The futile battle of "compare and compete

A new trend has emerged from the "SHOW OFF" culture, that success and happiness are what the world believes them to be! In fact, we are living for others more than ourselves.

He was running barefoot on the hot and sandy ground. Sweat was dripping from his body, but something in his mind was shouting, "Run, run, and run, today you have to win. Be that as it may, everyone. "Go forward." And he had become like a robot. He had completely obeyed the voice. In obedience to the order, he was running with full force towards the finishing line. The voice came once again:"If you win, you will become the best. Everyone will clap for you and call you the champion and the winner." He stumbled, he fell, but he got up again and started running. The pebbles of the path had made his feet bleed, but he was like a madman, using all the strength of his body, he made a gallop and finally reached the line. He won the race. Breathless, he looked triumphantly at the spectators, two people came up to him, patted him on the back and then raised his arms and declared him the winner.
But what? No one was happy about his victory. He looked to his right and there was Nafs standing there smiling. On his left he found Ashaya standing. He was waiting for the spectators to chant for him. Go, flowers should be showered on him, but there was nothing like that. There was silence everywhere. He had a severe shock. He was upset that people were not praising him. Gradually, his nerves became stiff. He got angry and released his raised hands. Looking to the right, he was shocked. There was the self standing there. He looked to the left, there was desire standing and smiling, that is, he had become a slave to the self and desire. This caused him deep regret.
When Zubair opened his eyes, he found himself on the bed, but he was sweating with regret. He went to the fridge, drank a glass of water, fell on the sofa and started thinking about the dream. Suddenly it was revealed to him that it was It was about his real life. He was really running in the realm of "comparison and competition". It would be morning and he would start his day with the words that I have moved on from so and so. He worked hard in life, today he had a lot but now what he saw in his mind.

He examined all the feelings and emotions in the heart, felt all the thoughts of the mind, but there was no sign of happiness in the distance. Suddenly he realized that the race in which he had sacrificed his energies, the race in which he had He invested his time, strength and energy, but there was no result. He had turned the good journey of life into a futile race. He wanted to go ahead of every person around him. He ran, ran well, even went ahead of everyone. He won the race but he did not enjoy the blessings of life. Neither his desires nor the sweetness of relationships. And as a result today he had won even if he had lost. He was feeling guilty.
Double deception
Comparison and competition are two such deceptions in which every person gets involved somewhere, unknowingly, and the trouble is that a person does not even know about it. Actually, our mind has received such training from the beginning that We imperceptibly fall into the hands of these "callings" and think that if we win this race, we will be considered successful people, but... Even after reaching the destination, we get nothing but regret.
"Comparison" means keeping yourself and your acquired blessings on one side of the scales and weighing another person's self and his blessings on the other side. And keep complaining that this person is more than me. Why does it matter? He has such and such things. Why don't I have them? This is the first attack of the ego on a person. When he gets into his back, then the next round begins, which is called competition. Competition means to bring oneself to the level of any human being and try to go beyond it. This attack on the self is so fatal that in order to succeed in the competition, a person makes himself a psychotic patient and all his life. By neglecting important work, one becomes part of a race for nothing.
Why is the comparison made?
Apparently we are living in the world but in reality we are living for others more than ourselves. This is a fact. If you see, showoff culture has already increased in society and thanks to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. It has increased to such an extent that a person's quality of life is now judged by his posts. If you are a social media user, you will agree that the number of serious content uploaders among your friends is increasing. But it is equal to counting, while there is a large number of people who are using social media only for showing off. Obviously, when a person buys a mobile worth 150,000 and posts its unboxing video on social media. He will share it and sow the seeds of regret in the hearts of many people. From here the game of comparison begins. The soul repeatedly knocks on the mind and says:"Look at your mobile, and your friend's, you are more entitled to have an iPhone worth 150,000." This attack is successful, then the same story with the next round begins.
A new trend was born from the culture of "Shoaf" and that success and happiness is what the world believes. So we also got caught in this deception and we set our priorities in life according to what the world likes. The result was that we started to distance ourselves. Life is our own. The power is with us. Emotions and feelings are our own but we live for the world.
Disadvantages of Comparison/Competition
How the futile race we become for our ego affects our real life. Consider:
1- Loss of real enjoyment
when we compare ourselves with others and become competitive. When we go, the first thing that is taken away from us is: the real enjoyment of life. We have countless blessings of Allah in the form of food, facilities, fresh air, weather and the sweetness of relationships, but We cannot enjoy them.
2- Change of priorities. A
person suffering from this disease cannot determine the important priorities of his life. .
3- Ingratitude
The person who runs in the race of comparison is actually expressing ingratitude. He wants to get what he doesn't have but forgets to be thankful for what he has got and ungrateful people. The Lord's mercy is also shed.
4- Selfishness
Such a person becomes selfish. It is obvious that he only thinks about himself and does not care about how much my friends, my children and myself need me.
5-Restlessness
Even if such a person achieves this self-made goal, he still does not find peace. Because all this struggle involves selfishness. He cherishes a goal that is not even remotely related to the purpose of life. And this thing makes him regret.
Comparison and Islam In
order to understand comparison and comparison, if we look at the code of life of Islam, we find an excellent hadith, in which the Prophet ﷺ said, “Look at those who are less than you in worldly terms. And do not look at those who are above you. (Jami al-Tirmidhi)
It is clear from this that Islam has not set the standard of comparison to the world, but has given the message that instead of the world, we should try to grow with each other in religion. The psychological aspect of this is that whenever a person is superior to himself in worldly terms. When he sees people, even though he has immense blessings and comforts, he still gets a feeling of inferiority. This feeling blindfolds him and then he does not even see the blessings that he has. On the contrary, if one sees people who are less than oneself, then a person realizes how much Allah has blessed him and this realization fills his heart with gratitude.
If you really want to make your life beautiful, if you want to enjoy the blessings around you, if you want to fill your heart with joy and peace and become a happy person, then let's get out of this futile battle. Comparison, with other people. No, but do it from your past. Make your today better than yesterday. Trust me, this realization will free you from all the troubles in which ego and desire have trapped you.