As Salaamu Alaikum
Woohoo! Exams are finally over! I feel so relieved with all that tension gone. But you know, a thought just hit me after I completed my last exam and was rejoicing. When it was over, I realized how excited and happy I was. And not only myself, but everyone around me was also going through the same thing. Obviously we just got rid of a whole lot of stress and pressure and we completed the last exam knowing that we, Alhamdulillah and InshaAllah, have done well and all.
But I thought to myself and remembered that this life is the same thing – a prolonged exam. It’s open-book and practical; you’ve got the Quran and Sunnah. Whatever you’ve learnt, you’re supposed to be expressing it throughout your life up until your examination period has ended and you get your final report.
Those who wanted to do extremely well for their future and come up with an excellent result in the end, studied real hard for their exam. Throughout the year or term, they did all their work. If they had an assignment, they did it as best as they could – always remembering to put effort and work hard. They tried their utmost not to deviate from their studies into useless things that would not help them later on. And not to mention the sleepless nights they went through just to study.*
What do you think the end result would be for such a person? That’s right. They’ll be enjoying a great reward. They get whatever they were working for simply because they put in all that effort and time and it eventually paid off. Whereas those who didn’t care, or who lagged behind thinking they had stupendous amount of time ahead of them, end up with nothing or very little.
This is similar to the examination of this life. If we work hard for the Hereafter, then InshaAllah we’ll be in the best of places enjoying the best of rewards. But if we lag behind and give this life’s purpose no attention, we’ll be sore losers. It’s that simple.
We’re extremely lucky that we’ve already got the answers to the exam. We don’t need to calculate anything, or draw it, or experiment with it. It’s simply laid down in the Quran and all we have to do is put it into practice. Not only that, but we’ve got the best example to follow and to show us how to put it into practice.
Those who attain a high status in the Hereafter will regret over wasting any time that would have helped them achieve something greater. If this is the case, what about those who are in the habit of wasting time and health?
I just wonder if on the Day of Judgement I have that same feeling of relief, excitement, and gratitude wash over me. InshaAllah we all will. But this was just something to ponder over. Are we really working hard for the Hereafter? Or are we just wasting time hoping to pass by a 50%?
*Note: Some of you might be thinking that it’s probably insane and not even possible for a person to completely dedicate their life and every second of it to secular education…but hey, you never know. Besides, this is just an analogy. Quit thinking so much about that and concentrate on the meaning behind it. :P
Wa Alaikumu Salaam
Bottle Tree, Qalansia Beach and Lagoon, Socotra Island, Yemen
