The most critical period in a persons life is his youthful years. These are the years that he is still energetic and full of vigour. It is a period that determines the remaining period of his life when he does not have the strength to strive and struggle again. If a person does the right thing by channelling his energy to what is correct such as getting a degree, learning a trade, memorising the Quran, or learning the religion of Islam in general, these things that he has acquired will most likely stay with him forever.
lf on the other hand, he uses his time to engage in useless activities such as hanging around with evil people instead of learning what will be good for him in this world and the Hereafter, he will regret it when he has grown older and he does not have the ability to do the things that will benefit him. This is because he has used the most important part of his life in the wrong way.
Grab Five Things: Narrated Amr ibn Maymun al-Awdi [RA], Allaahs Messenger [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to a man in the course of an exhortation, "Grasp five things before five others: your youth before your old-age, your health before your illness, your riches before your poverty, your leisure before your work, and your life before your death. "[Tirmidhi)
One of The Seven: Abu Huraira narrated that the Prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, "Allaah will give shade, to seven [people], on the Day when there will be no shade but His. (These seven persons are) a just ruler, a youth who has been brought up in the worship of AIlaah (i.e. worships Allaah sincerely from childhood), a man whose heart is attached to the mosques (i.e. to pray the compulsory prayers in the mosque in congregation), two persons who love each other only for AIlaah's sake and they meet and part in Allaah's cause only, a man who refuses the call of a charming woman of noble birth for illicit intercourse with her and says: I am afraid of Allaah, a man who gives charitable gifts so secretly that his left hand does not know what his right hand has given (i.e. nobody knows how much he has given in charity), and a person who remembers AIlaah in seclusion and his eyes are then flooded with tears. "[Bukhari) Allaah and His Messenger [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) have given us advice on this issue.
This is so because we [as Muslims) are not left in the dark concerning anything that will aid us in our daily existence. From the two ahadeeth of the Prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) that follows, we can see the importance of this stage in a persons life and the honour that Allaah gives to the youth who uses his time properly. Also, Islamic history shows us that some of the most important people in Islam during the time of the Prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) i.e. the companions were youths and they contributed a lot to the growth of Islam.
Ali bn Abi Talib [RA] was the first male to accept Islam around the age of ten. He gave his all to Islam as he fought, battle after battle, side-by-side with the Prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him]. Also, he, at a point in time in his lifetime, became the leader of the Muslim world [one of the rightly-guided caliphs]. The history of Islam can never be complete without the mention of Ali bn Abi Talib [RA], Abdullah bn Abbas, Abdullah bn Umar, Abdullaah bn Amr al 'As and Abdullah bn Masud [RA] are prominent names in the history of Islam especially when it comes to transmission and preservation of the knowledge of the religion. These first three Companions mentioned were in their youthful years during the lifetime of the Prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] but their contribution to the religion is not small in anyway.
A story of Significance: Perhaps this short story will illustrate how insignificant age can be and how important one can be if one uses what one has [our youthful years] correctly. Narrated Ibn Abbas; Umar [RA] used to make me sit with the elderly men who had fought in the Battle of Badr. Some of them felt it (did not like that) and said to Umar [RA] "Why do you bring in this boy to sit with us while we have sons like him?" Umar replied, "Because of what you know of his position (i.e. his religious knowledge.)" One day Umar called me and made me sit in the gathering of those people; and I think that he called me just to show them (my religious knowledge).
Umar [RA] then asked them (in my presence). "What do you say about the interpretation of the statement of Allaah: When the Help of Allaah comes (to you O, Muhammad against your enemies) and the conquest (of Makkah). (Q110:1). Some of them said, "We are ordered to praise Allaah and ask for His forgiveness when Allaahs Help and the conquest (of Makkah) comes to us." Some others kept quiet and did not say anything. On that, Umar [RA] asked me, "Do you say the same, 0 Ibn Abbas?" I replied, "No." He said, What do you say then?" I replied, "That is the sign of the death of Allaahs Prophet which Allaah informed him of. Allaah says: (0 Muhammad) When the Help of Allaah comes (to you against your enemies) and the conquest (of Makkah) (which is the sign of your death). You should celebrate the praises of your Lord and ask for. His Forgiveness, and He is the One Who accepts the repentance and forgives. "(Q 110: 3).
