something. I taught this hadith when I was 40, maybe 35. I’ve known it for a long time, but I didn’t really know what it meant. When you’re young, you don’t understand what haram is. As the poet said: “Would that my youth would return so I could tell it what old age has done to me.”

You see, the soul doesn’t age. The soul is eternal. It was created, yes, but it goes on forever. That’s why you’ll never feel old in your consciousness. When you’re 60, you’ll feel the same as you did at 20. But your body? That’s different. When you get up too quickly, you’ll know something’s changed. You hear noises in your joints that you didn’t hear before. You realize, “I’m not young anymore.”

When we were young, we could stay up all night studying and feel fine the next day. Now, if we do that, it takes three, four, even five days to recover. Cuts and wounds that used to heal overnight now take weeks. Babies heal almost miraculously because they’re full of life. Youth is a fire. When you’re older, you’re in the embers. There’s still some warmth, but the fire of youth is gone.

Don’t waste that time. Youth is fleeting, and procrastination is dangerous. The scholars said, “Sawfa (‘I will do it one day’) is from the armies of Iblis.” Yusuf’s brothers, when plotting against him, said, “Let’s get rid of Yusuf, - and then - we’ll be righteous.” People say, “One more deal, - and then - I’ll stop,” but then death comes suddenly, and it’s over.

Moses (alayhis salam) was given victory over Pharaoh. We just celebrated it—the victory of Musa over Pharaoh. Allah says in the Quran that He saved Bani Israel, and He promised to meet them. Bani Israel has a special relationship with Allah—for both good and ill. Allah gave them so many prophets. See, we were given ulama’, they were given ambiya’. But our ummah is a chosen ummah.

Look at what this ummah has been given. No ummah has the scholars that we’ve been given. Show me any ummah that has scholars like ours. Fakhrurrazi said he recognized the impossibility of learning everything in a single lifetime. They left behind knowledge that continues to guide us. If you read the works of these scholars, you’ll see the truth of this.

Imam Nawawi, who passed away in his 40s, how did he leave behind that Opus of work teaching, giving fatwa, meeting with students, all of these things, how did they do it? Scholars like him valued every moment. Some transcribed entire libraries by hand because they couldn’t afford books. How did they do it? They knew the value of time.

I used to go to one of my teachers, Shaykh Abdullah , who was one of the greatest scholars I knew. He was a student of Muhammad al-Amin al-Shanqiti, one of the most brilliant minds I’ve ever come across. One time, I was with him late at night, and someone asked me about the American court system. I started explaining it, and he said, "No, no, no. There are nine district courts, and then he explained there’s the appellate court, and then the Supreme Court." He knew it all—it was nothing to him. I used to go to him for lessons, and when I finished, he would just say, "Are you done?" I’d say yes, and he’d go back to reading. Then I’d go to another teacher, Shaykh Shaybani, allahyarhamuhu, a very social man, and after the lesson, he’d have tea with me and we will talk. One day, I asked him, and this is stupid so you know, don't ask about things if you get the answer - they bother you! So I said to him, “You know when I go to Shaykh Abdullah, you know after the lesson he just goes back to reading, I never have tea with. But you always give me tea.” He said, "Because he values time more than I do." Murabit al-Hajj gave up tea because he felt it was a waste of his time.

The Prophet (ﷺ) sat with people. He spoke, but always in knowledge. His humor was always meaningful—it was always meaningful. He was humorous at times, but like salt, it should flavor; it shouldn’t be the meal. And this is what’s happening in our frivolous culture. We have a culture of frivolity—everything’s fun and games. All these communities—if you watch these people, you’ll kill your heart. If you watch all these comedies all the time, looking at things, laughing, joking, you’ll kill your heart. That’s what the Salaf said: "Too much laughing will kill your heart."

The Prophet (ﷺ) was a serious man because he knew the momentousness of life. He wept long, and his silence was long. He was not a frivolous person because life is serious, and it comes to an end.

5. Seize Your Wealth Before Poverty

Take use of your independence before you are in need. If you have what you need in life, be very grateful, because once you lose it, that’s all you can think about. Faqar - Poverty, is a terrible state—worrying about rent, food, and basic survival consumes the mind. Today, many people face this crisis, and it’s happening all over the globe.

