The Day of Hasrah: The Irreversible Consequences of Our Actions

The Day of Hasrah: Accountability and the Value of Time

حَاسِبُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ قَبْلَ أَنْ تُحَاسَبُوا — Take account of yourself before account is taken of you. Either a person runs his own audits in this world — he thinks about his good deeds, he thinks about his bad deeds, he reflects over his state of life, over the state of his a'mal — or otherwise on the Day of Qiyamah, it will be a means of ultimate regret, immense immense regret.

Yawmul Hasrah — The Day of Immense Regret

In fact, one of the names of the Day of Qiyamah is Yawmul Hasrah. Allah has given various names to the Day of Judgment in the Qur'an: Yawmul Qiyamah, Yawmul Ba'th, Yawmul Khulood, Al-Haqqa, Al-Waqi'a, Al-Qari'a, Al-Ghashiya, and so many others — but in one place in the Qur'an, in Surah Maryam, Allah refers to this Day of Qiyamah as Yawmul Hasrah:

Allah instructs Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) in this ayah: Wa andhirhum — warn them, tell them — about what? About the Day of Hasrah, the day of immense immense regret and remorse.

There are two words in the Arabic language: you have Nadama and you have Hasrah. Both of them we loosely translate as regret, as remorse, but there is a subtle difference between them. Nadama refers to that type of regret from which a person can recover, whilst Hasrah refers to that type of regret that there is no recovery from — there is no turning back.

You know when you go to purchase an item from the shop, most stores have a return policy — be it 60 days, be it 90 days — that if you experience what they call buyer's regret, you can take the product back and they'll give you a refund for it. But then certain shops you go and you'll see that they write there: no returns, all sales are final. Once you purchase the item, no matter what happens, whether you like the item or you don't like the item, you are stuck with that item — you cannot return it back to them.

Likewise, on the Day of Qiyamah it will be the Day of Hasrah — whether a person likes his deeds or he doesn't like his deeds, whether he is proud over what he did in this world or whether he is ashamed of his a'mal, there is no turning back, there is no going back to the dunya and changing or exchanging the deeds that a person performed.

The Plea to Return to the Dunya

People will beg Allah:

They will say: "Oh Allah, please — irji'oon — send me back to the dunya." For what purpose? Not so that I can gain more wealth, not so I can buy a bigger house, not so I can drive a more fancy car. No — la'alli a'malu salihan fima taraktu — "Ya Allah, I just want to go back and make one more sajda. Ya Allah, I just want to go back and become more regular, more punctual in Your house. Ya Allah, I want to go back and give more attention, more emphasis to the tilawah of Qur'an. I just want to do a few more good deeds, a few more actions. Ya Allah, please send me back."

Allah will respond to this request:

Kalla is a very harsh way of saying no — "No ways, never, it is not going to happen. You had your chance, you had your time in the dunya to perform whatever deeds, whatever actions you wanted to perform. Now it is too late. Now is the time when account will take place, when hisab will take place. You cannot change, you cannot exchange those deeds that you performed."

The Lament of the People of Jahannam

Allah speaks about the regret, the lament of the people of Jahannam:

They will be crying out, wailing: "Oh Allah, please — can You take us out of the fire of Jahannam? Can You send us back to the dunya again? And then you will see how we will perform, then you will see how obedient we will become to Your commands, then you will see all the good deeds that we will start doing."

Allah responds so beautifully:

"Did you not already have so much time in this world? You lived for 60 years, 70 years, 100 years — you had ample amount of time in this dunya to think, to reflect, to introspect about the course of your life, to introspect about the akhirah. On top of that, wa ja'akumun nadhir — I sent the messengers, I sent the prophets to also remind you. But you paid a blind eye, a deaf ear to all of that. And now you want to come when it is too late and you want to lament and remorse?" Fadhooqu fama lilzalimeena min naseer — you can taste the fire of Jahannam, you can taste the punishment. It is too late. The zalimoon — those who oppressed themselves, those who wasted their time and their opportunities in this world — there is no going back for them.

