How to be successful in life

Question:
How to obtain success and prosperity in this world and hereafter? What kind of success or prosperity that Islam wants the Ummah Islam gain in this world?

Answer:

Praise be to Allah.

Peace of mind, contentment, happiness and freedom from worries and anxiety… these are what everyone wants, and these are the ways in which people can have a good life and find complete happiness and joy. There are religious means of achieving that, and natural and practical means, but no one can combine all of them except the believers; although other people may achieve some of them, they will miss out on others.
There follows a summary of the means of achieving this aim for which everyone is striving. In some cases, those who achieve many of them will live a joyful life and a good life; in other cases, those who fail to achieve all of them will live a life of misery and hardship. And there are others which are in between, according to what the means he is able to attain. These means include the following:

1 – Faith and righteous deeds:

This is the greatest and most fundamental of means. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Whoever works righteousness — whether male or female — while he (or she) is a true believer (of Islamic Monotheism) verily, to him We will give a good life (in this world with respect, contentment and lawful provision), and We shall pay them certainly a reward in proportion to the best of what they used to do (i.e. Paradise in the Hereafter)” (Quran, 16:97)
Allah tells us and promises us that whoever combines faith with righteous deeds will have a good life and a good reward in this world and in the Hereafter.
The reason for that is clear: those who believe in Allah – with sincere faith that motivates them to do righteous deeds that change hearts and attitudes and guides them to the straight path in this world and the Hereafter – follow principles and guidelines by means of which they deal with everything that happens to them, be it the causes of happiness and excitement or the causes of anxiety, worry and grief.

They deal with the things that they like by accepting them and giving thanks for them, and using them in good ways. When they deal with them in this manner, that creates in them a sense of excitement and the hope that it will continue and that they will be rewarded for their gratitude, which is more important than the good things that happen to them. And they deal with bad things, worries and distress by resisting those that they can resist, alleviating those that they can alleviate, and bearing with goodly patience those that they cannot avoid. Thus as a result of the bad things they gain a lot of benefits, experience, strength, patience and hope of reward, which are more important and which diminish the hardships they have undergone and replace them with happiness and hope for the bounty and reward of Allah. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) expressed this in a saheeh hadeeth in which he said: “How wonderful is the situation of the believer, for all his affairs are good. If something good happens to him, he gives thanks for it and that is good for him; if something bad happens to him, he bears it with patience, and that is good for him. This does not apply to anyone but the believer.” (Narrated by Muslim, no. 2999).
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) told us that the believer is always gaining and the reward for his deeds is always multiplying, no matter what happens to him, good or bad.

2 – Being kind to people in word and deed, and all kinds of doing good.
This is one of the means of removing worry, distress and anxiety. By this means Allah wards off worries and distress from righteous and immoral like, but the believer has the greater share of that, and is distinguished by the fact that his kindness to others stems from sincerity and the hope of reward, so Allah makes it easy for him to be kind to others because of the hope that this will bring good things and ward off bad things, by means of his sincerity and hope of reward. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“There is no good in most of their secret talks save (in) him who orders Sadaqah (charity in Allah's Cause), or Ma‘roof (Islamic Monotheism and all the good and righteous deeds which Allah has ordained), or conciliation between mankind; and he who does this, seeking the good Pleasure of Allah, We shall give him a great reward” (Quran, 4:114)
Part of that great reward is relief from worry, distress, troubles, etc.

3 – Another of the means of warding off anxiety that stems from nervous tension and being preoccupied with disturbing thoughts is to occupy oneself with good deeds or seeking beneficial knowledge, for that will distract one from dwelling on the matters that are causing anxiety. In this way a person may forget about the things that are making him worried and distressed, and he may become happy and more energetic. This is another means that believers and others have in common, but the believer is distinguished by his faith, sincerity and hope of reward when he occupies himself with that knowledge which he is learning or teaching, or with the good deeds that he is doing.
The work with which he occupies himself should be something that he likes and enjoys, for that is more likely to produce the desired results. And Allah knows best.

