Purpose and Happiness - This Might Change Your Life Forever | The Muslim Blog
There's a few things we all should be able to notice. People want purpose in life. They want to fit in and they want pleasure and satisfaction. Many people get a ton of issues regarding purpose and happiness in life, and here's the thing: this could be the solution. In this article I will discuss purpose and happiness and what I think may be a great source of them. Read on - if you're having issues, this post might just change your life.
It is easy to notice that people want purpose and happiness. You can see it in movies. You can see it in books. You can see it in the lives of people around you. Now, different people go after this in different ways. Some people will go after it in clearly harmful ways, like getting "happiness" from drugs and getting purpose from surrounding themselves with the wrong type of people, like criminals and the like. They can ruin their lives and their hopes in search of purpose, never finding it. And these don't have to be drug lords or criminals. They could be the everyday people you see around you.
And some people can go after it in seemingly harmless ways. They do things that are harmless fun in search of happiness. They can seemingly find their place in life. But somehow, at the end of the day, there's something missing. There's an emptiness in them. That may be because they may have not known their true purpose. They have not known true happiness, either, and may never know it.
Let me show you the thing which might be the source of true purpose and happiness many of these people were looking for. It's something that has affected my life profoundly - and it may affect yours. So let's leave our bias behind and explore this idea.
The idea is the powerful feeling of purpose and belonging that comes from Islam. The idea that God loves you. The idea that you came here for a reason.
The One who created us and may have created plenty of creations just like us is sending us a message. He is giving us the answers to the questions we always asked. He is giving us the information we always wanted, in a book that He revealed to humanity in the 7th Century, but that remains to live in people's hearts every day.
Allah is purpose. You don't have to be lost, because Allah is the answer. This life is your chance to prepare to meet Him.
Allah is purpose. You don't have to be lost, because Allah is the answer. This life is your chance to prepare to meet Him.
Before I discuss any of the evidence that the Qur'an is of divine origin, or how the truth about Islam has been fogged by misconceptions (below), I would like to discuss how Islam has affected my own life greatly.
From a young age, Islam was central to my identity. I would always think about things related to God and the hereafter. As I grew older, it began to be more clear to me, and Islam became a great motive for many things in my life. When I was having trouble, I would pray to God. When I was happy, I would thank God.
In school and in other places, Islam was, as I describe it, "a moving home." It was, and is, a great feeling of safety that follows you everywhere you go. People you know and people you don't know, people you like and people you dislike, will all die, but there is One who doesn't die, and his name is Allah.
Friday prayers were sources of inspiration. Life was confusing sometimes, but God was there. Belief in Him was my protector and the thing that kept me going sometimes. The feeling of brotherhood at Friday and Eid prayers and the glorious sensation of going to Hajj (at Mecca) and seeing Muslims of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, doing the same thing, is a beautiful reminder that money and skin color are irrelevant in the eyes of Allah. It is a beautiful reminder of the equality that comes with Islam.
Being a Muslim who loved their religion didn't inspire me to go bomb a shopping mall or abuse anyone. For many nights I prayed for the fall of these terrorist groups who caused so much ruin and despair, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this. So sad to see people take a few Qur'anic verses out of context and claim that the Qur'an preaches violence. But people want justification for their denial of Islam...
Islam inspired me to improve the world. I knew that I had no time here to waste. I might die at any point in my life. So I had to move fast. I urgently wanted to help the poor and illiterate, the hungry and the homeless. I felt bad for all those people and really wanted to help them. I also wanted to show people the truth about Islam, about this beautiful religion.
Life can be very confusing sometimes, like a never-ending sea of confusion. People try to find Other people found home in music or drugs or friends or anything else. I found home in Islam, and it pushed me so hard to be a better version of myself.
The idea is that in 7th century Arabia, an illiterate man in the Arabian Peninsula (which was so filled with ignorance) started to preach a message that was really bizarre and searching for the motives behind this message and an explanation of how it came about to be what it is can be quite difficult. When the Qur'an is taken in from different aspects - literary, historical, scientific, structural, etc., in the end, it seems that in order to find an explanation that can take into account all of this, it can be really difficult to say he didn't get divine help in his message.
But make no mistake, Islam has been attacked from every angle. The Qur'an has been accused of preaching violence, scientific errors, wrong values, and so on and so forth. All I can say is that if you get all your information about Islam from sources that are opposed to Islam from the start, can you really expect to know the full picture? I am a Muslim, and I can tell you that there are plenty of false misconceptions about Islam lying around. And that's natural. People may want to justify their ways, so they accuse Islam, the Qur'an, and Muhammad (peace be upon him) of things they are in reality innocent of.
If you want to attempt to uncover the truth in any place, you need to search honestly, right? If you don't search properly for the truth when it comes to Islam, you can find yourself the victim of much false information. And so, I urge you to take a fair approach when learning about Islam. Explore all the evidence. See the Muslim sources. See what Muslims have to say. Know that a small group or two do not represent the majority.
If you're not already a Muslim
But where to start if you're not already Muslim? Where to begin the search for the truth about Islam, about purpose? Try this blog. There are quite a few posts that address common misconceptions about Islam, present evidence for the Qur'an's divine origin, and the like. See "How Do We Know That Muhammad (peace be upon him) was a Messenger of God" and "Common Misconceptions About Islam" as a start. Most importantly, consider approaching Islam with an open heart. I also recommend reading the Qur'an, or at least a bit of it, to get a taste of what it is. Arabic is the original Qur'an, but if you can't read that, then you can read an explanation of the Qur'an in another language.
If you're a Muslim but you don't feel "at home" in your religion
It's normal to feel a bit distant from God sometimes. But if you want the huge benefits of being a Muslim and being devout, there are a few steps you can take. Generally, try to surround yourself with people who can help you get closer to Allah and try to steer clear of those who are going to make it more difficult. Try to always put a bit of your day into listening to Qur'an and doing dhikr (remembrance, search morning athkar and evening athkar). Try your best to stay out of haram actions and situations, and educate yourself on what is forbidden and what is not. Let Islam into your life, and don't shut it out. Also, there are plenty of posts on this blog that can give you a better idea of what I'm talking about, so feel free to check out the other posts here.
*I am not a certified psychologist or religious authority, I am simply presenting data which I found from other sources and otherwise, and if something is incorrect in any manner I do not claim it to be correct.
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