The Value of Time on Friday
Imam Fahkr al-Din al-Razi, may Allah have mercy on him, said in his tafsir of Surat al-Asr:
Allah vowed by 'Asr-which is time-because of its wonders, for within it good and bad matters occur, health and illness, richness and poverty, and because its value and preciousness cannot be measured against anything else. For if you wasted a thousand years in useless things, then repented and achieved happiness in the last instant of your life, you would dwell in Paradise for eternity, and you would know that the most precious thing in your life is that instant. Thus time is one of the fundamental blessings, hence Allah vowed by it, and He, the Exalted, stressed that night and day are opportunities wasted by Man! And that time is more honoured than space since time is a pure blessing with no defect except that the loser to be blamed is man.1
On this Friday, let us remember that Allah has ennobled this day for forgiveness and supplication, for there is a window of time on this day in which all prayers are accepted. Fittingly, according to many scholars, this is after the 'Asr prayer and before sunset, based on the following hadith:
Friday has twelve hours. There is one hour during which if a Muslim asks Allah anything, Allah will give it to him, so find it during the last hour after 'Asr.2
On this and every Friday, let us not forget the value of time and the precious opportunites Allah gives us. Even if we work all day, hustling between work, Jummah, and then back to work again, hardly taking a breath, on the drive back home, in that blessed hour of Friday, turn off the radio for a moment, remember Allah and ask Him for forgiveness. That one moment may be the most precious moment of your day, and your life.
1. Excerpt from "The Value of Time" by Shaykh Abd-al-Fattah Abu Ghuddah.
2.Reported in Abu Dawud.