4 – Another thing that may ward off worry and anxiety is focusing all one’s thoughts of the present day, and not worrying about the future or grieving about the past. Hence the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sought refuge with Allah from worry and regret, from regret for things in the past which one cannot put right or change, and worry which may come because of fear for the future. So one should focus only on the present day, and focus one's efforts on getting things right today. For if a person is focused on that, this means that he will do things properly and forget about worry and regret.
When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said a du’aa’ or taught a du’aa’ to his Ummah, as well as urging them to seek the help of Allah and hope for His bounty, he was also urging them to strive to attain the thing they were praying for through their own efforts and to forget about the thing which they were praying would be warded off from them. Because du’aa’ (supplication) must be accompanied by action. So a person must strive to attain that which will benefit him in worldly and spiritual terms, and ask his Lord to make his efforts successful, and he should seek His help in that, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
“Strive for that which will benefit you and seek the help of Allah, and do not be helpless. If anything (bad) happens to you, do not say, ‘If only I had done such-and-such, then such-and-such would have happened.’ Rather you should say, ‘Qaddara Allah wa ma sha’a fa’ala (Allah decrees, and what He wills He does),’ for (the words) ‘If only’ open the door to the Shaytaan.” (Narrated by Muslim).
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) connected the matter of striving to achieve good things with the matter of seeking the help of Allah and not giving in to feelings of helplessness which are a harmful kind of laziness, and with the matter of accepting things in the past which are over and done with, and acknowledging that the will and decree of Allah will inevitably come to pass. He described matters as being of two types:
1 – Matters which a person may strive to achieve or to achieve whatever he can of them, or to ward them off or alleviate them. In such cases a person must strive and make the effort, and also seek the help of Allah.
2 – Matters where such is not possible, so he must have peace of mind, accept them and submit to Allah's will.
Undoubtedly paying attention to this principle will bring happiness and relieve worry and distress.

5 – One of the greatest means of feeling content and relaxed and of acquiring peace of mind is to remember Allah a great deal (dhikr). That has a great effect in bringing contentment and peace of mind, and relieving worry and distress. Allah says:
“Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest” (Quran, 13:28)
Remembering Allah (dhikr) has a great effect in achieving this aim because it has a special influence and because of the hope that it brings of reward.

6 – Another of the means of bringing happiness and relieving worry and distress is striving to eliminate the things that cause worry and to achieve the things that bring happiness. That may be done by forgetting about bad things in the past which cannot be changed, and realizing that dwelling on them is a waste of time. So a person must strive to stop himself from thinking of that, and also strive to stop himself from feeling anxious about the future and the things that he may imagine of poverty, fear and other bad things that he thinks may happen to him in the future. He should realize that the future is something unknown, he cannot know what good or bad things are going to happen to him. That is in the hand of the Almighty, the Most Wise, and all that His slaves can do is to strive to attain the good things and to ward off the bad things. A person should realize that if he diverts his thoughts from worrying about his future and puts his trust in his Lord to take care of his situation, and puts his mind at rest concerning that, if he does that, then his heart will be at peace and his situation will improve and he will be relieved of worry and anxiety.
One of the most effective ways of dealing with worries about the future is to recite this du’aa’ which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to recite:
“Allaahumma aslih li deeni alladhi huwa ‘ismatu amri, wa aslih li dunyaaya allati fiha ma’aashi, wa aslih li aakhirati allati ilayha ma’aadi, waj’al al-hayaata ziyaadatan li fi kulli khayr, wa’l-mawta raahatan li min kulli sharr (O Allah, correct my religious commitment which is the foundation of my life, and correct my worldly affairs in which is my livelihood, and grant me good in the Hereafter to which is my return. Make my life a means of accumulating good, and make death a respite for me from all evil).” (Narrated by Muslim, 2720)

