The Why of Life

 

Why are we here in this world? Why were we created? Who created us and why? There are so many such questions that might arise in a thinking mind. Those ponder on the fact of birth and death tend to think this way. Surely, when we ponder on the creation around us and on our own selves we understand that such intricate systems don't just come up by accident. There is some force and power behind all this. When we realize and recognize that there must be a Creator Who is the Master and Planner of all this, we land on the right track. No creation can exist without a Creator. 

Now, having said this, those who recognize the Creator and submit to him are called the submitted slaves or in Arabic, the Muslims. It is the Creator Who shows them the signs day and night, and within their own selves and hence they get the Guidance. They do not just blindly believe things. The criteria to differentiate from right and wrong and to recognize the Truth is in-built in all humans. Those who listen to their inner voice and do not silence it tend to reach the Truth. 

We are not just bodies. We are souls too. The physical body is nourished through the provisions of the earth but the spiritual body or the soul needs heavenly or divine nourishment. It comes from God and it is in its purest form. No one can tamper it or change it. Such is the power of the Divine words. For the submitted slaves, or Muslims it is the Quran; which is also called the Speech of Allah or the Book of Allah. 

Allah sent these divine words through His angel Jibrail or Gabriel to the heart of the Last Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. The words of Allah are unchanged since thousands of years. 

This revelation from Allah was sent to guide all Mankind and not just the Muslims. 

Life and death are created by Allah. He has a plan according to which all the creation came into existence. We as human beings are created to worship the one and only God. We will enter the Paradise due to the Mercy of Allah and to seek that Mercy we need to do good deeds in this world. 

At this point we are convinced about the why of life. 

We are here to please the One Who has created us. To worship Him, to serve Him is the sole purpose of our lives. And before anyone thinks that worship is something that involves only some particular rituals, it is important to learn that worship is a very vast topic. Apart from all the rituals like praying, fasting, pilgrimage, charity etc.; a greater part of worship consists of supplicating to Allah alone, being kind with parents, neighbors etc., putting our whole trust one Allah alone, fearing Him alone and having full faith and hope in Him and much more. And the most basic and most important step toward worshiping Allah is to recognize Him as the One and Only God, and this is the core of Islam; Monotheism. No one whomsoever, nothing whatsoever is associated with Allah. 

So who is the most intelligent person? 

The most intelligent is the one who keeps his end in his mind while dealing in this world. He does not forget that he is accountable for his actions. No one just wanders around here and there knowing nothing. We all set out of our houses for work or college and we know where we are heading to. Then why is that considered normal that we do not know the purpose of our existence while being on this journey of life in this world? 

If people just live for food, sleep and other bodily needs then it is the life of animals as well. we have a higher goal, a higher and graceful purpose of life than animals. Usually when we start a journey we know our destination beforehand, only then we set out. But why are we so negligent about this great journey from our births to our deaths? We must know where we are heading to. And when we know the destination we pack the things that we will need when we reach there.  

Whatever we own today is only possessed by us for a limited time, till we are alive. We cannot take even a single coin with us when we leave the world. Why then is there so much furor over small pieces of lands and material things? Whatever we possess today, from our material possessions to our skills and abilities are all given by Allah. We are not the masters. He is the Master and He is the Provider. He is in complete control over everything. We are very weak creatures. We are not even in control of our own birth or death nor do we have any control on what happens in our lives. 

The life that we are living is a great blessing to us because if we please our Creator we will be rewarded with paradise which is the Mercy of our Lord and there we will be given things that we cannot even imagine. 

So, respected readers, life has a why and we must know how to live up to it. Life is given for serving Allah, worshiping Him and doing our best to please Him and how to do all this is clearly given in the Book of Allah and its explanation given to us by our Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.

So there should be no confusion regarding life. There should be no doubts and hopelessness. Each one of us is blessed in his or her own way. Take a look at yourself. Have positive thoughts about your Lord. He has not created any thing in vain. 

Never give up. Never feel bad over failures. If you fall just get up again and keep going. Keep trying and keep asking for Allah's help. 

