THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS: ALLAH'S GOOD
PLEASURE
Some people do not hesitate to look at the society in which they live
from the viewpoint of their own advantage, including the people with whom
they have relationships, even those closest to them, those they say they
love very much, their friends, brothers and relatives. When there is a
conflict of interest, no matter how great or small, they forget the relationship
between them and the value they placed on it and suddenly drop these people.
The ability of such people to be happy and to live comfortably and at
ease depends on the advantages and benefits they can obtain. They expect
a return on the smallest good deed they do. They regard doing anything
without the expectation of a return as a waste of time and they slander
and mock at well-intentioned people who do so at every opportunity, presenting
themselves as superior and more intelligent.
When their own advantage is not at stake, they do not consider behaving
generously and they never deviate from the principle of their own gain.
Their only aim is to grab as much as they can from life and to live in
happiness and peace as a result. At all times, in all places and under
all circumstances they think only of themselves and try to protect their
own privileges. There is a point here which must not be misunderstood.
Of course, everybody wants to lead a comfortable and happy life - what
is wrong is the methods used by these people to achieve this desire.
The reason these people are so devoted to their own gain is that they
do not adhere to the standards of the Qur'an which Allah sent down as
a guidance and warning for people and they ignore the responsibilities
the Qur'an places on them. They live their entire lives in ignorance of
the Hereafter, as Allah tells us in the verse, "They
know an outward aspect of the life of this world but are heedless of the
Hereafter." (Surat ar-Rum: 7) Death, what they will encounter after
death, the accounting they will give to Allah for what they have done
during their lives and whether they will wind up in Heaven or Hell are
subjects which do not cross their minds or which they do not want to have
cross their minds.
The most important factor which pushes these people into behaving in
this heedless and unintelligent way is that they regard themselves as
a long way from the Hereafter. They think they have plenty of life still
ahead of them and they do not want to sacrifice their whole lives, their
profits and the plans they have made, for something they never think about
or whose likelihood they do not regard as very great even if they do think
about it. They regard such thinking as a great loss. They regard the life
of this world and worldly advantages as a lot closer and a lot easier
than what they will gain in the Hereafter. They try to cram all their
enjoyment into the life of this world. They pass their entire lives ignoring
Allah and what is pleasing to Him, indifferent as to whether or not their
behavior is acceptable to Him, and they spend their time in pursuit of
their own worldly passions and ambitions.
As we have explained in previous sections, a passion for the life of
this world makes people unhappy. Allah tells us in the Qur'an that people
who set themselves against His word at every opportunity will not be happy
in the life of this world but will experience continual trouble:
"But if anyone turns away from My reminder, his life
will be a dark and narrow one and on the Day of Rising We will gather
him blind." (Surah Ta Ha: 124)
Reminding these people of Allah, reminding them that He will hold them
responsible for their adherence to the Qur'an and that He will call for
an accounting of what they have done in the life of this world on the
Day of Judgment makes them very uncomfortable and even provokes them to
anger. Allah points out this characteristic of the disbelievers as follows:
When Allah is mentioned on His own, the hearts of those
who do not believe in the Hereafter shrink back shuddering, but when others
apart from Him are mentioned, they jump for joy. (Surat az-Zumar: 45)
For Allah's true servants, the basic aim of their lives is Allah's good
pleasure. Believers are people who know very well that it was Allah Who
created them from nothing and Who is the giver of everything and the owner
and sole controller of everything, that all events occur through Allah's
will and that He is the bringer of both mercy and torment. Because of
this the devotion and loyalty of the believers to Allah and their love
of Him are very strong.
Throughout their lives believers worship only Allah,
ask for help from Him alone (Surat al-Fatiha: 4) and fear none
but Him. Due to this powerful love and devotion they feel for Allah they
always behave gratefully towards Him and never slacken in serving Him.
