Among the greatest of blessings is to have a calm,
stable, and happy heart. For in happiness the mind is clear, enabling one to be a productive person.
It has been said
that happiness is an art that needs to be learnt. And if you learn it, you will be blessed in this life. But how does one
learn it? A basic principle of achieving happiness is having an ability to endure and to cope with any situation. Therefore
you should neither be swayed nor governed by difficult circumstances, nor should you be annoyed by insignificant trifles.
Based on the purity of the heart and its ability to endure, a person will shine. When you train yourself to be patient and
forbearing, then hardship and calamity will be easy for you to bear.
The opposite of being content is being short-sighted,
being concerned for no one but one’s own self and forgetting about the world and all that is in it. Allah described
his enemies as follows:
"Thinking about themselves [as how to save their own selves, ignoring the others and the
Prophet]..."
[Surah Al-Imran; 154].
It is as if such people see themselves as being the whole universe, or
at least at the centre of it. They think not of others, nor do they live for anyone but themselves. It is incumbent upon you
and I to take time out to be preoccupied with more than just ourselves, and to sometimes distance ourselves from our own problems
in order to forget our wounds and hurts. By doing this we gain two things: we make ourselves happy, and we bring joy to others.
Basic to the art of happiness is to bridle our thoughts and to restrain them, not allowing them to wander, stray,
escape, or go wild. For if you were to leave your thoughts to wander as they wish, then they will run wild and control you.
They will open the catalogue of your past woes.
They will remind you of the history of your misfortunes, beginning
from the day that your mother gave you birth. If your thoughts are left to roam, then they will bring to you images of past
difficulties and images of a future that is frightening. These thoughts will shake your very being and will cause your feelings
to flare. Therefore bridle them, and restrain them by directing them to the concentrated application of the kind of serious
thought that begets fruitful and beneficial work.
"And put your trust in the Ever-Living One Who dies not."
[Surah
Al-Furqan; 58]
Also among the principles of the art of happiness is to value life on this earth according to its
true merit and worth. This life is frivolous and does not warrant anything from you except that you turn away from it. This
life is filled with calamities, aches, and wounds. If that is the description of this life, then how can one be unduly affected
by its minor calamities, and how can one grieve over such material things as have passed by? The best moments of life are
tainted, its future promises are mere mirages, the successful ones in it are envied, the one who is blessed is constantly
threatened, and lovers are struck down by some unexpected misfortune.
There is a hadith:
"Verily, knowledge
is only acquired by the practice of learning, and tolerance is acquired by the practice of tolerating."
If one
were to reflect and attempt to apply the meaning of this hadith to the topic under discussion, then he could go one step further
and say that happiness is acquired by assuming it. It is acquired by constantly smiling, by hunting for the reasons that make
one happy, and even by forcing it onto one’s self; however awkward that may seem. One does all of these things until
happiness becomes second nature.
The truth of the matter is that you
cannot remove from yourself all remnants of grief. And the reason for this is that life is created as a test:
"Verily,
We have created man in toil."
[Surah Al-Balad; 4].
"That He might try you, which of you is the best in deeds."
[Surah
Hud; 7].
But the message that I wish to convey to you is that you should, as much as possible, reduce the amount and
intensity of your grief. As for being completely free from grief; this is for the inhabitants of Paradise in the Hereafter.
This is why the dwellers of Paradise shall say:
"All the praises and thanks be to Allah, Who has removed from us
[all] grief."
[Surah Fatir; 34].
This is considered to be a proof that grief was not removed from them except
in Paradise.
So when a person knows the nature of this world and its qualities, he will find it to be dry, deceitful,
and unworthy; he will come to understand that this is its nature and its description. One of Arab poets said:
'You
have taken an oath not to betray us in our pacts, and it is as if you have vowed that in the end, you shall deceive us.'
If the description of this world is as I have described it, then it is worthy of the intelligent person not to
help it in its onslaught, not to surrender to depression and anxiety. What we should do is fight and defend ourselves from
all feelings that may spoil our lives, a war that we must wage with all the strength that we have been endowed with.
"And
make ready against them all you can of power; including steeds of war to threaten the enemy of Allah and your enemy..."
[Surah
Al-Anfal; 60].
"But they never lost heart for that which did befall them in Allah’s Way, nor did they weaken
nor degrade themselves."
[Surah Al-Imran; 146].
A pause to reflect: Do not be sad. If you
are poor, then someone else is immersed in debt. If you do not own your own means of transportation, then someone else has
been deprived of his legs. If you have reason to complain concerning the pains of sickness, then someone else has been bedridden
for years. And if you have lost a child, then someone else has lost many children, for instance, in a single car accident.
Do not be sad. You are a Muslim who believes in Allah, His Messengers, His angels, the Hereafter, and in Preordainment
- the good and the bad of it. While you are blessed with this faith, which is the greatest of blessings, others disbelieve
in Allah, discredit the Messengers, differ among themselves concerning the Book, deny the Hereafter, and deviate in their
understanding of Preordainment and Predestination. Do not be sad, because if you are, you disturb your soul and heart,
and you prevent yourself from sleeping.
One of the Arab poets said:
'How often is the young man overcome
with despair when afflicted, and with Allah is the way out. The situation becomes unbearable, and when its rope tightens,
it snaps, and throughout, he never thought that he would be saved'
