In today’s Newsletter, I wish to talk about our Purpose in Life.
The Holy Qur’an, Chapter 2, verse 113 relates:
“Nay, whoever submits himself completely to Allah and is the doer of good, shall have his reward with his Lord. No fear shall come upon such, neither shall they grieve.”
During the Online classes I have been holding during this pandemic, I have been taking about our purpose in life. That this is something every one of us, young and old, need to think about. In fact, I will often pose this question to people, that if there is a Creator, who has created us and everything, then why? Why are we here, what is the purpose in life? It is the most important question to ask, yet sadly, few people do.
We believe that the answer is to worship Allah. And by understanding that there is a Creator, and accepting Him, it then gives us a direction, a purpose in life. That being, to develop our relationship with Allah and attain His paradise. Now, no doubt for children, they will not be looking that far ahead, but still it is important that we have a purpose, a direction to aim for. This week some children have received their grades, and this affects their future. The better the grades, the better the opportunities to further oneself. Therefore, we all understand the importance of striving to improve yourself and the benefits we can attain if we do.
As Muslims we should not be content in remaining where we are but should be consistently trying to improve our spiritual selves, our nearness to Allah. But the way to Allah is hard and long journey and it is a journey which can never be achieved as we can never reach Allah, but we can constantly advance nearer to Him.
The verse says that,
“Nay, whosoever submits himself completely to Allah and he is the doer of good, shall have his reward from his Lord.”
This means that as a Muslim we must surrender ourselves wholly to God and spend our life seeking His pleasure and doing good deeds for His sake. This is the Jihad Akbar – the constant striving to put God before everyone and everything else and to obey His commands and do what Allah wants us to do, not put our own needs first.
We have to constantly be striving to seek to know God and develop our love for God. We have to constantly be striving to make all our actions righteous and purely for God.
That will require us to develop our love for God and in fact, it is only out of Allah’s love and mercy for us, that He advances us in our spiritual state. This is our Jihad Akbar to resist all the temptations that are trying to distract us from our worship of Allah. To kill off our own desires and keep putting Allah first.
The Buddha said: “You can never reach God unless you know God”, therefore, to describe how to attain God’s nearness, we should turn to people who have personally experienced Allah. As a Muslim we should always turn to the example of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) in every respect. He not only attained the highest spiritual level possible for man, but also, he was bestowed by Allah of all types of spiritual blessings.
The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) had an intense love for God and was utterly devoted to Him. In spite of all the duties he had to perform and the heavy responsibilities that were laid upon his shoulders, he spent most of his time in the worship and praise of God. Even during the night, he would wake up and pray his Tahajjud prayers, until it was time to go to the Mosque for the Fajr Prayer. He sometimes stood so long in prayer during the latter part of the night that his feet would get swollen.
Ayesha, his wife once said to him
“God has honoured you with HIs love and nearness, why then do you subject yourself to so much discomfort and inconvenience?”
The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) replied
“If God by His Grace and Mercy conferred His love and nearness upon me, is it not my duty in return to be always rendering thanks to Him? Gratitude should increase in proportion to the favours received.” (Bukhari)
Of course, the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) was an exception in his worship and whilst he was prepared to suffer greatly for the love of God, he also ensured that his followers didn’t turn the worship of God into a hardship and punishment for themselves.
Once he came home to find a rope dangling between two pillars. He asked his wife, Zainab, what it was there for? She told him that:
“She sometimes gets tired during her prayers and the rope is there to support herself.”
He told her to remove it and then said that:
“Prayers were not an imposition, and if carried on after the body became tired they failed of their purpose”. (Bukhari)
The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) always put his full trust in Allah. Once when he was asleep under a tree, an enemy finding him there, drew his sword and asked the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.):
“Who can rescue you from this predicament?”
The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) calmly replied “Allah” whereupon the sword fell from the enemy’s hand. The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) picked up the sword and asked the enemy the same question. The enemy replied “No-one” whereupon the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) told him he should have said “Allah”.
The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) was constantly seeking the blessings of Allah, whenever it rained, he would put out his tongue to catch a rain drop and would say “here is the latest favour from my Lord.”
The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) suffered more than anyone, but he used to say:
“For a Muslim, life is all full of good and nobody but a true believer finds himself in that position: for, if he meets with success, he is grateful to Allah and becomes the recipient of greater favours from Him. On the other hand, if he suffers pain or tribulation, he endures it with patience and thus again makes himself deserving of God’s favours.”
So, we see from these few glimpses into the life of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) as to how he used to worship His creator. Therefore, to be a true Muslim, we have to kill off our own desires and instead do everything purely for the sake of Allah.
The verse relates that we have to totally submit ourselves to Allah. Total obedience has to be shown to God and we must follow Allah’s commandments, no matter how much we may prefer not to. Our own feelings and desires have to be cast aside. Our own pleasure and comforts also have to be cast aside and instead; we have to strive to win the pleasure of Allah. We must fear causing Allah’s displeasure and constantly seek His help and guidance. Once we have submitted ourselves completely to Allah and removed all our own needs and replaced them with pleasing Allah, then we move closer to Allah.
Allah has informed us
“Whoever moves towards Me by the span of an open hand, I move towards him by half an arm’s length. And whoever moves towards Me by half an arm’s length, I move towards him by the length of an arm. When he comes walking to Me, I run to meet him.”
If we really want peace and contentment, then we must strive to desire Allah’s company in this life and the next. This is our Jihad Akbar.