علم الزمن والوقت
“A wise person is the one who makes the best use of that precious treasure, so he occupies his time with good deeds.
But the fool uses his time badly and at the expense of his working time” (Ibn Badis).
Imam Ibn Badis is a remarkable milestone and a changing point along the history timeline. He is, indeed, a turning point[1] that is invisible for the rational observer of the contemporary history movement. Henceforth, the “chronological platform”, which he and some of his fellow companions stood upon and participated in shaping some of its manifestations, had had the ultimate significance in the processes of understanding the past, dealing with the present and planning for the future.
The heritage of Imam Ibn Badis”[2], the articles written about him and the testimonies reported upon him; in order to look deeper into “The heritage” which visualize time and indicate “the implicit cognitive models”[3] of the said-Imam. Because the transition cannot usually be discovered except through “Knowledge digging”, which is difficult or rather impossible to mention in one article written by one single researcher. However, it is a call to give “a collective and pluralist” interest to the topic, from various streams: time programming science, philosophy of sciences, epistemology, language sciences, history of sciences, civilizational studies, time sciences, sociology sciences, cognitive sciences, sociology of leisure, discourse analysis approaches… and many others.
1 – Spending Time doing Useful or Useless Things:
“Time is like a bucket created to be filled and spare-time is man’s first enemy” which is Abdelhamid ben Badis’s cognitive insight about time. For him, time is not like a “sword” or “gold” as usually expressed in classical Arabic literature or like “money” as depicted in English and western proverbs, because time is neutral and only “man’s deeds” can determine its actual value, whereas concepts like “sword” indicate “enmity, wariness and fear” from time to cut you if you don’t cut it.
The notion of “money and gold” is closer to the pure materialistic perspective, which is a motive for acquiring wealth, therefore, losing it is considered as a loss of money and gold, and acquiring it is like an acquisition of wealth and fortune. In the universal vision, human beings lose their faith, whereas ethical dimension will no longer make sense except for what is justified by purpose and mean, or what is involved with physical and countable philosophy.
However, “Spending time” is the explanatory term of “N’ima (favor)” narrated in the Nobel Hadith, because favour itself makes no sense when it is not referred to the “Bestower” the Almighty Allah; regarding also the way it is perceived by the “bounty receiver”; i.e., human, if he appreciates it he deserved it, however, if he denies, he will be subject to severe punishment by the Almighty Allah “And remember! your Lord caused to be declared (publicly): “If ye are grateful, I will add more (favours) unto you; But if ye show ingratitude, truly My punishment is terrible indeed”6.
Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “There are two blessings in which many people incur loss: health and free time”.
In his explanation of this Hadith, Imam ben Badis said: “Man’s life is a treasure and limited, every minute spent on good deeds is a success, whereas wasting it is like a loss … A wise person is the one who makes the best use of that precious treasure, so he spends his time doing good deeds. Yet the fool one is he who uses his time inefficiently and at the expense of his working time”8.
In the context of interpreting the verse “Establish regular prayers – at the sun’s decline till the darkness of the night, and the morning prayer and reading: for the prayer and reading in the morning carry their testimony” Ibn Badis says:
“Incorporating prayer into the schedule 10, shows us how to associate our tasks with time and devote a specific time to every task. Hence, it will enable man to manage his life and organize his assignments and it will be very easy to fulfil many of them. On the other hand, if his tasks are managed according to a specific time, he will probably be disrupted and will only be able to fulfil very few of them. He will also be deprived from the pleasure of work, if he gets deprived from the pleasure of work, he will feel lazy and bored, as a result, he will lose motivation to work and everything he works on will be characterized by lack of proficiency ”11.
His analysis in this text stands as a witness on the dimension of Ibn Badis’s approach on “time management and time programming”12 because it explicitly refers to the law of “dedicating a specific time for specific tasks” 13 and to the connotation of “task management and consistency” and warns from the consequence of “disruption and perturbation” 14 then links that with “psychological time” 15; i.e. “work pleasure” and “boredom”, the practical results are: “laziness” and “lack of initiative” as a result of the given information, which ends according to the work and its attribute which is “perfection”.
We should not neglect –in this research- an observation made by Imam Al-Zamakhshari about a poem he wrote by himself wherein:
Life has favoured people with less knowledge over others like me.
Imam Ibn Badis criticised this poem in a respectful way and in recognition of the scholar’s value: Al-Zamakhshari who is accredited with his knowledge and for acting as a good example to follow should not get fed-up with what life has offered, in a way that is not allowed by Islamic behaviours” 16.
There is no doubt that time according to the literature of the Imam, his Tasir of the Holy Qur’an, his explanations of Nobel Hadith and his intellectual and literacy fluency in his speeches and articles entail not only writing an article or a summary about him; however, this introduction can stand as a witness on Sheikh Ibn Badis’s daily life and what time represents for him.
2 – The Imam Lived a Short and a Blessed Life:
In the abstract of his book “Al-Muslih l-Mujaddid = the Community Reformist and Revivalist”, professor Mohamed Salah Essadik provided some pearls of wisdom entitled “Introduction to the human life measures”17, through which, he explained that “the first life measure is the number of years man lives, which he described as “a superficial measure that is not clear and not even correct”.
He then introduced other measures19 that are as less important as “the measures of pleasure, recreation and fame that are enjoyed by man in this life” including the measure of money, real estate and wealth”, then pointed that this measure cannot stand as a reliable one.
He ends up talking about the only measure agreed unanimously by men of understanding and of vision across the history, as well as by nations and peoples of all segments, who are the ones who bring most benefit to the community. People who bring most benefits to their nations, their communities and to the humanity as a whole are indeed alive, the latter was then connected by the author with “the bestowed mercy of the Almighty Allah” and the notion of “fully human”.
