How long is long?
If someone told you that you had 950 years to live, what would you do? Would you waste the first hundred in ease? Would you delay your purpose by five decades? Or would you still feel like it all passed in the blink of an eye?
They once asked Prophet Noah (A), a man who lived for nearly a millennium, to describe his time on Earth. His answer?
“It’s like a room with two doors. You enter through one, and leave through the other—without even sitting down.”
(Tanbih al-Khawatir, vol. 1, p. 131)
The Prophet who preached for 950 years still saw life as fleeting.
So what does that say about our lives—lived in 50, 60, or 80 short years?
We Think Time Is Long—But It Isn’t
We behave like the child who demands ice cream now and cannot comprehend what “tomorrow” means. Tell him he’ll get ten ice creams tomorrow, and he’ll cry. Why? Because in his mind, tomorrow means never.
Later, as the child matures, he understands “tomorrow”—but “next month”? That still sounds like never. Eventually, he grasps “a year,” “a decade,” “a lifetime”—but even then, many of us never fully grow up.
God promises us something after this life.
And like the child, we say:
“That means never.”
He promises us paradise after 50 years of struggle.
And we reply:
“That’s too far away.”
This is not a time problem—it’s a soul problem.
Time Feels Long Because We Want It to Be
We don’t see time as short because we don’t want it to be.
We want to believe we have “more time.” More years. More chances.
But wishful thinking doesn’t change reality.
Imam Ali (as) said:
“Even if time is long, it’s short.”
(Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 78, p. 69)
Time is inherently short. The illusion of length is just our denial of its value.
And here lies the tragedy:
We only realise how short it was when it’s gone.
And by then, the day is not a day anymore. It’s a night.
“The first night in the grave.”
Stop Delaying the Reality of Time
We deceive ourselves when we think the Hereafter is far away.
When we treat our youth like it’s forever.
When we act like death only visits the old.
In truth, time does not belong to us.
And it never waits.
We must stop behaving like children who don’t understand what “later” means. Because “later” becomes “never” far too quickly.
The clock doesn’t ask permission before it moves forward.
A Prophetic Wake-Up Call
If a prophet—who lived through centuries—described life as “walking through a room with two doors without sitting down,”
Then how can we afford to stay lying down?
This isn’t about fear.
It’s about clarity.
Time doesn’t stretch for those who ignore it.
It vanishes. Quietly. Instantly.
So before you waste another hour:
Ask yourself honestly—am I walking through the room…
Or have I fallen asleep in it?
Source: Ali Reza Panahian