Page 69 - Faith: The Way to Happiness

The Secret of Happiness: Allah's Good Pleasure

gain Allah's pleasure and admission to Paradise. As Allah informs
us in the Qur'an, "There are some who give up everything, desiring
the good pleasure of Allah..." (Surat al-Baqara: 207), they feel no
t rouble or disturbance within themselves and maintain a perfectly
c o r rect attitude on the path of Allah, saying, "My prayer and my
rites, my living and my dying, are for Allah alone, the Lord of all
the worlds." (Surat al-An‘am: 162)
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 oth-
ers. 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 re s o u rces and opportunities to

67