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24 Hours in the Life of a Muslim

In the Qur'an, Allah Himself responds to all the questions a person needs answered throughout his life and provides the perfect and most rational solutions for all problems that arise. As Allah says in the second verse of Surat al-Baqara, "That is the Book, without any doubt. It contains guidance for those who guard against evil." Other verses also show that our Lord has explained everything in the Qur'an:

There is instruction in their stories for people of intelligence. This is not a narration which has been invented but confirmation of all that came before, a clarification of everything, and a guidance and a mercy for people who believe. (Surah Yusuf: 111)

… We have sent down the Book to you making all things clear and as guidance and mercy and good news for the Muslims. (Surah an-Nahl: 89)

A person of faith orders his whole life according to the Qur'an and strives to apply carefully from day to day what he has read and learned in its verses. In everything he does from the moment he gets up in the morning until the time he falls asleep at night, he is intent on thinking, speaking and acting according to the teachings of the Qur'an. Allah shows in the Qur'an that this dedication dominates the whole life of a believer.
Say: "My prayer and my rites, my living and my dying, are for Allah alone, the Lord of all the worlds." (Surat al-An'am: 162)
But some people think that religion is composed of rituals limited to certain times-that life is divided into times for prayer and other times. They think about Allah and the afterlife only when they pray, fast, give sadaqah or go on the pilgrimage to Makkah. At other times they are engrossed in the business of the world. Life in this world is for them an unpleasant rat-race. Such people are almost totally divorced from the Qur'an and have their own personal goals in life, their own understanding of morality, their own worldview and sense of values. The have no idea of what the teaching of the Qur'an really means.
A person who adopts the teaching of the Qur'an and follows the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, as his principle of living will certainly live life quite differently from someone with this mentality. Such a person will not forget that he is subject to the destiny that Allah has decreed for him and will live his life trusting in, and submitting to, Him. Therefore, he will know that he must not be anxious, sad, fearful, worried, pessimistic or depressed; or overtaken by panic in the face of difficulties. He will meet everything that comes along in the way that Allah advises and approves. His every word, decision and action show that he lives according to the Sunnah which is the practical embodiment of the teaching of the Qur'an. Whether he is taking a walk, eating a meal, going to school, studying, working, playing sports, having a conversation, watching television or listening to music, he is aware that he is responsible for living his life according to the what is pleasing to Allah. He takes care of matters with which he has been entrusted meticulously and is concerned at the same time to win Allah's favour in the things he does. He never behaves in a way unbefitting the teaching of the Qur'an or contrary to the Sunnah.

Living by the values of Islam is possible by applying the commands and advice given in the Qur'an to every aspect of life. This and the practice of the Sunnah is the only way that people can achieve the best and happiest results in this world and the next. Our Lord tells us in the Qur'an that a person can attain the best kind of life by doing right actions:
Anyone who acts rightly, male or female, being a believer, We will give them a good life and We will recompense them according to the best of what they did. (Surat an-Nahl: 97)
By Allah's will, living according to the teaching of the Qur'an and the Sunnah will enable people to develop a broad way of understanding, superior intelligence, the ability to distinguish right from wrong and the ability to consider a matter in depth. These characteristics will ensure that the person who possesses them will live every moment of his life in the ease that comes from these advantages. A person who lives his life in submission to Allah and according to the teaching of the Qur'an will be totally different from other people how he behaves, sits and walks, in his point of view and how he explains and interprets things, and in the solutions he finds for the problems that confront him.

One of the basic differences between Muslims who live their lives according to the teachings of the Qur'an and those people who reject Allah. From the moment a believer wakes up in the morning, he knows that there is (as Allah calls them in the Qur'an), a "sign" in every experience he has in the course of a day. The word "sign" is given to those events in existence that are clear proofs of the existence, unity and the attributes of Allah-and it is also the name for a verse of the Qur'an. Another idea similar in meaning is "the facts that lead to faith." This may be defined as those facts that bring a person to faith, and at the same time cause faith to grow, develop and become strong. But only those who sincerely turn to Allah can recognise these "signs" and facts that lead to faith. The 190th verse of Surah Al 'Imran is an example of this:

In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, there are Signs for people with intelligence. (Surah Al 'Imran: 190)

