Every single moment

When we look back at our past, everything seems to be like a single moment. Years spent doing
something seems to appear as one moment in time. For example, the many days you went to
school, the thoughts that passed through your head as you waited for the bus. Or the many
things you thought and felt as you washed the dishes over the years. 

All the things you did in your life from this point on till the beginning of your life, does not seem
representative of the effort it took to live through each moment of them. When you lived
through those moments, you felt the stress, strain and anxiety of the mental and physical
demands each situation posed on you. Yet, it all seems like it never happened now because it
has come to pass and become a single point in memory, as if it all never happened.

The most interesting thing is that even when all of your history is but just one point in
imagination, each and every single moment of life that you had to live through will be judged
with scrutiny by Allah. Ultimately, did you do what you did in those moments trying to seek
Allah's pleasure?

The following Verses of the Qur'an draws our attention to the above:

"By (the passing of) time! The human being is indeed in loss. Except those who
believe, do good works, support one another with the truth, and support one
another with perseverance." [Qur'an, Surah 103, Al-'Asr]

Points to note are that, Allah starts by saying 'By Time!', drawing our attention to how time
passes as we noted above. All of what a person does in the time allocated to him in this life is
'indeed in loss'. However, the only exception is if the person was a believer who sincerely
sought to earn Allah's pleasure in this world in every single moment of his life. The true believer
kept in mind that these moments will come to pass very quickly, and only his sincere intentions
and good works done in those very moments will be valued by Allah.

Therefore, what people should do is spend every moment being conscious of Allah. Orientating
all deeds such as, kindness, justice, charity, humbleness, love, worship, purely to seek the
pleasure of Allah. Otherwise, the individual will find nothing at the end of his life to show Allah,
and will be as the Verse indicates, one of those in loss by the passing of time.