You Think You Have Time? Think Again.

Your delays are more dangerous than you think – discover the shocking truth.

Feb 16, 2025

From one of the oldest Quran’s found in the University of Birmingham, Libaray. It reads, بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيْمِ In the Name of Allah—the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful.)

person reading book on bed — Photo by Ed Us on Unsplash

The Qur'an lay open before me this morning, its pages alive with meaning. The Shaykh’s recitation echoed softly in the background as I read the translation, preparing for my Khidmah class. I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude—gratitude that Allah allows me to recite His words, to understand, to learn, to grow.

But beneath that gratitude, something else stirred. A tinge of sadness. A realization I am not proud of.

What I am about to share shocked me when I first admitted it to myself. Yet I feel it is important—perhaps you, too, have been avoiding something that matters.

The Moment My Life Changed

As I lay in the hospital bed days after my surgery I was confronted with a reality that hit me hard.

I was not ready to die.

I had come close to death, even the Shaytan pounced on me whispering to me in my moment of vulnerability to commit an act of Kufr (disbelief), when he the cursed one said to me, why don’t you commit shirk and die. That was a scary moment, really scary but I felt the presence of Allah swt protecting me and held firm to the promise Allah made in the Quran that He is my Protector.

Even as I lay on the operating table, bright lights flooding into my cornea, I was at peace, ready to die and asking Allah swt for a good death. My last words before that anesthesia took over were, La ilaha illa Allah (There is no God worthy of worship or unconditional obedience other than Allah).

So why days later did the thought pop up in my head that I was not ready to die. It wasn’t because I feared death itself—I know that the return to Allah is inevitable—but because, in that moment of raw truth, I saw my life for what it was. I realized how much time I had wasted.

Two haunting thoughts emerged:

1. Had I done enough? Would I receive Allah’s mercy?

2. All the du’as I had made over the years—so many still unanswered, still unfulfilled. And I had been waiting. Always waiting.

I was living a life of procrastination.

brown wooden blocks on white surface — Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

The Truth I Could No Longer Ignore

To the outside world, I appeared as a doer—a gogetter who takes action, who achieves. But deep inside, I know the truth.

I put things off.

I delayed Hajj when I first embraced Islam, even though I could have gone. Back then, there was no Nusuk system or complicated waiting lists—it was within reach. Yet I thought, There’s time. Now, that door is much harder to open.

I abandoned books that could have transformed my life. Recently, I reopened one such book—Get It Done—only to discover that I had stopped reading exactly at the part where the author described avoidance behavior.

I postponed launching my membership for sisters, waiting for the “right time.” I even let go of projects that once ignited my passion, like my podcast, letting them fade into the background.

And all the while, time slipped relentlessly through my fingers.

But time does not wait. And neither does death.

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Imam Ghazali, may Allah be pleased with him, once wrote in his Letter to a Disciple (pages 14–15):

"Live as long as you want, but you must die. Love whatever you want, but you will become separated from it. And do whatever you want, but you will be repaid for it."
(Arabic: عِشْ ما شِئْتَ، ولكنّكَ سَتَمُوتُ. احب ما شِئْتَ، ولكنّكَ سَتَفترقُ عَنهُ. اِعمَل ما شِئْتَ، ولكنّكَ سَتُجزى عليهِ.)

The Prophet ﷺ (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) described this world in an even starker way:

"What relationship have I with the world? My likeness is as a traveler on a mount, halting in the shade of a tree for a short while, only to leave it again and proceed along the way."

(Musnad Ahmad 3709)

Yet, I was living as if this shade—this fleeting moment of dunya—were permanent.

Beneath my procrastination, I discovered something even more unsettling: I had harbored discontent with the decree of Allah. I often found myself trapped in thoughts of, "If only I had done this... If only I had done that..." Over the years, whenever these thoughts crept in, I tried to stop them, reminding myself to be content with Allah’s decree. But it wasn’t until I faced death and truly felt it deep within my heart that I recognized the truth of my inner turmoil.

In that vulnerable moment, all I could do was pray: “Ya Allah, forgive me.” I am immensely grateful to Allah for revealing these hidden corners of my heart, for teaching me that true contentment comes from submission to His will.

What I Finally Understood

Determined to have one small good deed for Allah’s sake alone, despite my weakness, barely able to move—I summoned the strength to ask a family member for my iPad so I could write, to you my dear friend. Deep down, I knew this was for Allah. This small, yet consistent, offering was my way of saying that I would no longer let procrastination define me.

I had been avoiding the things I feared I would fail at. I had avoided stepping into the uncertainty of new challenges. But when I came face to face with my own mortality, those excuses melted away. I realized I had stopped asking Allah for help—stopped calling on Him to give me the strength to overcome my fears and hesitations.

Allah swt reminds us:

So today, I ask you:

What is your motivation? Are you driven by a desire to succeed, or by the fear of getting it wrong? (Get It Done explores these two approaches—can you identify which one influences you?)

What have you been avoiding taking to Allah?

What is one small, consistent deed you can commit to today—purely for His sake?

You Think You Have Time? Think Again.

Your delays are more dangerous than you think – discover the shocking truth.

The Truth I Could No Longer Ignore

What I Finally Understood

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