How to Catch Up

Ibn 'Ata'illah says in Taj al-'Arus:

Whosoever is nearing the end of his life and wants to recover what he has missed [of righteousness] should invoke with the comprehensive formulae of remembrance. By doing that, a short life will be as if it were long. An example of this is him saying “Glorified and transcendent is Allah, the Tremendous, and to Him is all praise—by the number of His creation, His self-pleasure, the weight of His Throne, and the ink of His words.” Likewise, whosoever has missed the chance to offer many fasts and stand frequently during the night in prayer should busy himself with invoking prayers upon the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace). Had you performed every act of obedience during your entire life and then Allah sent a single prayer upon you, that single prayer would outweigh all the obedience you had done during your entire life. That is because you send prayers according to your capacity, but Allah sends prayers according to His Lordship (Rububiyya). And that is if it is only a single prayer, so what do you think if He sends ten prayers upon you for every prayer that you send, as is mentioned in the rigorously authenticated hadith? How excellent your life will be if you use it to obey Allah by invoking Him and sending prayers upon the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace)!