Aspire for the Higher Objective (i.e., Allaah’s pleasure) even | Ilm4all

Aspire for the Higher Objective (i.e., Allaah’s pleasure) even in your suffering!

Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned:
One of the scholars have said: “I pondered over the efforts that some of the wise men exert, and I saw that they exerted their efforts towards the same objective, even though the paths they took towards achieving this objective were different. I saw that all of them exerted efforts in getting rid of al-Hamm (anxiety) and al-Ghamm (grief) from their lives. This one would fight depression by eating and drinking, while this one by engaging in trading and earning profit, while this one with marrying (women), while this one by listening to music and singing, and this one by engaging in idle talk and amusement.”

I (Ibn al-Qayyim) say (in response): “These are the objectives of the (worldly) wise people, but all these paths do not lead towards the desired objective, rather, most of them produce the opposite result. And among all these paths I did not see any path leading towards the desired objective except the path of turning to Allaah alone, worshiping Him alone, and seeking His pleasure in all of the affairs.

So, if he follows this path (i.e., the path towards Allaah), even if he were to lose his share of the worldly life, he will succeed in achieving a higher objective - which one will not miss (i.e., Allaah’s pleasure, the Jannah etc.). If the slave achieves this objective, he has achieved everything, and if he misses it, he has lost everything. And (upon this path) if he were to also receive his share of the worldly life, he would be receiving it on the most cheerful of faces. There is no path more beneficial for the slave of Allaah except for this one. And there is no path other than this which would lead (all the way) towards (complete) delight, joy, and happiness.

And our success is from Allaah alone.”

[al-Daa’ wal-Dawaa (1/193)]