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We were discussing the virtues of
contentment in the previous chapter. With out contentment the
life becomes miserable, as there is no limit to wishes. However
contentment does not teach us to stop struggling, as many of the
Muslims think these days and depend on Allah to provide
everything for them and this trend has left Muslims way behind
others. Making an effort also does not mean that work two or
three shifts and put your life at stake because of this effort.
Your health has priority and your body has the first right on
you. There was a woman who would tie a string to herself at the
prophet’s mosque in Medina so that she does not fall asleep
while praying at late nights. Prophet (pubh) stopped her from
doing so and told her that her body has first right on her. We
all know that health is wealth, however many people do not know
that we need six to eight hours sleep every day. People who do
physical work need at least six hours of sleep, while people who
do intellectual work need it at eight hours every day.
Sleep is needed for rejuvenating the body
cells and builds enough energy to start another day. Crux of
the discussion is that we must do every thing in moderation.
Extremes should be avoided. First of all you have to look after
your health and then take care of rights of Allah and humans.
Allah does not want to torture his creation unless they
themselves take it upon themselves. When you are sick, you can
offer your prayers by gestures and do ta’yemmum if you cannot do
Wudu. It is not right to not avail of provisions provided by
Allah, as doing so will mean being ungrateful to Him.
You need to manage time for prayers,
business and also for your kith and kin. In your enthusiasm you
should not neglect your health because if you do that, you would
lose whatever you gained. For if you made a pile of money but
you lost your health then what good would that money be? If
your wife became distraught because of your negligence, then you
have lost your home paradise or if your children went bad or
they became psychopaths because of your negligence then this big
home that you own will be of no use.
The question now arises that, what is the
solution for all this? The answer will be to keep moderation in
the light of teachings of Allah and his prophet (pubh). The
prophet (pubh) in spite of being the king of the kings did not
wear a crown nor had a throne to sit on. He did not live in a
palace, did not have a big decorated hall for audience, nor did
he have gate keepers for himself. He had his mosque made of mud
with a roof of date palm boughs, which dripped, in rainy season
in which he held his audience, court, received deputations and
also was the first Islamic university. He (pubh) never felt
degraded because of this instead he guided us by saying that
“the worst investment is on bricks and stones”.
We do need a dwelling to live in but it
should be according to our means. If it is only husband and
wife then only two bed rooms may be sufficient, one for you two
and one for guests. You can increase the number of rooms as the
family grows.
I have observed it many a time that people
toiled hard to make a big palace for themselves and their
children were not willing to live with them in it, so they had
to move into a flat because they could not maintain the big
house due to their poor health and lesser income in the old
age. The children have their own problems of running around for
job from one place to another. You have to keep your real needs
in mind, and spending beyond your real needs is extravagance,
which is not the Islamic way.
Here a famous tale may not be out place and
teaches us a lesson. There was an old man traveling through the
mountainous area bare feet. He complained to ALLAH that why did
he not give him enough to be able to buy shoes? As he traveled
further, he saw a man who was dragging himself because he had no
feet. Right then and there he bowed to ALLAH in prayer to thank
ALLAH that He at least gave him feet to walk on”. Here we
have another lesson for us that we should not fall prey to
jealousy about which Allah says, “They (jealous people) do not
seem to agree with my decisions”. Could he be a believer who
disagrees with Allah?
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