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The following is some amazing nasiha adapted from an article by Dr. Aisha Hamdan (additional notes are italicized). Read it inshallah ta’ala and benefit from it. Props to The Muslimah Corner for finding it. You can find the original here.

The young and excited bride-and-groom-to-be, ecstatic about the upcoming wedding and marriage, and the joy that it will bring. Three to six months later, reality sets in, and both spouses realize that marriage is no easy task, but one that takes a great deal of effort and patience.

The following is a beautiful little speech by Shaykh Abdullah Adhami, entitled “A Wife”. Read it inshallah ta’ala and benefit from it. Props to Beautiful Islam for the original.

By getting married you are not just getting a wife, you are getting your whole world. From now until the rest of your days your wife will be your partner, your companion, and your best friend.She will share your moments, your days, and your years. She will share your joys and sorrows, your successes and failures, your dreams and your fears. When you are ill, she will take the best care of you; when you need help, she will do all she can for you.When you have a secret, she will keep it. When you need advice, she will give you the best advice. She will always be with you: when you wake up in the morning the first thing your eyes will see will be hers; during the day, she will be with you, if for a moment she is not with you by her physical body, she will be thinking of you, praying for you with all her heart, mind, and soul; when you go to sleep at night, the last thing your eyes will see will be her; and when you are asleep you will still see her in your dreams. In short, she will be your whole world and you will be her whole world.The best description that I personally have ever read describing the closeness of the spouses to each other is the Qur’anic verse which says: “they are your garments and you are their garments” [Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 187]¹.

While FIFA World Cup blares over TV, reports on the radio, articles in the paper, we see our friends, our family, our co-workers, all of them glued to this new world.

Here are eleven reasons to unglue them (and yourself!) inshallah ta’ala:

1. I will be questioned on the Day of Judgement about how I squandered and wasted my time.
2. Who are those guys running around like headless chickens kicking that ball? Why should they matter to me?
3. I still need to memorize the Qur’an or learn how to pray properly, so why am I watching FIFA instead?
4. I veg on the couch and consume large quantities of junk food during matches–but imagine how much exercise I could get if I played soccer half that much!
5. There are better ways to make the best use of our limited time, like sitting with family, discussing with friends, going for a walk, learning something new and useful, etc.
6. It keeps me distracted from the bigger things in life — getting rid of injustice oppressers have instilled, spreading the message of Islam (especially in light of the 17 arrests in Canada), etc.
7. I can start a business or an exciting new da’wa project and get as much fun (and more benefit!) out of that!
8. The time I spend watching is preventing me from giving others their due rights–like my parents.
9. I could be watching something beneficial (and minus the partly-dressed women during commercial breaks) like Foundations of Islamic Studies instead!
10. Death can strike at any moment, would I want to die with a bag of chips in one hand and “viva Portgual!” on my lips?
11. It promotes nationalism. (Pop quiz: what did the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم) say about nationalism?)

And this applies to time-management (or mis-mangement) in general, and not just World Cup specifically.

Scholars say: there are no major sins with tawbah, and there are no minor sins with repetiton.

What does that mean? The one who commits major sins and performs tawbah is forgiven; and the one who commits minor sins repeatedly is overcome by them, and they reach the level of major sins.

Ibn Mas’ud (رضي الله عنه) said: A believer treats a sin as if it is a mountain over his head that may fall on him any moment; whereas a dissolute person looks at it as a fly that hovers around his nose and he waves it away with his hand.¹

This article by Steve Pavlina explains how to effectively manage your life by focusing on tasks based on their long-term effects.

The article defines three categories of tasks, and allocates your daily time to each of them proportionally based on their expected benefit.

1. “A” tasks yield benefit in five or more years, such as learning a new language.
2. “B” tasks yield benefit in two or more years, such as training for a marathon.
3. “C” tasks yield benefit in 90 days or less. This includes day-to-day tasks, like checking email.

He supports a 50-30-20 method of time-sharing: allocate 50% of your time for A tasks, 30% of your time to B tasks, and 20% of your time to C tasks.