
Be Like the Sword of Time
Hamza Yusuf
The Imperative of Time and Respect for Family
This chapter emphasizes the significance of cherishing time and nurturing relationships with aging parents. It highlights the consequences of neglecting health and responsibilities while encouraging listeners to reflect on life's transience and the importance of using time wisely.
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So if you oppress your body, your body is going to fight you. will get sick, but you're the Valim. People pray for good health and then they don't exercise, they eat poorly, they eat... The angels, if they were like us, if they had spleens, as Shakespeare said, they'd be laughing at us. You pray for health and then you don't do anything about it. So, Farah, habla shuridika, your leisure time, every time has حقُق. There are rights in every time. The other type is حقُق العُقة. لَتُّصْتَّذق. These are the rights of time. They can't be replaced. They can't be replaced. So, for instance, if your parents are alive, if your parents are alive, and they're old, and you don't have filial piety towards them, meaning you're not showing them the respect and also taking care of them the way they need to be taken care of in their old age. And the Prophet said, I don't understand how somebody could, because Ajaib is, you don't know the subab, like he's saying, I don't understand, it's incomprehensible how somebody can have their parents in old age, one of them or both of them, and they don't use it as a means to enter paradise. Just that alone. If a prostitute was forgiven for giving a dog water in the Sahih hadith, what is the reward of taking care of your parents when they're old? One man came to Al Marah and he said, Ya, Sayinah Al Marah, Amir al-Munin. I'm washing my mother the way she used to wash me when I was a child. In other words, he's having to clean her because now, Yura dida arthar al-Umar, they go back to the infancy. He said, I'm cleaning her the way she cleaned me. Is this mukaffa, is this recomp and almar said lah. No, he said why not? He said because when she was doing it she was praying that you would live a long life and when you're doing it you're hoping she dies soon. SubhanAllah. So farah this precious time especially, you have this time, don't waste it. Don't waste it. Hasarat al-masbukh. And then there's students that won't waste it, and then you'll see them. They'll be honored. They'll get the honors when you graduate because they seize the moment, they seize their time. The same on Yom K'yama. There's going to be people that are honored, then there's going to be other people. So, and then Shabbabakah, Kabbal Ha'Ramikah, your youth before your old age. And those of us who are in, and this is old age. I'm speaking now, you know, I taught this hadith when I was 40, you know, or 35. I've known the hadith for a long time. sense, because you don't know when you're a Shab, you don't know what Ha'ram is. Al-Ahlul Shabbat Biyom, and Tawqbir Ummah F'alabiul Mashi'vul would that my youth would return, so I could tell what old age did to me. Because you don't, you see the soul doesn't age, because the soul is eternal, it's sempiternal. It was created but it goes on forever and that's why you'll never feel old in your consciousness. You won't feel old. You'll feel when you're 60, you'll feel the same way you felt when you were 20. But when you get up too quickly, then you know something changed. See, he knows. We know. Yeah, suddenly. And you hear noises that you didn't hear when you were young. And you know something's changing. Then when we were young, all night we stayed up and studied. And then suddenly you do that and three, four, five days you take to recover. When you're young you just get back. Same with cuts and wounds. When you're young they heal so quickly. Little babies they heal almost overnight. It's miraculous because there's so much life in them. Shabbat Anar. You know Shabbab is Shabbat Anar. It's the fire. We're in the embers. We're in the embers, when you get older you're in the embers. The fire's gone, but there's still something there, but a little bit of warmth, but not like the fire of youth. So you have to use that time, don't waste that time. They say, Sofa is Jundun min Jundi Iblis. I will is from the Jund of Iblis. It's one of Iblis' armies. I'm going to. One day, this is what Yusuf's brothers, you know, when they said, let's get rid of Yusuf and then we'll be Salihin. That's what they said. Let's get rid of Yusuf. You know because our father's doting over him. He forgot about us. Let's just get rid of him and then we'll be Salihin. You know, just one more deal and then I'll stop. Right? That's what people say, but death comes on us suddenly. Sabi'u, sa'arir Moses, adi-salaam. When Moses, he was given victory over Pharaoh, we just celebrated it, right? The victory of Moses over So Moses, Allah says, Ya bani isra'il, adan janaakum, right? Allah saved them, min adu'ikum, wa'adnaakum, jana bata'al aiman. So he promised them to meet them, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala, to meet Bani Isra'a, they have a special relationship with Allah for good and ill. For good and ill. Because Allah gave them so many prophets. See we were given Ulama. They were given Ambiya. But our Ummah is a chosen Ummah. Right? We were given Ummah. Ummah tikka Ambiya y as-sara One comes after another. Look at the ulema we've been given. No uma has the scholars we've been given. No uma. You show me any uma that has the scholars that we've been given. Even their knowledge. Fakhruddin al-Razi says that he knows that a human being could not learn what he knew in one lifetime. Like he realized that and if you read him you'll know that the truth of that.