Time Management - The Sunnah Way

By Ismail Kamdar
(Compiled from gems posted by students)
You need to take time to manage your time!
Narrated Abdullah Bin Mas`ud Allahs Messenger (PBUH) said:
A man shall be asked concerning five things on the day of resurrection: concerning his life, how he
spent it; concerning his youth, how he grew old; concerning his wealth, whence he acquired it, and in
what way he spent it; and what was it that he did with the knowledge that he had.
How is it possible that the great scholars like Dr. Zakir Naik , Dr.Bilal Philips are able to manage time and
spend it effectively which is the same for everyone?

Tip# 1
Begin with the end in mind
The first tip is to begin with the end in mind, which simply means you have to a goal in mind, if you dont
have a goal then what are your putting your efforts into?!

Set high goals : To begin with the end in mind. You need to have a goal. A goal is long term.
Once you have goals, you now understand what you want to fit into your schedule. Now you have a
schedule since you have a goal.
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Your goal shapes your schedule

Imam Bukharis goal : He wrote Sahih Al-Bukhari-one of the most authentic hadith compilations
and also Adab al Murfad which has some weak ahadeeth When he was asked the about the reason
behind the difference between the two hadith compilation, he replied that the goals for the two books
were different. Sahih Al-Bukhari was written focusing on the compilation of the most authentic hadiths
whereas the latter book was written focusing on character building only.
Salahudeen al Ayubis goal: An amazing example in islamic history is that of Salah-uddin Ayoubi.
He lived in a time when Muslims were in the worst of conditions. The Crusaders took over the
Jerusalem. In this period one man liberated Jerusalem. When you read his life, he had one GOAL and
that was liberating Jerusalem. Therefore, you should have a goal in mind so that you have an idea where
you are headed.

Tip #2
Focus on Allahs pleasure
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Plan your day around Salah : Focus on Allah's pleasure. Make sure your goals are pleasing to
Allah (swt). Establish Salah. Make it part of your routine, your daily lifestyle. Pray it on time. Do

not leave your Salah at any cost. Dont change your salah time according to your tasks, because
through salah, one achieves Allahs pleasure. When you pray Salaah you already have a
schedule. We can make some things flexible but salah time should not be flexible.
Whenever Allaah talks about Salaah, He talks about establishing Salaah and not just praying it,
establish it in our lives. The Muslim who establishes Salaah is already in a schedule, and this is
where we see the difference between those who establish the prayer and those who dont.
Those who establish Salaah will say, We will pray Zuhr at its time and then eat our lunch. while
those who dont establish it will say, We will eat lunch first and then pray Zuhr. Establishing
Salaah perfectly on its time brings the barakaah in our lives.
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Barakah comes only from Allah: By planning ones day according to Salaah time, one can
achieve barakah in time

Your goals should be pleasing to Allah : Goals displeasing to Allaah never help one attain
success.
This relates to tip no. 1 that is, when you make your goals make sure it is for the Pleasure of
Allaah.

Tip#3
Make Dua Daily
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Success is only from Allah: Dua is the weapon of the believers.

Dua should be done constantly : Make dua on a daily basis for success. If something is
important to you, you make dua for it on a daily basis. If time management is important for you,
you make dua for it. Prophet (saw) sought protection from laziness and incompetence. Make
dua at times when duas are accepted. Duas are accepted in Sajdah. When in Sajdah, ask Allah.
Prophet (peace be upon him)taught us to make dua : a'udhubillahi minal kasli wal ajzi i SEEK
PROTECTION TO ALLAH FROM LAZINESS AND INCOMPETENCE.
If you are not making dua for something that means its not important for you.
Need to make dua daily basis.

Learn the times when dua is accepted: Make dua at times when duas are accepted. The Last
Third Of The Night, between Adhan and Iqamah, an Hour On Friday, while Drinking Zamzam
Water, while Prostrating (in sujood), during The Rain, dua of the one fasting at the time of
breaking fast etc.

Tip #4
Self-Discipline is key
It means ridding yourself of bad habits like laziness, over sleeping etc. Make schedule and stick to that
schedule. A weekly schedule works best but you can also make a monthly schedule or a daily one.
Sticking to your schedule is crucial. We need to know what is urgent and what is important.

Make a weekly schedule

Difference between urgent and important: Checking update through our gadgets is urgent but
can be checked later on, but we have to focus on the important tasks.

Stick to you schedule

Example of Imam Abu Hanifa

Sheikhs schedule :

Tip#5
Divide into workable chunks
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Best of deeds are those that are small and consistent: The same applies to our worldly life as
well. Split work. Don't do too many things at one time. This ensures a quality job as well. Don't
leave things for the last minute. Don't try to do all the tasks in one day.

Divide it into small chunks: and then do them. Don't try to do things all in one day. You will get
more done this way. e.g. Try to finish one or two module tests each day so that you dont have
to rush with all the tests at the last moment.

Gradual progress accomplishes more over time:

There is a proverb "Rome wasn't built in a day" and we know that, "Shari'ah wasn't revealed in a day".
The Qur'an was revealed in 23 years. So we do not have to try to do everything in one day. We need to
set aside time for our tasks.

Tip #6
Personal development.
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Make time to sharpen the saw

Allah has blessed humans with Amazing potential and talents: Always work on improving
yourself. Schedule half an hour or an hour a day for personal development. Never stop learning.
Never stop growing. Never stop discovering your hidden potentials.

Constant improvement helps reach our potential: Never stop working on improving yourself.
This is an Islamic concept. As Muslims, we should always try to improve ourselves. Over a period
of time your will turn into a new person.

