Wasting Time

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali (r.a.) said, as recorded in al-Bidayat wa an-Nihayah, “You should not waste your time - doing at any moment whatever happens to present itself, when it presents itself.  Instead, you should take stock of yourself and structure your acts of devotion during each day or night, assigning to each period of time some specific function that is kept to and is not left for something else in that time.  In this way the barakah of your time will become evident. 

But if you leave yourself to drift, aimlessly wandering as cattle do, not knowing what to occupy yourself with at each moment, you will squander most of your time.  Your time is your life; your life is your capital through which you transact and through which you reach endless bliss in the Proximity of God.  Every breath you take is a priceless jewel that cannot be replaced.  Once it passes, it can never be retrieved.”