Where Did the Time Go? | Allah’s Names | Dr. Omar Suleiman | Ep. 29

Where Did the Time Go?

You have a heart to plant it. Don't forget it. Be strong. I'm not good enough for you. But your land is good enough for you.

I know it was hard for you to leave Gaza. It was hard for me too. But you are brave and strong, and I know you are a man and a responsible son.

How about you, mother? Adam, you were born free. I want you to stay free. And it's not just Ramadan that's slipping.

You're slipping. Every hour pulls you closer to your end. By the passage of time, surely the human being is in loss.

Except for those who hold on, who believe and do good, and keep reminding each other of truth and صبر. That fear of time escaping is real. But here's the comfort.

You were never lost in time. You were being held through it. The Prophet ﷺ used to say in his du'a:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 54, Hadith 102)

Oh Allah, you are al-awwal, the first, and there is nothing before you. And you are al-akhir, the last, and there is nothing after you. And you are al-zahir, the most apparent, and there is nothing above you. And you are al-batin, the most near, and there is nothing nearer than you.

Four names in a single breath, and they frame your entire existence from beginning to end, from outward to inward. And they serve as a map of everything you're trying to hold on to before it slips away. The first and last moments, and what you can and can't see.

Al-Awwal: The First

Let's start with the name al-awwal, the first. There were some people from Yemen that came to accept Islam with the Prophet ﷺ. And they said, we have come to you to learn the religion. نسألك عن أول الأمر And we want to know, what was the beginning of this universe? So the Prophet ﷺ said, كان الله ولم يكن شيء قبله There was Allah and nothing else before him.

Pause with that for a moment, and think about nothing else existing but Allah. It's an incredible feeling, and subhanAllah, when I ponder upon al-awwal, I feel like everything else disappears while I'm making du'a. He was there before your beginning, before the first star lit up, before the first breath was drawn, before time itself had a clock to tick.

He was, He is, without beginning. And you didn't stumble into existence by accident. You were thought of and designed and intended before a single human being was even created.

So Allah pairs one name with the ones that the Prophet ﷺ mentioned.

He is the first and the last and the manifest and the hidden and He is عليم, the knower of all things. Not only did He know what to do with time, but He knew how to schedule it for everybody else.

And remember the day that your soul was already introduced to Him before your mother even knew that she was pregnant with you? And He said to you:

Am I not your Lord? بلى Yes. Your yes to Him precedes you being able to even say your first word here. You're calling upon the One who wrote your name before you even had a tongue to say it.

He measured your first Ramadan before you even saw a moon. And I could go on and on. But the point is:

We belong to Allah. Everything belongs to Allah. So when you feel like you're running out of time, remember the One who started everything, started you too. You didn't appear out of nowhere.

You came from Him. And that means you were never an accident, never a mistake, never without purpose. Every moment that you've lived has been under His eternal gaze.

And every breath that leaves you is only returning to the One that it came from in the first place. وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ To Him, we all return.

Al-Akhir: The Last

And He is Al-Akhir. The Last. There's a moment where every single creature will once again be non-existent. Everyone is dead.

Even those angels that descend on Laylatul Qadr. Gone. Even Jibreel, Shadeedul Quwah. Dead.

Everything else perishes. And only your Lord Himself in His majesty and glory remains.

He will remain when you're gone. And He will still hold you in the end. When the skies are rolled up like scrolls. When the mountains crumble into dust. When empires fall and names are forgotten. He remains.

Al-Akhir doesn't mean the end in the way we fear endings. It means permanence. It means that when everything else fades He is just as there as He always was.

And because of that He allows the ones who love Him to remain in His nearness. That person who stood in a corner at night and remembered Allah and shed tears for Him. As soon as He reconstructs and resurrects it all He brings you right under the shade of His throne.

Don't fear for you are near. I never left you. I never forgot you. Your appointment isn't with time. It's with the one who remains when all time is dismissed. And suddenly We belong to Allah and to Him we return becomes a statement not just of affirmation but of longing.

He was there at your first breath. And He will be there when you take your last. And He will still be there when your body is lowered into His earth and everyone else walks away.

He remains. And just as He keeps what remains after you meets you when it's all over.

Al-Zahir: The Manifest

But the whole point of learning these names wasn't just to get an idea of a God that you experience after death. Because even before death He is the manifest.

You don't see Him yet but you see His signs everywhere. Evident in every sunrise. In the physical sense or even in the metaphorical sense when you thought that your dark night would never end. The sky that doesn't hold itself up and your lungs that don't fill themselves. The moment of protection that made something just miss you.

Or that moment of relief after a despair that you thought would never go away. None of that was luck. That was Al-Zahir manifesting Himself right in front of you.

