‘Which of your lord’s blessing would you deny?’

The times we are living in are characterized by mankind’s tendency to do everything exactly the way that is most injurious to itself, just the opposite of what the Lord Allah  commanded man to do. Divine Wisdom demands that for the sake of our spiritual well-being we should always look, follow  those who have attained high spiritual status, like prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) so that we may be inspired to strive to emulate him as best as we can. On the other hand, in the realm of material life, we should always look at those less fortunate than we and thank our Lord for having kept us far from those afflictions. That way we will appreciate the Lord’s generosity towards us and thank Him for all his  blessings.

When I wake up in the morning, I thank the Lord for keeping me in continued good health, remembering that so many people are suffering from terrible diseases and injuries.  I praise Him The Almighty by saying, “Alhamdulillah,” for keeping me in my right mind, and remember that so many people are interned in psychiatric hospitals suffering the horrors or madness. I praise Him Almighty for keeping me from not following  all of my ego’s desires, for one who follows all his ego’s desires is led into crime. I remember that the world’s prisons are full of  many people whose ego’s bad desires caused them to commit crimes, which led to their imprisonment, often under very terrible circumstances, far more terrible than mere restriction of free movement.

I praise and thank the Lord that I can find food without difficulty and don’t suffer from hunger, and I remember the millions who are impoverished and undernourished.

“Which of your Lord’s blessings would you deny?” (Qur’an: Surat Ar-Rahman)

By looking at those who are less fortunate,  we may find contentment in our lives, and by looking up at the spiritual guidance from Allah through his messenger and prophets, so that we may be inspired spiritually.

That is the formula for success: to free ourselves from an obsession with worldly occupations so as to be able to concentrate on the spiritual task for which we have been created.

But nowadays everything is turned upside down. People are busy congratulating themselves for performing any worship at all, even though their worship may be not accepted, in reality,  wrong deeds must be replaced by righteousness to be preferred by  the Divine Acceptance. They say: “I pray and he doesn’t; I keep the fast in Ramadan and he breaks it, so they boast, even though their level of observation and practice of the prescribed rituals and laws should be base on the Holy Qur’an and Hadith-tradition of prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him).

In material matters, people spend all their time envying others, thinking about all those who are more beautiful, more intelligent, healthier, younger or richer than they are. Therefore they burn with the fire of envy, sending out a harmful current to the victim of their envy, until they themselves die a miserable death.

Until people can observe the world from the good vantage point we have now detailed—namely, upwards spiritually and downwards materially—they will always be complaining about the situation of their bodies, whereas they should really be alarmed about the situation of their souls.

There can be no doubt that mankind suffers a great deal on account of its following the evil way of envy and complaints, and we must try to prevent ourselves from following this harmful mainstream.