The secret of being content
Mu' meneen Brothers
and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa
Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be
upon all of you)
One of our
brothers/sisters has asked this question:
dear brother
i'm very depressed
and feel helpless these day i dont know what to do ,
there is lot that
i wish n pray to allah the creator of the heavens n earth , but i cant
focus and pinpoint the problums ,as when i think( prblums) of them i realize that
he has given me a lot and has helped me in so many ways and its me that isnt
doing enogh and i feel guilty for that but at the same time i pray for more
from him and want him to solve all my prblums , what should i do and how can i
be content ,
(There may be some
grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not
change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our
readers for circulation in confidentiality.)
Answer:
In the name of Allah, We praise
Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can
misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We
bear witness that there is no one (no idol,
no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam,
no dai, nobody!) worthy of
worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His
slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
The formula for contentment is
given by Allah Subhanah Himself in the Glorious Quran! The one and only way to get contentment is
to adopt and implement this one simple formula into our lives. If one adopts or follows any other formula
to achieve contentment, be it the
collection of all the wealth in the world,
or all the power in the world,
or all the trophies and championships or honor the world has to
offer, he cannot achieve true
contentment!
The simple and one and only
formula to achieve true contentment of the heart is declared by Allah Subhanah
in the Holy Quran:
Allah says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 13 Surah Raad verse 28-29:The people who have accepted (the
Message), their hearts find comfort in
the remembrance of Allah. Note it
well!, that is Allah’s remembrance
Alone, that brings contentment to the
hearts! Blessed are those who
have accepted the Message and done righteous deeds. They will have a good end.
And remembering Allah does not
mean going into a cave or in a dark room for hours, and chanting, “Allahu……..Allahu………Allahu………”! Allah describes what His remembrance or
‘dhikr’ means in another Aayah of the Holy Quran:
Allah Says in the Holy
Quran in Chapter 3 Surah Ale Imraan verse 191:Men who celebrate the praises of
Allah; standing, sitting,
and lying down on their sides, and
contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth (with the
thought): "Our Lord! not for naught hast Thou created (all) this! Glory be to thee! Give us salvation from the
penalty of the fire.
Any place whether one is
alone, or in a gathering, etc, where Allah Subhanah is being remembered and
praised and obeyed and followed in hope and in fear, will be considered the Remembrance of Allah; and it is only through this total and
absolute submission and obedience of man to his Creator, that will bring him the contentment that he
is so dearly searching for!
And the things that will develop
this state of gratefulness in a person is three:
He looks and tries to understand
and be grateful for the innumerable
favors that his Merciful and Bounteous Lord has bestowed on him; and truly and sincerely begins to love this
Merciful Creator in his heart.
When his heart reaches that
stage of gratefulness, it is only
natural, that whatever he says with his
tongue, he will first praise his
Merciful Lord, in private and in
public. His grateful heart will
naturally urge his tongue to declare the Glory of Allah (Subhan-Allah),
Greatness of Allah (Allah-o-Akbar), and Praises of Allah (Alhamdolillah), etc.
And when his heart and his
tongue reach this stage, it is also
natural that all his deeds will be done in accordance with the Gudiance and
Teachings of his Merciful Creator. At
this stage, the person will completely
submit his will, to the Will of his
Lord and Creator, and respond
unconditionally to every Word, every Call and every Command of his Merciful
Lord. This is the stage, where his love and obedience for Allah
Subhanah will be translated into deeds;
whatever he does, wherever he
does a deed, his first and only
question will be: “Will my Merciful Lord be pleased with this deed or
not?”. If his Lord will be
pleased, he will do it without
hesitation; and if not, he will abstain far away from it!
If, and only if, the person
truly and sincerely fulfills the above three conditions of being a grateful
servant to His Lord and Master, which
are nothing but the off-shoots of one another, he will attain the ‘contentment’ that man has been searching for
in vain all over the world!
Whatever written of Truth and
benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error
is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He
is the Only Source of Strength.
Your Brother in
Islam,
