Happiness and Faith

To continue with extracts from the book titled "Don't be Sad":

Four things destroy the body: anxiety, grief, hunger and sleeplessness.

And four things bring light and mirth to one's face: a sense of honor, fulfilling one's commitments, generosity and piety.

Talking too much, eating too much and sleeping too much all weaken the body.

And four things bring serenity to the heart: to look at greenery, to look at flowing water, to see a loved one, and to gaze at fruits upon the trees.

All the best.

Another dimension of happiness is to be in harmony with the universe.

This is a brief extract from an article titled "The Way to Happiness"

"A basic Islamic principle of faith is related to harmony in this universe.

Many scientists and thinkers believe that there is a conflict between man and nature and that man is struggling to overcome the powers of nature.

Islam corrects this shortsighted notion. It states that everything in this world has been created to serve man, and man has been created to serve Allah. Therefore, the relationship between man and the universe is one of harmony and friendliness.

This fact imbues man with peace of mind, satisfaction and happiness. It also frees his mind from worries, fears and feeling of hostility.

His life would become inspired with love, hope, optimism, contentment and happiness that would enable him to face hardships with confidence and right discretion."

http://muslimconverts.com/e-books/happines/happines.htm

All the best.

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Happiness in Knowing Allah:[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]When a worshipper knows his Lord, he feels at peace. He sees Allah’s workings in Creation and appreciates the greatness and innovativeness of Allah’s handiwork that is all around him and how it is full of mercy and wisdom. We cannot see our Lord but we can see the effects of His handiwork that proclaim His most excellent names and attributes.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]This is why the Prophet (peace be upon him) describes excellence in worship as: “…to worship Allah as though you see Him, and though you do not see Him, truly He sees you.” [Sahîh al-Bukhârî and Sahîh Muslim][/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]When the worshipper sees the results of Allah’s creative power and knowledge in the world around him, he feels a very intimate closeness to Allah. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “He tastes the sweet flavor of faith who is pleased with Allah as his Lord, with Islam as his religion, and with Muhammad as the Messenger.” [Sahîh Muslim][/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]There was a CEO of a major American corporation who had attained wealth, power, prestige, and position but felt bitterly unhappy. He would toss and turn in bed at night, unable to sleep. He was impressed to find among the company’s employees a young Muslim man of modest position and salary who was always happy and cheerful. He would eat in peace, sleep in peace, and would come to work and go home smiling. Not once did he see this man with a dark expression on his face.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]He brought the man into his office and asked him: “What is it with you that you are so happy all the time?”[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]The man replied: “By God, I know my Lord and I know my job. I believe in God and therefore I have peace.”[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]The CEO then asked: “Do you have anything that might guide me or show me the way?[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]The man took the CEO by the hand and took him to an Islamic center where he learned about Islam and had the religion explained to him. Ultimately, the CEO declared: “I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]As soon as he said this, he broke into tears and said: “I have just felt happiness that I had never before felt before in my whole life.”[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]http://sisters.islamway.com/modules.php?name=News&file=a rticle&sid=326[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]All the best.[/font]

http://www.fethullahgulen.org/a.page/books/essentials.of.the.islamic.faith/divine.decree.and.destiny.and.human.free.will/a670.html

On Inner Peace, Contentment and Happiness:

"Inner peace is the source of all peace. When a person is at harmony with himself, he is able to live in harmony with others."

"Being fair and just is also an important factor in attaining inner peace. This requires us to do away with selfishness, vain desires, and avarice."

http://www.islamtoday.com/showme2004.cfm?cat_id=30&sub_cat_id=730

Inner Peace: The World's Dire Need

The Need for Inner Peace:

QUOTE

We are at a time of great stress and tension. Muslims and non-Muslims both have fears and anxieties. The world situation has not been good for several decades, but since the tragedy of September 11, 2001, there is more distress all over the world. The situation looks very grim and terrible for the whole humanity. Social, economic, political and environmental conditions of the whole world are deteriorating. Injustice, crimes, violence, evil and sins abound everywhere in the world.

Many Muslims now feel pessimistic and disheartened. We have painful conditions in Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya and other places, where we see our Muslim brothers and sisters going through a lot of suffering. Wars are waged against Muslims in different parts of the world. Thousands of innocent men, women and children are dying. There are millions of refugees who are going through most tragic difficulties. Muslims are ruled today by some of the most corrupt political leaders who are totally inept to defend their lands and their people. Here in United States we have anxieties about our civil rights and liberties. The anti-Islamic propaganda and Islamophobia is on the rise here and in many other places.

