5 before 5

I was thinking about this hadith today – the one about ‘5 before 5′.

Take opportunity/benefit of 5 before 5:

1) youth before old age

2) health before sickness

3) wealth before povery

4)free-time before pre-occupation

5)life before death

I always liked this one, since I was a kid. It make sense to me then and it still make sense to me now. I also realise more profound meaning of this saying now.

5 before 5 clearly illustrates the cyclical nature of life. It’s ups and downs. Its good time and bad time. And the Prophet (pbuh) very cleverly and gently instructs us to ponder upon what he said. The 5 times before 5 times will happen again and again in life. The number 1 and 5 is obviously will only happen once, taken literally, in one personal life. But life in general will keep going on and on.

Like the wealth before poverty. Everybody has the month or year where they are so blessed with financial success, and there is of course, a more challenging time. It is completely unrealistic to expect that one person to never have financial problem in their life, one way or another. These advice then is for us to prepare and equip ourselves with necessary knowledge and tools to help ourselves during those financially testing time. Being entrepreneur myself, this is one advice that I reaaaally take to heart and mind!

Most pessimistic people will choose to view this hadith in purely one dimensional way. Saying that, ‘Oh ok, if there’s always poverty after wealth, why do we bother to work for wealth?’. Which is extremely sad and misguided in my opinion. Just giving up and resolving to not work for wealth or for whatever reason is not the right way to approach your life.

And I also like the fact that this saying consists of a ‘Sense of Urgency’. It is to ‘Take 5 before 5′! Not ‘Take your own sweet time to do 5 before 5 and …chill mate!!’. It prompts us to take action NOW. When we are young, when we are healthy, when we are wealthy, when we are alive! Because all these won’t last forever. Our Prophet is definitely one of the earliest motivator around! And his advice is still very relevant, practical, and motivational up until today!

So that’s why I like this sayings =)

 Totally irrelevant picture, I know. But I found this when I ‘image-Googled’ no 5- and I think it’s cute. .