On that Umar [RA] said, "I do not know anything about it other than what you have said." [Bukhari] Look at how Allaah honored a young man among older people simply because he used his youth properly. Imagine if he had used his time playing, like some will do today with video games, staying glued to the TV and other things that. are not beneficial to us, would he have been so honoured?
"They Were Youths ... " The most important thing that we can use our youthful years for is the service Allaah. Not associating any partner with him and being constant in His worship irrespective of what we go through in terms of difficulty. There is a story in the Quran that Allaah used as an example for us. It is the story of seven young men who believed in their Lord and never associated anything with Him [Allaah].
Let us read on Allaah tells us that the people of the cave were young men. It was said that some of them used to wear some kind of earrings, then Allaah guided them and inspired them to fear Him, so they recognized His Oneness, and bore witness that there is no god worthy of worship except Him. These youths were children of the kings and leaders of Byzantium and therefore lived a life of luxury.
One day they went out to one of the festivals of their people. They used to gather once a year outside the city, and they would worship idols and offer sacrifices to them. They had an arrogant, tyrannical king who was called Decianus, who commanded and encouraged people to do that. When the people went out to attend to attend this gathering, these young men went out with their fathers and their people, and when they saw their peoples actions with clear insight, they realized that the prostrations and sacrifices the people were offering to their idols should only be dedicated to Allaah, Who created the heavens and the earth. Each of them started to withdraw from his people and keep aloof from them.
The first one of them to move away on his own went and sat in the shade of a tree, then another came and sat with him, then another came and sat with them, then four more followed suit one by one. None of them knew the others, but they were brought together by the One Who instilled faith in their hearts. The Prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] said; "Souls are like recruited soldiers. Those that recognise one another will come together, and those that do not recognise one another will turn away from each other" [Muslim]
So each of the young men was trying to conceal what he really believed from the others, out of fear of them, not knowing that they were like him. Then one of them said, "0 people, you know by Allaah that only one thing is making you leave your people and isolate yourselves from them, so let each one of you say what it is in his case." Another said, "As for me, by Allaah I saw what my people are doing and I "As for me, by Allaah I saw what my people are doing and I realized that it was false, and that the only One Who deserves to be worshiped Alone without partner or associate is Allaah who created the heavens, the earth and everything in between." Another said, "By Allaah, the same thing happened to me." The others said the same, and they all agreed and became brothers in faith. They adopted a particular location as a place of worship and began worshipping Allaah there, but their people found out about them and told their king about them. The king ordered them to appear before him, and they asked them about their beliefs. They told him the truth and called him to Allaah, as Allaah says about them: "And We made their hearts firm and strong when they stood up and said: "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, never shall we call upon any god other than Him ... [Q 18:14]
Never [fan in Arabic] implies an absolute and eternal negation, meaning, this will never happen, and if we were to do that it would be false. So Allaah says about them: " ... if we did, we should indeed have uttered an enormity in disbelief, meaning untruth and utter falsehood. Allaah says concerning them, "These, our people, have taken for worship gods other than Him [Allaah]. Why do they no bring for them a clear authority?" [Q 18: 15]
The escape It was said that when they called their king to believe in Allaah, he refused, warned and threatened them. He commanded that they be stripped of their clothing bearing the adornments of their people, then he gave them some time to think about the situation, hoping that they would return to their former religion. This was a way that Allaah showed kindness to them, because during that time they managed to escape from the kingdom and flee from persecution for the sake of their religion. Allaah says; "And when you withdraw from them, and that which they worship, except Allaah, then seek refuge in the cave; your Lord will open a way for you from His mercy" [Q 18:16]
So they left and fled to the cave where they sought refuge. Then their people noticed they were missing, and the looked for them, and it was said when he could not find them, as Allaah concealed them from him so that he could not find any trace of them or any information about them, as Allaah concealed His Prophet Muhammad [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] and his companion Abubakr [RA] As-Siddiq, when they sought refuge in the cave of Thawr.
Their sleep in the cave In the cave, Allaah caused them to sleep, their eyes did not close, lest disintegration took hold of them. If their eyes remained open to the air, this would be better for the sake of preservation. Allaah says; "And you would have thought them awake, whereas they were asleep and we turned them on their right and on their left sides, and their dog stretching forth his two forelegs at the entrance of the cave [as a guard at the gate] had you looked at them, you would certainly have turned back from them in flight, and would have been filled with awe of them." [Q 18:18).
