Video summary
Welcome to the first episode of "Quranic Stories that Change Lives," a series dedicated to exploring profound narratives from the Holy Quran through a new lens of practical application. This inaugural story focuses on three believers who, despite their sincere intentions and past participation in battles like Badr, failed to join the expedition of Tabuk due to procrastination rather than malice or lack of faith. The battle was fraught with significant challenges: it took place during scorching summer heat at harvest time when food supplies were scarce, pitted Muslims against a formidable Roman army, and required every able-bodied male to participate as a mandatory duty. While many companions offered various excuses ranging from caring for elderly parents to fear of the enemy or personal discomfort, these three individuals simply delayed their departure, believing they could catch up later with light packs and fast camels, only to find themselves left behind when the army set out.
Upon returning to Medina after fifty days of successful campaigning, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was greeted by a crowd full of excuses from those who had not joined, yet he received no such justification from these three men. Instead, they approached him with humility and admitted their fault without making any defense. In response to their admission but also as a consequence of their delay in obeying the divine command, Allah turned His face away from them for fifty days, ordering all inhabitants of Medina—including wives and children—to socially isolate themselves from them. This spiritual punishment manifested physically; although the earth is vast, it felt narrow and confining to these three men who walked like ghosts unable to speak with anyone, even avoiding conversation among themselves out of respect for Allah's command. Their isolation was so profound that they eventually fled into the wilderness where Romans offered wealth and fame in exchange for their allegiance, but shame drove them back to seek refuge solely in Allah while weeping and begging for forgiveness.
Allah ultimately accepted their repentance after fifty days of sincere supplication, welcoming them back with His mercy as He is described in Surah Toba as All-Forgiving and Most Merciful. This narrative serves as a powerful lesson that procrastination in matters of faith carries severe emotional, spiritual, and social consequences rather than being a neutral habit. The story illustrates how delaying good deeds can lead to heart hardening, where one builds a destructive habit of avoiding righteousness instead of doing evil. It highlights the psychological concept of present bias, where humans prioritize immediate gratification over long-term benefits because future rewards like Paradise seem too distant when life feels endless with forty or fifty years remaining. Additionally, it exposes human tendencies toward overconfidence in our ability to complete tasks later and Parkinson's Law, which suggests that work expands to fill the time available unless strict deadlines are set.
To overcome these pitfalls of laziness and delay, the episode offers practical solutions such as James Clear's "two-minute rule," which advises making good habits so easy to start—like opening a laptop for just two minutes—that momentum naturally takes over once begun. Coupled with setting realistic short-term deadlines based on Parkinson's Law, this approach helps individuals seize opportunities before they vanish like clouds, echoing the wisdom of Imam Ali (AS) who urged believers to grab every chance immediately rather than waiting for "next time." The conclusion reinforces that life is merely a temporary abode and our actions here directly impact our eternal reality in the Hereafter. By learning from these three procrastinators, viewers are encouraged to eliminate delays in their spiritual journeys, capitalize on moments of sincerity before they fade, and strive to improve both this worldly existence and their preparation for the ultimate meeting with Allah.
Read the full video transcript
To the dear viewers of Imam Hussein TV,
welcome to the first episode of the
series titled Quranic Stories that
change lives. Inshallah throughout this
8 episode series where we will delve
into the beautiful verses of the Holy
Quran we'll look into the stories that
are mentioned within the Holy Quran and
inshallah we'll understand those stories
from a slightly different lens a lens
where we can inshallah take lessons from
those stories and apply them within our
lives and in each of those eight
episodes that are to follow every single
episode we'll discuss a different story
from the holy Quran today being the
first episode. This is a story that
touched my life quite personally. And
similarly for anyone else out there that
sometimes can't help but start scrolling
into those reels and soon those moments
become minutes, minutes become hours.
hours can take up an entire day or an
entire afternoon or an entire evening.
Then this story is for you and I.
Before I start with the story, allow me
to give an introduction to the context
of where this story takes place. Imagine
the scene. The city is Medina.
