What are idle pursuits or lahwal hadith? The Qur’an does not specify what pursuits to consider worthless. Allah has blessed us with consciousness and wisdom to find out what vain things are and how to avoid them.
If a person keeps busy doing something important like the pursuit of beneficial knowledge e.g. teaching or learning something useful or doing something beneficial, then he will not have time for idle pursuits. He will begin to feel happier and more energetic.
Islam being a practical religion has evolved a complete code of life which has successfully fulfilled the requirements of changing times. But the tragedy is that we Muslims are looking towards the west for guidance in every sphere of life. Today’s youth have forgotten the very purpose of our creation. Youth in general are made to indulge in idle pursuits so that they cannot think in the right direction.
One has to be aware of so much distraction around. Our goal and purpose of life is lost once we become materialistic. Our life is revolving around earning money, spending on amusement and acquiring everything to make this worldly life comfortable. It seems we are heading towards the trap led by vested interests as done during the crusades when the masses in general and the kings and army generals in particular were lured by music, wine and singing girls. These girls were especially trained to keep them from religion and create misunderstanding among Muslims, wasting their energy in fighting amongst themselves, practising obscenity, and alienating Muslims from their culture. Today also they are using the powerful media of television and web sites/blogs by arousing the animal instincts of man, thus plunging humankind into moral and spiritual destruction and decadence.
After enjoying life to the hilt and possessing everything to make this earthly life luxurious, do we then find peace and contentment in our lives today?
After acquiring everything which life can give, emptiness of mind and heart is observed and this problem has to be tackled during man’s short lifespan.
We should know that to earn Allah’s pleasure is not only a duty but also the only way to give ourselves happiness and peace. Allah’s pleasure is the greatest joy and happiness in which our heart will find peace.
Islam has disapproved frivolities and idle talks as they are immaterial and evil. It has prohibited excess and extravagance in everything, even in worship. Then how can it tolerate excessive involvement in entertainment or leisure?
So, a true Muslim should never do anything he believes to be useless such as reading useless magazines, watching pointless programmes, mindlessly browsing the net, gossiping, making endless phone calls, attending pubs and clubs where there is intermingling of sexes, watching or involving in games with maniac fervour, and thus being drawn away from the remembrance of Allah.
We should know that we are answerable to Allah about our life and youth in particular. Wasting time is prohibited in Islam.
What is time, but life itself. We cannot increase our lifespan but surely can increase its productivity. How early we start in life is more important than how long we live. We can improve our X-factor (talent and skill) from early age. We can increase our productive time by waking an hour early everyday, by evaluating time spent on entertainment, gossiping, reading, watching movies, etc. and on acquiring knowledge. The more we evaluate our time allocation, we will get a clearer view of how far we are from our targets.
When a nation does not have a definite goal of life then its downfall is evident. When a nation does not have clear objectives, it is bound to be lost in the maze of the world. We do not have to look towards other cultures for guidance.
Today it is the need of the hour for us Muslims to awake and organise our priorities in life, realising our very purpose of life and marching towards it with single-minded devotion and clear objective, and not indulging in idle pursuits, wasting our time and energy in vain. Then nothing will stop us from achieving what the companions of our Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be with him) achieved. If we make concerted efforts then there will be a wave of change soon, and it will be change for the better. This is what society needs.