ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Provisions for the Journey (Mishkat), Volume 1 Lesson 3: Correct Perception of the Realities of Life and Making Optimum Use of [Man’s] Lifespan Making Timely Use Of Opportunities And Keeping Protracted Hopes At Bay “O Abu Dharr!

[Beware] lest you procrastinate praiseworthy deeds on account of your protracted hopes.” (This expression is a completion of the Noble Prophet’s (S) previous saying and it underscores making timely use of opportunities and not wasting opportunities or moments of life.) Procrastination [ taswif ] is one of the cankers of the soul which obstructs the fulfillment of good and praiseworthy deeds and that is why it has been an object of distain in the hadith s.

Procrastination denotes putting obligations off with the hope of discharging them later. This state can be caused by a great deal of factors, but its chief and primary cause—as has been mentioned in this section—is man’s delusive dreams; that is to say, man does not discharge today’s obligations in the hope of staying alive until tomorrow when he will carry them out.

When the following day arrives, he again plays for time and hopes for the other day and thus months and years pass while he puts off his work. The Noble Prophet (S) states that if you desire to cleanse your inner self of this quality and attribute, you ought to imagine that you only have this very day and hour and moment and you will not have another opportunity to live after this.

The concept of procrastination, like a great number of other ethical concepts, ranging from moral virtues to vices, is a graded notion and has different stages. These graded axioms vary with regard to different individuals, ranging from believers to unbelievers inclusive, and even in regard to the levels of faith. Some of its levels are ordinary obligatory deeds, others are emphasized obligatory works and others are ordinary recommended acts and others emphasized recommended works.

At times, some of these levels are so accurate that their imagination is impossible for ordinary people. The Stages Of Negligence The first stage of procrastination is seeking ease and complacency with regard to worldly affairs, which results in man putting off his works.

This bad habit is not related to belief; it is also possible for an unbeliever to be afflicted by it in the same way that a believer does, because unbelievers too sometimes get lazy and negligent as regards their worldly affairs.