Introduction
Do you know, what is happiness? It has been defined as an agreeable feeling or condition of the soul arising from good fortune of any kind that is built on firm belief.
Every person must have a goal they wish to attain. The more success they have toward accomplishing this goal, the greater their sense of happiness.
Psychologists define happiness as a continuous feeling of enjoyment, satisfaction, generosity and delight, arising from contentment in one’s self, life and belief that they will have a blissful destiny.
Belief in God and in His Oneness
Whoever believes in Allah and in His Oneness will be guided to the path of happiness. His heart will be content, and he will live in a state of pure tranquility. God, Almighty, says:
(Those who have believed and whose hearts are assured by the remembrance of Allah. Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured.)
(13:28)
Benefits of the Islamic Way of Life
The dangers of alcohol have been affirmed by modern medicine. God, Almighty, says: (O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful. Satan only wants to cause between you animosity and hatred through intoxicants and gambling and to avert you from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. So will you not desist?)
(5:90-1)
Do you want true Happiness?
This question may seem odd, since the answer is obvious. I believe any sane individual would reply in the affirmative. So how can one achieve happiness? Every individual has their unique means through which they attain happiness. Some believe that happiness is attained by making money while others see it in holding positions of power. It is sometimes seen through having many friends or having the power to influence others. If we were to ask anyone who has strived to achieve a goal, if they have actually attained true happiness, the answer would most often be in the negative. The reason is simple; true happiness is a continuous feeling of bliss and comfort. One will not be able to experience this even if they had an earth-load of gold, for as it has been said in an Arabic proverb, “One may be able to purchase a bed, but certainly cannot purchase sleep.”
Worshipping Allah will indeed make one submissive to Allah and will free him from being a captive to his desires and whims. When a person follows that which has been ordained by Allah and abstains from the prohibited, he will feel true happiness for at that point, he will have overcome his desires and defeated Satan.
The teachings of Islam instruct us to dedicate our lives, wealth and time for the sake of God. Practicing Islam is not only a temporary effort, to be done occasionally; it is a way of life. Allah says: (Say, “Indeed, my prayer, my rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are all for Allah, Lord of the worlds.)
(6:162)
Achieving this love is indeed one method by which a person can protect himself from the difficulties, hardships and trials of the Day of Resurrection. The Prophet (s) said: “Seven types of people will be shaded in the Shade of Allah, a day when there is no shade but His shade. A just ruler; a youth who grew up worshipping Allah; a man whose heart is attached to the mosque; two who loved each other for the sake of Allah and then departed on that as well; a man whom an affluent woman sought to seduce him but he said: ‘I fear Allah’; a man who gave out in charity so secretly that his left hand knew not of what was in his right hand; and a man who remembered Allah and then wept.”
(Bukhari)