Translation: Aboo Aamaal Misbaah Olagunju
The Seventh Counsel (O Student of Knowledge) is:
الحرص على حفظ الوقت
BEING AVID TOWARDS TIME MANAGEMENT
Verily time is life O brothers, time is life, be covetous, may Allaah make you fortunate upon being stingy with your time, abide by this practice, because stinginess and niggardliness are both detestable except with what is necessary for the servant to greedily covet, and from that is being covetous of the time.
Whenever you closely examine time wasting by people you will find something which affects the forehead (worrisome), some of them would sit upon their mobile devices (busy with it) for half of their day, browsing sites after sites, going through pages, laughing from time to time (at what they read on it), sometimes sending (to others), and sometimes receiving, and they expend half of the day doing these, and most times even more (than half the day)!
Someone like that O brothers, if he continues upon such practice and he lived as long as a hundred (100) years, it is as if his age in reality is (50) years, and someone other than him who preserved his time and his estimated age is sixty (60), in reality he is older than the one who reached hundred (100) (but wasted most of his time).
The later is older in terms of accruing goodness and engaging in deeds pleasing to Allah, while the earlier is older in terms of hours and days only.
Indeed squandering time over things of no benefit has harmed a lot of people, till the student of knowledge isn't exempted, and the effect of this is noticeable in his inability to attain knowledge, moreover it also affects his mind; because wasting time and busying the mind for long hours with things of no benefit or with something harmful is no doubt equivalent to watering a plant, you are surely watering your mind with what you engage it in during these hours, and if you water your mind with remembrance of Allah —the exalted— and beneficial knowledge, and righteous deeds; then you are doing a good watering and harvesting a good plant, and conversely (if you do the opposite).
So be keen, may Allah make you fortunate upon abandoning and squandering time, and be cognizant of the numerous distracting affairs which deflect student of knowledge from his worship and from his knowledge, so be keen on stirring clear off them, such that it assists the student of knowledge to preserves his time, and not be (squandered) on a small device similar to this device which toils with ages with this great toiling, the believer rather engages these news technologies in what benefits him in his religion and livelihood, with measure which he stipulates for himself and does not allow himself the opening to waste time.
Al-Wasaayaa Litulaabil Ilm (19 – 20) — Ash-Shaykh Dr. Abdullah bin Abdul'Azeez Al-‘Anqariy
