Procrastination (at-Tasweef) is a serious impediment to learning.
One of the Salaf described at-Tasweef as from:
جنود إبليس
'Footsoldiers of Iblees' (Al-Baghdaadi's Iqtidaaul Ilm p.114)
Ibn al-Qayyim - rahimahullaah - said:
إن المنى رأس أموال المÙاليس
'Indeed wishful thinking is the main investment of the losers.' (Madaarij Saalikeen 1/456)
Procrastinatiing a righteous action, like learning about the Deen, makes one a lazy learner. Tomorrow may never come.
A poet said:
ولا ترج عمل اليوم إلى غد
لعل غدا يأتي وأنت Ùقيد
'Do not postpone the action of today till tomorrow#
Tomorrow may come while you are nowhere to be found.'
Al-Hasan Al-Basree - rahimahullaah - said:
إياك والتسويÙØŒ Ùإنك بيومك ولست بغد، Ùإن يكن غدا لك Ùكن ÙÙŠ غد كما كنت ÙÙŠ اليوم، وإن لم يكن لك غد لم تندم على ما Ùرطت ÙÙŠ اليوم
'Shun procrastination, you are alive today you may not be alive tomorrow. If you are alive tomorrow then act today as you will love to act tomorrow, if eventually you are not alive tomorrow you will not regret what you failed to do today.'
It is a major problem with many learners to postpone learning. Someone would say:' 'I shall start the memorization of such-and-such text in such-and-such day...' and he will go on postponing without doubt anything.
One can get busy with a form of learning at a time, postponing other aspects of learning is not a crime in that wise. But that one is idle and keeps on postponing learning is blameworthy.
The message is that we should be time-conscious and not waste away our living. None of us is getting younger any longer. As we go on in life we age on, and come closer to the grave.
We have the best exemples in the Salaf, they used to make good use of their time.
If the Salaf were not learning, they would be in meditation or any other beneficial thing.
It was said about Abdullaah, the son of Al-Imaam Ahmad, that he was always smiling or reading or researching.
It was said about Al-Khateeb Al-Baghdaadee - rahimahullaah - that he would always have a book with him to read.
Where are we from these people?
Al-Hasan Al-Basree - rahimahullaah - said:
يا ابن آدم إنما أنت أيام كلما ذهب يوم ذهب بعضك
'O son of Adam, you are like days, when a day goes a part of you is off.' (Hilyah al-Auliyaa)
Know that our time is one of the following three: The Past, the Present and the Future.
The Past is gone, there is nothing you can do about it. The Present is still here, make good use of it. The Future is not certain.
Al-Imaam Adh-Dhahabee - rahimahullaah - described Abdilwahaab bn Wahhaab bn Al-Ameen - rahimahullaah - as someone who used to watch over his time.
Muhammad bn AbdulBaaqi - rahimahullaah - said:
'I am not aware if I had ever wasted any of my hour in a play or past time.' (Siyar)
Time is precious, brethren. So let's start making good use of it right away.
Many of us are weak in knowledge because we use less of our time to make efforts towards it but we are good in other frivolities because we expend a lot of energy there.
May Allaah safeguard us and save us from all forms of laziness.
