Page 94 - Faith: The Way to Happiness

FAITH: THE WAY TO HAPPINESS

So when you have finished, work on. And make your Lord
your goal! (Surat al-Inshirah: 7-8)
Believers who obey this command of Allah's and spend all their
lives constantly striving to earn Allah's approval, live happy lives
both in this world and the next. In the Qur'an, Allah tells us that He
gives the blessing of happiness to believers in this world and the
Hereafter:
Those who are steadfast in seeking the face of their Lord,
and perform prayer and give from the provision We have
given them, secretly and openly, and stave off evil with
good, it is they who will have the Ultimate Abode. (Surat
ar-Ra‘d: 22)

Zeal
Zeal is the intense desire to accomplish a task or reach a goal.
The zeal people feel towards any task is in proportion to their sin-
cerity in performing it. As for disbelievers, it is almost impossible
for them to act with eagerness in any task they perform so long as
there is no benefit in it for them. They only feel eagerness to satisfy
their own selfish desires, this is their only motivation. For them, the
only important thing in what they do is personal gain. Otherwise, in
tasks where they cannot gain any benefit for themselves, they are
extremely unwilling and lacking in enthusiasm.
This attitude badly affects the results of their undertakings.
Because they do not take the care which eagerness and desire bring,
what they do is unproductive. Most of the time they abandon a task
without completing it or do not even start it. For this reason, finish-
ing what they start is a great success for them and even something
praiseworthy. In the Qur'an, Allah tells us that the jobs such people

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