The Dunya Will Appear as Nothing

On the Day of Qiyamah, what will add to the regret of a person — to the hasrah that we were speaking about — is the fact that this entire dunya will appear to be absolutely nothing. If we look back at this year 2023, I'm sure all of us can very vividly recall January 2023 and what we were doing at that time, and it is hard to think that it is already December — and this entire year of our life has just passed by so quickly. Likewise, just as we are so astonished by the fact that this year passed by like a flash, on the Day of Qiyamah when a person will look back at his entire stay in this dunya, it will also just appear to be like a moment, like a flash — as if it went by so so so quickly.

Allah speaks about this reality in multiple places in the Qur'an. In Surah Taha, Allah mentions:

People will be whispering, conversing amongst one another: "How long do you think we stayed in the world?" And somebody will say 'ashran — "I think we stayed in the world for about 10 days."

Then in another place in the Qur'an, in Surah Al-Mu'minun, Allah mentions:

People will ask one another: "How long do you think we stayed in the world?" The response will come: "Maybe we stayed in this dunya for one day, or maybe just a portion of a day — that's it."

Then in another place in the Qur'an, in Surah An-Nazi'at, Allah mentions:

When they will truly reflect over the time that they spent in this world, they will think it to be just like one morning or one evening — so short.

And then you have the ayah of Surah Ar-Rum:

SubhanAllah — in this one ayah Allah mentions the word sa'ah twice, but in two different contexts. The first time, sa'ah refers to the Day of Qiyamah itself — Wa yawma taqoomus-sa'ah. The second time, the criminals will say ma labithoo ghayra sa'ah — "We did not stay in this world except for an hour." Their entire stay in the world — all the pleasure, the joy, the happy moments they experienced — all of that will appear to them on the Day of Qiyamah like one hour. That is how fast it all went by. They thought they were enjoying their time by disobeying Allah, but when the reality becomes clear they realize: we were the biggest losers, we were the biggest fools.

The Ultimate Moment: Death is Slaughtered

Warn them about the Day of immense regret. Then there will be the ultimate moment of regret or of joy — for the people of Jannah and the people of Jahannam. It comes in the hadith that once the people of Jannah will be ushered into Jannah — may Allah make us amongst them — and the people of Jahannam will be shoved into the fire:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4730; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2849)

Death will be brought in the form of a ram — black and white — and it will be brought to a place where the people of Jannah can see it and the people of Jahannam can also see it. Death will be slaughtered at that point, and then it will be said to the people of Jannah: "Do you know what this is?" They will say: "Yes, of course — this is death." Because they all experienced it, so when they see it now they recognize it. And the same question will be asked of the people of Jahannam: "Do you know what this is?" They will say: Na'am, hadha mawt — "Yes, we know, we recognize — this is death."

So once it is slaughtered and once they realize that there is no more death, an announcer will call out to the people of Jannah: "Oh people of Jannah! Now you are going to relax. Now you are going to enjoy the bounties, the gifts of Allah, the luxuries and the perks of Jannah — for infinity. There is no going back, there is no death. You are here to enjoy forever."

And that will be the pinnacle of joy for the people of Jannah, because in this world, no matter how much a person enjoys, the one thing that always hovers over his mind is: "You know what, these blessings that I have, this fun, this happiness, this enjoyment — it is going to come to an end." But for the people of Jannah at this moment, they are being told: "You are going to enjoy forever and ever. There is no death, there is no going back. Relax — enjoy the blessings of Allah."

But on the other hand, for the people of Jahannam, they will also be addressed with the very same statement: "Oh people of Jahannam! You are going to remain where you are. You are going to suffer for eternity. There is no going back, there is no coming back."

