A SUDANESE friend told me as our plane was about to land in Khartoum: Time here is not exact as it is in your country and is much less exact than in Western countries. Our timings are approximate and you will hear statements like "The meeting will be held at around 9 a.m." or "The meeting will end in approximately two hours." The word "approximately" gives us considerable leeway to do things at our ease. You may be late or I may be late or we be on time and find the room empty but nobody will be annoyed. We wait until everybody comes and then begin our meeting after an hour or two and finish it in another three or more hours. What is important is that everybody does things without haste or rush according to his ability.
I answered as I looked at my watch: But the world moves in accordance with this great device. This invention helped man do things in accordance with time based on seconds and minutes instead of time based on the movements of sun and moon. How can we cope with the world if we do not adjust our watches accordingly?
He said, pointing to my watch: This watch, my friend, we have put on our hand ourselves and have submitted to its rule. It seems that our Islamic Ummah is the only one among the nations which depends on nature to determine time. We observe fasting after sighting the new Ramadan moon and celebrate Eid at the birth of another moon. We also observe fasting from sunrise to sunset. Prayers are also held based on the movement of the sun. Don’t you think there is wisdom in all these things? This watch which the West imposed on us has made us slaves of time; we move according to seconds and produce on the scale of seconds.
I told him: It was Muslims who invented the watch, not the West. And for everything there is a scale. The Arabs approved the existing scales and made their own additions. They determined weights, distances and even astronomical movements correctly. There is no contradiction in making the timings for prayers determined astronomically and timings for work determined by watch.
He said: But it was the West which imposed on us the calculation of achievements on the basis of quantity. How many cars are manufactured in a factory every day and what is the productivity of an employee in an hour and what is the speed of a computer in seconds, etc. Why should we be subjected to a rhythm imposed on us? Why should we dance to the tune of minutes and seconds as if our life has no meaning except the amount of time we consume? We work to increase revenue, purchase more and eat more and suffer more as a result of indigestion.
People die to keep us alive. Producers of rubber in East Asia and South America work hard to help automobile manufacturers sell their products, reduce prices and make more profits. More people buy cars and other vehicles which pollute the atmosphere and consume natural resources and fuel — they have imposed an oil price on us which we do not increase to reduce their profits. Look at what time leads us to? In the end, do we find happiness that we seek?
I said: The people who die of hunger are the ones who could not catch up with time and could not exploit it properly. On the Day of Judgment, a Muslim will be responsible for his life span and he will be questioned about how he spent it, every second of it, because every second is important. We are in a race with time. If we remain in our present circumstances, we will not make progress until all our natural resources are used up and lost, even the ability to consume what they produce. And we will become the world’s laborers who suffer and die to make others happy.
He asked: Do you support this mad race and this crazy obsession with time then?
I told him: I am not taking a position either with madness or craziness or restrictions. I am for being wide awake, for hard work, diligence and perseverance to achieve the Ummah’s renaissance, catch up with the caravan of progress and defend our destined position as the best of nations. Time in this endeavor is a great help.