The Romans are a formidable force even
at that time. You and I have heard about
the Roman history throughout our
schools. The Roman army was a formidable
force even at that time. And so the holy
prophet is told that the Romans are
planning to
do a surprise attack on the frontier
strip of Syria. And they have 4,000
soldiers armed to the teeth waiting to
ambush the Muslims. And therefore, Allah
asks every single able-bodied Muslim
male that is able to carry a weapon to
come forth and help fight the Romans.
This is now a mandatory drafting.
However,
the reason and this is how the battle of
Tabuk starts. Now the battle of Tabuk is
a battle that was meant to be a very
fierce battle, a very difficult battle.
In fact, the armies of the Muslims were
known as Jal Usra, the army of
difficulty. And therefore, the Muslims
faced three difficulties in this battle.
The first of the difficulty was that it
was in the peak of summer. If you and I
think that UK summer can get pretty bad,
which I'm sure there is not many of us
that think that, then imagine the heat,
the scorching heat of Medina. And so
this was meant to be a very tough
battle. On the second level, this battle
was meant to take place around harvest
time. Many of the Arabs over then would
rely on the annual income that they
would get from their harvest of crops of
dates and of other materials that would
uh be farmed. Now you and I sometimes
may get a monthly paycheck but for them
this was their only source of the annual
income and not harvesting the dates and
the crops meant that they would huge if
they would face a huge financial burden.
This was the second difficulty that the
Muslims faced in the battle of Tabuk.
The third difficulty that the Muslims
faced in the battle of Tabuk
was that they were meant to face an army
full of Romans. You and I, like I said,
have already heard of the Roman army
being a very fearful force to reckon
with. Their reputation had preceded
themselves even at that time. And
therefore, these were the three reasons
why this battle was meant to be a very
difficult battle. And therefore, when
the holy prophet said that, look, we are
now going to face the Romans. I want
every single able-bodied Muslim that is
able to carry a weapon to go out and
help fight and defend Islam.
And again, you had three categories of
the people. You in the first category,
you had the believers. Now, these
believers were individuals that were
ready to say Allah Allah, we are ready
to fight for the religion of Islam. And
therefore 30,000 believers got together,
10,000 of whom were mountain
individuals. Then you had the second
category of people that would find the
most pettiest of excuses in order to
avoid going to the battle of Tabuk. Some
would say, "Yasool Allah, my parents are
elderly. There's no one else to take
care of them." Others would say, "Yasool
Allah, this is my time for to harvest
crops." Others would say it's too hot.
But some you would come with the most
creative of excuses. In fact, there was
an individual by the name of Jaden and
he would say, "Yasool Allah, look, I
have an infatuation with women and I am
worried that if I was to go to this
battle of Taboo and if I come across any
Roman woman, then I may not be able to
control myself." Allah subhanana wa
ta'ala responds to him in surah surah
toba chapter number 9 verse number 49
and so you had these sort of people that
again had the most pettiest and the most
creative of excuses and then the third
level you would have believers that were
believing individuals had all intentions
to participate in the battle with Allah
however out of their laziness out of
their delay in joining meaning Allah out
of procrastinating they missed the
opportunity to participate with Allah
and therefore the title of tonight's
episode inshallah is titled the three
who were left behind the three
procrastinators
and the verse in question that we will
inshallah be discussing today is from
surah tba chapter number n verse number
118
and Allah subhanana wa ta'ala starts the
holy this uh story this verse by stating
and to the three who remained behind.
Who were these three individuals? Kab
Malik, Muri and Halya.
Now what happened was like the holy
Quran says
and to the three who remained behind.
How did they remain behind? Whenasool
Allah said that every single able-bodied
Muslim is meant to come and participate
in the battle everyone started going
behind. Now these three were the types
of individuals that would say ah it's
still a week left. I will get ready in
time and I will join the army of rasool
Allah. Then the messenger would come and
say look we're leaving tomorrow again.
These three would be the ones that would
say I'm a light packer. I'm a young guy.