Time and again in the Qur'an, Allah brings these statements of the people of Jahannam when they will be lamenting. They will be pleading with everyone they can — to the extent they will even ask Malik, who is the gatekeeper of Jahannam: "Oh Malik, can you ask Allah? Can you intercede on our behalf? We are not even asking to go back to the dunya. We are just asking — can Allah just destroy us? Can He just finish us? We can't bear this, we can't handle this anymore." Malik will tell them — and according to some mufassirun, this will be after a thousand years; he won't speak to them, and then after a thousand years he'll respond to them — "No, you are not going anywhere. You are here to remain forever and ever."

Two Blessings Most People Squander

My respected brothers, elders, and sisters — which side of the coin will we be on? It is this life, in this world, that Allah has given us for us to decide. It is the moments, the time, that Allah has blessed us with — this is where we get to choose, we get to decide whether we want to be on the side of the people of Jannah who will be rejoicing, or on the other side of those individuals who will be lamenting and crying and screaming.

It comes in the hadith — that I mentioned in the beginning — that there are two blessings of Allah that most people don't understand, most people are deceived with regards to. One explanation is that when a person has a very valuable item but he doesn't realize how valuable that item is — maybe he has a product which is worth five thousand dollars, but he doesn't know it's worth so much, so he sells it to somebody for two hundred dollars. You say: this person has been deceived. He could have made so much more profit had he recognized how valuable that commodity was. Likewise, most people are deceived with regards to these two blessings — they don't fully understand, they don't comprehend how valuable these blessings of Allah are.

And what are these two blessings? Good health and free time. Good health and free time. These are two blessings of Allah that once they are taken away, there is nothing you can do about it. Once a moment passes — we take a breath in and out — that moment is gone. There is nothing we can do to bring that moment back.

Making the Most of This Break

As we go into this holiday season — the end of December, the beginning of January — when many of us are off from work, those of us who are students on vacation, this is a time when Allah is giving us this ni'mah, this blessing of faragh. There is so much that we can do, there is so much that we can accomplish in this time, if we just use our time correctly.

Make a schedule for yourselves — and this is something that we should all do: when we go home today, sit down with a pen and a paper and think: what is it that I want to achieve over this break?

Perhaps a person has many weeks, many months, many years of qada salah that they have to make up — write it down. Maybe you can make up a month's worth of salah in this break. Maybe a person wants to memorize a couple of surahs of the Qur'an — write it down. Maybe a person has already memorized the Qur'an but there are many words, many ayat, whose meaning they still don't know — make a note: "I want to recite the Qur'an and make note of those places where I don't know what my Allah is saying to me." Those of us who are going home — this is an amazing time when we can do khidmah of our parents, we can earn their du'as, and inshAllah earn our Jannah through serving our parents.

So these are just a few loose ideas — you can think of many more. But note them down, write them down: what is it that I want to achieve over this break, this free time that Allah has given me? What do I want to do with it?

For if a person doesn't make a schedule, doesn't note anything down, doesn't have any plan in mind — what is going to happen is this break is going to pass so quickly. The days are going to fly by, and before you know it, it will be January 3rd, it will be January 5th — time to come back to work, time to come back to school. And then a person will sit and think: "What did I do? What did I achieve over this long break?" And then a person will regret over that time which has gone by.

The Danger of Wasted Time on Our Phones

Other things will come in and take over our precious time. This phone will come in and take over a person's time. How many hours do we spend on our phone? Something that we should all have on our phone is the screen monitor or the screen tracker, which clocks in how many minutes or how many hours a person is spending on the phone — so you can monitor that, you can see: "How much time am I just whiling away, am I just wasting on my phone, engaging in things which are of no benefit whatsoever to my dunya or my akhirah?"

One thing is that a person is using the phone for something beneficial — for his work, for reading, or perhaps he is driving and needs the GPS. These are things which are useful, things which are beneficial. But to use that same phone for things which are just useless — watching video after video, playing games, whatever it may be — think to yourself afterwards: one, two, three, five hours of my time have gone by. What did I achieve? Was it of any benefit to my dunya? Was it of any benefit to my akhirah? If the answer to those questions is no, then there are far more productive things that we can do with this time which Allah has given us.

