Page 70 - Faith: The Way to Happiness

FAITH: THE WAY TO HAPPINESS

earn Allah's good pleasure, he will receive a fine re w a rd in this
world and the next as we are told by Allah in the verse, " A n y o n e
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 wis-
dom which is described in the Qur'an. Since believers always take
into consideration what is pleasing to Allah and apply their intelli-
gence and their consciences exclusively to the task of achieving it,
they are never affected negatively by adverse circumstances, as dis-
believers 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.
Rather than behaving in a way which will not meet with Allah's
a p p roval, believers will not hesitate to expose themselves to hard-
ship if this is necessary in order for them to act according to Allah's
will. We can see one of the finest examples of this moral excellence
in the behavior of Prophet Yusuf (as). Prophet Yusuf's (as) brothers
set a trap for him and abandoned him in a well. A group of travelers
who found him later sold him to an Egyptian governor. Allah placed

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