And he said, “Allaahumma rahmataka arju fa la takilni ila nafsi tarfata ‘aynin wa aslih li sha’ni kullahu, laa ilaaha illa anta (O Allah, for Your mercy I hope, so do not abandon me to myself even for a moment. And correct all my affairs. There is no god but You).” (Narrated by Abu Dawood with a saheeh isnaad, no. 5090; classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Kalim al-Tayyib, p. 49)
If a person utters these du’aa’s, which ask that his spiritual and worldly affairs may be set right or corrected, with proper presence of mind and sincerity of intention, whilst striving to achieve that, Allah will grant him what he has prayed for, hoped for and striven for, and He will turn his worry into joy and happiness.

7 – If a person experiences anxiety and distress because of a disaster, then one of the most effective means of relieving himself of that is to think of the worst scenario to which that may lead, and try to accept that. When he has done that, then he should try to alleviate it as much as possible. By means of this acceptance and these efforts, he will relieve himself of his worries and distress, and instead of worrying he will strive to bring about good things and to deal with whatever he can of the bad things. If he is faced with things that cause fear or the possibility of sickness or poverty, then he should deal with that by striving to make himself accept that, or something even worse, with contentment, because by making himself accept the worst-case scenario, he lessens the impact of the thing and makes it seem less terrible, especially if he occupies himself with efforts to ward it off as much as he can. Thus as well as striving to achieve something good which will distract him from his worries about calamity, he will also renew his strength to resist bad things, and put his trust and reliance in Allah. Undoubtedly these matters are of great benefit in attaining happiness and peace of mind, as well as bringing the hope of reward in this world and in the Hereafter. This is something which is well known from the experience of many who have tried it.

8 – Steadfastness of heart and not being disturbed about the imaginary things that bad thoughts may bring to mind. For when a person gives in to his imagination and lets his mind be disturbed by these thoughts, such as fear of disease and the like, or anger and confusion stirred up by some grievous matter, or the expectation of bad things and the loss of good things, that will fill him with worries, distress, mental and physical illness and nervous breakdowns, which will have a bad effect on him and which causes a great deal of harm, as many people have seen. But when a person depends on Allah and puts his trust in Him, and does not give in to his imagination or let bad thoughts overwhelm him, and he relies on Allah and has hope of His bounty, that wards off his worries and distress, and relieves him of a great deal of mental and physical sickness. It gives indescribable strength, comfort and happiness to the heart. How many hospitals are filled with the mentally sick victims of illusions and harmful imagination; how often have these things had an effect upon the hearts of many strong people, let alone the weak ones; how often have they led to foolishness and insanity.
It should be noted that your life will follow your train of thought. If your thoughts are of things that will bring you benefit in your spiritual or worldly affairs, then your life will be good and happy. Otherwise it will be the opposite.
The person who is safe from all of that is the one who is protected by Allah and helped by Him to strive to achieve that which will benefit and strengthen the heart and ward off anxiety. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And whosoever puts his trust in Allah, then He will suffice him” (Quran, 65:3)
i.e., He will be sufficient for all that is worrying him in his spiritual and worldly affairs. The one who puts his trust in Allah will have strength in his heart and will not be affected by anything he imagines or be disturbed by events, because he knows that these are the result of vulnerable human nature and of weakness and fear that have no basis. He also knows that Allah has guaranteed complete sufficiency to those who put their trust in Him. So he trusts in Allah and finds peace of mind in His promise, and thus his worry and anxiety are dispelled; hardship is turned to ease, sadness is turned to joy, fear is turned to peace. We ask Allah to keep us safe and sound, and to bless us with strength and steadfastness of heart, and complete trust, for Allah has guaranteed all good things to those who put their trust in Him, and has guaranteed to ward off all bad and harmful things from them.
If bad things happen or there is the fear of such, then you should count the many blessings that you are still enjoying, both spiritual and worldly, and compare them with the bad things that have happened, for when you compare them you will see the many blessings that you are enjoying, and this will make the bad things appear less serious.
See al-Wasaa’il al-Mufeedah li’l-Hayaat al-Sa’eedah by Shatkh ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Sa’di
Ibn al-Qayyim summed fifteen ways through which Allah may dispel worries and regret. These are as follows:
1- Tawheed al-Ruboobiyyah (belief in the Oneness of Divine Lordship)
2- Tawheed al-Uloohiyyah (belief in the Oneness of the Divine nature)
3- Tawheed of knowledge and belief (i.e., Tawheed al-Asma’ wa’l_Sifaat, belief in the Oneness of the Divine names and attributes)
4- Thinking of Allah as being above doing any injustice to His slaves, and above punishing anyone for no cause on the part of the slave that would require such punishment.
5- The person’s acknowledging that he is the one who has done wrong.
6- Beseeching Allah by means of the things that are most beloved to Him, which are His names and attributes. Two of His names that encompass the meanings of all other names and attributes are al-Hayy (the Ever-Living) and al-Qayyoom (the Eternal).
7- Seeking the help of Allah Alone.
8- Affirming one's hope in Him.
9- Truly putting one’s trust in Him and leaving matters to Him, acknowledging that one's forelock is in His hand and that He does as He wills, that His will is forever executed and that He is just in all that He decrees.
10- Letting one's heart wander in the garden of the Qur’aan, seeking consolation in it from every calamity, seeking healing in it from all diseases of the heart, so that it will bring comfort to his grief and healing for his worries and distress.
11- Seeking forgiveness.
12- Repentance.
13- Jihad.
14- Salah (prayer).
15- Declaring that he has no power and no strength, and leaving matters to the One in Whose hand they are.
We ask Allah to keep us safe and sound from worries and to relieve us of distress and anxiety, for He is the All-Hearing, Ever-Responsive, and He is the Ever-Living, Eternal.
See Alhomoom – Dealing with Worries and Stress, in the Books section of this site.
And Allah knows best. May Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions.
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid

Why Islam prohibits eating the flesh of swine?

Eight Medical Reasons to Prohibit Swine Flesh

The answer to this question has remained debatable among Muslims and those of other religions who eat the flesh of swine and breed pigs, as they were unconvinced of the reasons for which Islam forbade eating the flesh of swine until they were panic-stricken by the epidemic outbreak of swine flu that overwhelmed the world.
Let Dr. Hassaan Mustafa, a member of the World Union of Health in Canada, enumerate to us the diseases transmitted by the flesh of swine to man:

1. The pig cannot get rid of the entire quantity of uric acid that is formed in its body, given that it is the main element of urine. It gets rid of only 2% and 98% remains in its flesh. That simply means that the flesh of swine is saturated with the main element of urine, which the bodies of all living beings on the surface of the earth endeavor to get rid of through the urinary system, due to the poisonous substances it contains. This is why those who eat the flesh of swine have high rates of arthritis, due to the high rate of uric acid in their blood.

2. The flesh of swine is hard to digest; and it takes four complete hours in order to be digested, given that the amount of digested protein that is absorbed after that process does not exceed 14%. For this reason, the flesh of swine is nutritiously bad and unworthy of the money paid for it, given that the flesh of swine, in many countries, is more expensive than the flesh of other animals whose flesh is edible with no similar problems.

3. The flesh of swine contains high rates of the growth hormone, which accelerates the proliferation of cancer cells if there are any.

4. The fat of swine is hard to digest and emulsify in the digestive system. The greatest portion of it is formed of harmful saturated fats. It is absorbed from the intestines into the blood in the form of huge molecules, that might possibly sediment on the walls of blood vessels and block them, causing blood clot, let alone sclerosis and noticeable high rates of cholesterol and saturated fats (triglycerides) in the blood.

5. The fat of swine sediments in the human body in the same place it comes from in the pig; and this is indeed strange!!! If the fat comes from the belly of the pig, it would settle in the belly of the person who eats it. In this way, the fat of swine helps distort the human body.