We need inner peace and the whole humanity needs it. Inner peace is always important but it is most needed now. It is the peace of heart and mind. Inner peace makes people steadfast, strong and capable to face the problems. If there is no inner peace people lose courage and strength to face the difficulties. People become sick and develop many other physical, emotional or psychological problems. They would certainly have spiritual problems. Those who do not have inner peace become irritable, angry, have difficulty to maintain their daily work, good family relations or other commitments and responsibilities. Inner peace on the other hand makes people optimistic, friendly and productive. Inner peace makes people strong to deal with their personal, family, local as well as national and international problems.

Islam and Inner Peace:

Islam is the religion of peace. Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, used to say and write in his letters to the chiefs of tribes in his time: “Aslim Taslam (Accept Islam and find peace.)”

Islam places great emphasis on inner peace. In the Qur’an, it is called Sakinah (inner calm and tranquility), Tuma’ninah (comfort of the heart, satisfaction and contentment) Sharh As-Sadr (understanding, openness of the chest, restfulness). Believers receive these gifts from Allah Almighty. In the most difficult situations, Allah mentions that He bestowed inner peace on the believers.

UNQUOTE

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?cid=1119503545394&pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaE%2FFatwaEAskTheScholar

Hello:
This will be my last post on this website. Not that THAT is important, or that I am important enough to inform anyone of my decision to leave. I just need to post this message. It will be healthy for me to do so. So please indulge me. I was excited when I first stumbled across this site for I felt I had found a place where sincere people could help each other in a pursuit of truth. After reading Many, many posts I STILL feel there are sincere people here who want life's answers. The problem as I see it is that there are far TOO MANY posts that have the pretext of sincere searching but , I can only conclude that it is a ruse since the same people post the same vague, inane, rants on a variety of subjects. This , to me, clouds all the discussions!It is almost as if some here, certainly not all, but some, just like the look of there opinions in print rather than to be part of any real deep search for answers. Coupled with that fact is the feeling that many posters feel that it is their GOD GIVEN DUTY to spread their message! Thats O.K. with me also! I have felt that urge as well. The problem with that is you have this NEVER ENDING MARRY-GO-ROUND OF PROSELTYZING GOING ON ..Which just adds to the confusion. I mean seriously....has ANYONE HERE REALLY CHANGED ANOTHERS MIND????? I think probably not. I guess thats what I am driving at.... I can no longer be part of this ENDLESS DEBATE! Do not get me wrong! If that is ALL THIS SITE purports to be....Great! I just need more than that. Maybe such a site does not exist. Anyway... a final word TO ALL SINCERE TRUTH SEAKERS...Keep searching..keep looking....keeep trying... If we are to believe the scriptures.".All who keep looking will find."

Hello Searcher:

I understand your point, and you're quite right with your final advice to sincere searchers for the truth to keep on searching.

I wish you all the best.

Faith: The Way to Happiness

During their lives, people have a variety of targets and plans they would like to fulfill. Although apparently different at first glance, these targets coincide at a basic level.

At the basic level people wish to lead their lives in happiness and tranquility by obtaining as many advantages as they can; the happiness and comfort they enjoy being proportionate to the size of the advantages they obtain.

In this sense, everyone aims to reach this common goal, following different paths and using different methods, and expending throughout their lives a great deal of effort in pursuit of this purpose.

However, achieving everything they want and reaching targets still do not change the end result: a melancholy life filled with unhappiness and the troubles it brings with it... except for the true believers, who seek Allah's approval and are aware that their true abode is in the Hereafter.

In present day life a large number of people complain because they have been totally unable to achieve true peace and because despite their efforts and their attempts at happiness, they are not happy at all.

The reason why people end up in such a predicament is because they try to find happiness in the wrong places and with the wrong people. For some, happiness is the material wealth they obtain, being able to spend their money as they like, buy whatever they want and consume more and more each day. For people like this, consumption, experiencing every beauty and pleasure, is the greatest source of happiness in their lives. Such desires are like a bottomless well -they never come to an end.

Because of their desires people emerge who are never satisfied with anything they obtain, who always want more and better and who believe that they will be able to live happier lives if they acquire more things, and better things. However, these efforts only gain them a temporary happiness.

http://www.harunyahya.com/books/faith/happiness/happiness1.php

Temporary Happiness vs. Real Happiness

For example, the concept of property has a very important place in the lives of people who are ignorant of Allah's religion. All the efforts of these people are directed towards increasing their property and achieving a status which earns them the respect of others. Allah tells us in the Qur'an that a number of things have become passions with such people:

"To mankind the love of worldly appetites is painted in glowing colors: women and children, and heaped-up mounds of gold and silver, and horses with fine markings, and livestock and fertile farmland. All that is merely the enjoyment of the life of this world. The best homecoming is in the presence of Allah." (Surah Al 'Imran: 14)

Property, which has become an end in itself for the community of the ignorant, is for believers only a means to be used for gaining Allah's good pleasure. For this reason believers do not long for the things listed in the above verse and do not make an aim of pursuing them. Increasing their property, enriching themselves or improving their status are never amongst the goals of believers.

