Expectations of this World & Reality

Life brings its highs, life brings its lows. This world has been made to lure you in, comfort you, please you and then disappoint you. It has its charms, but it has its juxtaposed darkness. It has its beauty, but also its ugliness. It has its patients and it has its victims. This world has been made a prison for the believer, we are shackled down by negative feelings, inclinations and thoughts. We may be 'free' in terms of physicality, but the ruh (soul) wants to wander freely, back to its home, Jannah (paradise).

Ever wondered why you feel sad, but dont know why?

How even after salah, tilawah, dhikr, you never fully feel content?

And in Ramadhan when you are most peaceful, you are not fully satisfied?

While many respected scholars have written great works on the secrets to happiness and how to lead a happy life, I feel compelled to tell you - life isnt a place for happy bunnies, although Id love to be.

Yes, there will be great moments of euphoria. I acknowledge and accept this. There will be times we hardly feel sad and can not stop smiling from the countless ni'mah Allaah bestows up on us. In spite of all this, I strongly believe sadness has been purely created for this world, to test its inhabitants with sourness, so when we go to the most desired place we will yearn and taste the sweetness of its binary opposite. As humans, we often become far too idealistic and this leads to us expecting too much from this world when in reality it has been made as a temporary abode, no different to a hotel, or a bridge, we just pass by for two moments then carry on our journey as wayfarers. 

What Im trying to express through all this waffling is, the dunyah will seduce you, wont ever marry you, and before you know it, 'bye bye honey, next woman please'. How then can we fall for its enchantments? It has suckered in many people, and we need to be wary of this before we're entrapped. How many chased money and business empires -but left for the grave with no penny in their wallet? How many chased women and left with no companion beside them? How many chased status, but was made from sperm and returned to dust? How many had pride in their houses, cars, children -but none could save them when the angel of death reached the collar bone?

Wallahi, our souls have been made by Allaah and surely they will return to Him. We all make mistakes and sin, we all have 'flopped' in our life time, we have been sucked into something we should ideally avoid, so here I am to remind you the loftiness of zuhd (asceticism/detachment). As we all know this world and everything in it can never truly makes us 'happy' so why be so madly, deeply, in love with it? 

It is reported that Ibrahim b Adham r.a said:

Zuhd (abstinence from materialism) is of three types: 

(i) obligatory zuhd, (ii) virtuous zuhd, (iii) zuhd for safety

Obligatory zuhd is to abstain from what is forbidden (haram)

Virtuous zuhd is to to be disinterested in what is allowed of this world

Zuhd for safety is to stay away from doubtful matters.

The less we love this world, the more happy we will be. The more we will focus on getting to the akhirah (hereafter) in the best of abodes, Paradise. We should aim to use this dunyah like a key to open the lock to the treasure. Im not encouraging individualism, its not to say you should only pray and leave the rest of the worlds affairs, but rather get involved, do ALL your obligations but with no strings attached (i.e expecting nothing from humans or worldly gain). As soon as you give your heart to something, you get hurt. The only time you give your heart and dont regret it, is when you give it to Allah, for the One who made you could never pain you. The One who loves you, knows what you love and He tests us with this world and all it contains. 'I will keep afflicting My slave, till he leaves the world with no sin'

Every affair for the believer is good. So when this world lets you down, when you're tearing up and feeling disappointed, just know a great deal of good awaits the believers - and InshaAllaah when we all walk into Paradise, none of the negatives will even be remembered.

By J.M


Please feel free to comment below with your ideas, if you have any questions email me at istandforislam@hotmail.com