In our last edition, we talked about how to make meaningful use of our time. Clearly the best way to use our time is to model our usage of time along the way that the best of creation used his time. More so, Allah himself told us in the Quraan,
"Indeed in the Messenger of Allah (Muhammad, peace be upon him) you have a good example to follow for him who hopes in (the Meeting with) Allah and the Last Day and remembers Allah much. (Q33: 21)
In this edition, we want to take a walk through a sample day with the Prophet (peace be upon him). Let us see how he used his time and try to model our life in this pattern. We might not know every single thing he did in his lifetime but we can use what has been preserved in the Sunnah for all our daily activities. There are some that are routine in nature. So we shall divide his routines into two: fixed routines and non-fixed routines. It is our hope that if we can imbibe some of these practices, we would make good use of every second and live a fulfilled life.
The Fixed Routines
1. Early Riser: He wakes up early to worship his Lord in the last part of the night. When he wakes up, the first thing he does is to remember Allah.lbn Abbas (RA) reported "When Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) woke up, sat, and removed the traces of sleep by rubbing his hands over his face. Then he recited the last ten verses of Surat-AI-Imran (Q3:191-200)" (Bukhari)
2. Cleans his mouth: "Whenever the Prophet (peace be upon him) got up at night, he used to clean his mouth with Siwak (a type of chewing stick)." (Bukhari)
3. Ablution: "Then he went towards a hanging leather water container and performed a perfect ablution" (Bukhari)
4. Nafl: "and then stood up for prayer." (Bukhari). He offered two Rakat, then two Rakat, then two Rakat, then two Rakat, then two Rakat, then two Rakat and then offered one Raka Witr. Then he lay down till the Muadhdhin came and then he prayed two light Rakat and went out and offered the early morning (Fajr) prayer." (Bukhari)
5. Sunnah prayer before Fajr: Aisha (RA) said that Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) used to pray two short rakat between the call (of adhan) and the iqamah of the Fajr prayer (Bukhari). Sometimes he would recite Surat al-Kaafiroon (Q109) in the first rakah, and Surat al-Iklaas (Q112) in the second. (Muslim)
6. When leaving the house: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "When a man goes out of his house and says: In the name of Allah, I trust in Allah; there is no might and no power but in Allah." (Abu Dawud)
7. Subh Prayer: Sometimes, he prayed very early: "He then said the morning prayer when it was daybreak, but the people could hardly recognize one another." (Muslim). On other occasions, he would pray at its latest time: "He delayed the morning prayer (so much so) that after returning from it, one would say that the sun had risen or it was about to rise." (Muslim)
8. Eating and drinking: He always followed strictly the etiquettes of eating and drinking. At the start, he said: "Mention the Name of Allah and eat with your right hand, and eat of the dish what is nearer to you" (Bukhari). And when-he finish eating, he would say "All praise is for Allah who fed us, gave us drink and made us believers" (Abu Dawud). Some of his companions complained to him: "Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) we eat but we are not satisfied". He said: Perhaps you eat separately, and they replied: Yes. He said: If you gather together at your food and mention Allahs name, you will be blessed in it. (Abu Dawud) He warned against drinking and standing, (Muslim), and he forbade breathing into a vessel while drinking (Muslim).
9. Clothing: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Wear your white garments, for they are among your best garments, and shroud your dead in them" (Abu Dawud). However, he wore colour other than white. One of his companions said: "Once I saw him in a red cloak and I had never seen a more handsome man than him." (Bukhari)
10. Meetings: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "A company wherein there is no mention of Allah, the Exalted, and no supplication for the blessings of His Prophet will be afflicted with remorse. If Allah wills, He may punish them, and if He wills, He may forgive them" (Tirmidhi)
11. Cleanliness: Also, he advised us to cut our nails, remove hairs from both the armpits and the pubic area at least once every forty days (Muslim)
12. Forenoon Prayer: Narrated Abu Huraira (RA): "My friend (meaning, the Prophet (peace be upon him)) advised me to do three things and I shall not leave them till I die. These are: To fast three days every month, to offer the Duha prayer, and to offer Witr before sleeping. (Bukhari)
13. Zuhr Prayer: Like the Subh salaat, he would also pray the other salawaat (pI. of salaah) at either their earliest times and sometimes at their later but still acceptable times. Its earliest time: "The Prophet (peace be upon him) then gave the command and the Iqamah for the noon prayer was pronounced when the sun had passed the meridian; one would say that it was midday but he knew better than they did" (Muslim). And its latest time: "He delayed the noon prayer until it was near the time of afternoon prayer" (Muslim)
14. Asr Prayer: Its earliest time: He gave the command and the Iqamah for the afternoon prayer was pronounced when the sun was high" (Muslim). . And its latest time: "He delayed the afternoon prayer until one returning from it would say that the sun had become red" (Muslim).
