[17:19]
Recently I took a trip to see my Dad, who happens to be a non-Muslim, in order for him to meet the latest addition to our family, and in order for me to yet again try to convince him that he should accept Islam. While I was there, however, I found out something about him that I never knew before. My father is a workaholic. This man works seven days a week, sometimes 10-to-12 hours a day. The saddest part being, that his labor is all for nothing, for Allah says,
"(These are) they whose labor is lost in this world's life and they think that they are well-versed in skill of the work of hands."
[18:104]
Now, even though the situation with my Dad threw me for a loop, it really got me thinking. How many of us, Muslims, are in the very same predicament as my father? How many of us are working hard for the life of this world, at the cost of the Hereafter? How many of us are putting in 40-plus hours a week at our jobs, and other recreational activities, while putting in only the smallest amounts of time when it comes to our Deen? Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, says that truly Man shall earn what he strives for. The question now is what are we truly striving and working for?
Maybe it's because at the end of the week, we are rewarded with something tangible for our efforts, a check we can see and touch. The Hereafter, although being equally as real, is at the same time, mystifying and ethereal in its nature. It's a delayed