Ibn Badis lived a short life, in terms of quantum measures – i.e. “long life”, “pleasure and delight”, “money and wealth”- he is therefore not better than anyone else, however, regarding the way he brought benefits to his religion and to his community and for indeed worshiping his Lord, he is worth of being considered as a great example to follow who represents a rare model in the late centuries.
Whenever I try to make a comparison between my daily schedule and the Imam’s daily schedule, I feel guilty about wasting opportunities and about wasting time in my life and I believe that everyone working in the field of education will feel the same and will experience the same feeling I went through.
Sheikh Ibn Badis lived a blessed life, despite his short life and the pressure put on him, he was faithfully, patiently and dedicatedly working on various goals, which is the fact that makes the difference between him and others, on the top list of his nobel achievements is “providing education for both adults and children”, as hundreds of students of all levels and from all Algeria’s Departments attended his sessions.
Moreover, he conducted the lessons of “Tafsir of the Holy Qur’an” and “interpretation of Hadith of the Apostle May Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him”, in addition to ”the outstanding speeches delivered during seminars and conferences”, these achievements made him live longer due to the impacts that are still taking place all over the country like the meanings he conveyed, his literature works and his unforgettable attitudes.
Additionally, he is known for his constant travels outside the country, as well as non-stop travels inside the country whenever there is a chance that has to do with his mission. We can read the reports published mainly in Chihab magazine, which were sometimes written by his fellow companion El Ouratilani; so as to learn about the impact of traveling on his blessed life.
Ibn Badis is known for a set of distinguishing qualities that enabled him to be a pioneer Imam who attracted an uncountable number of followers in a very limited period; among these qualities are: “delegation”21 mainly in the field of education, including “team spirit”22 which he always called for and worked on until it produced what is called as “Algerian Muslim Scholars Association”23 as a model and as an example of change that barely takes place in the Islamic World, besides planning, his call for long-term vision and formulating strategies.
Taking a quick look at the Imam’s daily schedule will betray superficial theorists and will require reformulating “time programming” according to deep-rooted basis.
1 – The turning point: in math is the point at which the derivate changes sign. The concept was used in the civilizational context in an article entitled “the turning point, Ibn Sina as a model” veecos.net.
2 – The Heritage of Imam Abd El Hamid Ibn Badis”; first edition, Ministry of Religious Affairs; 1406H/ 1985, issued by the two professors Mohamed Saleh Seddik and Mohamed El Hadi El Hasanni.
3 – The Implicit Cognitive Model: which us an unconscious cognition; i.e., the model through which people’s behaviour is directed unconsciously in order to shape their vision towards the universe. It is a concept carried out by Abdelwahab El Messiri in the encyclopaedia of “Jews, Judaism”.
6 – Surah Ibrahim: 07.
7 – Narrated by al-Bukhari, reported by al-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah and others.
8 – Ibn Badis: Majalis at-Tadhkir, ed.2, P138, Mohamed Salah Essadik: Sheikh Ibn Badis, his Opinions and Attitudes; P87. Mustapha Mohamed Hamidatou: Abdelhamid ben Badis and his Educational Efforts, Kitab al-Ummah, No: 57, Ministry of Endowments, Qatar, 1997.
9 – Surah Al-Isra: 78
10 – Look- Muhammad Iqbal “Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam” chapter “The Concept of God and Prayer”; translated by Yusuf Adas; Alexandria Library, Egypt; 2011; P107 and the following pages. Alija Izetbegović “Prayer is not just an expression about Islam’s Attitude towards the world, but a reflection to the way Islam wants to manage the world” Islam between East and West; translated by Yusuf Adas, Bavaria Institute, Germany; 1993, P293.
11 – Majalis A-Tathkir: Tafsir Surah Al-Isra.
12 – Look: Mohamed Babaami: Usul al-Barmaja Az-Zamania, a comparative study with the western thought; Safahat Publishing House, Damascus; 2007.
13 – Babaami: Usul al-Barmaja; the rule of perfoming a task on time; P376.
14 – The Same Source: the rule of persistence; P362.
15- About the psychological time look – Mohamed Babaami: The Definition of Zaman in the Holy Qur’an; Al-Gharb Al-Islami Publishing House; Beirut; 2000, P281.
16 – Mohamed Salah Essadik: Imam Ibn Badis as a Reformist and Revivalist, P-174 His Opinions and Attitudes; P44. There is a Hadith Qudsi reported by Al-Bukhari narrated by Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah May Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him: “The son of Adam injures me by abusing time, whereas I am time. Authority is in my hand. I alternate the night and the day”.
17 – P12.
18 – About the Time Programming measures, look – Babaami: Usul al-Barmaja Az-Zamania, a chapter of goals and purposes in the western thought; P152 and the following pages.
19 – Marcel Proust says: “you have to live the 24 hours of your day enhancing your health, happiness, money, satisfaction, respect and evolvement of your eternal spirit” Aldoaby Hussein: Ideas written about time and work, Souvenir series; El-Rateb Publishing house; P9.
20 – Athar Ibn Badis; ed. 4/ P219 and the following pages.
21- Jean-Ange Lallican : L’art de déléguer Manager dans la confiance : collection: Stratégies et management;
ed Dunod 2015
22 – Michel Dubois : Introduction to Sociology ; translated by Saud Al-Mawla; Arab Translators Association; 2008.
23- Scholars’ Association as “an academic union” is a methodological introduction that was given a sufficient consideration, but we do not need to write a description of the association as much as we need specialized academic studies about such achievements, which is unfortunately not a point of interest of researchers in the Arab countries nor international researchers.
Translated by: Toufik Achour
The article in Arabic: صورة الزمن عند الإمام ابن باديس لـ: د محمد باباعمي
