Page 14 - Faith: The Way to Happiness

FAITH: THE WAY TO HAPPINESS

these derive great pleasure from being re g a rded as diff e rent and
enjoy the attention they attract as a result of this. They believe that
by acting in this way they will make their lives more colorful and
protect themselves against the unhappiness they feel. To sum up, for
people of this kind happiness means "change" or "being different."
H o w e v e r, the happiness achieved by all these people is false
and fleeting. It only exists in the moment and when the moment is
over the happiness they feel passes with it and the person again re-
turns to his troubled and monotonous life. Nothing has changed;
the person has been comforted only for a short time. Since these
people do not know the secret of happiness, the end they come to,
whether a day, a month or a year later, is invariably the same. We are
told of the situation of such people who, during their lives, forg e t
Allah and the Hereafter and live entirely according to their own de-
sires and passions:
Their likeness is that of people who light a fire, and then
when it has lit up all around them, Allah removes their
light and leaves them in darkness, unable to see. (Surat al-
Baqara: 17)
Allah tells us that people who distance themselves from His
guidance, He "… leaves them in darkness, unable to see." P e o p l e
who do not submit to the commands of Allah Who created them and
live forgetful of our Lord will, because of this, find themselves frus-
trated by Allah at every turn in their efforts to achieve happiness.
Our Prophet (saws) has pointed out that gains in this world are tem-
porary and that true gain means directing oneself towards the
Hereafter:
"People! The world is a good given in advance. Both the good and
-
evil takes its share from it. The Hereafter is, on the other hand, a de

12