Happiness And Sorrow In The Sight Of Islam

 Introduction

 

It is important to note that Islam solves all the philosophical lives questions. From explaining the meaning of happiness,sorrow,rich,poor and others, it also has its own creed and jurisprudence.

As for this paper, the discussion is about on the human feelings of happy and sorrow because one is the opposite of another. Of course all of the human beings want to be happy in their life and avoid to encounter any sorrow engagement. However, the reality is not always like that.

Since Islam is the religion that encorage human back to its nature, all of the commandment is within the human capability. One of the purpose that God created man is to worship him. It is said in Al-Quran

 

 

 

و ما خلقت الجن و الأنسان ألا ليعبدون

 

Translation : I did not created the devil and man except to worship me.

 

None of the human can run away from his watch. Thus, it is the best for human to follow his order in whatever he has ordered us and leave from the prohibited things.

 

 

Inner Part And Outer Part of A Human

 

Human has existed in the form of souls before arriving this world. It is said in the Hadith :

 

ثم يرسل الملك فينفخ فيه الروح

 

Translation : (Before the human is born) And the Angel was sent  and he blow the souls into the baby.

 

Thus, the body that we are carrying now posses souls. Islam has a way in maintaining the souls. This is the inner part of a human body. When he dies, the souls will be taken away and the body will remain in this world.

The inner and outer part is not always aligned. Sometimes, the souls might be happy whenever he accomplished a hard thing to do. He is happy although the body is tired. While in another case, the souls might not be happy although he is in a good condition such as being rich,famous and others.

 

Sorrow

 

Sorrow or hazn (حزن) in Arabic gives a meaning where a person is dissatisfied with its current state. This feelings can struck anyone whether male,female,young or old. At the early stage, a person might keeps it to himself and felt nothing about it. However, if it is not rightly treated, it can lead to anxiety and suicideal acts.

One of the modern scenario that leads to this condition is when a person expectation on something is too high. As a result, when things don’t go as planned, they will be in despair. This can be in a lot of forms whether it is monetary,circle,works and others. It is mentioned in Al-Quran :

 

و لنبلونكم بشيء من  الخوف و الجوع و نقص من الاموال و الأنفس و الثمارات فبشر الصابرين

Translation : We will surely test you with fear,hunger, lack of wealth,souls and earnings. Glad tidings to those who be patient.

 

This is the most abandon concept in this world. Most of the people assume that happiness will comes in a certain things. It is patience that brings happiness rather than finding it in materials and friends.

How many people that we know who posses a lot of wealth and contacts, still not happy about their life and keeps complaining about this and that. It is wise to follow what God has sent down to us rather than trying to solve the problem on our own.

 

Happiness

We will now discuss about the concept of happiness in Islam after understanding the concept of sorrow. This condition might be experienced when something happened in our favour. If that is the case, then we cannot feel happy all the time. This is because we will definitely encounter bad things in our life regardless how wealthy or powerful we are.

There are several ways to become happy in life according to Islam. The first one is when you can accept both bad and good things happened by the will of God. This practice is called musyahadah (مشاهدة) where a person is able to see that everything happens is by his hands. As for the sufis, this is their ultimate goal. It is said in Al-Quran :

 

قل بفضل الله و رحمته فبذالك  فليفرحوا و هو هير مما يجمعون

 

Translation : Say (Mohamad) by the lord blessing and mercy and with it they are happy. That is better than all the things they accumulate.

 

It is one of the test of this temporary world that we are not able to acquire all the things we wishes for. The above explained this as a form of test for his servants. However, those who enter paradise will have everything that he wishes for. It is mentioned :

 

لهم فيها فاكهة و لهم فيها ما يدعون

 

Translation : For them there are a lot of fruits and for them what they wishes for

Conclusion

 

It is one of the human nature that they would like to seek for happiness and there is nothing wrong about it. However, questions that should be asked is what is happiness and where to find it? Is it solely on the things we wanted? Can one be happy when they only eat,sleep and having fun all their life?

If these questions being popped in the human minds, note that they are thinking straight rather than following the culture. Thus, Islam provides the answer for all of these philosophical questions.

Different people have different ways in finding happiness. However, it must be done according to the lord`s way. It is the job of the human to find the right person to answer these kinds of questions