Introduction
Procrastination is a word that refers to the put of the work and the state of delaying something from the right time. From the ancient period, people are prone to procrastination. A tremendous amount of people are finding and researching on this relevant topic that how to prevent procrastination from creeping into our lives. In fact, ancient Greek philosophers Socrates and Aristotle developed a word to describe this type of behavior ‘Akrasia’. It’s a word that describes the state of acting against your better judgment, nowadays you can say that Akrasia is procrastination or a lack of self-control.
In this modern era, all and sundry want to do something amazing and creative in their daily routine. But due to some reason and destruction, they could not complete their hope and aspirations. Then they start to put off their work and actions. There are numerous hadiths and verses of the holy Qur’an that obviously order us to do immediate and prevent the human being from all kinds of procrastination.
Islamic Perspective about Procrastination
Islam is the only religion on the earth that thinks every bit and Big to the human being. There is no way that Islam has not explained even the procrastination described in this Holy book of Allah.
Allah says in the holy Qur’an:
And hasten to forgiveness from your Lord and a Paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth, prepared for the righteous.”
(Surah Al-Imran, 3:133)
So in this ayah Allah orders the people to hurry up to forgiveness even if it's not overcome by human beings. Alike this in another place Allah ordered “so with one another in good deeds”. So in good deeds Allah ordered us to hurry.
Day by day people are being the prone of procrastination because of they are not understanding the value of the time which they have to pay immense sorrow in the day of judgment, Allah says in holy Quran about those people in (Surah Al-Mu’minun, 23:99-100)
“Until, when death comes to one of them, he says, ‘My Lord, send me back * that I might do righteousness in that which I left behind.’ No! It is only a word he is saying; and behind them is a barrier until the Day they are resurrected.”
So it will be the situation of those people who are putting off their work and good deeds. Allah says also in another verse of Quran (Surah Al-An’am, 6:27)
“And if you could see when they are made to stand before the Fire and will say, ‘Oh, would that we could be returned [to life on earth] and not deny the signs of our Lord and be among the believers.’”
In another verse from (Surah Muhammad, 47:25)
“Indeed, those who turned back after guidance had become clear to them, Satan enticed them and prolonged hope for them.”
So the following verses refer to how bad is procrastination and its result on the day of judgment, even it’s not directly about the procrastination but express its results, even the prophet Muhammad (S.W.S) was praying always to protect himself from this worst ill and reciting some words such like “oh god I seek refuge from the incapacity and laziness. Similarly, the prophet (S.W.S) said in Hadith to seize on five things before the happening of fives. Because almost all people not care about their future in recent times but when ageing then regret the past. So this Hadith is totally against procrastination and tells all human beings to do their work at the right time and overcome procrastination. There is a word in this Hadith that is fully touched on this topic that is ‘Seize on your free time before your work or engage, so completing any work and actions in recent time is better than delaying for the next time.
From these following verses and Hadith, we can understand that Islam is never ever permitted on procrastination. In every hour and moment, Islam orders us to do the work in proper time. According to Islam, the devil(shaitan) is the main protagonist of procrastination that’s why almost all people are prone to procrastination.
Scientific research on procrastination
The Latin origins of the term procrastination describe itself as “pro” meaning forward or forth and “crustinas” meaning tomorrow, so the word is explaining itself the real meaning of procrastination. A number of researchers and experts define it as the voluntary delay of some important task that we intend to do. Poets have ever written about procrastination with such phrases as “procrastination is the thief of time” and “procrastination is the art of keeping with yesterday”
“Procrastination is an emotion regulation problem, not a time management problem,” said Dr. Tim Pychyl, professor of psychology and member of the Procrastination Research Group at Carleton University in Ottawa. No person is not involved with this problem even the greatest artist Leonardo da Vinci. He worked over 16 years on painting the Mona Lisa but he couldn’t complete it, now it remains as the best incomplete picture in the world. Questions are arising there about how we are procrastinating. One of the immense resources of procrastination is smartphone devices. According to the researchers, almost 57% of people are wasting their time online procrastinating like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Especially It’s found in a huge amount of college students, according to data around 80 to 90 per cent of college students are prone to procrastination. They are putting off their assignments and projects till the last date of submission. Procrastination overcomes them during the exam preparation so that after results are out they become very depressed and dejected. Putting off the plane and projects can be the reason for depression in the future.
Once a great writer Anthony Trollop was asked how you wrote a number of books and an assortment of articles in your life. He replied “The set of goals I took “One of the great barriers which is making a hurdle is the fear of failing in some situations. So avoiding fear and focusing on determination will reduce procrastination as much as possible according to scholars.
How to stop it Qur’an and scholars explained all:
As the Qur’an dispraised and slandered procrastination like this showed the treatment also as Allah says In the holy Qur’an (Surah Al-Munafiqun, 63:10)
“And spend [in the way of Allah] from what We have provided you before death approaches one of you and he says, ‘My Lord, if only You would delay me for a brief term so I would give charity and be among the righteous.’”
The following Verses clearly refer to The completion of all good deeds before death. Because death is a threshold that everybody has to cross, when it will come they will never wait for a moment. So treatment is totally clear here that remembering death, a continuous reminder of death can reduce procrastination. So if somebody remains that he doesn’t know what is going to be done tomorrow – then he can manage and stop the procrastination also.
One of the key points to minimize procrastination is to ask ourselves why I am procrastinating and what the reason behind delaying tasks. Such kinds of examinations and inspections will Solve this problem. According to scholars, there are some major ways by which one can reduce the habit of procrastination.
Reflect on the reasons why you procrastinate, your habits and thoughts that lead to procrastination. Set clear goals which will minimize the amount of time to achieve the goal, and lead the people to the management of time. Another way is to create a schedule that will help in completing the tasks in order and manner. Breaking down big tasks into little ones is a good approach.
So eventually the article explained everything about procrastination here through the light of the Quran and the hadith of the prophet Muhammad. It has no way to protect itself without great effort because it has controlled clearly on each and every person in the world. Satan is the open enemy of each and every person in the world and he has control even to the blood of human beings and his work is to take people to the wrong path.