They know that everything is a blessing given to them by Allah and that they have to be grateful to Him. They never neglect what is pleasing to Allah for the sake of trivial and temporary worldly gains. If a person uses everything he possesses and all his resources and opportunities to earn Allah's good pleasure, he will receive a fine reward in this world and the next as we are told by Allah in the verse,

"Anyone who acts rightly, male or female, being a believer, We will give them a good life and We will recompense them according to the best of what they did." (Surat an-Nahl: 97)

The difficult times and the troubles they encounter also make people who are ignorant of Allah's religion unhappy because their happiness is entirely bound up with worldly profits and gains, which in times of difficulty are at risk of being lost. The loss of these things due to events completely beyond their grasp, plunges them into great sorrow because of their attachment to them. In this way they completely lose the happiness and joy which acquisitions can bring them. They inevitably sink into depression and hopelessness.

As for the happiness of believers, it takes on a more lasting form because in times of trouble and difficulty they hold to the wisdom which is described in the Qur'an.

Since believers always take into consideration what is pleasing to Allah and apply their intelligence and their consciences exclusively to the task of achieving it, they are never affected negatively by adverse circumstances, as disbelievers are affected. On the contrary, because they hope to gain Allah's good pleasure with sincere and submissive behavior in times of trouble, nothing can lessen their happiness even at such times.

http://www.harunyahya.com/books/faith/happiness/happiness4.php

Cordoba said:

Salam and Greetings to All:

Real Happiness comes from within. It's a feeling of internal peace and contentment which comes from faith and the love of Allah.

"Where is Happiness?"

- Is it found in material pleasure?
- Is it found in having family, sons and daughters?
- Is it found in experimental science?

While material things do contribute to achieving happiness to a certain extent, real happiness is found from within, "something that man feels in the form of purity of the soul, tranquility of the heart and peace of mind. It is something which springs from within man and is not imported from outside."

A wise wife once told her husband:

"I find my happiness in my faith, and my faith is in my heart, and my heart is controlled by my Lord alone."

A famous saying by one of the early Muslims was:

"We enjoy such happiness that if kings knew about it they would fight us for it".

All the best.

Click to expand...

I find happiness in my family, my husband and my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I'm glad that faith is part of your happiness Becky.

All the best.

Temporary Happiness vs. Real Happiness

For example, the concept of property has a very important place in the lives of people who are ignorant of Allah's religion. All the efforts of these people are directed towards increasing their property and achieving a status which earns them the respect of others. Allah tells us in the Qur'an that a number of things have become passions with such people:

"To mankind the love of worldly appetites is painted in glowing colors: women and children, and heaped-up mounds of gold and silver, and horses with fine markings, and livestock and fertile farmland. All that is merely the enjoyment of the life of this world. The best homecoming is in the presence of Allah." (Surah Al 'Imran: 14)

Property, which has become an end in itself for the community of the ignorant, is for believers only a means to be used for gaining Allah's good pleasure. For this reason believers do not long for the things listed in the above verse and do not make an aim of pursuing them. Increasing their property, enriching themselves or improving their status are never amongst the goals of believers.

They know that everything is a blessing given to them by Allah and that they have to be grateful to Him. They never neglect what is pleasing to Allah for the sake of trivial and temporary worldly gains. If a person uses everything he possesses and all his resources and opportunities to earn Allah's good pleasure, he will receive a fine reward in this world and the next as we are told by Allah in the verse,

"Anyone who acts rightly, male or female, being a believer, We will give them a good life and We will recompense them according to the best of what they did." (Surat an-Nahl: 97)

The difficult times and the troubles they encounter also make people who are ignorant of Allah's religion unhappy because their happiness is entirely bound up with worldly profits and gains, which in times of difficulty are at risk of being lost. The loss of these things due to events completely beyond their grasp, plunges them into great sorrow because of their attachment to them. In this way they completely lose the happiness and joy which acquisitions can bring them. They inevitably sink into depression and hopelessness.

As for the happiness of believers, it takes on a more lasting form because in times of trouble and difficulty they hold to the wisdom which is described in the Qur'an.

