8 Lessons in Productivity from Surah Kahf
It has been prescribed for us in the sunnah to read Surah Kahf every Friday.
It was narrated that Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Whoever reads Suratul Kahf on the day of Jumu’ah, a light will shine for him from beneath his feet to the clouds of the sky, which will shine for him on the Day of Resurrection, and he will be forgiven (his sins) between the two Fridays.’”
(Ref: al-Targheeb wa’l-Tarheeb, 1/298)
You can read surah al-Kahf here:
There is no doubt that there is much blessing in reading this surah and also taking the time to reflect on the many lessons found in it. Surah Kahf has four distinct stories:
The boys in the cave, which the surah is named after
The story of the two gardens
Musa and Khidr and
The story of Dhul Qarnayn with Ya’juj wa Ma’juj
Below are some of my own personal reflections that I took from this surah in relation to productivity:
1- Don’t compromise the deen (Islamic way of life) for the sake of the dunya (worldly benefit).
The boys in the cave had embraced Christianity which was the religion of Allah at the time and were being pursued to be killed for it. They chose not to surrender but to run away to safety. It was better for them to hide in order for them to protect their beliefs.
When the boys woke up from the deep sleep that Allah had put them in, all of the people of their town had become Christian and their story had become a legend. In the end they were rewarded greatly by Allah and even recognised by the people for their great character and steadfastness.
Sometimes in life you will be faced with difficult situations which may go against what you believe in and your general work ethic. However tempting it may be to give in and compromise in the short term we should be future focused and remain firm on our core beliefs. Don’t be afraid to be different and stick to your principles.
2- Sleep when you need to.
The boys in the cave were put under a peaceful and restful sleep to ease their anxieties, fears and worries. When they woke up they were refreshed and ready to go back out into the world to take on whatever challenges faced them. It’s good to sleep and take a rest or a break.
3-Results take time.
When the boys in the cave woke up more than 300 years later they found that their hometown had completely changed and that the people had become Christians including the king.
Sometimes you may have the best ideas or be on the right path with something but those around us may not be at the right place to accept your new ideas or innovation. It could be that you have to wait for years before people catch on to your ideas.
You should also bear in mind that the results of your labour may not be seen during your lifetime but if the work that you are doing truly has value this should not put you off. Not only could your work be of benefit to those you leave behind but you will still get the reward for it insha Allah if not in this world then the next.
So stick with it and the success will come insha Allah.
4- Have tawakkul in Allah.
This is indeed the first step to being productive. Tawakkul is having faith in Allah to take care of things but we have to do the work first. The two things go together- tying our camel and putting our trust in Allah as the hadith says.
Do the work but remember the results are in Allah’s hand. We must remember that all our efforts, although necessary, does not mean that we will always get the results that we want. We are not the ones that are sustaining ourselves or bringing the results, it is Allah.
https://medium.com/@shabbirhsn/understanding-tawakkul-tying-your-camel-19b39a9e94c2
In the second story of surah Kahf the owner of the two gardens makes the mistake of believing that all that he had was due to his own abilities and intelligence. Not relying on Allah and believing that He is The One Who gives success is a breach in tawheed (belief in the Oneness of Allah). We should not think so much of ourselves and our abilities that we believe that we are invincible or have the power to accomplish anything. The end result is with Allah. Wealth belongs to Allah and Allah is abundant but it is up to Him how much of it you will get.
5- There’s always something you can learn from someone else.
Musa peace be upon him, being the Prophet of Allah at the time and the only prophet whom Allah spoke to directly apart from the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, believed that he was the most knowledgeable person. He was indeed knowledgeable but Allah wanted to show him that there was someone else who knew things that he didn’t.
We don’t know everything and there are others who have knowledge of things that we don’t so we should humble ourselves no matter how much we’ve studied or how much we think we know.
Humility is an important part of being able to learn and truly be productive. We must acknowledge that learning can be at any age, any time and we can learn from anyone.
6- Sometimes you will need to take a step back and review the situation.
At the beginning of the story of Prophet Musa peace be upon him, he is seeking knowledge and in the process he forgets the sign he was looking for and goes past the place where the fish had escaped. On realisation that he had missed something which was indeed very important he had to stop and reflect. He was then able to retrace his steps and review his situation. Once he did that he was able to progress to the next stage of his journey.
It is important to review, question and analyse your work and progress so that you can better plan how to move forward.
7- Have patience to learn new things.
On the Prophet Musa’s journey with Khidr he was warned at the beginning by Khidr that he shouldn’t ask or object to anything until he was informed about it. Yet Musa peace be upon him, after seeing things that he found inconceivable questioned Khidr twice.
Each time he was reminded by Khidr to have patience but after the second time Musa, not having patience with his own self told Khidr that if he questions Khidr again that Khidr should not keep company with him. So then after the third time of questioning Khidr, his lesson was brought to an end because of a limitation he himself had set, not Khidr. The Prophet Muhammad said: May the mercy of Allah be upon us and upon Musa. If he had stayed with his companion he would have seen wonders, but he said; “If I ask you anything after this, keep me not in your company, you have received an excuse from me.”
Many times we fail to take the time to learn things because we are in a rush or we don’t believe that it will be worth our time. Whatever the reason, having patience is a necessary part of learning. Information takes time not only to learn but to build and retain.
8- It’s OK to ask for help.
Sometimes you will need help from someone more skilled than you to overcome a challenge you are facing. Dhul Qarnayn was a great leader and warrior. He came across a group of people that were being plagued by the tribe of Ya’juj wa Ma’juj and they asked him for help. He then built a wall of molten iron to trap the tribe of Ya’juj wa Ma’juj behind it so that the people could live in peace.
From this we can see that it’s not only OK to ask for help but sometimes completely necessary and even lifesaving. Sometimes we will need to reach out to those who have more expertise or delegate tasks to others or hire others to do work for us in order to be more productive and make progress.
These are some of my key takeaways and personal reflections from Surah Kahf around the subject of productivity. Please note that they are in no way a tafsir of the surah. You can read the tafsir here:
I hope that you found them beneficial and maybe you have some of your own productivity lessons from the Quran that you have found motivating and inspiring. Let me know in the comments insha Allah.
The Niqabi Diaries is a podcast dedicated to sharing the stories of the Muslim women who have experience wearing the face veil.
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