Answer
Short Answer:
- There is not a single human being throughout history that found absolute satisfaction in seeking worldly desires, whatever one could think of or fancy.
- None of these things you mention—including having a girlfriend, driving fast cars, going to discos and dances, listening to music, being famous, or having tons of money, cars, and houses—bring absolute satisfaction.
- Ironically, people who are drowning in worldly desires and hedonism are the most desperate, empty, and lost. It is also an empirical fact that religious people all over the world are happier than nonreligious ones.
………….
Salam Dear Brother,
Thank you for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam.
I couldn’t help but think again and again about the true essence of your question: “my stolen life”. I will get back to this point shortly.
Valuable Question
Your question is truly of value. First of all, for the sincerity that could easily be seen between the lines. Moreover, it is a question that no human soul is free from having to continuously deal with, in one way or another.
The majority of humanity, whether consciously or unconsciously, have squared the realm of their active living to mundane worldliness.
They are shutting the eyes of their souls in the face of the eternal world—its knowledge; its interplay with the here-and-now; its real effects on the body, the mind the soul, the hereafter; and more importantly, above all, Allah, Majestic in His praise.
This little detour will take us back to the heart of answering your question.
Deeper Questions
It is a universally important reminder to ponder such existential questions like: who am I? Why am I here? What is my worth to this world?
In the same breath, remember that one’s mental capacity is limited. And since it is limited, it must be understood that our answers will also be limited and short-sighted.
Unless we seek authentic and true answers from the True and Absolute, we are doomed to keep reinventing short-sighted, limited, and temporary answers.
Now, as our All-Wise God tells us, we are created for a far bigger reality. In fact, we were created in Paradise and we are destined to be eternally in the hereafter, whatever our ultimate destiny is.
In light of all of this, how can we approach such a question such as giving you back your “stolen life”?
Our Life is Not Our Own
First, “our” life is not ours. What this means is that we were given this being as an act of bestowing and generosity from our beloved Maker. We were created in a way that is, in essence, suitable for this reality.
This essentially means two things.
First, we are created, based on the wisdom and magnificence of Allah, in a way that is suitable to encompass this broad reality. Furthermore, only Allah knows the key to absolute happiness for our existence in all its stages.
So, first, our life is not ours to be stolen from us in the first place. It is Allah’s.
Second, whether we act by this or otherwise if Allah tells us that the hereafter is better and more pleasurable, we must take Him as His word.
No matter how hard we try to seek worldly happiness and think of it as the ultimate measure of contentment and happiness, we will always fall short.
This very simple lesson is the most difficult of all lessons that the majority of humanity fail in. It is simple but difficult.
Self-Control and Moderation
So if we believe that the way to deal with all our desires is through satisfying them—not moderating them or suppressing the faulty ones among them—then, frankly, we are calling unhappiness upon our lives.
There is not a single human being throughout history that found absolute satisfaction in seeking worldly desires, whatever one could think of or fancy.
None of these things you mention—including having a girlfriend, driving fast cars, going to discos and dances, listening to music, being famous, or having tons of money, cars, and houses—bring absolute satisfaction.
Ironically, people who are drowning in worldly desires and hedonism are the most desperate, empty, and lost. It is also an empirical fact that religious people all over the world are happier than nonreligious ones.
So do you believe that in fulfilling all these desires, even intensely and at once, you will get absolute happiness?
Even worse, isn’t it unacceptable to believe that the worldly desires we may find in Paradise are better than the rewards we are promised from Allah?
Paradise Beyond Your Wildest Hopes
We will be in a different state of being in Paradise, and so are the types of pleasure that Allah, Majestic in His Praise, has chosen for us there through His ultimate wisdom.
To drag cheap, vanishing, ridiculous worldly desires and impose them on Paradise is, then, completely unreasonable.
Imam Abul-Hasan Ash-Shadhili said:
Love of this world is the source of all sins.
It is through fighting this worldly love, no matter how tempting it is, that true happiness in life could be achieved.
This is not an abstract discourse colored with extreme asceticism. Who is the best embodiment of the best character and understanding of the broadness of both worldly reality and meta-worldly reality? Prophet Muhammad, of course. He said:
Be in this world like a stranger or a passer-by. (Al-Bukhari)
A Great Resource
I would like to personally share with you something that has had a deep and genuine effect on my little life.
The book Revival of Religious Science (Ihyaa’ `Ulum ad-Din) by the highly respected scholar Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali is an incredible source of wisdom. This will practically translate all the abstract ideas that I embarked upon here into something substantial.
Although this work—one of the most celebrated works in the history of Islamic scholarship—is good to read in its entirety, the sixth section of the third quarter of the book is entirely dedicated to the blame-worthiness of worldly obsession and how to fight it.
It helps us to realign the course and purpose of our lives, in a way that will give us ultimate genuine happiness in its true essence: living for Allah, lovingly and sincerely.
Try to get the book. It is a truly insightful and intellectually—and above all spiritually—illuminated work. I do not know where you live, but the best thing is to study it with a scholar in Arabic. In case this option is not available, irrespective of where you are, there is an online course on this book which you can take in English on Qibla.com
And Allah knows best.
I hope this answer helps you. May Allah grant you success and ultimate happiness.
Walaikum Assalam Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh.
(From Ask About Islam archives)
Please continue feeding your curiosity, and find more info in the following links:
https://aboutislam.net/spirituality/in-the-ocean-of-the-dunya/