Since believers always take into consideration what is pleasing to Allah and apply their intelligence and their consciences exclusively to the task of achieving it, they are never affected negatively by adverse circumstances, as disbelievers are affected. On the contrary, because they hope to gain Allah's good pleasure with sincere and submissive behavior in times of trouble, nothing can lessen their happiness even at such times.

http://www.harunyahya.com/books/faith/happiness/happiness4.php

The Happiness and Blessings Brought by Faith

Cheerfulness

Because they believe in Allah and accept His decree, the cheerfulness and joy of the faithful are perpetual. This also manifests itself in their daily lives and is the basic source of believers' character.

The love and devotion believers feel towards Allah and their submission to Him remove all cause for material and spiritual discomfort because for believers there is nothing in their lives which can be classified as "bad." Through the guidance of the Qur'an they are aware that things regarded as "bad" will be turned to their advantage and benefit by Allah.

This ensures that believers always have a cheerfulness and joy which springs from their faith. In surroundings where everybody is unhappy and pessimistic, they never lose any of their cheerfulness because there is nothing which can make them unhappy.

In another verse, Allah tells us that the hearts of believers are content with His remembrance and that the real source of the tranquility and happiness they experience is their faith in Him:

Those who have faith and whose hearts find peace in the remembrance of Allah. Only in the remembrance of Allah can the heart find peace. (5:28)

http://www.harunyahya.com/books/faith/happiness/happiness7.php

Strength

The powerful faith of believers increases their happiness and spiritual strength.

Those who always take Allah as their guardian and friend and accept His decree are always cheerful and strong because of the spiritual strength which Allah gives them in return. They never sink into a lazy or lethargic state, because they know it will bring them harm and loss. The spiritual strength they feel inspires them to strive even harder for Allah's approval, making ever more strenuous efforts.

In difficult situations they encounter on the path of Allah, this spiritual strength is also the source of their patience. Therefore, there is no challenge or circumstance which could ever cause them to behave in a way which Allah would not approve. They always opt to be vigorous and active in order to be always at the forefront, setting the best example. Their efforts ensure that they come a little closer to the prospect of the Garden each day. The strength brought by their hope of Allah's approval grows all the time so that they achieve the superior mode of conduct which Allah describes in the Qur'an.

The satisfaction they derive from doing good deeds creates in them a desire to look for further good actions to do. No matter how much effort they expend on this, it never tires them. Effort sincerely made to earn Allah's pleasure only increases their faith and adds to their strength. Allah tells the faithful in the Qur'an to continue their efforts unceasingly:

http://www.harunyahya.com/books/faith/happiness/happiness7.php

Happiness and Tranquility

Happiness is a great blessing both in this world and the next which Allah grants His pious followers for their sincere belief and devotion.

The only source of the happiness and tranquility of believers is their faith. Allah makes sincere believers feel happiness and tranquility as a blessing in their hearts. What believers experience is not a happiness dependent on circumstances but the spiritual happiness which their faith brings them.

http://www.harunyahya.com/books/faith/happiness/happiness9.php

Islam and Spiritual Peacefulness

It has become a custom that people constantly complain regarding their ill fortune and fate and are never satisfied with their life. We all see life as a restless sea, full of wonders and never stable. However nobody can escape the violent waves on the surface of this deep ocean.

Freud said: “The primitive man satisfied his desires in a better way than the civilized man. His life was free from mental anxieties and cares, and he did not suffer from psychic ailments. But since the advent of civilization, industry and urbanization, man came to suffer from serious mental illnesses.”

Pleasure and pain in this world, like positive and negative forces in nature, together perform their function everywhere. Opposed to joy and delight are grief and sadness and opposed to youth and vitality are old age and weakness. Everyone who sets out on this sea is bound to be drenched by its waters and encounter in the course of his life a series of unpleasant and painful events: failure, privation, the death of dear ones and many other afflictions of the kind.

The level and severity of hardships and calamities, it is true, is different in every age, but the universal principle of hardship and suffering is intertwined with man's life in all its stages.

As Allah says in the Holy Qur’an: “Indeed We have created man in the cradle of trouble and suffering.” (90:4)

The Definite Role of Faith in Spiritual Peace:

A study of the history of human progress has proved that the supports of man's civilization and culture have always rested on the shoulders of those for whom the power of real faith had made enabled them to put up with the heavy burden of hardship and bare the pain whose negative effects were neutralized by the faith present in their strong hearts.

Psychologists asserted that the power of faith is as effective as nothing else. In the cure of psychic diseases and creation of confidence and inner peace. In cases where severe hardships shatter man's personality and divest him of his hope and will power, trust in God produces a profound and undeniable effect in a defeated soul. Failure, adversity, and defeat can never create a storm in the pure hearts of godly men and make them suffer despair and loss of self-assurance and self-respect.