He is near. 

He listens. 

Qualities of Believers

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala states the qualities of believers in Surah al Muminoon (the Believers):

1. Successful indeed are the believers.

2. Those who offer their Salat (prayers) with all solemnity and full submissiveness.

3. And those who turn away from Al-Laghw (dirty, false, evil vain talk, falsehood, and all that Allah has forbidden).

4. And those who pay the Zakat .

5. And those who guard their chastity (i.e. private parts, from illegal sexual acts),

6. Except from their wives or (the captives and slaves) that their right hands possess, for then, they are free from blame;

7. But whoever seeks beyond that, then those are the transgressors;

8. Those who are faithfully true to their Amanah(all the duties which Allah has ordained, honesty, moral responsibility and trusts etc.) and to their covenants;

9. And those who strictly guard their (five compulsory congregational) Salawat (prayers) (at their fixed stated hours).

10. These are indeed the inheritors.

11. Who shall inherit the Firdaus (Paradise). They shall dwell therein forever.

A sound heart

 

What's a sound heart like? Why does a heart matter and what are the matters of the heart?

A heart is not just an organ playing a vital role in the functioning of human body. It is much more than that. The role of the heart and the importance of the mind have always been subjects of research and study in the field of science and spirituality. A heart is affected by the quality of one's thoughts and the thoughts are framed according to what the heart feels. It is the mind that gives messages to the human body of pain and pleasure and the condition of the heart displays the overall health of the person. It is not so simple to connect the two and to understand the coordination they have. 

But leaving aside all the technical things if we focus on our own mind and heart we will be able to understand this better. When our heart is heavy we feel uneasy and cannot decide upon things. Why does our heart feel heavy-there can be variety of reasons for this. Sometimes we harbor ill feelings for someone like jealousy, hatred, malice and any other negative feeling. This negativity does not let our heart to work in peace. We might outwardly look or pretend to be cool and normal and display ourselves as caring a damn but inside we are having unhealthy emotions. This does not let our heart to be light and peaceful. This affects our way of thinking as well. We become very strict and narrow minded and also selective in judging about others. We like only those who match our way of thinking and slowly drift away from those whom we do not approve of. Hence our world becomes our personalized haven. While a person who is not in conflict with anyone to the point that he doesn't bother to think ill about others and keeps his heart free from any kind of malice achieves an amazing sense of peace in his heart and mind. This is not easy though. 

The health of the heart affects the whole body. Let us see what our Prophet peace be upon him has told us about the heart:

In the body there is a piece of flesh, and the whole body is sound if it is sound, but the whole body is corrupt if it is corrupt. It is the heart.”

(Bukhari and Muslim.)

The point here is not to take everything to the heart and not to process everything in a pre designed manner like many of us normally do about others. We judge others according to our learned behavior that we see around us since we are born. We are prejudiced. We do not give people chances and we do not give others some space. We think that either shunning people whom we disagree with completely is the solution or trying to claim our rights from those whom we want to keep close to is the thing that works. Both the ways are unsuccessful. Because shunning people completely might give you some peace but you will never be able to find complete peace of mind as you have brought some uneasiness to your heart. 

On the other hand claiming your rights and having expectations from others kills their freedom. The space that everyone needs is violated with this behavior. We must remember that those whom we love are with us and connected to us even if they are far away. They never go away from us spiritually. The connections stay because of the unconditional love. But when we force relationships we see that relationships might hang around but the spirit will be lost. 

The heart thus, needs to be given a comfortable haven. Where there is love for those who love you and prayers for those who don't. There must be no room for hatred or malice for anyone. If we want to have a sound heart we need to free it from all negative feelings. 