15. Maghrib Prayer: Its earliest time: "He gave the command and the Iqamah. for the evening prayer was pronounced when the sun had set" (Muslim) . Its latest time: "He (peace be upon him) delayed the evening prayer until the twilight was about to disappear." (Muslim)
16.lsha Prayer: Its earliest time: "He (peace be upon him) gave the command and Iqamah for the night prayer was I pronounced when the twilight had disappeared" (Muslim). And its latest time: "He did not come out till about half the night had passed: (Abu Dawud)
17. When he enters his house: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "When you enter your home greet your people with the salutation of peace. It will be a source of blessing for you and for the members of your family."(Tirmidhi)
19. When going to bed: When the Prophet (peace be upon him) went to bed, he would say: "Bismika amutu wa ahya." (In your name, I die and I live) and when he got up he would say: "Al-hamdu lillahil-ladhi ahyana bada ma amatana wa ilaihinnushur". (All praise is due to Allah, who has restored us to life after our death and unto Him is the resurrection) (Bukhari)
GENERAL ROUTINES
As he had fixed things he used to do, so he had other acts that he did once in a while. He might not have done them everyday but these were acts that, if performed, would accord us rewards from Allaah. He always enjoined all his companions to do these acts so that they would earn the pleasure of Allaah Relating with other Muslims The Prophet (peace be upon him), when out of his house, related well with his companions, both male and female. Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) ordered us to do seven things and forbade us to do other seven. He ordered us: to follow the funeral procession, to visit the sick, to accept invitations, to help the oppressed, to fulfill the oaths, to return the greeting and to reply to the sneezer (saying, "May Allah be merciful on you," provided the sneezer says, "All the praises are for Allah,"), (Bukhari)
He would make sure he had the welfare of his people at his fingertips, For example, he would Accept invitations: Allahs Messenger (peace be upon him) said: "If anyone of you is invited, he should accept (the invitation) In case he is fasting he should pray (in order to bless the inmates of the house) and if he is not fasting he should eat". (Muslim)
Visit the sick The Prophet (peace be upon him) when visiting a patient used to say, "Iaa ba sa tahoorun in shaa Allah" (No harm will befall you! May Allah cure you! May Allah cure you!) ,(Bukhari) Visits the Grave and ask forgiveness for the dead Muslims When he visits the Muslims graveyard, he use to say: As Salamu ala ahl id-diyari min al-muminina wal-muslimin, wa-yarham Ullah ul-mustaqdimina minna walmustakhirin, wa-inna in shaa lIahu bikum lalahiqun (Peace be on the dwellers of these places - of believers and Muslims, May Allah have mercy upon the earlier and later among us.
Certainly, we will follow you when Allah wills) (Muslim) Be Gentle He was gentle, kind and loving; at the same time he was a leader and took affairs of the state very seriously. In the house: Anas (RA) narrated, "I served the Prophet at home and on journeys; by Allah, he never said to me for anything which I did: Why have you done this like this? or, for anything which I did not do: Why have you not done this like this? " (Bukhari)
He was also very handy within the house. Aisha (RA) narrated: "He (peace be upon him) used to keep himself busy serving his family and when it was the time for prayer he would go for it." (Bukhari) - All we have mentioned are some of what the Messenger of Allah did on a typical day. It is obvious that he had a full day; he kept himself busy in the worship of his Lord and the service of his fellow human beings. If we could model our days on his example, we will find out that we had tried to make the best use of the time that Allah has given us, We should shun idle talk and vain discourse, we should relate with fellow Muslims and other neighbours in good manners.
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited