All human beings have a similar attitude to life: We want the best from life. And we want to live as comfortably as possible, to experience as much as possible.
We want to live life to the fullest and aim to make the best out of it. And we do not want to miss out on anything in life. We want to enjoy ourselves and when we are old we want to be able to say: Yes, it was worth it. Right?
However, what differentiates human beings is our outlook, our perspective and our goal in life. Why do we want the best from life? What is the driving force behind our actions and decisions? And what do we expect to happen after this life?
Our Worldview
As Muslims, we believe that this world is not all and everything. We believe that there will be something after our death. And we believe in Paradise. We do not believe that it is all over and done and that after our death there is only non-existence. And we believe in a divine force. We believe in Allah.
However, at the same time, we live in societies that have forgotten that there is more to this life than just this life. We live in societies that do not want to think about death, where people only want to enjoy and live the moment and do not care about tomorrow.
Our Islamic worldview also stresses the importance of making use of every moment. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said that:
Even if the end of time is upon you and you have a seedling in your hand, you should still plant it!
Look at this! Being Muslim, we should live in the moment and should make use of every single second of our life.
However, it is important to keep in sight our objective, outlook and final goal in life. We should be living every moment as if it was our last and always remember that there is more to this life than just the life on this earth.
Never Say ‘I will Do It Later’
We want to live our life now. And we want to enjoy life now. We do not want to wait until later. Yes! Let’s do good deeds now! Let us start our relationship with Allah now! Let’s start feeling how amazing it is to have Allah in our lives! Don’t wait until you are old and rusty!
I have met some young Muslim people who told me that they will start praying once they are old and have time for it.
Some young Muslim ladies told me they will start covering once they are married. This might be too late. We never know! We never know what Allah has in store for us; how much life span there is still in front of us. What if we never get married? What if we never get old?
In a Hadith Qudsi, Allah says something extremely beautiful:
And if he (my servant) draws near to Me an arm’s length, I draw near to him a cubit, and if he draws near to Me a cubit, I draw near to him a fathom. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed.
Let’s make the first step now!
This Space Inside of us
Whatever fun we have in this world, there will be one day where we cannot enjoy it anymore. We will become bored. And we want other fun, we want crazier stuff, we cannot seem to get satisfied with anything, and the worst, we will not find fulfillment and contentment. We will always be out there looking for something.
We will feel that emptiness inside of us that no fun, no enjoyment, no new experience can fill. Because, there is a space inside of us that cannot be filled with anything else except with our love for Allah.
And as long as we will postpone to forge a true relationship with Allah, this emptiness will be there, nagging, hurting, burning. It will cause us sleepless nights and dark days.
No party, no excitement, no adventure can fill this empty space. Because this is the way Allah has created us. He reserved a special place for Himself inside of us. It is His space. He said in Quran that:
Verily, I am near. (2: 186)
And in another verse, He said that He is closer to us than our jugular vein.
And We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein. (50: 16)
We cannot run away from that! We cannot postpone that relationship.
Find the Bliss in Your Relationship With Allah
If we have decided to fill that space in us with the love for Allah, we will notice that the burning emptiness inside of us starts to leave. We will feel that a growing contentment and happiness fills our life.
We will wish to live every moment of our life to become closer to Allah, to seek knowledge about Him, to travel the lands to learn about Him and to spread His words. And we will not want to miss out on the blessings Allah sends down on us.
We will feel and understand that everything we do will have an impact in this world and in what is about to come after we leave this world. And we will want to live this life to the full in loving and obeying Allah because it is there where we will find true happiness and contentment in our hearts.
Chasing the pleasures and adventures of this world will become unimportant because we seek the adventures in His path.
Trust me, there is much adventure, excitement and thrill in trying to come closer to and more beloved to Allah and in spreading His message.
May He accept us all on His path. When we depart on our journey to Allah we will inshaAllah be able to say “Yes, this life was worth it. I tried to make the best out of it.”
We will have something, a provision, to carry with us into the next phase of our existence.
And Allah knows best.
(From Discovering Islam archive)