I would catch up with Rasool Allah. On
the day of the drafting, the messenger
would say, "Look, we're leaving right
now." Those who want to come, come,
these three would say, "Well, I've still
got an hour. I've got a fast camel. I've
got a fast horse. I'm going to catch up
with Allah." They delayed so much up
until the army of Allah had left and
they were now left behind. Now, imagine
these weren't individuals that didn't
want to go to the battle. They had all
intentions to go battle. In fact, some
of them had participated in battles
before uh with Rasool Allah, the battle
of Bad and so on and so forth. So these
individuals had all intent to join
Rasool Allah. However, because they
delayed, they were remained behind. And
now when they walk into Medina, they see
only children. They see only women. They
see only the elderly, the crippled, the
blind, the disabled and the hypocrites
who made sure not to go into this battle
with rasool Allah. So they felt quite
bad. What happened is after 50 days of
expedition of the battle of Tabuk,
Rasool Allah comes back to these
individuals and he comes back to the
city of Medina and again as you would
expect there was a long queue uh
stretching out from the city of Medina
stretching out from the masid of Medina
and people again came congratulating
Rasool Allah on the successful
expedition of uh the battle of Tabuk but
also they came in with their excuses.
Yahasool Allah you know that day I had a
severe headache I couldn't join you.
Allah had a tummy ache. Yasoolah had
elderly parents. Yasool Allah this and
the other. However, these three
individuals didn't come with excuses.
They knew they were wrong. They came to
acknowledge that they were in the wrong.
However, when they came and approached
Allahool Allah in his infinite wisdom,
Allah beingool
being the noble of all morals, in his
wisdom, he chose not to even speak to
them. In fact, he turned away from them.
These individuals came in not to say
Allah and they brought elaborate
excuses. These individuals said,
"Yahasool Allah, I'm sorry. I was
procrastinating. I was becoming lazy.
And for this reason, I was delayed in
joining you in battle." Allah in his
wisdom didn't even speak to them.
Imagine he just turned away from them.
And so the verse of the holy Quran
continues
and to the three who remain behind
until when the earth became narrow for
them though it was vast. When Rasool
Allah turned away from these
individuals, Rasool Allah orders every
single inhabitant of the city of Medina
to not talk to them, to have social
distancing against them, to have a
strike against them. In fact, some of
the traditions mention that even the
wives were prohibited to approach these
individuals and so the holy Quran says
that the earth although it is vast, it
became very narrow for them. They would
walk in the city of Medina as if they
were ghosts. No one would speak to them.
They wouldn't be able to speak to
anyone. In fact, because these three
individuals were believers, they
themselves in order to respect the
command of Allah, they themselves even
wouldn't speak to one another. And
therefore, there was this social strike
against them
and their own souls became narrow for
them. The verse continues, you know, it
was tough for them. Even the Romans
tried to recruit them when they were in
the city of Medina. They received a
letter from the Romans saying, "Look,
you three individuals are noble people
of Medina. You are honorable individuals
of the city of Madina. Whatever happens,
whatever has happened with you is not
right. And therefore, Allah shouldn't
Muhammad shouldn't have done this with
you. Why don't you come towards us?
Whatever you want, money, wealth, fame,
reputation, you will have it with you."
When these individuals received this
letter, they were so ashamed. They were
so embarrassed to have even received
this letter that the enemy now thinks
that they're able to turn them. They
went out of the city of Medina. They
went into the wilderness, into the
mountains, into the deserts and tried to
seclude themselves from them. And so the
verse continues
and their own souls became narrow for
them.
And they knew that there was no refuge
from Allah except in him. And so they
spend the next 50 days crying, weeping
to Allah subhanaa tala seeking
forgiveness. And then Allahh ends the
verse by saying
then Allah turns towards them so that
they may repent.
Verily Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is all
forgiving the merciful. At that point
the verse was revealed to rasool Allah
that their forgiveness is indeed
accepted and he goes and welcomes them
back. The entire expedition of the
battle of Tabuk lasted for 50 days and
again similarly to that same length
their social strike against them also
lasted for 50 days. After the 50 days
was over, Allah welcomes them back. Now
let's take a moment here to reflect and
to understand exactly what's happened in
this story. These three individuals,
believers who wanted to participate in
the battle with Rasool Allah because of
this moment of delay, this moment of
procrastinating, this moment of
laziness, they decide they it so
happened that they weren't able to join
the battle of Tabuk. And so what's the
moral of the story? This laziness caused
them emotional baggage in the sense that
they were weeping and crying for 50
days. It gave them spiritual isolation
because they weren't able to join Allah
and they weren't able to benefit from
the spiritual journey that was the
battle of Tabuk. But they also faced
social isolation from the inhabitants of
Medina from Rasool Allah himself. And
therefore what this teaches us that
procrastination in faith is not neutral.