The faith in God, is a medicine for any spiritual ills, it helps regulate psychic urges which are themselves the mainspring of man's spiritual afflictions. The faith in God gives a visage of perfect beauty to life, because when one has the conviction that everything does not come to an end with this life it creates an inner peace and makes him pass through the entire course of life with steadiness, strength, and moderation.

Qualities like greed and avarice, which are one of the reasons for anxiety, are moderated as a result of faith in God. The hope of great rewards and the fear of severe punishments make man refrain from rapacity and avoid unreasonable and uncontrolled passion for material things, glitter and ostentation. Thus, a desirable and serene equilibrium worthy of man's humanity is brought about within his soul.

Similarly, faith in the Day of Judgement and the hereafter removes the intolerable strain induced by the idea of absolute annihilation and extinction from the human spirit, for the person with such a faith is convinced that at the threshold of death the door to another world will open in front of him and he will enter an eternal life and its everlasting bounties that cannot be compared with the joys of this world. This faith results in eliminating another agent of mental anxiety which is the anguish of absolute nonexistence.

Faith not only cures anguish and anxiety from the human heart, it also protect it from being overwhelmed by agitation and agony.

Allah says in the Qur’an:

“If you have faith, do not yield to fear and sorrow, for you have an upper hand over the others on account of this asset of faith.” (3:139)

Allah also says:

...In God's remembrance and reliance upon Him are at rest the hearts of those who have faith and do righteous deeds. (13:28)

And in another verse of the Qur’an:

“It is He Who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the faithful...” (48:4)

The Qur'an views steadiness and peacefulness to be the characteristics of those whose hearts are rich with faith:

Allah says:

“Mental peace and security are qualities of those who have faith and who have not drawn a veil of wrongdoing over their faith.” (6:82)

In another verse, Allah says:

“Lo, fear and sorrow do not affect the friend of God”. Qur’an (10:62)

In a sermon that shows the various benefits of remembering Allah, Ali Ibn Abi Taleb, may Allah be pleased with him, says:

God, the Exalted, has made His remembrance the light and burnish of the hearts. It is by the means of His remembrance that the hearts recover their hearing after being deaf, regain their sight after being blind, and become soft and tractable after being savage and rebellious.”

The state of people possessing faith cannot in any way be compared to the condition of materialistic and irreligious persons in encounter with life's vicissitudes and its bitter experiences, for the two are as apart as the earth and the sky.

Real happiness and spiritual peace can be found in submitting to the commands of Allah; the Creator and the Sustainer of this world.

http://www.islamonline.com/cgi-bin/news_service/spot_full_story.asp?service_id=741

Means of Attaining Happiness

High moral standards that inspire one to do good for others:

Man is a social being who needs to interact with beings of his own kind. It is not possible for him to exist independently of others in every aspect of his life.

Interacting with others is unavoidable, and people differ greatly in their physical and mental peculiarities. Thus, it is unavoidable that displeasing things will happen between people that can cause them sorrow and distress. If a person cannot deal with these things in an honorable manner, then his interaction with others – which in and of itself is unavoidable – will be a great source of distress and misery for his life. For this reason, Islam emphasizes morality and the development of moral character.

Allah says: "Help one another in virtue and piety, and do not help one another in sin and transgression".

http://www.islamtoday.com/discover_islam.cfm?cat_id=6&sub_cat_id=54

Al-Ghazali, the Alchemist of Happiness

As part of the annual Islam Awareness Week, The Electric Cinema in Birmingham (was) the venue for a rare screening of Al-Ghazali, the Alchemist of Happiness. The film explores the life and impact of one of the greatest spiritual and legal philosophers in Islamic history.

The film examines Ghazali’s existential crisis of faith and how after years in the wilderness he embarked on the path of love and spiritual excellence, overcoming the pitfalls of the organized religion of his day.

This film reveals profound parallels with our own times and the path many are taking to overcome the pitfalls of today’s ritual following of religion.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2005/11/22
http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2005/11/22/islam_awreness_week_2005_feature.shtml

All the best.

The Greatest Love of our Life

"The way to real happiness is to place the love of God at the centre of our lives. Our love for God must be greater than any other love.

It must come before our love for anyone or anything else. In fact we only have the capacity to love and care for someone because God gave us that capacity in the first place.

God Alone is The Creator, author and facilitator of all love. Therefore is follows that the first and most deserving love should be our love for God. When we love God first, we give meaning and purpose and balance and harmony to every other aspect of our life."

http://www.geocities.com/mutmainaa/tafakkur/great_love.html

All the best.