In context of this worldly life, people have their own definitions of good and bad and success and failures. The definitions may depend on various things and conditions and may differ from people-to-people and group-to-group. However, in terms of our Next Life all the Good and all the Bad has already been defined by Allaah. All that, which will get us Success in the Next Life and all that which will make one a Looser in the Next Life has been mentioned in the Qur’an and exhibited and informed by the Last and Final Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم). Every Muslim acknowledges that all Good is what Allaah and His Rasool described as Good and all that is Bad what Allaah and His Rasool described as Bad. Whatever school of thought he may follow or wherever he may come from, whatever “type of Muslim” he may be, he testifies that Success comes by choosing to do what Islam says is Good and avoiding what Islam termed as Bad.
Yet, unfortunately, we see many Muslims giving preferences to other things over good or better things. Today, we see Muslims giving preference to humans over Allaah; human law over Allaah’s Shariah; call of others over Ahadith of the Prophet; way of fathers over way of RasoolAllaah; fashion over Sunnah; worldly activities over Salaah; gossiping over dhikr of Allaah; Duniya over Deen etc etc. You can surely add to the list. All in all, we now give preference to this life over the Next. Allaah informs us in the Qur’an, in Surah ‘Alaa, Aayaah 16 and 17:
بَلْ تُؤْثِرُونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا
“But you prefer the worldly life,
وَالْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَى
while the Hereafter is much better and much more durable.”
Indeed, the Hereafter is much much better than this world and all what is in it. But, today we choose this world over the next. Even after acknowledging that Success in the Next Life is the True and Ultimate; and knowing the way to achieve it, yet we choose things which will cause difficulty in becoming Successful or even cause us to be of the Loosers in the Hereafter, what a Loss and Humiliation that would be!
We choose this small worldly pleasure over a never-ending Success of the highest degree due to our ignorance, laziness or weak Eemaan. A person who does not know his syllabus or does not have a good tutor appears for an examination but fails may regret a bit for the failure. But, how about the one who knew his syllabus and had an excellent tutor yet failed the examination due to his laziness or not paying heed to his tutor or in simple terms due to his own inability to prepare properly? What can be the level of his disappointment! Contemplate!
O Muslims, set your preferences right. From the time of Prophet to now, our preferences have changed, even reversed. We now want and choose exact opposite of what Islam exhorts us to choose. We need to correct them, we need to choose the right things. We need to understand the importance of choosing the Good - as defined in Islam - over the Bad. We need to learn to choose the Better among two or more Goods.
By choosing the Next Life does not mean that we should neglect this life totally. No! It means that we should give first preference to the Real Good and Ultimate Success.
“And among the people is he who says, ‘Our Lord, give us in this world,’ and he will have in the Hereafter no share. But among them is he who says, ‘Our Lord, give us in this world [that which is] good and in the Hereafter [that which is] good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.’ [al-Qur’an (2:200-201)]
A Muslim should strive for the good of both worlds but do not let this world and its glitters overtake the Reality of the Next Life, for at the end of the day; “…what is the life of this world except the enjoyment of delusion.” [al-Qur’an (3:185)]
Turn to Allaah, before you Return to Allaah!
No comments:
Post a Comment