It's actually has an adverse effect. It
has a negative effect. For example, our
heart becomes less sensitive. Shaitan
whispers that don't worry you can't do
it today do it tomorrow until tomorrow
never comes. And we begin building a
habit not of doing bad but a habit of
not doing good. And therefore, now that
we've discussed the story, let us spend
a few minutes trying to understand how
we're able to implement this story
within our lives. And there's two
questions that I would like to ask
inshallah and answer. Firstly, why is it
that you and I procrastinate in the
first place? Why is it that you and I
delay doing good things? And secondly,
how can I better myself so that I don't
procrastinate? How can I reduce the
delay that I do in doing good deeds?
In order to answer the first question of
why we procrastinate,
there is something known as present
bias.
This is trying to derive short-term
gratification over the long-term benefit
of the certain actions. So for example,
I the I want to enjoy the present by
eating desserts and junk food at the
expense of gaining a healthy body in the
future. Or for example, I want to sit at
home, play video games, uh go out with
my friends at the expense of doing my
homework on time and failing my exams in
the later date. Or for example, rather
than doing the reports that I need to do
at work or rather than doing my work, I
procrastinate and I take out my phone
and I go through these reels one after
the other when these moments become
minutes and hours and the entire day
goes past. This is known as present bias
where we give more importance to the
present than into the future.
There is a study, a 2001 study uh by two
scientists by the name of Collins and
Critfield. Collins with a C, Critfield
with a K. And they said that no matter
the monetary benefit that you get, if
the reward you are to get after 15 or 25
years, then whatever sacrifice you do
becomes too difficult for you to then
get that reward. For example, allow me
to give you an example. to try and
understand and bring this point home.
A billion pounds for example is a lot of
money and say you and I love chocolate.
Uh if someone was to say that look as
long as you stay away from chocolate for
one year I will give you a billion
pounds. Many of us will do it without it
batting an eyelid. One year not a long
time. save that time was increased to
five years, 10 years, 15 years. Many of
us would still say a billion pounds of
money is still a lot. And so I'm happy
to sacrifice uh chocolate and live a
life of hardship for example of 15
years. But according to the study, they
say that when this time period extends
beyond 15 years and it's between around
the range of 15 and 25 years, then
suddenly this difficult life is now too
much. And whatever the reward may be,
it's difficult for us to grasp that
reward.
Similarly, our lives,
our permanent life is yet to come. And
if we take the same study into account,
what happens is sometimes yes we have
iman, yes we have belief, yes we know
hell exists and yes we know jennut
heaven paradise exists but because
sometimes you and I think that we still
have 40 50 60 years left ahead of me.
What happens is suddenly this concept of
hell and Jenna seems real but it's so
far away that we always think that you
know what I've still got 15 20 25 years
left in me I will come back to Allah
subhana wa ta'ala later I will take
later in life and hence we start
delaying things we start procrastinating
on things that are indeed important so
therefore this is one of the first
reasons why we procrastinate in fact The
word of laziness within the Arabic
language is uh tasif which comes from
the word sofa which means to delay and
this is exactly what this is. We delay
thinking that we have overconfidence in
our abilities to get the work done. Just
like the individuals, the three
individuals, Kab um and and and and his
companions, they had this overconfidence
in their abilities that you know what
I'm a young man. I can pack lightly. I
have a fast horse or a camel. I will
catch up. And sometimes what happens in
our lives, we become overconfidence with
our abilities. Yes, I have a for example
an assignment to do. I'll pull out an
allnighter. I'll get it done. Or for
example, I need to submit a report at
work. I'll have a meeting with someone
and get something done. And similarly
within our lives, yes, I need to do my
for example. Yes, I need to go to Hajj.
Yes, I need to go to Zarat. But you know
what? I'm a young man. I'll earn and
I'll make the money and go later in
life. This is why we procrastinate. Now,
how can we overcome this notion of
laziness, this idea of delaying, this
procrastination, this habit?