Here's an interesting story of one of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him:

The following great story reflects the rank of possessing a pure heart that is free from spite, and that it is a blessing from Allah. Anas Ibn Maalik, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated: “We were sitting with the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, once when he said: ‘A man from the dwellers of Paradise will walk in now’ so a man from the Ansaar (i.e. residents of Madinah) walked in whose beard was dripping from the effect of ablution and who held his slippers with his left hand. The next day the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said the same thing, and the same man walked in. On the third day, the Prophet said the same thing, and the same man once again walked in. When the Prophet left the gathering, ‘Abdullaah Ibn ‘Amr followed that man and said to him: ‘I had a misunderstanding with my father and swore not to stay in his house three nights, so if you permit me I would like to spend these three nights with you.’ The man said: ‘Yes, I permit you.’” 

Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, added: “ ‘Abdullaah Ibn ‘Amr told us that he spent three nights and did not notice that the man prayed the optional night prayers during any of these nights, but if he woke up during the night, he would simply mention Allah. Nonetheless, I never heard him utter except good things, so when the three nights finished, I almost belittled his deeds (as they were insignificant) and I said to him: ‘O slave of Allah! There was not dispute between me and my father or anger, but I heard the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, saying thrice: “A man from the dwellers of Paradise will walk in now” and you walked in all three times, so I wanted to sleep in your place to see what you do in order to imitate you, but I did not see that you exert extra effort in performing any extra deeds. How did you reach such a status to deserve what the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said about you?’ He replied: ‘My deeds are nothing more than what you saw.’ Then when I left, he called me back in and said: ‘My deeds are nothing more than what you saw, but the only thing I do is that I do not hold any grudge against any Muslim or envy anyone for what bounties Allah has granted them’. Thereupon ‘Abdullaah Ibn ‘Amr said to him: “This difficult quality to obtain is what granted you this rank”.  [Ahmad]

The Creator will accept only the sound heart so we need to clean our hearts of all the filth that we might be carrying unknowingly or knowingly. 

But only one who comes to Allah with a sound heart. 

The Noble Quran

Prayer is strength

 

Pray. Keep praying. Never give up prayer. Never stop asking Allah. Prayer is the strength at the time of hardship. Prayer is the solace at the time of loss. Prayer is the sweetness at the time of blessings. Allah has many attributes that we understand only when we seek knowledge about them. Allah is the Giver, He is the Sustainer and the Provider. He is the One Who Protects and Guides. He is the Watchful and the All Seeing and Knowing. He is free from all kinds of imperfections like the need, dependency and weakness. Unlike His Creations He is free from all wants and needs and nobody can dictate or dominate Him. When we ask Him we should have all these great attributes and more of Allah the Almighty in mind. We are asking the One Who is not in need of anyone. Who is the Master, the Originator, the Planner and the Disposer of all affairs of the whole Universe that we know and that we do not know due to our limited knowledge.

Prayer gives us strength because it helps us build a direct connection with the Possessor of all the Strength and all the Might. 

The Quran mentions many incidents of the Prophets of Allah where they ask Allah for help in the most difficult moments of their life and Allah relieves them of their troubles. Allah likes those who turn to Him alone for help without a third party intervention. You and I are the creation of Allah. He did not involve anyone in His plan of action. He is the only Creator and Originator of the heavens and the earths and whatever these two contain. He did not get tired when He created everything neither did He ask anyone to help out. He is the only one Who is worthy of worship and obedience and complete submission. 

The Prophets called their nations toward worshiping the one and only god Allah and to shun the worship of all false gods. But this was not that simple. People followed the footsteps of their ancestors and followed their traditions blindly without giving a thought that they might be doing wrong all along. But Allah sent the Prophets with Guidance toward them each time. Many did not follow them and went to the extent of harming them in the worst ways. Allah gave respite to them to an extent but when they denied the Truth even after it was made evident to them like daylight before their eyes they were punished for their arrogance. 

The Prophets put all their efforts in calling their nation to the message of Truth but they were mocked at and tortured by their people. When the troubles reached a point where it became too hard to bear they called on their Lord, Allah the Almighty to help them. 

Allah sent His help to them in the darkest of times:

He listened to Muhammad peace be upon him

[Remember] when you asked help of your Lord, and He answered you, "Indeed, I will reinforce you with a thousand from the angels, following one another."

He listened to Yusuf peace be upon him 

So his Lord responded to him and averted from him their plan. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Knowing.

