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Seize the moment: Importance of here and now

A VERY important faculty that the Creator has blessed us with is contemplation. To contemplate means to think about something in a concentrated manner for an extended period of time. Thinking about something deeply helps us to read between the lines and formulate an opinion based on comprehension. Well, let’s put contemplation to work.

Published: Fri 19 Oct 2007, 10:05 AM

Updated: Tue 14 Nov 2023, 2:28 PM

  • By
  • Abid Ishaq

Imagine a person at a restaurant eating away at great speed, gobbling down plate after plate. Just when you think he’s done, he calls out to the waiter and says, "I did not eat last week and I just ate for last week. I don’t know if I’ll have food next week so just to avoid any unpleasant surprises, bring me more food for next week." By now, you and the waiter are probably convinced that this person needs to be in a mental facility than a restaurant. Stop!

The first thing we need to do is contemplate the situation just to ensure that we are not the diner. Let me explain.

It is very easy to complain. Everyday we run into people who spend their day doing just that. We criticise the past and look bleakly at the future. If someone was to inquire about us, we could write books about the misfortunes that affected us yesterday and waste our today.

Similarly, the days to come are not ours. No fortune-teller has seen tomorrow, so to think that days to come hold misfortune and loss or the opposite is also lunacy. Wouldn’t it be more fruitful to honour the time at hand ‘now’?

Dear readers, we have been created from a drop. When we look with compassion towards our young, we at once recognise that we were not born with the faculty to contemplate. A two year old will do what you ask him not to.

We were not born with the power to decide. And when we look at an elderly family member, the loss of memory amongst other weaknesses greet us. Knowing our past and looking towards where we are headed, it is time to contemplate.

‘Now’ is not for us to criticise our past or to look bleakly at the future. ‘Now’ is not to procrastinate. ‘Now’ is to act!

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"And be not like those who forgot Allah (i.e became disobedient to Allah) and He caused them to forget their own selves, (let them to forget to do righteous deeds). Those are the Fasiqun (rebellious, disobedient to Allah)." (Quran, 59:19) Allah has created us for a very noble and important purpose. How can we make use of our ‘now’ without contemplating about that purpose?

The Holy Quran assists us in recognising this purpose and points us towards the reality: "Whatsoever is in the heavens and the earth glorifies Allah, and He is the All-Mighty, All-Wise. His is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, It is He Who gives life and causes death; and He is Able to do all things. He is the First (nothing is before Him) and the Last (nothing is after Him), the Most High (nothing is above Him) and the Most Near (nothing is nearer than Him). And He is the All-Knower of every thing." (Quran, 57:1-3)

We should not forget Allah, the Creator and follow the example of those who turned rebellious and went astray. We have been created to recognise our Creator with all these signs of creation around us and then to worship Him Alone.

We have not been created to procrastinate, rather we have been created to contemplate our ‘now’ and be focused and consistent in our good deeds. Only when we contemplate our own humble beginnings and our future, we can understand the importance of here and ‘now.’ Only then can we isolate ourselves from the unfortunate by taking the right path with righteous deeds and noble intentions that replace misfortune with peace.

As the Last Prophet, Muhammad — peace be upon him — stressed: "The comparison of the one who remembers Allah and the one who does not remember Allah, is like that of the living and the dead." (Bukhari)



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