What would Imam Musa al-Kazim (as) do with so much free time?

These days mark the anniversary of the martyrdom of our blessed Imam and role model, Imam Musa ibn Ja’far al-Kazim (as), who spent his life working towards the pleasure of Allah (swt). During such occasions we must not only remember these exemplar personalities, we have to learn about them and from them so we can be worthy of being called their followers. Due to the coronavirus pandemic that has impacted the entire globe, many are forced to stay in their homes which means no going to work, school, university, the Masjid or any social gathering, and this has led to a sudden abundance of free time. Here are some tips – inspired from Imam Musa for dealing with this free time in the correct way:
– When the despotic Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid imprisoned the Imam in Baghdad, the Imam saw this as a golden opportunity and thanked Allah (swt) for it. He prayed to Allah saying:

اللهم إنك تعلم أني كنت أسألك أن تفرغني لعبادتك، وقد فعلت ذلك فلك الحمد
O Allah, You know that I had been asking You to free me from any obligation except worshipping You. Now You have done that, praise be to you.

Despite being tortured, starved and imprisoned in a lonely prison cell, the Imam thanked God for freeing him from the distracting obligations of day to day life so that now he can spend all of his time in worship to Allah (swt). Instead of being upset about being stuck at home, we should thank Allah (swt) from removing the distractions in our life so we are free to turn to Him and build our relationship with our Merciful Creator. We have to keep in mind that this is indeed a golden opportunity, one that we will likely never have again in our lifetime. For example, we often rush our prayers because “we have no time”, so during this free time let’s focus on improving our prayers. This can mean praying in congregation (jama’a) with our family members, reading the duas (ta’qibat) after prayers, praying nawafil or any of the extra prayers that we want to do but always feel like we are too busy for. The reality of daily life is that it is full of distractions which can exhaust us, so to get this opportunity to strengthen our spiritual side will leave us feeling stronger, rejuvenated and with an unbreakable faith in Allah (swt) that will help us to manage the difficulties we face in our life once we have to go back to our obligations.

 

– روي عن الإمام موسى الكاظم انه قال: اجتهدوا ان يكون زمانكم أربع ساعات… ساعة لمناجاة الله، وساعة لأمر المعاش، وساعة لمعاشرة الاخوان، وساعة لذة في غير محرم
It is narrated that Imam Musa al-Kazim said: Strive to divide your time into four hours… an hour to pray to Allah (swt), an hour to make a living, an hour to spend with your brothers, and an hour for permissible leisure.

Here the Imam is not referring to actual 60-minute hours, but to time slots. This is such an important hadith that we should all memorise, as it gives us the perfect, balanced routine that we can structure our life according to. With this free time let’s use it to worship our Creator, keep up our social interactions (call/message your friends, don’t cut off contact just because you can’t see them), and perform leisurely activities such as hobbies etc. Importantly, our leisure must be halal and still in line with what will please Allah (swt). If you can work from home then that is a blessing, otherwise substitute this time-slot with something productive that will help you improve yourself e.g. reading, doing jobs around the house, try to replace bad habits with good ones and so on.

– Finally, let’s take the advice of Allah (swt) from the Qur’an:

فَإِذَا فَرَغْتَ فَانصَبْ وَإِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ فَارْغَب
“So when you are free [of your duties] then stand up [for worship], and turn to your Lord with Eagerness.”
Qur’an 94:7

Our relationship with Allah (swt) is what gives us strength, relief and patience. Praying to Him will allow us to strengthen this relationship and put us at ease no matter what we are going through.