⏰ Who controls your time?

12th Jumada-I 1447H

Assalamu'alaikum,

Yesterday, the clocks moved back by an hour here in the US, marking the end of daylight saving time.

Most people appreciated the "extra" hour of sleep they got on Sunday morning. But as Muslims, moving the clock back in fall or forward in spring doesn't actually change when we wake up, since we're synced to prayer times, not mechanical time.

You might ask: "On Saturday, Fajr was at 7 am, and on Sunday it 'moved' to 6 am. So, didn't the prayer time change?"

Yes, the prayer time moved by an hour on the mechanical clock on our walls, wrists, and phones. But it's still the same time of day. The sun didn't rise any earlier than usual. Fajr didn't actually move.

We simply moved the measuring stick with which we measure time.

I bring this up for two reasons.

1. We've Disconnected From God’s Time

Most of us have become disconnected from the actual time that governs the universe because we are so accustomed to measuring and organizing time with the mechanical clock.

The Quran reminds us in chapter 10, verse 5: 

هُوَ ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَ ٱلشَّمْسَ ضِيَآءًۭ وَٱلْقَمَرَ نُورًۭا وَقَدَّرَهُۥ مَنَازِلَ لِتَعْلَمُوا۟ عَدَدَ ٱلسِّنِينَ وَٱلْحِسَابَ ۚ مَا خَلَقَ ٱللَّهُ ذَٰلِكَ إِلَّا بِٱلْحَقِّ ۚ يُفَصِّلُ ٱلْـَٔايَـٰتِ لِقَوْمٍۢ يَعْلَمُونَ 

He is the One Who made the sun a radiant source and the moon a reflected light, with precisely ordained phases, so that you may know the number of years and calculation ˹of time˺. Allah did not create all this except for a purpose. He makes the signs clear for people of knowledge. (Quran 10:5).

Allah gave us the sun and moon as our timekeepers. The actual celestial bodies that govern our biology, our sleep, our energy, and our spiritual rhythms. We have forgotten about these timekeepers.

As Dr. Barbara Freyer Stowasser writes in "Time Sticks": "Time is God's creation. There can be no abstract time because God, ruler of the universe who is beyond time, is lord over time from the beginning to the end of creation."

The way we think, measure, and organize ourselves around time has implications. It impacts our spiritual health, our mental health, and even our physical health, as I explain in my article “The Tyranny of the Mechanical Clock”. We've been living by a man-made time system that often disconnects us from both our fitrah and our deen.

Studies show that every spring, when the clocks move forward and we "lose" an hour of sleep, there's a 24% increase in heart attacks and car accidents the next day. I wonder if this only applies to someone who organizes their sleep and wake-up time around the clock. But if you’re someone synced with God’s time and you wake up for Fajr (or dawn) regardless of what the clock says, you probably won’t suffer these negative effects of the clocks moving back and forth.

2. A Different Way to Organize Our Days

I want us to challenge the idea of organizing our day around the 24-hour clock primarily, while neglecting to organize our day around prayer times.

What if we organized our day around the five daily prayers?

Waking up before dawn. Starting work or school post-Fajr/sunrise. Ending our day by Asr (or latest by Maghrib), regardless of what the clock says.

This would not only align our life rhythms (work, school, sleep) with the natural rhythms of the sun, but it would also help us adjust across seasons - working longer hours during spring and summer, and shorter hours in fall and winter. For millennia, this has been the natural ‘working’ rhythm of humanity.

Think of the implications:

• On you as an individual: Think of the difference between organizing yourself around spiritual anchors like Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha versus the secular 9-to-5 that has no spiritual meaning whatsoever.

• On your children: Imagine schools that begin after Fajr/post-sunrise. The school day shortens in winter when focus naturally wanes earlier and extends in summer when energy is higher.

• On your company or business: We collaborate and have meetings before and after prayer times, not during prayer times. We honor our time with Allah first and foremost as our primary focus in life, and work takes its meaningful place.

"But Mohammed, the whole society runs on mechanical time..."

I know what you're thinking: "The whole society is organized around the mechanical clock. Work and school have clear schedules. Even meetings work around the clock. How could we implement this, given these realities?"

Firstly, remember that this is a recent phenomenon brought to us by industrialization and colonization. It's an anomaly in our history as human beings and as Muslims to organize ourselves around the clock, and it’s not the 'norm'. 

However, here are some points to be practical:

1. I'm not asking you to abandon your clock. I'm asking you to organize your day around Salah first and use the clock as a means/tool vs your organizing principle in life.

2. This means: Open your schedule and block out prayer times first. Then decide what you'll do before and after each prayer.

3. Still use the clock to arrange meetings or appointments and sync with the rest of society. But your primary day schedule should be organized around prayer times.

4. If you have influence in your organization, consider creating new workday schedules aligned with prayer times (and annual plans around the Hijri calendar) to really center yourself around God's time.

Why This Matters More Than You Think

This might seem like a "silly" pet peeve of mine. But what's the big deal about clocks and daylight saving time, right?

I’ll leave you with a thought:

Whoever controls your time, controls your life.

When European colonizers arrived in a new town. They’d erect clock towers and give the nobles of society watches. Why? They wanted to impose a new philosophy of time that’s more industrial and linked with the colonial worldview. They weaponized punctuality to emphasize their supposed superiority, making other cultures feel backward for having different relationships with time (such as organizing around prayer times).

Ask yourself honestly: Who controls your time? Do you feel that Allah controls your time and you organize your day around Him? Or is it work, school, or some other external force dictating your schedule?

As Muslims, we have a natural relationship with time based on celestial observations, prayer times, and the rhythms of creation itself. Let's honor that!

May Allah grant us the wisdom to align our lives with His time system and the courage to question systems that pull us away from our natural, spiritual rhythm.

Sincerely,

P.S. I’d love to hear your experiences about organizing your day around Salah time and what impact it has on your life.