He answered the prayer of Nuh peace be upon him 

And [mention] Noah, when he called [to Allah ] before [that time], so We responded to him and saved him and his family from the great flood.

And Allah responded to Ayyub peace be upon him 

So We responded to him and removed what afflicted him of adversity. And We gave him [back] his family and the like thereof with them as mercy from Us and a reminder for the worshippers [of Allah ].

And when Yunus peace be upon him was inside the fish

And [mention] the man of the fish, when he went off in anger and thought that We would not decree [anything] upon him. And he called out within the darknesses, "There is no deity except You; exalted are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers." So We responded to him and saved him from the distress. And thus do We save the believers.

And when Zakariyya peace be upon him asked Allah for a son, though he was old and his wife was barren

So We responded to him, and We gave to him John, and amended for him his wife. Indeed, they used to hasten to good deeds and supplicate Us in hope and fear, and they were to Us humbly submissive.

Allah says in the Quran

Indeed, in this [Qur'an] is notification for a worshipping people. And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds. Say, "It is only revealed to me that your god is but one God; so will you be Muslims [in submission to Him]?"

All these signs and more are there in the Quran where we find Allah asking His servants to ask, to seek His help and to turn to Him alone in the hard times and good times as well.

Allah is the Most Powerful and He is the only one Who can Forgive our sins and mistakes and make things easy and manageable for us. 

Instead of dwindling here and there we must fix the needle of our faith toward Allah alone and keep the pendulum of our prayers always swinging to and fro between love and hope of Mercy from Allah, till we breathe our last. 

My Journey with Sign 3:134 Al Quran

Bismillahir Rehmanir Raheem

Who spend [in the cause of Allah ] during ease and hardship and who restrain anger and who pardon the people - and Allah loves the doers of good;

Surat 'Āli `Imrān (Family of Imran) - سورة آل عمران 134

My husband tells me that life comes in phases. We learn that life is a test and we all are being tested with different things. This is the teaching from the Book about which there is no doubt, the Noble Quran. It also tells us that we must run toward good deeds. Every good deed matters. One missed opportunity haunts you for the rest of your life but it also teaches you a good lesson!

It was one of those chilly December nights. I was comfortable and cosy in my new red quilt. My mother got it stitched for me as each year it was getting colder. That night, as I was about to fall sleep, I heard someone shivering and moaning on the street which was right below the first floor balcony of our flat. That balcony was attached to my room.  I could not get my ears off that sound. Now the sleep was far from my eyes. I became restless. It was the middle of the night and everyone was asleep. What came to my mind was that I must go down and give my new quilt to this shivering person. His moaning would not let me sleep. But as we all know our weakness as human beings and the whisperings of the devil make a simple good deed seem too difficult to do by putting barricades in the way. To me, the late night hour, everyone sleeping, the locked main gate and the fear of going down alone were the barricades. I convinced myself that if all these hurdles were not present I could have donated my quilt to the needy person. I consoled my guilty conscience and tried to go to sleep only to face the rest of my life remembering this one incident of a missed opportunity!

This happened about 15-18 years back. It still makes me feel bad when I think about that needy person. What must have happened to him? Did he survive the cold? We hear about people dying of extreme cold and heat every year. 

After many years, when I reflected on this sign in the Quran, I realized how important it is to spend in the way of Allah in any kind of circumstance. 

Further in life, I was tested with my short temper and difficulty in adjusting with people who were quite different in their temperament. When I reflected on this sign from Allah I was so moved that I decided to control myself and my anger. As a reminder, I wrote this sign on a chart paper and put it high up on the wall of my room, so that I am constantly reminded of the great rewards of controlling anger and pardoning those who hurt you or wrong you. This sign helped me a lot. I started avoiding arguments and chose to keep silent even when I could have shouted and shown my authority and anger. Sometimes I was too harsh to my children but this sign was a great help to me in collecting myself in those difficult moments of frustration and lack of self control. Alhamdulillah! The only driving force toward any goodness is the love of the Creator and He says that He loves those who are Muhsineen, those who excel in good deeds! 

