Happiness is perhaps the most
encompassing and common aim in our lives. We judge everything in our life in
terms of how it relates to our happiness. We hear people say countless times:
'do what makes you happy', 'we wish you a happy life', 'your happiness is most
important'.
What
Is Happiness?
Happiness is perhaps best described
as being in a state with which we are pleased and satisfied.
We take different paths on our
journey to happiness. Some of us define happiness through material possessions,
such as a particular house, car, or lifestyle. This is what most people are
working towards when they say or think 'I want to be happy'. Others define
happiness through personal relationships, such as having a loving spouse or
loving family members around them. Yet others define happiness through personal
achievement in a particular field of study or work.
Unfortunately, many people meet the
goals mentioned above without achieving true happiness. Many people find that
although their life is full with these pursuits, there are moments of a deep
and hollow emptiness that engulfs them when they find themselves suddenly free
in this extremely fast and busy world that we live in. Often there is nowhere
to hide from this emptiness, and it often brings us to the conclusion that we
are in fact not happy, despite having achieved all our set goals.
Islam introduces us to the secrets
of this happiness that eludes us. The keys to happiness that Islam introduces
are sometimes surprising, but always strictly logical. The first of these keys
is contentment.
Contentment
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him
and his progeny) teaches us that: "Contentment is wealth that never
diminishes" and "...a treasure that never perishes." (Mishkat
al-Anwar)
The Prophet defines 'wealth' not
through material quantity but through want. According to the Prophet, a person
who does not feel needy towards something or someone in this world is wealthy,
regardless of how much he possesses in material, quantitative terms. Therefore,
a person who is content is very wealthy, because he does not feel he needs
anything more.
Contentment is a strange concept in
a world fuelled by ambition. Ambition can be positive, and often leads to great
achievements. However, inherent to ambition is sacrifice, and it is what we
sacrifice on the way to achieving our assumed happiness that can eventually
make us deeply unhappy. It is good to have goals and work towards them, but on
the journey towards them, we must remember that there are certain sacrifices we
cannot afford to make.
If our ambition is not tempered by
contentment, we often make sacrifices that we will later regret. Pursuing a
career at the expense of family is one example, and pursuing wealth and
position at the expense of religion is another. It is these kinds of sacrifices
that will make us unhappy. A man came to Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him) with
a question, because his trade journeys took him to places where he could only
pray on ice. The Imam pointed to another man present in the gathering and said:
"Why don't you be like him? He is content with a smaller amount (of
profit) and does not seek trade in a place where he cannot pray except on
ice?" (Ibid.)
Contentment is the cure for many
plagues of happiness. How many times have we grieved over what we have missed
out on in the past? How many times have we spent hours and days in anxiety over
what we may miss out in the future? How many times have we looked longingly at
what others possess and felt sadness or jealousy? The point to note is that all
such feelings are counter-productive. They harm us and do us no good. It is
contentment that is the cure for these plagues of happiness.
These problems all stem from the
false belief that if we are not anxious, ambitious, and covetous, we will miss
out on the good things in this world. This all stems from a lack of trust in
God, the All-Merciful. God is too merciful to let His beloved believing servant
seek happiness through such ugly and oppressive means. Imam Hassan (peace be
upon him) assures us that: "Abstaining from showing neediness never
repelled sustenance, and covetousness never led to the attainment of
goodness." (Tuhaf al-Uqul)
The secret to achieving contentment
is to put our trust in God, the Disposer of all affairs, and nurture in
ourselves the belief that the All-Merciful God only sends our way what is best
for us, and only keeps away that which is harmful for us. Granted, we must work
and plan within reasonable means, but we must always believe that whatever
state we are in currently is the best state for us, because otherwise the
All-Merciful Creator would not have chosen it for us. Complete and absolute
trust in God is the root of contentment, and contentment is one of the great
keys to happiness.
The Prophet says: "God, Exalted
is His Praise, says: 'By My Majesty and Glory, I have not created a creature of
mine more beloved to me that my faithful slave. This is why I named him Mu'min,
just as My name is Al-Mu'min. I may deprive him of all that is between the East
and the West, and that would be My good choice for him, and I may give him all
that is between the East and the West, and this would be My good choice for him. So let him be pleased with My decree,
patient over My afflictions, and grateful for My blessings, and I will write
him, O Muhammad, among the Truthful with Me." (Mishkat al-Anwar)