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Whether days call upon son of Adam to work

Question

What is the meaning of what Al-Hasan Al-Basri said when he told us that every single day of the week calls out to us?Al-Hasan Al-Basri said regarding the days of the week that they proclaimed, “O son of Adam, I am a new creation and a witness over your deeds. So take benefit from me, for I will not return until the Day of Resurrection.” So does every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday that is in your life call out to you, or what does it mean? So does that also mean that all the days of your life are presented before you on the Day of Judgement? How many witnesses are there on the Day of Reckoning? May Allaah Almighty reward you with good.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

The contemporary scholars frequently cite this wisdom when speaking about the importance of time, and they attribute it to Al-Hasan Al-Basri  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him.

Abu Nu’aym reported it in Hilyat Al-Awliaa’ with the wording, “There is no day that comes upon the son of Adam except that it calls out, ‘O son of Adam, I am a new creation and I will be a witness tomorrow for what you do, so do good in me, for I will bear witness of it for you tomorrow, because when I go, you will never see me again.’ ... And the night says the same thing.

The chain of narrators of this report includes narrators among whom is the weak, the one whose narration is discarded, and the one who is unknown. Abu Nu’aym classified it as weak, and Shaykh Al-Albaani stated in his book Silsilat-ul-Ahaadeeth Adh-Dha’eefah wal-Mawdhoo’ah that it is fabricated.

Nonetheless, there is no doubt that the meaning of this wisdom is true; that one must make use of the present day, and that once it is over, it does not come back.

As regards the testimony of the days, then Al-Qurtubi entitled a chapter for it in his book At-Tathkirah fee Ahwaal Al-Mawta wa Umoor Al-Aakhirah, “Chapter on what was reported about the testimony of the earth and the nights and days on the actions that were performed in them and on the earth, and the testimony of money against its owner...

He also mentioned the testimony of the days in his interpretation of Soorah Al-Burooj at the verse: {And [by] the witness and what is witnessed.} [Quran 85:3] He said, “Al-Qushayri said, ‘Friday testifies what every doer has done in it.’ I say: The same applies to all other days and nights; each day is a witness, as well as each night. The evidence for this is what Abu Nu’aym narrated...” Then he mentioned the previous report.

Needless to say that we do not know the nature of that call of the day or time; i.e. how it takes place.

Allah knows best.

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