We’ve made it through another year to another Spring. The weather is beautiful (the tropical downpours included), Hyde Park is bursting with happy people and there’s even an extra bank holiday to look forward to, thanks to the imminently arriving royal wedding.
However, as ice-cream vans trawl through the streets, enticing everyone with their oh so nostalgic tune, there’s a suffocating buzz of tension in the air. As the academic year draws closer to an end, the final stretch is laced with exams, driving students into a state of mania, many of whom will spend their nights in the library and if so desired, use the washbasins as a substitute shower.
In this hurricane of movement that we seem to be entangled within, it is important to take some time out to reflect. In some students, exam time seems to induce a sudden ‘muslamic’ effect by means of giving charity and praying extra nafl in a desperate attempt to bargain with God for the all-important pass mark. However, others may decide that praying detracts away from their time they can study and therefore forfeit their salah.
It is important that we learn to strike a balance. Hoping that we can miraculously pass as a result of duas alone but without any studying isn’t quite how it works. We are told to “tie your camel to the post and then put your trust in Allah” (Tirmidhi), thereby implying that we must do all that we can, try our hardest, and only then should we leave the rest to Allah. However, alongside this, one can never underestimate the power of dua:
“Verily your Lord is Generous and Shy. If His servant raises his hands to Him (in supplication) He becomes shy to return them empty (Ahmad, Abu Dawood, Tirmidhi)”
However, many of us make dua half-heartedly, not convinced whether our demands will be answered or not. The belief in the power of dua is just as important as the act of making dua itself. There is nothing that Allah cannot grant us if He so wills. In Surah Fatihah we attest to Allah that “You alone we worship and You alone we seek for help”, and it is to Him that we must seek help in all matters we engage in.
Another important aspect of ensuring that we try and get the most out of our time, be it whilst studying or in life generally, is to make sure that we use the limited time we have with wisdom.
Imam Al-Ghazali (may Allah's mercy be on him) wrote in his book, The Beginning of Guidance:
"You should not neglect your time or use it haphazardly; on the contrary you should bring yourself to account, structure your litanies and other practices during each day and night, and assign to each period a fixed and specific function. This is how to bring out the spiritual blessing (baraka) in each period. But if you leave yourself adrift, aimlessly wandering as cattle do, not knowing how to occupy yourself at every moment, your time will be lost. It is nothing other than your life, and your life is the capital that you make use of to reach perpetual felicity in the proximity of God the Exalted.”
Information is not knowledge, for knowledge is acting upon information in a way which is beneficial for ourselves. I hope to instil these words into my own life :)
