Islam Blog

If you were sit down and count the different blessings that you have, how much time would it take? Would it take a whole day, a week, a few minutes, an hour? The answer, I think, depends upon your circumstances and also on what your definition of a blessing is.

I read sometime ago, and I don’t know who said this, that ‘Rich is not the man who has the most, rather the rich man is he who needs the least.’ This statement affected me a lot when I first read it. Of course later on I discovered that Prophet Muhammad taught us this same thing. Only, he said it more than 1400 years ago and not much has changed since then. I mean, we all can only still eat one stomach full of food; we can only occupy an area on our bed proportionate to our size, even if its king-sized. We can only wear a single set of clothes even if we have a huge wardrobe. And what the rich man and the not-so rich man do in this regard is more or less the same. (Not looking at the extremes)

Despite having much wealth, if we are all same in this regard, why chase after this dunya? Why be worried about not having a good bank balance? Why worry about career growth and promotions? Why make constructing your own house an aim? I don’t mean to imply that a Muslim shun any of these if they come his way. But is this something that we should be losing our hair about?

When I think further, I realize that our lives are very short. If you’re 25 and you live to be 75, then you’ve already lived a third of your life. How much good have you accumulated in this time? Is your life really worth something? Or are you just a machine, working day in and day out to build up on your wealth only to leave it behind when you die.

These are some very deep questions that Muslims aren’t asking today. My Shaykh taught me that any one passing through life has to ask three important questions and the one who finds the right answer to them will indeed have found success. He further went to mention that these questions can only be answered ‘correctly’ by the one who understands Islam. The one who does not understand Islam will answer these questions incorrectly and ultimately lose in the akhirah. The questions are:

- Where have I come from?
- Where do I have to go?
- How do I get there?

A quick look at these questions will tell you that they are no different from the questions a traveler would ask. And indeed, this is the life of a true believer: The life of a traveler. Only the dumbest traveler would forget where he’s headed and start settling down in the middle of his journey.

I leave you with these questions and translation of the meaning of an ayah to ponder upon. May Allah guide us.

Know that the life of this world is only play and amusement, pomp and mutual boasting among you, and rivalry in respect of wealth and children, as the likeness of vegetation after rain, thereof the growth is pleasing to the tiller; afterwards it dries up and you see it turning yellow; then it becomes straw. But in the Hereafter (there is) a severe torment (for the disbelievers, evil-doers), and (there is) Forgiveness from Allâh and (His) Good Pleasure (for the believers, good-doers), whereas the life of this world is only a deceiving enjoyment. (Al-Hadid 57:20)