They show great enthusiasm and determination in their striving to earn
His approval. They will give up the goals to which ignorant people devote
their lives, all worldly profits and assets, in order to gain Allah's
pleasure and admission to Paradise. As Allah informs us in the Qur'an,
"There are some who give up everything, desiring
the good pleasure of Allah..." (Surat al-Baqara: 207), they feel
no trouble or disturbance within themselves and maintain a perfectly correct
attitude on the path of Allah, saying, "My prayer
and my rites, my living and my dying, are for Allah alone, the Lord of
all the worlds." (Surat al-An'am: 162)
For example, the concept of property has a very important place in the
lives of people who are ignorant of Allah's religion. All the efforts
of these people are directed towards increasing their property and achieving
a status which earns them the respect of others. Allah tells us in the
Qur'an that a number of things have become passions with such people:
To mankind the love of worldly appetites is painted in
glowing colors: women and children, and heaped-up mounds of gold and silver,
and horses with fine markings, and livestock and fertile farmland. All
that is merely the enjoyment of the life of this world. The best homecoming
is in the presence of Allah. (Surah Al 'Imran: 14)
Property, which has become an end in itself for the community of the
ignorant, is for believers only a means to be used for gaining Allah's
good pleasure. For this reason believers do not long for the things listed
in the above verse and do not make an aim of pursuing them. Increasing
their property, enriching themselves or improving their status are never
amongst the goals of believers. They know that everything is a blessing
given to them by Allah and that they have to be grateful to Him. They
never neglect what is pleasing to Allah for the sake of trivial and temporary
worldly gains. If a person uses everything he possesses and all his resources
and opportunities to earn Allah's good pleasure, he will receive a fine
reward in this world and the next as we are told by Allah in the verse,
"Anyone who acts rightly, male or female, being
a believer, We will give them a good life and We will recompense them
according to the best of what they did." (Surat an-Nahl: 97)
The difficult times and the troubles they encounter also make people
who are ignorant of Allah's religion unhappy because their happiness is
entirely bound up with worldly profits and gains, which in times of difficulty
are at risk of being lost. The loss of these things due to events completely
beyond their grasp, plunges them into great sorrow because of their attachment
to them. In this way they completely lose the happiness and joy which
acquisitions can bring them. They inevitably sink into depression and
hopelessness.
As for the happiness of believers, it takes on a more lasting form because
in times of trouble and difficulty they hold to the wisdom which is described
in the Qur'an. Since believers always take into consideration what is
pleasing to Allah and apply their intelligence and their consciences exclusively
to the task of achieving it, they are never affected negatively by adverse
circumstances, as disbelievers are affected. On the contrary, because
they hope to gain Allah's good pleasure with sincere and submissive behavior
in times of trouble, nothing can lessen their happiness even at such times.
Rather than behaving in a way which will not meet with Allah's approval,
believers will not hesitate to expose themselves to hardship if this is
necessary in order for them to act according to Allah's will. We can see
one of the finest examples of this moral excellence in the behavior of
the Prophet Yusuf (as). Prophet Yusuf's (as) brothers set a trap for him
and abandoned him in a well. A group of travelers who found him later
sold him to an Egyptian governor. Allah placed the Prophet Yusuf (as)
in Egypt, taught him how to interpret the dreams of others and granted
him mastery and wisdom.
In this way Allah put the Prophet Yusuf (as) through an important test.
The wife of the governor with whom the Prophet Yusuf (as) was staying,
desired him. Faced with her behavior, Prophet Yusuf (as) took refuge in
Allah. In order to escape from the devious machinations which the woman
had concocted, and conduct himself in conformity with Allah's guidance,
he found it more "pleasant" to be imprisoned in a dark dungeon. Allah
tells us how Prophet Yusuf (as) prayed to Him for rescue from the trap
which had been set for him:
He [Yusuf] said, "My Lord, the prison is preferable to
me than what they call on me to do. Unless You turn their guile away from
me, it may well be that I will fall for them and so become a man of ignorance."
His Lord replied to him (Yusuf) and turned away from him their female
guile and deviousness. He is the One Who Hears, the One Who Knows. Then,
after they had seen the Signs, they thought that they should still imprison
him for a time. (Surah Yusuf: 33-35)
Prophet Yusuf (as) gave an example of moral excellence and opted for
imprisonment in the dungeon rather than succumb to behavior which would
have been displeasing to Allah. That Prophet Yusuf (as) found such a place
as the dungeon "pleasant" is an expression of the happiness and peace
brought him by acting in order to gain Allah's approval. This determination
and zeal on the part of the Prophet Yusuf (as) in his striving for the
approval of Allah is an important example to all believers. Every sincere
believer joyfully opts for trouble and difficulty if this will earn His
approval and love. This moral excellence that the disbeliever can never
grasp is also the secret of happiness which disbelievers fail to attain
throughout their lives.
In the hearts of believers there is a joy and a tranquility which their
hope of the approval of Allah and their directing all their efforts to
earning it bring them. This cheerfulness and joy which they experience
makes them happy and at peace in the life of this world, at the same time
constitute an important source of the eagerness which will enable them
to earn Allah's approval even more. So long as they have no faith, ignorant
people cannot achieve this joy and happiness and cannot imitate it because
it has a quality which Allah has made accessible only to the faithful
and which comes from the hope He gives of His approval and mercy and of
eternal Paradise. Allah announces in the Qur'an the good news that this
is a blessing solely for believers:
By it, Allah guides those who follow what pleases Him
to the ways of Peace. He will bring them from the darkness to the light
by His permission, and guide them to a straight path. (Surat al-Ma'ida:
16)
Ignorant people are not aware that the approval of Allah is finer and
of far greater value than any other reward they may obtain and any worldly
profit. For this reason, throughout their lives they are deprived of the
lasting happiness and joy which earning the approval of Allah can bring
them.
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