I Have Very Little Time Left

I am in an examination hall carelessly writing my paper. Just then the bell rings. Time's up, but I have so much left to write. I was idling away my time, and now I am frantically trying to write whatever I can in the few seconds that I have left. The invigilator starts collecting papers. She is moving towards me and my heart begins to pound. “No! Give me some more time; I have so much left to write, so many corrections to make.” But she doesn't listen. I let go of my paper with the ink still dripping from my pen. It's all over!

This is not a dream. I wish it was. This is something that I keep imagining every other day. I really have very little time left.

Of the five compulsory questions we would be asked on the Day of Judgement, one is ‘What did you do with your life?’ But a more specific one is, ‘What did you do with your youth?’ We know from the Qur’an (Surah Ahqaf, ayat 15) that youth lasts till the age of 40. And I am going to turn 40 in a few weeks from now.

What this essentially means is that of the five questions, of the five papers, one paper is getting over. And I have very few days left to complete it. Once I turn 40, that paper would be sealed, and I would not be able to add or remove anything from it. That thought itself scares me. There is so much I could have done, used my time more carefully, more systematically. So many good deeds that I could have added to my register and so many sins that I could have avoided. But there's no crying over spilt milk, is there? What can I possibly do now in the next few days other than desperately try to fill in the pages with whatever little time I have left? Alas!

This realisation would probably hit me again when I am on my deathbed, and the second paper - and all the other remaining three papers too - would be taken away from me. I have no idea when that would be. Nobody knows. It might be sudden, with no warning. Here I know exactly when my first paper is going to end. But I might never know when the other four would be taken away from me.

We tend to assume that death is too distant an event to fret over. God alludes to this illusion when He says:

اِنَّہُمۡ یَرَوۡنَہٗ بَعِیۡدًا

وَّ نَرٰىہُ قَرِیۡبًا

[Surah Maarij, ayaat 6 and 7]

He also begins Surah alAnbiyah with the lines:

اِقۡتَرَبَ لِلنَّاسِ حِسَابُہُمۡ وَ ہُمۡ فِیۡ غَفۡلَۃٍ مُّعۡرِضُوۡنَ

(Men's time of account has come close, but they are heedlessly turning away.)

Now you might contend that these ayaat speak of Qayamat, not death. But has Prophet Muhammad ﷺ not explained that a person's death is his qayamat? 

God gives a vivid description of this fleeting life in the 20th ayat of Surah Hadeed. He says,

اِعۡلَمُوۡۤا اَنَّمَا الۡحَیٰوۃُ الدُّنۡیَا لَعِبٌ وَّ لَہۡوٌ وَّ زِیۡنَۃٌ وَّ تَفَاخُرٌۢ بَیۡنَکُمۡ وَ تَکَاثُرٌ فِی الۡاَمۡوَالِ وَ الۡاَوۡلَادِ ؕ کَمَثَلِ غَیۡثٍ اَعۡجَبَ الۡکُفَّارَ نَبَاتُہٗ ثُمَّ یَہِیۡجُ فَتَرٰىہُ مُصۡفَرًّا ثُمَّ یَکُوۡنُ حُطَامًا ؕ وَ فِی الۡاٰخِرَۃِ عَذَابٌ شَدِیۡدٌ ۙ وَّ مَغۡفِرَۃٌ مِّنَ اللّٰہِ وَ رِضۡوَانٌ ؕ وَ مَا الۡحَیٰوۃُ الدُّنۡیَاۤ اِلَّا مَتَاعُ الۡغُرُوۡرِ

You ought to know that the life of this world is but amusement and play, and adornment, and boasting to one another, and competing with each other in the increase of wealth and children - like the example of a rain whose [resulting] plant growth pleases the tillers; then it dries and you see it turned yellow; then it becomes [scattered] debris. Likewise, the Hereafter is either about severe punishment, or about forgiveness from Allah and His approval. And what is the worldly life except the enjoyment of delusion?

We really have very little time in this fleeting life. A life that can end any moment. A bell that can ring any time, a paper that can be snatched away before we realize what exactly just happened. Let’s make the most of this life today; we might not have many tomorrows left with us. The Day of Judgement would be full of regrets for millions of people. They would have wasted their time on earth. Let us not waste ours!

- Dr. Parvez Mandviwala