How can a young, married man who is successful in his career and has children balance his family and professional responsibilities with his deep desire to gain a deeper understanding of the religion and work for it, given the time constraints and his fear of neglecting one aspect at the expense of another?

We recommend balancing the interests of religion and worldly affairs by following the middle path. One should not become so engrossed in acquiring religious knowledge and insight into matters of faith that it leads to neglecting the interests of family and children. Nor should one rely on worldly matters and their distractions to the extent of neglecting righteous deeds and seeking understanding in religion. Man is naturally inclined to love the world and seeks to expand his share in it, and this pursuit has no end. Satan may even beautify this until death overtakes him, as Allah Almighty states: "Rivalry in worldly increase diverts you until you visit the graveyards." (At-Takathur: 1-2). And rivalry includes everything by which a servant competes with others, except for obedience to Allah and His Messenger, and what benefits his afterlife. A servant should take from the world only what suffices him and not let himself go unbridled in accumulating from it, for excessive indulgence in permissible things is likely to lead to the forbidden. At the very least, it leads to wasting time, hardening the heart, and heedlessness of the afterlife. The disliked (makruh) is an obstacle between the servant and the forbidden (haram), and the permissible (mubah) is an obstacle between him and the disliked. Whoever indulges excessively in the permissible will drift towards the disliked, and from the disliked to the forbidden.