What are the authentic Hadiths reported concerning the virtue of hastening to do good deeds before it is too late?
Multiple hadiths have been narrated that urge hastening to good deeds in general, or to a specific good deed. These include:
- From Abu Hurairah: "Hasten to perform deeds before six [things]: the sun rising from its west, or the smoke, or the Dajjal, or the Beast, or the special [event] of one of you, or the general affair." And "the special [event] of one of you" means death.
- Also from him: "Hasten to perform deeds before tribulations like pieces of a dark night. A man becomes a believer in the morning and a disbeliever in the evening, and becomes a believer in the evening and a disbeliever in the morning, selling his religion for a worldly gain."
- And the Prophet was asked about the greatest charity in reward, and he said: "To give charity while you are healthy, stingy, fearing poverty and hoping for wealth. And do not delay until when the soul reaches the throat, you say: 'This is for so-and-so, and that is for so-and-so,' when it had already belonged to so-and-so."
- And Abdullah ibn Umar said: "The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, took me by my shoulder and said: 'Be in this world as if you are a stranger or a traveler.'" And Ibn Umar used to say: "If you reach the evening, do not await the morning, and if you reach the morning, do not await the evening. Take from your health for your sickness, and from your life for your death."
- And the Messenger of Allah said to a man while admonishing him: "Seize five [opportunities] before five: your youth before your old age, your health before your sickness, your wealth before your poverty, your free time before your busy time, and your life before your death."
- And the Prophet was asked about the wisest among the believers, and he said: "Those who remember death most often and are best prepared for what comes after it; those are the wise ones."
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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