We will show them our signs in the horizons and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that this is the truth. Open your eyes and you'll see His ayaat on the horizon and within you. None of these are random occurrences or coincidences. They are all declarations that He is manifest.

And in these last 10 nights of Ramadan when you make du'a and the answer arrives timed perfectly to your need that is Al-Zahir. And even before that du'a is answered the way that you felt this month like this is so real and I experienced His closeness finally.

Every moment of tawfiq to that feeling, every softening of the heart, every tear that finally fell in qiyam, it's Him. Evident and near.

Al-Batin: The Hidden

And so just as He is most visible in what surrounds you, He is most hidden in what sustains you. Which finally brings us to Al-Batin, the hidden. Not hidden in that He's inaccessible to you. No, He's hidden in nearness, in intimacy.

He's hidden in a closeness that transcends even space. You hide things from people. You even hide things from yourself. But you can't hide anything from Him because He's already there inside the most secret chambers of your soul with His knowledge and His care.

He knows the thought before you thought it. The fear before you name it. The hope that you're too ashamed to say out loud That du'a that you said quietly when no one was listening. He heard it. That tear that you wiped away before anyone could see it. He saw it. In fact, the lump in your throat. He got that too.

The regret that you never voiced to another soul out of shame. He knows it. And He forgives it.

And by the way, He doesn't just know your worst. He knows your best before you can even see it in yourself. He sees the potential you've given up on. And He sees the good you're capable of. And He guides you to that good.

So don't feel distant from Him because of His greatness. Or anxiety because of how acquainted He is. Al-awwal was there at your start. Al-akhir will be there at your end. Al-zahir is evident around you. And al-batin is intimately felt even inside of you.

You're never alone. Not in your highest moment, nor in your lowest. Not when you're surrounded by people. And not when you're by yourself, even in the dark.

The Blink of an Eye

And as we count down to the end of Ramadan, see it as a mirror for your life's end. You will look back and feel like it was the blink of an eye.

It will be as though on that day when they see it that they had not remained in this world except for an afternoon or a morning.

28 nights felt like 28 minutes. And one day, 28 years will feel the same. Where did it go? How did it pass so quickly? And the only thing that slows it down is His Barakah. His blessing in your time. And there is no Barakah except for doing for Him, through Him, and with His pleasure as your ultimate aim.

And this is why the Qur'an keeps reminding you of time.

And just as you wish you could go back and make the most of every night of this blessed month, you will stand on the Day of Judgment wishing you could go back and make the most of every moment you were given.

Making the Most of Remaining Time

But if you feel the weight of wasted hours, you may also feel the panic of days slipping away. So what do you do with the time that you still have left? Well, start by not squandering the two blessings that slip through most hands, health and free time.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6412)

Two blessings that are worth so much that people fail to take advantage of, health and free time. And seize five before five, your youth before your old age, your health before your illness, your wealth before your poverty, your free time before your busyness, and your life before your death. Because your last appointment is already set.

But you don't control the calendar, only your choices. And then plant whatever you can even if you think you've reached the end. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 12512)

If the hour is established and one of you still has a small plant in his hand, and he's still able to plant it, then do so.

Think about that, the sky is splitting, the earth is shaking, the horn is about to be blown, and you're holding a small plant. What's the point? It's not like you're going to see it grow. It's not like you're going to taste its fruit. It's not like you're going to benefit from it at all in this life. But he tells you to plant it anyway.

Because al-awwal brought you here to do the seemingly insignificant, and al-akhir will see it through after you're gone. Al-jami' will gather it, al-warith will inherit it, and al-shakur will multiply it. You don't know what will come of it in this world, and you don't know how he will reward it in the next.

Imagine your hand presses the seed into the soil, and then your hand fades. You're gone, but the plant is still there. It takes root, it grows, and then a single creature passes by and eats from it, finding nourishment in the shade of your intention. And then the sky falls apart and it's officially all over.

But that deed, it's still with him, recorded, preserved, rewarded.

Living with These Four Names

So don't be paralyzed by the thoughts of the end, of Ramadan, or of death. Instead, live with the truth of these four names.

Begin with al-awwal in intention. Aim for al-akhir in outcome. Look for al-zahir in the signs around you, and rely on al-batin with the secrets within you.

Because he is the first, and nothing was before him. He is the last, and nothing will be after him. He is the manifest in every sign, and he is the hidden in every heartbeat.

And between إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ, live like you know the one who holds both ends of the spectrum of time. Plant your seeds, guard your prayers, give your charity, seek your forgiveness, and trust that the one who began it all will bring it to completion, by his keeping, not by yours.