Life of this world

It's been a while since my last post. Maybe it'll be even more of 'a while' until my next post. Of course, the reason is obvious. Life of this world is taking its toll.

This made me remember this story I heard some time back. A young man was lazing in the beach. An elderly fellow came by, saw him just lazing around, and so approached the man. He asked the man, rather surprisingly, "Why are you wasting your time here doing nothing?" So the young man replied, "What am I to do then?"

The elderly person replied, "Do some work. Get a job. Get married. Make money."

So the man asked again, "And what do I do when I have done all that?"

The elderly person, somewhat surprised and irritated at the young man's foolish attitude, said, "Then you can get yourself a vacation. Go see places. Relax in the beach!"

The young man snapped, "Why do I have to go down that long route and then do something that I am doing already?!"


End of story. Try to think about the morale of the story yourself.

Life is stressful. Unless you're one of those few people who gets almost everything they want. Even then life is stressful for them. If only money could buy happiness, the celebrities would be the happiest people in the world. Yet they are the ones commiting or trying to commit suicides over depression and getting in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Let's quote the Terminator man. Yes you all know him. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Maybe you can't pronounce his last name right, but you'd be one hell of a person if you're reading this blog post yet don't know him.

Arnold says, "Money doesn't make you happy. I now have $50 million, but I was just as happy when I had $48 million."

Well said there.

Let's quote a better person than him. Let's quote an Imaam of the Muslims. Let's quote Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah rahimahullaah.

Ibnul Qayyim said: "This world is like a shadow. If you try to catch it, you will never be able to do so. If you turn your back towards it, it has no choice but to follow you."

There are many amazing life quotes. From people greater in status than Ibnul Qayyim and from people lower in status than Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Well I can't be that young man and go relax in the beach right now. I can't be Arnold and say I have $40 million and I wouldn't mind whether it goes up or down by $5 million. Perhaps my solace can only be found in the most truthful of the sayings:

يا أيها الذين آمنوا استعينوا بالصبر والصلاة ... إن الله مع الصابرين