The Saying of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud

Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say — and I'll conclude with this inshAllah:

"There is nothing which I despise more than to see a human being idle — a human being doing nothing productive, neither for his dunya nor for his akhirah."

I make du'a that Allah grants myself and grants each and every single one of us the tawfiq of using this break that Allah has given us in the most productive of all manners. Ameen.

Announcements

To motivate this and to help ensure that we stay on focus, we have the three-day academic intensive program which will be taking place here at Darussalam from December 23rd till December 25th. Registration is still open, alhamdulillah. You can register at the Masjid Darussalam website. This is a great opportunity for us, for our families, for our children — there will be programs for the youth and children as well.

Many guests have already come from across the country and many more will be coming inshAllah. Many scholars will be flying in, as well as our own dear mashayikh from the Darussalam Seminary who will be speaking about very relevant, very contemporary issues that we should all be aware of — such as the issue of moonsighting, the issue of riba here in America and whether it is permissible to take riba or not, the different rulings with regards to that, the issue of machine-slaughtered chicken and the tasmiyah — all these different questions which people have. These will be discussed by the ulama, by the experts in these fields.

Everyone is humbly requested to participate and to register online at the Masjid Darussalam website. The topics include:

• Contextualizing Islamic Law: How Flexible Is It?
• Spousal Support and Child Custody Matters in Islam
• Riba in Contemporary Times: Halal or Haram?
• United Aid in the United States: Challenges and Solutions
• Corrupting Tradition: Muslim Encounters with European Modernity
• Islam in the Workplace: Medicine as a Case Study
• Uncovering the Meat Industry: The Need for Certification
• Theology: Exploration of Takfir — The Parameters of Faith

The speakers include Mufti Ibrahim Mirza, Sheikh Dr. Matin, Mufti Minhaj Uddin, Mufti Alimuddin, and Mawlana Yusuf Sulaiman. The program is for brothers and sisters ages 15 and up. Out-of-state participants and students will be given a discount, and there will be parallel youth and kids' programs as well as sports and activities for the youth.

Join us for our weekly programs: Ta'leem al-Fajr will continue tomorrow (Saturday) at 6:15 a.m. inshAllah, and continues on Tuesday after Isha at 7:30 p.m. The weekly salawat and khatirah takes place every Thursday after Salatul Isha.

The latest estimates from Gaza indicate that about 25,000 children have not only been displaced but have also been left orphaned. In response to this crisis, some volunteers are raising funds for orphan sponsorship through the Heroic Hearts Organization by selling various items — 100% of the sales will go directly to the orphan sponsorship program. Everyone is kindly requested to purchase tickets, as this will be a means of immense support for the people of Gaza. Please look for their table on your way out of the masjid.

A citywide students' gathering will be taking place tonight at Masjid Noor. Isha salah is at 7:00 p.m., so all students are encouraged to try and attend that gathering inshAllah.

Darussalam Community Center has the following programs:

• Tuesday — Women's Basketball: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
• Sunday — Women's Badminton: 7:45–9:45 p.m.
• Sunday — Women's Volleyball: 6:00–7:45 p.m.
• Wednesday — Men's Volleyball: 7:45–9:45 p.m.
• Thursday — Men's Basketball: 7:45–9:45 p.m.

Du'a requests: one is for our beloved brothers and sisters in Palestine, and there is also a du'a request for a brother who is very sick. We make du'a that Allah grants all those who are sick a quick and complete recovery, and to all the marhumeen — those who have passed away from this ummah — may Allah grant them all Jannah. Ameen.

Please pass the donation boxes from left to right and donate generously. Sadaqah wards off calamities and draws the mercy of Allah. The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said: "Charity given on the day of Jumu'ah is greater in reward than any other day."

No curb parking — please do not park on the curves behind the Seminary building or on the Swift Highway. We have additional parking spaces in the used car lot. Please do not park in the condos parking lot.