Importance of One Hour of Contemplation

Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm

Our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says, “ تَفَكُّرَ سَاعَةٍ خَيْرٌ مِنْ عِبَادَةِ سَبْعِينَ سَنَةٍ”, “Tafakkur sā‘atin khayrun min ‘ibādati sab‘īn sanah.” Aw kama qāl. Our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says, “One hour of contemplation and reflection is better than seventy years of worship.”

This is because people act without thinking. Whether it’s worship or worldly affairs, they spend their entire lives chasing after things, striving to achieve them. However, this is not good; it’s something that yields no benefit. Therefore, those seventy years become wasted. This is even more prevalent in the people of our time. People of this time have completely forgotten the Hereafter.

They don’t even have time to think. They rush from place to place, and when they have free time, they look at unnecessary things and pursue pointless endeavors. They do things that don’t benefit them. They chase after people who harm them; they glorify them, and show them reverence. But if they were rational and reflected, they would find the right way.

With that one hour of contemplation, they would win their life. They would win both their worldly life and, more importantly, the life of the Hereafter. Otherwise, he would run endlessly like a horse, having no time for anything. He would think, “I’m running on the same way, so I must get somewhere.” But in the end, he would see that the place he arrived at was empty and there was nothing there.

Therefore, contemplating and thinking, “Do my actions please Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla or not? Are they things that Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla loves or not?” saves a person’s life. He who does not do this loses his life. People say of those who die, “He lost his life”; but the one who truly loses his life is the one who does not contemplate and find the right way.

The life of the one who contemplates and finds the right way is not lost; he will have passed on to the hereafter. The one who does not think, who only runs and looks around like a horse with blinders on, loses his life and everything. May Allāh ﷻ protect us.

Therefore, Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla has given man mind, intellect and reason; Reflect. Mankind must pay close attention to the Majesty of Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla and the honor and love of our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. May Allāh ﷻ grant us vigilance; may He ﷻ not separate us from the right way and not lead us astray to the bad way, in shā’a Llāh.

Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq.

Al-Fatiha.

•⁠ ⁠Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbaniق

28 June 2026/ 13 Muharram 1448

Fajr Prayer – Akbaba Dergah, Istanbul

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