Reflection 51 – On The Concept Of Time And The Nature Of This Test

I have to admit that I have been out of ideas a bit lately! Maybe because I already wrote 50 reflections; a number I totally didn’t expect just a couple of months ago. I also don’t want to just write anything for the sake of writing unless there is some benefit to others. Maybe by time, my reflections get shorter and more readable to a larger number of people . My PhD studies have taught me that it is very easy to write long essays (probably contradictory to what many people think), and much more difficult to gather all your thoughts in a short concise manner. The last ten days enabled me to meet with a couple of people, who made me think about two main (and different) ideas.
TIME.
This year marked 20 full years since I knew my wife and since graduation! I can’t wrap my head around this fact. It literally feels like yesterday. How did TWO decades simply vanish in a blink of an eye. What did I really do during that time and how did I benefit from this blessing?! I always didn’t fully understand how Allah talks about people on the day of judgment saying to each other that they have only spent a part of a day in this life. Now as I look back at my own life, I can begin to visualize. As they say, time is the one thing you can’t get back no matter how rich or powerful you are. I always try to remind myself that it is the ONLY asset (as far as I can think of) that EVERYONE of us share exactly equally. Building on this simple fact, it is quite important how EFFICIENT each one of us allocates their time. There were always be SACRIFICES (based on our priorities) and delicate TIME BALANCES we have to strike to reach optimal solutions. The clever amongst us, I believe, are those with best time management. It is no wonder how Islamic rituals ALL revolve around time from the declaration of faith (which basically erases any wrongdoing in the past compared to the present moment), to the daily five prayers, to paying annual Zakah, to fasting, and finally to pilgrimage. Having lived most of my life around Muslims, it really saddens me how lightly and insignificant time means to many of us. But we spare no money buying expensive luxurious watches!!
THE NATURE OF THIS TEST.
Imagine you‘re a math genius. For your final high school year exam, you‘re presented with very easy addition and subtraction problems. Of course, this would make no sense. In order to know your REAL performance, you need to be tested with the TOUGH questions; basically the ones you are not very COMFORTABLE in solving. I think this could be easily extrapolated to the test(s) we all face in our lives. If you‘re that person who finds it very easy to be great to your parents, you will probably be tested with your wife and kids. And if you are that dream father, you might be tested in your work, and so on and so forth. The test will always be (as far as I can tell) in that SPECIFIC part you find the most difficult to do (sorry to bring you the bad news!); otherwise the exam would make no sense. That way, we are all exposed . Those accepting their test will demonstrate acceptance and endurance, and those not accepting it will show resentment.
Didn‘t you read the ayah at the beginning of Surat Al-Insan:
Indeed, We guided him to the way, be he grateful or be he ungrateful.
إنا هديناه السبيل إما شاكراً و إما كفوراً