When Musa (alayhis salam) was promised a meeting with Allah and his people were told to follow him, Musa hastened to fulfill Allah’s command. He went first and told them to follow him. When he arrived, Allah revealed to him: “What has caused you to hasten so quickly and leave your people behind?” Musa replied: “They are following behind me, and I have hastened to You, my Lord, so You may be pleased.” No procrastination. Yet Allah informed him that his people had been tested in his absence. This story teaches us the importance of hastening toward good but also being mindful of our responsibilities. The Salaf said: “The best deeds are those done quickly.” Al-Abbas added: “No action is complete unless it’s done quickly.” If you delay, you risk falling into heedlessness, as seen when Musa returned to find his people worshiping the golden calf. Despite being given manna, salwa, and countless blessings, they forgot their Lord. This is the danger of procrastination—it leads to heedlessness, and heedlessness is a disease. Imam Junayd said: “The first obligation is to know Allah. Heedlessness (ghaflah) was the first sin, and the first obligation is to remove it from the heart.” Humans are naturally heedless and easily distracted. When Yahya Ibnu Laith came to Imam Malik. Once, while reading hadith, someone announced that an elephant—a rare sight—had entered Madinah. This happened even during the time of the Sahabah. Everyone ran to see it except for twelve student. When Imam Malik asked Yahya, “Don’t you want to see the elephant?” He replied, “I didn’t come from Andalusia to see elephants. I came to learn from men.” He, while not the most brilliant, became the cornerstone of Malik’s school because he valued time. So do not put off for tomorrow, what you can do today.

Ibn Al-Farid said “Hasten quickly to this affair and answer Allah’s call. Allah is calling to bring you back to life—answer His call and avoid saying, “Tomorrow, I’ll get to it.” Iblis whispers, “You have a long night. Don’t worry. You have plenty of time. You’re young, so enjoy yourself.”

The son of Shaykh Muhammad al-Amin ash-Shanqiti, once shared a story with me when I used to visit his house frequently while living in Medina. He told me that, as a young man, he spent all his time studying. One day, he saw his friends playing soccer and doing other activities. A thought crept into his heart: “Am I missing out on my youth by dedicating all my time to study?” Troubled by this, he went to Shaykh Muhammad Amin to share his feelings. The Shaykh advised him, “Leave all your studies. Focus on reciting the Quran.” Muhammad followed this advice, and soon after, he experienced a big spiritual opening. He became a great scholar, teaching tafsir in the Haram of Medina, with people from all over the world attending his classes. As for his friends who played soccer, if they were fortunate, they ended up sitting in his lectures. He said: “Be like the sword of time. Time just comes; it just cuts. Odiousness is in saying "perhaps," and beware of "maybe," because that's the most dangerous of causes for losing this time. And he said, "Then go, you know, take this time, set out on this journey, and rise up broken. Don't be arrogant because bataala is your state as long as you're not working." And that's why Sayyidina Umar said, "I hate to see people wasting their time."

Imam Malik was asked, “Who are the worst people?” He said, “Those who lose their Akhirah because of their Dunya.” He was then asked, “Is there anybody worse than them?” He replied, “Yes, those who lose their Akhirah because of other people’s Dunya, just wishing they had what so-and-so had.” And then he said, “Cut, like with this sword of seriousness, cut ‘sawfa’ (procrastination) out of your life.” You know, they call it ‘sawfa’ because it gives you time, it gives you time to breathe. That’s what it does—that’s what it says: ‘You’ll get it done one day.’ But one day never comes. And then he says, “If you cut it, you will find this breath—you’ll find this wind in your sails. Because your soul, if you’re generous with it by using it for its purpose, it will become serious for you.”

Alhamdulillah, I’m talking to myself. I just want to remind all of you of that. Wallahi, I’ve wasted so much time in my life, and this is why all we can do is hope that whatever is left, we use it for the preciousness, for the pricelessness that it possesses.

Imam Shafi’i said, “If there was only one surah revealed in the Quran, it would be enough.” And that surah is Al-Asr. Look at the word ‘Asr,’ which is time. Your life is going to be squeezed out of you until there's nothing left. That's what time does—it squeezes us until there's nothing left. It takes every last drop of our existence, and then it's over. Loss is when you lose yourself. XX said, “The easiest thing to lose in this life is yourself.” He explained, “You can lose $5 and you'll notice it. You can lose a limb, and you'll definitely notice it. You lose a spouse, and you'll notice it. But people lose their lives, and they don't even notice it.” It's amazing—they lost themselves. That’s what Allah says in the Quran: “They lost themselves.” And then He says, “That’s the manifest loss—to lose yourself.”

The human being is in a state of loss because time is diminishing; it’s going, and none of us knows our ajal (appointed time). Imagine if we all had our ajal written over our heads. Imagine meeting someone and seeing, “Oh, you only have three days left.” SubhanAllah, what would you do? If we knew our ajal, it would completely change our perspective of meeting people. But Allah has hidden this knowledge from us, except for those who utilize their time.

They believe, meaning they have knowledge, because you can't truly believe without knowledge. “Know that there is no God but Allah.” They learn their deen, and then they have actions based on that knowledge. Afterward, they enjoin others to the truth and enjoin others to patience. What an amazing surah—Surah Al-Asr. It contains everything: learning, acting, calling others to the truth, and being patient with this dunya. This dunya is a tribulation; it is a bala. And bala in Arabic comes from a verb that means “to wear you out.” It’s like a robe that’s worn out—that’s what this dunya does. It wears you out, and that’s exactly what it’s designed to do.

- Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

O Allah, preserve our scholars, bless their knowledge, forgive our scholars, raise their ranks in Paradise, and make their knowledge a means of guidance and light in this world and the Hereafter.
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