Tip #7
Take a break
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We need to avoid getting burnt out:

Example of the sahabis Abu Ad Darda and Salman al Farisi radiAllaahu anhuma. Take your time out.
Whatever suits you, an hour a day break, or a weekend break, or once a month, or a small holiday in a
year - depends on yourself. Take a break. The zeal that we have in the beginning of a task, it fizzles out.
Do not forget to take a break.
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Schedule in time for Halal fun: We need to have halal fun. Do take breaks and spend time with
your family too. This way, we can carry on tasks on a constant basis without burning out. eg.,
watching halaal documentaries instead of haraam tv serials etc, going out in the nature, going
for horse riding, spending time with family and many more.

Even the Prophet made time for Halal fun with his wives and children

Tip #8
Delegate
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If someone else can do it , delegate it: If you know that there are ppl around who can do a
certain tasks well, delegate them. Prophet Muhammad (saw) delegated the da'wah of Madinah
to Mus'ab bin Umayr. Delegate tasks, that way you will have more time at hand. Authors have
ghost writers. An example of delegation.

Each Shabi played a different role in shaping the early Muslim Ummah: Prophet didnt do
everything by himself he delegated task among Sahabas.

Tip #9
Eliminate Time-Wasters
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Haram should be eliminated first: Eliminating haraam is obvious, but we may have halaal things
wasting our time as well. So we may need to eliminate halaal things to some extent as well, if it
is wasting our time. Islam is not divided into halaal and haraam only. There could be halaal
things also that need to be scrutinized if they are time-wasters or not.

If it is halal but wastes time, it is better to eliminate and replace it: Pray your Salaah with
khushoo and stay away from idle speech, laghw. Do not waste your time in this. Issue of sports.
How many hours of your life go in sports, watching them? It is a waste of time. Replace watching
sports with a productive pastime like playing sports. It is far better. Refrain from wasting your
time. Each of us need to sit and analyse. What time your are wasting and eliminate it.

Avoid Distractions. Don't get distracted to answer whatsapp messages, facebook messages
every time your phone buzzes. Set aside a time of the day to answer all the emails and
messages.

Surah Muminoon 23:3 : Successful believers avoid things that waste their time (laghw)

Tip# 10.
Learn the shortcuts.
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There is usually a more efficient way to do what you already do

Whatever you are doing there is usually a faster way to do them, but the quality of our work should not
reduce. Take shortcuts that do not reduce the quality. For eg. learning shortcut keys of the keyboard. It
will eventually save time. Whenever Prophet (saw) had to choose between two options, he would
choose the easier. So choose way that is easier and halal.
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Never underestimate what saving a few seconds can do for you:

Never take a shortcut if it reduces quality. But there are many shortcuts which will not reduce quality,
utilize them. A very useful shortcut tip: listen to lectures at twice speed. It will not reduce quality, you
can remember everything, and utilize the time effectively.

Bonus tips:
11. Multi-tasking: Only multitask when it is beneficial.
12. Keep positive company. Your company can distract you and can lure you to waste time.
13. Always be open to advice and correction. Let go of your ego and humble yourself. Be open to
advice. Someone can tell you how to do a task in a better way. If you are the kind of person who takes
advice people will be able to come and advise you to better ways.
14. Learn to say no, but do it politely. We have two extremes - those who say yes to anything people
ask them to/for, and those who rudely say no to any request. You have a goal and between you and that
goal, there are wedding and friends get together etc. Why not say 'no' politely. You still maintain good
relationship and politely say no. InshaAllah they will understand.
15. Stay fit and healthy. If you are not healthy, you are lazy. Laziness affects work. You do not have high
energy levels. Staying healthy is a part of Islam. We need to eat without over eating and sleep without
over sleeping. Prophet (saw) taught us to make dua against laziness. We need to take care of our bodies,
all this is a part of time-management.
16. Strive for ihsaan (excellence) in all you do: The Prophet (saw) said that Allaah loves that whenever
His servant does anything, he does it with Ihsaan. Quality is important. Strive for ihsaan, excellence in
everything you do. Even if you adopt short-cuts, it should not affect the quality of your work. Strive to
do your best no matter what the task. It is part of our religion. If you are running a business, be the best
in halal business. If you are a teacher, be the best teacher you can be. Strive for excellence in everything
that you do.

Extra advices from Q AND A

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You don't have to follow everybody's advice, but be open to others' advice. You might benefit
from their advice.

Try to make yourself better than before.

Work out for yourself how many hours of sleep do you need. If you oversleep you would feel
lazy or if you sleep less you would feel tired. Find out how many hours you need and stick to it.

VLC Player-- a very good player for listening to lectures in twice speed. Works great for lectures
given in a slow tone especially.

For mothers of toddlers, a small tip is, have a schedule but keep it a bit more flexible as the child
may need attention any time. Productive Muslim has good articles for mothers of young
children.

How to avoid distractions? You have to discipline yourself. Find a spot where you are by
yourself. Close YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Social Media, Email, ..etc. Put your phone on silent.
If you need to spend 1 hour doing your HW, stick to the 1 hour you have and spend the entire
hour in your HW.

Stick to your schedule - may be put it in a chart or stick it to your wall. You can celebrate it in a
halaal way if you could stick to your schedule properly, give yourself a treat. You know what
works best for you.

The brain is an amazing tool. You can do a course on the brain, learn how to utilize it, then you
would be able to do things you did not know could be possible.

For an average Muslim, we should not criticize them for the halaal things they do and spend
time, even if we consider them as time-wasting. This is for ourselves to cut down things if we
believe they are wasting our time.

Time management books from Muslim authors:

Different books of Shaikh Mirza Yawar Baig cover different aspects of time management. Also sister
Zohra Sarwari has written a book on time management.
Time Management books from non Muslim authors are many, some good books are:
7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Eat That Frog.
A very good site from time management tips: www.productivemuslim.com