You’re a student, piled with loads of work on pending. Essays, reports, labs, exams, all on your mind as you also strive to achieve success in this world and the akhira (hereafter). Sometimes a balance between the two can become a very difficult task, often times leading to a compromise of one over the other. Unfortunately, most of the time, we choose to compromise on the latter. “I’m young, I’ve got lots of time,” we tell ourselves. We like to believe the akhira is a long way ahead. In this deceived belief we make statements such as “I’ll start praying 5 times after these exams are over” or “I’ll observe the hijab after I’m married”  “I’ll recite the Quran more frequently when I’m finished with school” and “I’ll grow a beard when I’m older, just not now”. With the passing of time we realize that life gets busier than it previously was, we find more excuses to delay our goals and again we put our religious obligations on hold.

Striving for the best in this world is not something that is forbidden or disliked, in fact acquiring a higher education, seeking knowledge, and becoming the best in what we do is an obligation we have as Muslims. However, our priorities and our focus are vital for our success in both worlds.  However, our focus, when working toward anything should ultimately be that we were created to worship God. Everything else should be subservient to this fact. Tasks such as performing our daily worldly obligations, and acquiring an education are also a form of worship, however we should be careful as to not make the world our ultimate focus. It has been related in a hadith:

Relieve yourself from the concerns of the world as much as you possibly can. For verily, one who makes the world his ultimate concern, God multiplies his concerns, and will set his poverty up before his very eyes. One who makes the Hereafter his greatest concern, God will focus his concerns, and make his wealth in his heart. No servant approaches God with his heart, honestly and truthfulness, except that God makes the hearts of the believers inclined toward Him with mercy and love.

 It is essential to take a moment and reflect on where our priorities lie. Yes, life can get very busy and hectic, but that’s where the test lies. It isn’t supposed to be easy, it involves compromise, sacrifice and a lot of devotion, just like any other task we choose to take on. We procrastinate towards adopting the good deceiving ourselves in the belief that we have generous amounts of time to get serious about religion, to repent, and to restore broken relations. While our beloved Prophet, peace be upon him, has said “When you turn in at night do not anticipate that you will live until the morning, and when you rise in the morning do not anticipate that you will live until the evening”.  Which one of us can guarantee that we will live to see another day, another hour, or even another minute? We need to ask ourselves, are we ready to be taken into account for our actions, or a lack thereof? And most importantly, is it really worth waiting for a day that may not come?