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Khalid Al Ameri | A Tomorrow Too Far

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November 29, 2011

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By Khalid Al Ameri | A Tomorrow Too Far (originally posted here)

Khalid Al Ameri is an Emarati columnist & blogger based in Abu Dhabi who focuses on topics such as social, youth & educational development. Through his blog “Reality Cheques” he hopes to highlight area’s on how we as a people can live better lives in turn improving the lives of those around us.

How many times have your parents asked you to do something and the words that seem to automatically cough up are ‘I’ll do it tomorrow”? How regularly do you hold off on calling a friend to check up on how he or she is doing, telling yourself you’ll reach out tomorrow? How often do you put off taking your family out for the day, convincing yourself that tomorrow you will have more time? For most of us the answer would be, quite often.

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Isn’t it funny how tomorrow never seems to come, with more and more reasons conveniently piling up, sometimes to the point where whatever it was you were planning to do gets completely forgotten. So I ask the question, what If tomorrow never came?

People seem to have this fixation with the future, all the distant dreams and ambitions, the upcoming moments you are looking forward to, or maybe the family vacation you are planning to plan that is going to be amazing.

Even when you jump into the corporate world it is full of five, ten or fifty year projections & strategies. On a personal level think back to the beginning of your corporate journey and the job interviews you went through, the classic question you can count on being asked is ‘Where do you see yourself in five years?’

Therefore as soon as you get into your job there is this far sightedness immediately engrained into your career and, depending how heavily your job impacts your life, engrained into the way you live.

Now I am not saying having dreams, ambitions and goals are a bad thing, if anything they are a necessity and provide that sense of drive you need to realize all of them. What I am concerned about is the primary focus on those dreams at the expense of ignoring all the beautiful things around you today.

Think about it, have you ever woken up, gone about your day, then gotten into bed wondering “where did the day just go?” Where you don’t really recall anything significant happening and then telling yourself, “Oh well! Just another day”.

That’s scary, don’t you think? Especially when there are well known sayings like “Time is the most valuable resource” or “Time is something you will never get back”. Now if you truly believe those sayings, then the fact that a whole 24 hours has gone to waste should be something that keeps you up all night trying to figure out the changes that need to be made in your life.

Well here is something to think about. Today was not “Just Another Day”, today was A DAY, a day to make a difference, a day to love those around you, a day to try something new and grow in every aspect of your life. The problem at the heart of this issue is that when we as a people put our primary focus on tomorrow, we lose sight of the blessing of today.

As a young boy I remember watching the movie Annie, where she sang, “Tomorrow, you’re only a day away”. While she sings about tomorrow being a brighter day, I am here writing to remind you that today is a brighter day if you let it be. The brightness is like a light switch that you control, you have the power to make it brighter by living today like there was no tomorrow and by doing the things you love.

Tomorrow is nobody’s right; it is a privilege, a blessing that is in no way guaranteed. However, what is guaranteed is that today you are alive, reading this and hopefully thinking about what to do next. Here is a little piece of advice, tomorrow is a day too far when you could be enjoying the blessing of today and it all comes down to whether or not you do one thing – live . #LiveToday.

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Related Topics:Islam Muslim reflection Spirituality time

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9 Comments

Sister

November 29, 2011 at 8:01 AM

“Time is something you will never get back” – Very scary indeed!

“And never say of anything, I shall do such and such thing tomorrow’” translation [al Kahf (18):23] Subhan Allah! We do not know when we shall die, and the scary part is most of mankind does not care or even believe the akhirah. But there is no time to look at others as Me, Myself and I will be placed in the grave alone and will return to my Lord.

For us Muslims we do not have time to waste. Alhamdulillah we know as Muslims that one of the purpose in life is to worship Allah azza wa jal.

The Prophet (salallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said (translation): “Make the most of five things before five others: life before death, health before sickness, free time before becoming busy, youth before old age, and wealth before poverty.”

He (salallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) also said in the translation:

“There are two blessings which many people do not make the most of and thus lose out: good health and free time.” Narrated by al Bukhari, 6412.

Ya Rabb save us

There is a lot we can do as Muslims for the sake of Allah only to earn reward.
-Doing our adhkar- morning/ evening; after every salah; before sleeping; doing the recommended dua for entering the house, leaving the house,

-praying qiyamul layl/ tahajjud/ witr

-making salah on time / praying all the sunnat

-Visiting the sick, visiting family , friends for the sake of Allah and speaking beneficial things that wil not harm ur record.

-Fasting – mondays/thurdays or the 3 white days 13,14,15 every month or the fast of dawud a.s.;

-Reading beneficial books; reading atleast a page of quran everyday and knowing the meaning;

-Listening to lectures e.t.c.

-having ur intention for working to provide for family for the sake of Allah – it will make the job easier
-the niyya is very important

staying away from things that earn us sin e.g. watching programs that contain haram and that are of no benefit to us.; If only one can throw that shaytan box away! Even sometimes the internet can waste one’s time.
e.t.c. many things we can do in our daily lives to earn reward and not feel like we are wasting time.

The problem is discipline! It is very hard to discipline yourself and organize your life so you do not waste it.

May Allah swt help us be righteous and die as righteous believers ameen

Reply
Iqra

November 29, 2011 at 9:47 AM

JazakAllahu Khayrun for such a nice reminder. Thought provoking indeed.
and the comment by the sister is again indeed very nice and love the ahadith quoted. JazakAllah!

This makes me remember the lecture I was having by Brother Nauman on Surah-103, Al-Asr ..
The greatest asset we’ve been given and we’re making the least out of it i-e time.
We don’t realize the urgency of it. Like we’ve got a permanent residency here in this corporate world.. far-fetched plans and projections.. we’ve forgotten what in Al-Asr has been said and taught to us..

‘ Wal-Asr. Inal insana lafee khusr..’ – ‘ By time, Indeed, mankind is in loss..’
‘ ilalazeena aa manu wa aamilusalihaati wata wa sau bil haqqi wata wa sau bisabr.’ – ‘Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience.’

May Allah subhan wa’tala grant us the tawfeeq to act upon all these four higlighted things that make an exception from being among the khasireen and grant us the baraqah in our amal and hikmah and ilm. InshAllah, Aameen!

Reply
Yasmin

November 29, 2011 at 12:14 PM

Jazakallah khair for this much needed and very inspirational post!

Reply
amad

November 30, 2011 at 1:51 AM

Excellent post… I also follow Khalid’s tweets and they are quite inspirational…

http://twitter.com/khalidalameri

Reply
- Khalid Al Ameri
  
  December 1, 2011 at 4:52 AM
  
  Salam Amad,
  
  Jazak Allah Khayr for the wonderful support, it means a lot brother.
  
  fi iman Allah.
  
  Khalid
  
  Reply