Hadeeth
Twenty Four: A Time for this and a Time for that
From
Hanzalah al-Usayyidee who said:
Aboo
Bakr met me and asked: How are you O Hanzalah? I Replied: Hanzalah is guilty of
hypocrisy! He said: Free is Allaah and far removed from all defects! What are
you saying? I said: When we are with Allaah’s Messenger () and he reminds us
of the Fire and Paradise it is as if we were seeing it with our own eyes. Then
when we depart from Allaah’s Messenger () and attend our wives, our children
and our business, then much of this slips from our mind. Aboo Bakr said: By
Allaah we also experience the same. So I went with Aboo Bakr until we entered
upon Allaah’s Messenger (). I said: Hanzalah is guilty of hypocrisy O
Messenger of Allaah (). So Allaah’s Messenger () said: And how is that? I
said: When we are with you, you remind us of the Fire and of Paradise and it is
as if we are seeing it with our own eyes. Then when we depart from you and
attend our wives, our children and our business then much of this slips from our
minds. So Allaah’s Messenger () said: By Him in whose hand is my soul if you
remained continually as you are when you are with me and in remembering (Allaah)
then the angels would shake hands with you upon your beds and upon your roads.
But O Hanzalah, (there is) a time for this and a time for that, (there is) a
time for this and a time for that, (there is) a time for this and a time for
that.[1]
So
both of these times are regulated by the orders of Allaah, as has preceded. His
time for serious matters is regulated according to the Book and the Sunnah,
and his jesting is kept free of anything forbidden and accompanied only by that
which Allaah has prescribed.
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Notes:
[1] Reported by Muslim (Eng. Trans. Vol.4, p.1436, no.6223).