Page 34 - Deep Thinking

32 DEEP THINKING

cannot spare any time. Therefore, they are swept away wherever the flow
of their daily lives takes them. In this way of life, the majority of people
become insensitive to events taking place around them.
The aim of man, however, should not be to consume time, rushing
from one place to another. The main issue is to be able to see the real face
of this world and assume a way of living accordingly. No one's sole pur-
pose in life is earning money, going to work, studying at university or pur-
chasing a house. Surely, man may need to do those things during the
course of his life, yet there is something that he should always bear in
mind while doing them: the purpose of his existence in this world is to be
a servant of Allah, to work for Allah's pleasure, His mercy in order to
achieve Paradise. All works other than this purpose can serve only as a
means to help man to attain his true purpose. Adopting the means to cer-
tain ends as the real purpose is a serious deception with which satan mis-
leads man.
Someone who lives without thinking may easily take these means as
his real purpose. We can cite an example from our daily lives. It is
undoubtedly a good act for one to work and produce beneficial things for
society. A person who believes in Allah performs such an act eagerly and
wishes for a reward from Allah both in the world and in the Hereafter. If
a person, on the other hand, does the same thing without remembering
Allah and only for worldly interests such as status and people's apprecia-
tion, he is making a mistake. And he will regret this when he faces reali-
ties in the Hereafter. In a verse, Allah refers to those who indulge in this
manner in the life of this world:
Like those before you who had greater strength than you and
more wealth and children. They enjoyed their portion; so enjoy
your portion as those before you enjoyed theirs. You have
plunged into defamation as they plunged into it. The actions of
such people come to nothing in this world or the Hereafter.
They are the lost. (Surat at-Tawba: 69)