What Real Success is?

Article # 58
Date:June 01, 2022
Wednesday 

This world is full of temptations, no matter how hard you try to resist them, you always find yourself giving in to them. Today every person is in a quest of earning more and more money, luxurious cars, and building houses, without even considering whether the means are appropriate or not. Wearing branded dresses, perfumes, and shoes is all that we strive for today. Parents work day and night in order to provide their children with good food, good clothes, and quality education, and honestly, I am not against it.

But have you ever wondered, the way our parents struggle to provide their kids a quality life, do they ever work hard on their character building and getting them close to our beautiful religion Islam?

They put great emphasis on worldly education and it is a good thing but they have completed forgotten about religious education which is far more important.Today, what parents do is that when their kids reach the age of 3 years, they admit them to Kindergarten or Nursery thinking that they will have more interest in learning by the age of 5. I am personally against this trend. In my opinion, the initial 5 years of kids are extremely important Because they are more prone to learning whatever they encounter in their surroundings. Admitting a child at the age of 3 in kindergarten might make him learn the English language or sharpen his mind but he would lack all those great habits and behaviors that a great mother can teach her child.

I am of the view that children till the age of 5 must remain under the supervision of their parents, and it's up to parents to teach them the basic behaviors like helping others, making them learn supplications, drawing them closer to our religion Islam and teaching them to be brave and be scared of no one except Allah The Almighty.

But sadly, today's parents prefer the English language learning more, and sometimes they just do this out of competition and I am saying this because I have personally witnessed it. When they find their other family members admitting their children to schools at a very small age, they feel like their kids are lagging behind, so to overcome that feeling they do the same.

I feel so sorry for such parents because they must understand becoming a copycat is going to get them nowhere in life. Such kids when grow up, strive to get more and more degrees with the hope that they will then get a good job, earn more and live a luxurious life, and the cycle continues.

In this quest of gaining the world‌, we have forgotten the true essence of our lives.

We think that running after this world will bring us a fortune but we are wrong. This world is just a test and real life is going to start after we die. Money and the luxuries of this life would be useless there. The things that will count there are good deeds, obeying the commands of Allah, and following the path paved by our great Holy Prophet Muhammad PBUH in the light of the world's most holy and truthful book The Quran.

Real success is not about having lots of money and the luxuries of this temporary life but preparing for the permanent life hereafter.

I remember a few days back, my brother's MSc result got announced and he got really good grades. While he was telling us, he was very happy, I could see his eyes shining brightly due to the success he got. I felt really sorry for him.

Do you know why?

Because he doesn't pray or recite Quran, he doesn't work hard on making him the type of person that God and His great Messenger Prophet Muhammad PBUH likes. He thinks that this worldly success is all that matters, but actually, this success will remain here in this temporary world.

Real success is understanding the purpose of this life, which is obeying God, following the Sunnah of our Holy Prophet Muhammad PBUH, understanding each and every word written in the Holy Quran, and pondering over what God is trying to tell us in it. Indeed Holy Quran contains guidance for the entire humanity till the end of times, those who understand it will surely succeed.

I remember when I used to work in my university's laboratory, there was this guy who would listen to azan but didn't offer his prayer. He would keep himself busy with laboratory work and ignore his prayers. He might thought that completing lab work would get him a degree and them he would succeed. But I wonder what kind of a fool was he?

In azan God calls out to us by saying:

"COME TO THE PRAYER"

"COME TO THE SUCCESS "

and we are mere fools who think that success we get in this world is the real one. We must realize real success is when God calls us and we respond to Him .

Something to ponder upon!!!

Disclaimer:

Every word written in this article is my own and doesn’t involve similarity to someone else’s article. This entire article is checked by Grammarly and is plagiarism free.

Thank you for reading this article! Stay happy & blessed!

ALL images are self taken and edited using snapseed and Inshot.