A believer starting a new day thinks about these facts and thanks Allah for covering him with His great mercy and protection. He looks at the new day as an opportunity given him by Allah to win His pleasure and gain Paradise. The moment he opens his eyes in the morning of the early dawn, he directs his thoughts to Allah and begins the day with a sincere prayer, the dawn prayer of Islam.
During the day, he acts with the knowledge that Allah is always watching him, and is careful to win His approval by obeying His commands and counsel. He established a close bond with Allah and began the day with the dawn prayer. In this way, the likelihood that he will forget Allah's good pleasure during the day or ignore His limits is small; he will behave throughout the day with the knowledge that Allah is testing him in this world.
Someone who sincerely directs his thoughts to Allah will be helped to see that he must think carefully about the blessings he has been given and that no one other than Allah has the power to give them to him. In the Qur'an, our Lord says that people must ponder this matter:
Say: "What do you think? If Allah took away your hearing and your sight and sealed up your hearts, what god is there, other than Allah, who could give them back to you?" (Surat al-An'am: 46)
Certainly it is the Almighty and All-Knowing Allah Who makes sleep a time of rest for human beings and restores His blessings to them in the morning. Those who know this feel Allah's proximity from the moment they begin their day and are pleased with the incomparable blessings they enjoy.
Those who reject religion and refuse to consider this reality can never be fully aware of the blessings they have or know the joy that believers experience. Generally, early in the morning, they find it difficult to get out of a warm bed and are stressed by the anxiety of having to get into step with the new day. Some are anxious and depressed because of the things they have to do every morning. They don't want to get out of bed; there is a struggle in their minds between getting up and having one more minute of sleep. An often encountered moral failing in these kinds of people is that they are irritable, stressed and glum when they wake up.
Godless people cannot enjoy the pleasure of Allah's blessings; from the moment they wake up in the morning they return to the monotony of doing the same things every day. There is another kind of person who is unaware that the new day may be the last opportunity Allah has given him: he prepares himself quickly to start his day avid to make more money, to show off to others with his possessions or appearance, to attract the attention of others and be liked.

Those who ignore the facts that Allah has revealed in the Qur'an may start their day in their own ways, but there is a common lack of wisdom in the way they behave: they do not consider that Allah created them, that they are responsible for serving Him and winning His approval and that the new day before them may be the last opportunity they have to fulfil their duty towards Him. Allah reveals their condition in these words:

Mankind's Reckoning has drawn very close to them, yet they heedlessly turn away. (Surat al-Anbiya': 1)

It is clear that those who live immersed in this great error have made a huge mistake. One must not forget that every morning may be the beginning of the last day allotted to one's earthly life. Death may come at any moment, because of a traffic accident, an unexpected disease or any one of countless other causes. In that case, as we said above, we must think about what we have to do to spend the day before us so as to win Allah's approval.
People who have finished their breakfast and made themselves ready expect to have various challenges in their work places, schools and other areas. Most people have things they need to accomplish before the end of the day. Allah describes this situation in the Qur'an:
In the daytime much of your time is taken up by business matters. (Surat al-Muzzammil: 7)
… He made the day a time for rising. (Surat al-Furqan: 47)
A believer sees the day before him as an opportunity to win Allah's love and approval and to attain the Garden for which he needs to strive to do good works. No matter how busy he is, he is careful never to forget to seek Allah's approval. He takes as his example Sulayman (as)'s prayer, as recounted in the 19th verse of Surat an-Naml, desiring that our Lord will inspire him in the things he will do in the course of the day:
"My Lord, keep me thankful for the blessing You have bestowed on me and on my parents, and keep me acting rightly, pleasing You, and admit me, by Your mercy, among Your slaves who are right-acting." (Surat an-Naml: 19)
Everyone who leaves home on the way to school or work encounters many people, things and events to think about. Everything a person sees exists in Allah's knowledge and has come to be by His will and happens for a definite reason. So, when a believer looks up at the heavens with this in mind, he sees that they are marvellously created. He understands that the truth of the following verse is before his eyes: "We made the sky a preserved and protected roof …" (Surat al-Anbiya': 32)
The sky's function as a "protected roof" comes from its atmosphere and this atmosphere surrounds the globe and performs its vital functions so that human beings survive. The atmosphere filters out rays that come from space and are dangerous for living things; it vaporises both large and small meteorites that approach the earth and prevents them from threatening the world and the creatures on it, and it protects the earth from the freezing temperatures-approximately minus 270 degrees Celsius-of space. Even if some people do not appreciate this as they should, Allah has created an ideal environment for us and protects us from threats that may come from the heavens.
In the Qur'an, Allah reveals that a believer who observes the heaven will quickly understand the proofs that it is a most harmonious and perfect creation.
Allah says in the Qur'an that there are signs in the creation of the heavens and the earth for those who observe them with faith.
Have they not looked at the sky above them: how We structured it and made it beautiful and how there are no fissures in it? And the earth: how We stretched it out and cast firmly embedded mountains onto it and caused luxuriant plants of every kind to grow in it, an instruction and a reminder for every penitent human being. (Surah Qaf: 6-8)
Until we go to sleep, during this time, a person is asleep with no connection to this world. His body and his spirit part company, and this time, during which he thinks he is sleeping, is actually a kind of death. Allah reveals in the Qur'an that human selves are taken while they are asleep.

It is He Who takes you back to Himself at night, while knowing the things you perpetrate by day, and then wakes you up again, so that a specified term may be fulfilled. (Surat al-An'am: 60)

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