Page 30 - Faith: The Way to Happiness

FAITH: THE WAY TO HAPPINESS

He went out among his people in his finery. Those who de -
sired the life of this world said, "Oh! If only we had the
same as Qarun has been given! What immense good for-
tune he possesses."(Surat al-Qasas: 79)
Qarun's end provides a warning which is extremely important
with re g a rd to how the boasting of people who think like him or
who desire to be like him, who are ungrateful for the blessings
which Allah has given them, are treated by Allah. Allah tells us of
Qarun's end in this verse:
We caused the earth to swallow up both him and his house.
There was no group to come to his aid, besides Allah, and
he was not someone who is helped. (Surat al-Qasas: 81)
A group of people who saw what happened to Qarun fully re-
alized that it is Allah Who provides sustenance and takes it away
and understood what outcome is caused by behaving ungratefully
towards Allah. We are told how these people reacted:
Those who had longed to take his place the day before
woke up saying, "Allah expands the provision of any of
His servants He wills or restricts it. If Allah had not shown
great kindness to us, we would have been swallowed up as
well. Ah! Truly the disbelievers are not successful."(Surat
al-Qasas: 82)
As we can clearly see from the story of Qarun, if people make
the blessings given them by Allah a matter for boasting and an ob-
ject for the admiration of others, their end will be no different from
Qarun's. People who behave ungratefully towards Allah may have
His blessings withdrawn from them at any moment. For example, a
child a person has boasted about may start getting bad marks at
school or he may suddenly lose his beautiful house to an earthquake
or have all his valuable property sequestered. However, at such

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