There's an author by the name of James
Clear, the author of the atomic habits.
And he says there is a there is a notion
known as the two-minut rule. Now what
this notion says is
you and I may have heard of the um
science law and something in motion, an
object in motion stays in motion.
And similarly, James Clear, the author
of atomic habits, comes up with
something known as the two-minute rule.
He says that make it so easy to perform
an act. Make it so easy to do something
that you can't say no. For example, yes,
you have an all night of work to do. But
just open your laptop and make yourself
the promise that you know what, let me
just open up my laptop and I will just
start with the title page. It's going to
take me 2 minutes. Chances are 70% of
the time is that you and I as long as
we've started something we will continue
and an object that is in motion remains
in motion or for example I have a lot of
mazes to do the rule is that I start
with the intention of at least
performing a salah and inshallah I'll
continue with this or for example I wish
to support my family I want to patch up
the relationship that I have with anyone
else I want to start exercising. The
idea is a journey of a,000 miles begins
with a single step. And so one of the
best ways to overcome procrastination,
to overcome delaying one another,
overcome laziness is to just start this
thing known as twominut rule. And there
is something else known as the
Parkinson's law. The Parkinson's law
states that the time will expand to fit
the task in.
Therefore, give me allow allow me to
give you an example. If for example, I
leave myself an entire week to mow my
garden, my back garden, then how guess
how long it's going to take me? It's
going to take me an entire week. But if
I set myself a milestone of a deadline
of say I want to do it in one day, then
that garden is getting mowed in one day.
For example, I set my goal to clean my
house and it say it takes me 3 days and
I set myself that I'm going it's going
to take me 3 days then it's going to
take me 3 days. But if I set myself a
goal of for example if someone calls me
saying look I'm coming in your house in
half an hour then believe you and me
that house is going to get clean in half
an hour. So Parkinson's law says that
whatever you and I put ourselves our
minds into as long as we set ourselves
reasonable realistic deadlines then we
will achieve those goals. And this is of
course true in our spiritual goals as
well as our goals in the uh this life
and the hereafter. And therefore,
in order to
bring this conversation to a close in
the first series titled Quranic stories
that change life lives. Today in the
first episode we discussed the story of
the three who stayed behind. The story
of the three procrastinators and how
their overconfidence in their own
abilities. how their momentary delay
costed them so much spiritual agony,
emotional distress and social distancing
from their loved ones.
And we've discussed two [clears throat]
answers to very two very important
questions. Why do we procrastinate? And
how can we overcome procrastinating? And
therefore, allow me to present the
following conclusion to wrap this up.
There's very beautiful tradition from
Imam Ali Alisam
and that tradition is very close to my
heart. Imm Ali Alisam imm says that look
opportunity passes like a cloud. Seize
it before it is gone. What does this
mean? You know sometimes we may have an
opportunity and sometimes we may think
that you know what I might get this
opportunity next time. I'll go and grab
this opportunity later on in life. Misam
says no. Never think of opportunities in
that way. Whenever you see an
opportunity, grab it, seize it before
it's gone. For example, sometimes we may
have we may have an opportunity to
donate towards a charity. We may have in
our um heart that you know I want to
donate something but I may not have the
million pounds. So let's capitalize on
that feeling. Let's give at least 10,
20, 30 pounds. We may be very soft in
our heart. We may wish to do this to
Allah subhanaa tala. Let's not think
that I'll do it when I go home. You know
what? Whatever state I'm in, let's
capitalize on that moment. I may have um
relationship that I may not have um
protected over time. Let's not wait for
later to come. Let me try and capitalize
on that feeling there. And then finally,
Allahh says in the holy Quran, he will
say who you and I who have wasted our
time in this life.
Oh, I wish I had sent something ahead
for my real life. Surah fajar chapter
number 89 verse number 24. This life is
nothing but a temporary abode. What we
do in this life helps us for the
hereafter. And therefore in the title in
the episode titled the three
procrastinators, let us take lessons
from them and allow to improve our lives
in this life for the real life
hereafter.
Alhamdulillah.