So Allaah bestowed his blessing and protection on these youth as well as their dog. The blessing they enjoyed extended to their dog, so the sleep that overtook them overtook the dog too. This is the benefit of accompanying good people, and so this dog attained fame and stature. Pure Provision Allaah says; "Likewise, We woke them that they might question one another.
A speaker among them said: "How long have you stayed [here]?" They said: "We have stayed a day or part of a day." They said: "Your Lord knows best how long you have stayed [here]. So send one of you with this silver coin of yours to the town, and let him find out which is the Azka [good and lawful] food, and bring some of that to you. And let him be careful and let no man know of you. For if they come to know of you, they will stone you or turn you back to their religion; and in that case you will never be successful."[Q 18:19] ... "And they stayed in their Cave three [solar] years, adding nine [for lunar years] [Q 18:25]
In this verse, Allaah tells us about that he brought them back to life the exact way they were three hundred and nine years ago. That is why they asked each other, "How long have you stayed here". Meaning, how long have you slept? because they entered the cave at the beginning of the day and they woke up at the end of the day, which is why they then said, " ... A day or part of day." Your lord knows best how long you have stayed ... " When they became hungry, they decided to send one of them to go the town to go and get some food for them with the instruction that it should be something permissible and making sure that nobody becomes aware of their situation while trying to get the food. They were afraid that if the people of the town got to know about them they will be punished and most likely be returned to the worshipping of the idols which they had run away from in the first place.
How the people got to know about them When the chosen one from among them set out for the town, he disguised himself and set out walking by a different route, until he reached the town. He thought that it was not long since he left it, but in fact century after century, generation after generation, nation after nation had passed, and the town and the people had changed. He saw no local landmarks that he recognised, and he did not recognise any of the people, elite or commoners.
He began to feel confused and said to himself, "May be I am crazy or deluded, may be 1 am dreaming." Then he said, "By Allaah I am nothing of the sort, what I saw last night was different from this," Then he said, "I had better get out of here." Then he went to one of the men selling food, gave him the money he had and asked him to sell him some food. When the man saw the money he did not recognise it or its imprint, so he passed it to his neighbour and they all began to pass it around, saying, maybe this man found some treasure." They asked him who he was and where he got this money. Had he found a treasure? Who was he? He said "I am from this land, I was living here yesterday and Decianus was the ruler." They accused him of being crazy and took him to the governor who questioned him about his circumstances, and he told him. Then, they the king and the people of the city went with him to the Cave, where he told them, "let me go first and let my companions know." It was said that the people did not know how he entered it, and the people did not know about their story. It was also said that they did enter the cave and saw them, and the king greeted them and embraced them.
Apparently he was a Muslim, and his name was Tedosis. They rejoiced at meeting him and went back to sleep, then Allaah caused them to die. Allaah says concerning this, "And thus we made their case known [to the people], that they might know that the Promise of Allaah is true, and that there can be no doubt about the Hour." [Q18:21]
The Benefits: The major benefits that we should derive from the story go beyond the miracle that Allaah performed by making the youths sleep for three hundred and nine years without their body decaying. Those additional benefits are as follows:
1. They were youths who believed: Usually the period of youth is a period that a lot of people take for granted especially with regards to the worship of Allaah. Interestingly, we learn from this story that the youths in the story actually took the period seriously by worshiping Allaah alone.
2. Nothing is too much to sacrifice for Allaah: From the story we know that the youths were children of noble people in the kingdom yet they left all the luxuries to go and live in a cave just for the sake of their religion.
3. Increase in guidance: if someone truly believes in Allaah and strive towards satisfying Him, Allaah will increase him in guidance. Allaah says; "Truly they were young men who believed in their Lord [Allaah] and we increased them in guidance". [Q 18:13]
4. lawful sustenance only: The instruction that the youth gave their colleague when they sent him to go and buy food for them was to get pure and lawful sustenance for them. So as youths we should strive to get sustenance that which is pure and lawful and not go after anything that is unlawful no matter how enticing it may be.
May Allaah make us able to use our youthful years in the best manner. "O our LordI Bestow us mercy from Yourself, and facilitate for us our affair in the right way" [18:10]
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited