Q332 :I feel very much depressed over what is
happening in the world. It is hard to realize that nearly one billion
people do not get enough to eat. Some enjoy too much luxury while
others starve to death. What is the purpose of existence if so many of
us are going to suffer for ever [in the hereafter]? Is there any hope
for mankind.
A332 : People generally tend to think that the
world they live in represents the whole existence. They imagine their
period of life to be the whole life. If they expand their vision they
may consider human history as the whole history of existence, or at
best, the most important part of existence. But this represents a grave
mistake. An enlightened look at life is sufficient to enable a person
to conclude that this planet of ours is only a small corner of the
universe and this life of ours is only a small fraction of life. We
tend to attach too much importance to the present moment as opposed to
what may happen in future. We also tend to think that death is still
too far away. But a moment of reflection is sufficient to show how
wrong we are. Let us think of the problems we went through and how
grave they seemed at the time. As time passes and the problems begin to
be solved, they appear to be much smaller than we thought. When we look
at them with hindsight we feel that either we exaggerated their
importance at the time or that we underestimated our ability to deal
with them. Similarly, if we think about our moments of great pleasure,
they appear to us as something much smaller than they were at the time.
This is all a result of the fact that human beings tend to think of the
present, of this moment, of now. Hence, they tend to consider their
life on earth as the be-all and end-all. The great influence of the
materialistic Western civilization affects the way we look at this
life. In the West, people look at material wealth as a source of all
happiness. Everything is geared toward the achievement of the dream of
getting rich. When a person gets wealthy fast, they speak of him as an
extremely successful person. The draw of easy and fast wealth is always
dangled before people’s eyes. Lotteries are organized by governments,
bookmakers flourish in business and pools are offered to the young and
old. They all offer the same prize of that elusive million. People buy
their lottery tickets, send their pools coupons and frequent gambling
shops all the time, thinking that they may hit the jackpot and land the
prize which will ensure their permanent future happiness. Compare this
to the happy and serene attitude of a believer. He knows that all the
millions of the world cannot buy the happiness that he actually feels
as a result of believing in God and trusting all his affairs to Him. In
this connection, I have the following example to give. Toward the end
of the Prophet’s blessed life, delegations from all over Arabia visited
Madinah to declare their belief in Islam and loyalty to the Prophet.
One of these delegations represented the clan of Tujeeb, a branch of
the Sakoon tribe which was in turn, a branch of Kindah, the predominant
tribe in Yemen. In the delegation there was a young man who was left
behind to guard their camels and luggage. When they had finished their
business and wanted to leave Madinah, the Prophet asked them to send
him over. When this young man came to the Prophet, he said:
“Messenger of God, will you please grant my request.” When the Prophet
asked him what he wanted, the man said: “My request is unlike those of
my friends, although they have nete to you keen to be good Muslims and
have brought their zakah with them. I, however, have nete from my
homeland only to request you to pray God, the Almighty, for me, to
forgive me and have mercy on me and to make me rich at heart.” The
Prophet was pleased with the young man and turned to him attentively
and prayed, “My Lord, forgive him and have mercy on him and make him
rich at heart. He also ordered that the young man be given a gift
similar to the gifts his fellow delegates received. He then left with
his people. The same people met the Prophet a year later in Mina when
he did his pilgrimage. They introduced themselves to him. The Prophet
immediately asked them, “What has benete of the boy who came to me with
you?” They said: “Messenger of God, we have never seen anyone like
him. Indeed, we have not been told of anyone who is more content than
this boy with what God gives him. Should any group of people have the
whole world at their disposal and divide it between them, he would not
turn his face toward them.” The Prophet said: “Praise be to God. I
hope that he will die altogether.” Amazed at this prayer by the
Prophet, one of them said: “Messenger of God, does not everyone of us
die altogether? The Prophet said: A person’s concerns, desires and
preoccupation wander about in all the values of his life. His time of
death may nete when he is in any one of these values. God, infinite as
He is in His glory, does not care in which of them he perishes.” That
young man was a person who had the insight to discover that the riches
of this world count for little. He hoped for what is certainly greater
than this world. That is, to be content with whatever he has and to
look to the hereafter, where those who are saved enjoy happiness which
cannot be netpared with anything in this world. In short, he had to be
rich at heart. Since the Prophet prayed for him to be granted his
desire, God answered that prayer and the man was a model of a person
who cared nothing for the riches of this world. [It is reported that]
some of his people remarked: “That boy continued to live among us as
one of the best people. He was the most content of people and he cared
nothing for any luxury of this world. When God’s messenger passed away,
certain groups of the people of Yemen deserted the faith of Islam and
reverted to their erring ways. He addressed his people, reminding them
of God and His faith, so that none of them reverted to unbelief.” Abu
Bakr, the first ruler of the Muslim state after the Prophet, remembered
him. He kept inquiring about him until he learned of what he did. Abu
Bakr wrote to his Governor of Yemen, Ziyad ibn Labeed, renetmending the
young man and instructing him to look after him. That was the case of
a man whose name has been forgotten. It seems that one aspect of the
richness at heart God has given this man is the fact that he is not
mentioned by name. What he did is well recorded, because his actions
serve as an example for all generations of Muslims. Fame is one aspect
of the richness of this world. The man wanted nothing of that richness,
hence his name is forgotten. When God answers, it is in the most
perfect manner. Rich at heart the man certainly was. I have dwelt at
length on the case of this person because it gives a practical example
of the attitude to life based on faith. This life of ours may be full
of pleasure or full of misery, but it is only a passing stage. The
Prophet netpares it to a moment a traveler in the desert spends
underneath a tree where he refreshes himself before he netmences his
travel. He may stay for a few moments, or a few hours but netpared to
his journey, that is a short stay that counts for little. But this
life of ours is a test. No matter what situation we are in, we are
subject to this test which could be the test of poverty, or affluence
or a mixture of both. What we have to prove is that we believe in God
and trust Him netpletely. That belief should be translated into action
so that what we do in life is governed by the values and standards
acceptable to God. Such values are sufficient to make us fully aware
that our worldly concerns are of little value in God’s sight. When we
do well in life we ensure our happiness in the life to nete. When we
realize that this future life is everlasting and our present life is
only momentary in netparison, we realize that rich or poor, happy or
miserable as we may be in this world, what really counts is what future
we have in the life to nete. My reader is worried that so many of our
kind are going to suffer in the hereafter. What makes them suffer
forever or makes them happy is their work. God administers absolute
justice to all His servants. It is their actions which determine their
future. If they do not care about the life to nete, why should we worry
too much about that? It is the choice they make, knowing they will bear
its consequences.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )