False Hopes and Prolonged Hopes
Prolonged hopes are something our Prophet (salallahu alayhi wasalam) warned against. We do not hear many bayans or read much in our Islamic literature about this failing. I find this failing in myself so I am going to write about it in hopes Allah guides me out of it.
When your list of goals grows longer and you fulfill not one of those goals that is prolonging hopes. When you imagine you will become a hafiz or learn Arabic or get in shape, but you never do, that is prolonged hopes. You anticipate you will always have time in the future so you leave it off. You say to yourself, ‘yeah I could easily do all that if I really wanted to, but I am busy.’
Its a delusional state. Its a way of perpetual procrastination. Much of Islam is about the moment (waqt). Our prayer is about this moment. The next prayer is about that moment. It is about organized time and habits.
Prolonged hopes are false hopes. They allure us. I realize now that as a child I imagined I would buy this or that toy when I grow up. Now that I am older, those things don’t appeal to me. The hopes are always changing, for better or worse. And in that change, often the more positive lasting hopes get pushed down and buried under the negative, transient and short-lived hopes. We hope problems are solved more than blessings are given. We prefer the temporary joy over a lasting accomplishment.
Hence, the danger of all prolonged hopes is we put it off past our lifespan and show up in the hereafter unprepared and without good deeds. The limit of a prolonged hope should be a week or even a day. ‘What will I accomplish today or this week’ should replace ‘what will I accomplish in my life’.
Our Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam pointed this out by drawing the lifespan of a believer.
“This is the human being, and this square is his (inevitable) death, encircling him from all sides, and this line which is outside (the square) is his HOPE, and these small lines are the calamities and troubles (which may befall him), and if one misses him, another will befall him (i.e. overtake), and if that misses him, a third will befall him (i.e. overtake).” (Al-Bukhari, volume 8, Book 76, #426. Narrated by ‘Abdullah.)
Prolonged hopes that exceed our lifespan are not the only danger. The other danger likelihood is we will face a trial or fitna that will divert us from accomplishing our hope. We will be subverted from that potential we swear we have by a trial or tribulation that will make us question ourselves. So that is why one must be active and short-sighted with hopes, accomplishing as much as you can as soon as you can.
Subhana kallahumma wa bihamdika ash-haduana la ilaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, ameen.
