Take benefit of five before five

The Prophet (pbuh) said: “Take benefit of five before five:your youth before your old age,your health before your sickness,your wealth before your poverty,your free-time before your preoccupation,and your life before your death.”(Hakim)

This hadith reminds us to make proactive use of my talents, gifts, and resources. Nothing in this is life is permanent and it is important to utilize our strengths/skills NOW, rather, than later, iA. Each gift mentioned in this hadith is important: our youth, health, wealth, free-time, and life. I hope we have the ability to take full advantage of these gifts to empower ourselves and our communities.

Khutbah.com has a great khutbah on this topic
http://www.khutbah.com/en/sunnah_seerah/five.php

Visit the sick

During Fajr prayer, the imam reminded us about the importance of visiting the sick. I believe he was referring to the following hadith.

The Prophet (S) said: "When a man goes to visit his sick Muslim brother, he walks along a path of Paradise until he sits, and when he sits he is cloaked in mercy. If he comes in the morning, seventy thousand angels pray for him until evening, and if he comes in the evening, seventy thousand angels pray for him until morning." At-TirmidSubhanAllah.. Who wouldn't angels praying for him/her? This hadith is a great reminder on the importance of visiting the sick. I definitely need to this more often. Hopefully, I will be make it a point to visit someone sick within a week, iA.

Practice what you preach

Usamah bin Zaid (May Allah bepleased with them) reported: The

Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said,

“A man will be brought on the Day of Resurrection and will be cast
into Hell, and his intestines will pour forth and he will go round
them as a donkey goes round a millstone. The inmates of Hell will
gather round him and say: ‘What has happened to you, O so-and-so? Were
you not enjoining us to do good and forbidding us to do evil?’ He will
reply: ‘I was enjoining you to do good, but was not doing it myself;
and I was forbidding you to do evil, but was doing it myself”.

Salams, It has been a long time since my last post. The imam at fajr prayer today reminded us the importance of implementing our own advice. This hadith is a reminder to practice what we preach. Sometimes it is easier to advise others to do good than reflecting on and practicing our own advice. The best way to advise others to do
good or change a particular action is by demonstrating THAT very action in our own behavior. May Allah help us be sincere in all ouractions/advice and be the very best examples.

Ameen.