Many a time when people are suggested to read and understand their religious scriptures, they explain that they are unable to do so because they cannot find enough time. Especially in the busy life of today it is becoming more and more difficult to find time for such activities and a part of it is understandable.

But at the same time, it seems that part of this feeling is exaggerated more than it is worth. More often than not, we observe that people are raised up to study only those fields which make a difference to their life in this world. One’s schooling, about forty hours a week, is completely focused on fields such as languages, mathematics, sciences and arts to the exclusion of the study of religions and comprehension of God. This does not change when one enters a college or a university. At least forty hours a week – and sometimes sixty to eighty hours – and almost sixteen years of this precious life are spent preparing for the world here – a place where one small mistake could potentially jeopardize our achievements, turning hard earned success into complete failure.

The sense of balance is so distorted that we do not usually find even one hour each day to understand what God wants from us. We do not find time to struggle and get prepared for the Hereafter, and we do not find time to implement whatever we learn in our lives. So much so, we cannot take out minutes to understand God’s words not to talk about hour(s).

There are two plausible explanations that one usually comes across in such situations. Firstly, the lack of sincerity; we are deficient in terms of sincerity with God that we cannot spend time for religious purposes. It is easy to see that given any other activity, such as sports or watching television, we can readily find time in our tight daily schedules. We are often ready to cut short our work life or go through some extra effort to accommodate such an activity. However when it comes to the study of the Qur’ān for instance, the same time is so little and constrained that one cannot spend it this way!

The second situation is where an individual is really short of time. The solution in such a case is fairly simple and straight forward: one must honestly pray to God to show them the path of His liking, and give them enough time so that they are able to attain the knowledge and the pre-requisites for success in the Hereafter. Persistent and honest prayers to the Almighty for this cause should definitely be helpful.

I feel compelled to reiterate the importance of finding and understanding the truth – what God wants from us in this world – for that is the key to success in the Hereafter. If one is not aware of the law, one cannot be prepared to act accordingly and stand as a successful person in front of the supreme Judge on the Day of Judgment. Knowing the law is a duty of every citizen and there is nothing that can be used as an excuse if the effort is not there. God after all knows who amongst his creation is not making the effort to find the truth, especially when most of the religious scriptures lie within the bounds of one’s home.

It is also observed that many people spend a lot of time reading scholars, books on religion and so forth, but no one actually makes an attempt to understand the Qur’ān. It is true that scholars do help us understand various aspects of Islam; nonetheless they are of secondary importance to the word of God. How can it be accepted that one has read everything related to Islam but not the word of God itself? It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of understanding what God wants from us as opposed to anything else.

So little a life do we have to prepare for the Hereafter and, it is a pity that we spend it altogether on petty issues of our daily lives. Need we not live above trivialities and live a moral, righteous and obedient life – a life in which God is our supreme priority and everything else is secondary.