A courageous believer's address

How a courageous believer in Pharaoh's time addressed his nation:

Signs for everyone patient and grateful

Here's a true story of the tribe of Saba from the Noble Quran, mentioned in Chapter named Saba, signs 15-19: 

There was for [the tribe of] Saba' in their dwelling place a sign: two [fields of] gardens on the right and on the left. [They were told], "Eat from the provisions of your Lord and be grateful to Him. A good land [have you], and a forgiving Lord."

But they turned away [refusing], so We sent upon them the flood of the dam, and We replaced their two [fields of] gardens with gardens of bitter fruit, tamarisks and something of sparse lote trees.

[By] that We repaid them because they disbelieved. And do We [thus] repay except the ungrateful?

And We placed between them and the cities which We had blessed [many] visible cities. And We determined between them the [distances of] journey, [saying], "Travel between them by night or day in safety."

But [insolently] they said, "Our Lord, lengthen the distance between our journeys," and wronged themselves, so We made them narrations and dispersed them in total dispersion. Indeed in that are signs for everyone patient and grateful.

In the aforementioned story we see that the tribe was blessed with great comfort and safety and security in their life. They were surrounded by gardens of fruits. Further, Allah mentions that He gave them ease of travelling long distances. 

As for the blessings given to them in their dwelling places they did not show gratefulness hence they got replaced with bitter fruits and distasteful things. Allah had blessed them and all they needed to do was to enjoy the blessings and to be grateful. How could they have been ungrateful to such amazing gardens of fruits around them? If we ponder a little we can understand their state of mind which could have led them to show ingratitude to those blessings. They must have got bored of the ease in their life. They must have lost the sense of value for those things which were easily available to them. Instead of being extremely thankful that they had easy access to all kinds of fresh and sweet fruits they were thankless and careless. 

The second great blessing was the ease of travel provided to them by Allah. They could travel at any point of the day or night and feel completely safe and secure. They did not go through the toils of the journey nor did they feel any tiredness or lack of facilities. But this was not welcomed by them. They wanted adventure. They wanted that their journeys became longer so they could enjoy and feel excited. 

They could have chosen to be patient and grateful instead they chose to be hasty, complaining and ungrateful. Allah tested their attitude when they were given the blessings and they failed the test. 

In this same Chapter in the Quran Allah mentions His two most grateful Prophets; David and Solomon peace be upon them both. They were blessed with extraordinary abilities and powers and were given assistance through the air, the Jinn and the animals as well. They enjoyed all the blessings of Allah and were extremely humble and grateful to this great Mercy of Allah upon them. Allah appreciates them in the Quran as His thankful slaves. 

The reason why I have discussed this story from the Quran is to remind myself and my readers to be more and more grateful to each and every blessing of Allah upon us. Today we can see how people are not getting the most basic thing, the oxygen, that we inhale without even realizing. Each of us should take a moment to do self-analysis and ask Allah to forgive us if we had been ungrateful to His immense blessings of breathing with ease, travelling with comfort, eating good things in safe environment, having family around us, meeting friends and going out without giving the second thought on the possibility of catching a virus. It is the need of the hour, each one of us must think and consciously seek forgiveness if we had ever complained of the mundane life, of the same people we meet everyday, of the boring nature of our housework or workplace, of our children pestering us...and so on. We do not even realize how ungrateful and complaining are our statements at times because we do not value the things that we possess. Some blessings we get without our smallest efforts and some things we achieve with efforts yet, once we have them, we tend to devalue them.

From today, we should make this our attitude to be grateful to each and everything in life. Allah accepts the person who turns back to Him after realizing the mistake. I seek Allah's forgiveness and ask Him to forgive all my brothers and sisters and help us to be grateful. I ask Allah to help us come out of this time of difficulty and make our life 'normal' again like we used to have before this pandemic. May be we did not value our 'normal' life got bored and complained about things without even realizing our mistake.

Let us hope for the Mercy of Allah.