6. Eating the flesh of swine paves the way for many ailments and skin problems and diseases, like pimples, sores, fat sacks, and itching, for it contains a high rate of histamine.

7. Pigs and their flesh are the source of more than 57 parasitic, germ-caused and virus-caused diseases transmitted to man, of which a mention may be made of Trichinella, from which the flesh of swine could hardly be free. Trichinella parasites remain in the muscles of man, causing severe pains that might probably paralyze their movement. They might also remain in the diaphragm, causing breathlessness and consequently death. Moreover, those parasites might remain for more than thirty years in the muscles after encasing themselves in a calcic sac.
It is quite interesting to know that an American researcher published on the Archives of Internal Medicine website in 11/6/2001 that the renowned German musician Mozart (d.1791) likely died because of eating uncooked flesh of swine 44 days before the beginning of his 15-day fatal ailment. He was infected by Trichinella, which had not yet been known at that time.

8. The body of the pig in itself is regarded as a biological factory that has the potential to produce virus-caused diseases and epidemics that might affect man due to the genetic resemblance of pig cells to those of man. The world pandemic called swine flu which we are witnessing now is a result of the metamorphosis and merging of the viruses of bird flu, human flu and swine flu, together inside the body of the pig. They have been metamorphosed into a new deadly virus that is transferred from pigs to people and from man to man. In Canada, a case has been recently recorded where that disease was transmitted from an infected person to a herd of pigs, thus making that pandemic enter a dangerous integrated cycle.

The month of Sha’baan - I

Sha’baan is the name of the (eighth) month, and it is so called because in this month the Arabs used to disperse (tasha’aba) in search of water, or it was said that they dispersed to carry out raids and forays. Or it was said that it is so called because it sha’aba (branches out or emerges) i.e., it appears between the months of Rajab and Ramadhaan.

‘Aa’ishah said: “The Messenger used to fast until we thought he would never break his fast, and not fast until we thought he would never fast. I never saw the Messenger of Allaah fasting for an entire month except in Ramadhaan, and I never saw him fast more than he did in Sha’baan.” [Al-Bukhaari and Muslim]

It was reported in the books of the Imaams Al-Bukhaari and Muslim that Ibn ‘Abbaas said: “The Messenger of Allaah did not fast any entire month apart from Ramadhaan.”

Ibn ‘Abbaas regarded it as disliked to fast any entire month apart from Ramadhaan. Ibn Hajar said: “He observed more voluntary fasts in Sha’baan than in any other month, and he used to fast most of Sha’baan.”

Usaamah Ibn Zayd said: “I said: ‘O Messenger of Allaah, I do not see you fasting in any other month like you fast in Sha’baan.’ He said: ‘That is a month to which people do not pay attention, between Rajab and Ramadhaan, and it is a month in which deeds are lifted up to the Lord of the Worlds. I like for my deeds to be lifted up when I am fasting.’” [An-Nasaa'ee]

Ibn Rajab said: “Fasting in Sha’baan is better than fasting in the Sacred Months, and the best of voluntary fasts are those that are (observed in the months) closest to Ramadhaan, before or after. The status of these fasts is like that of Al-Sunan Al-Rawaatib (optional prayers which the Prophet continued to perform all the time) which are done before and after obligatory prayers and which make up for any shortfall in the number of obligatory prayers. The same applies to fasts observed before and after Ramadhaan. Just as Al-Sunan Al-Rawaatib are better than other kinds of voluntary prayers, so fasts observed (in the months) before and after Ramadhaan are better than fasts at other times.

The phrase “Sha’baan is a month to which people do not pay attention, between Rajab and Ramadaan” indicates that because it comes between two important months, the sacred month of Rajab and the month of Ramadhaan, people are preoccupied with those two months and they do not pay attention to Sha’baan. Many people think that fasting in Rajab is better than fasting in Sha’baan, because Rajab is one of the Sacred Months, but this is not the case.

In the narration quoted above there is an indication that even though certain times, places and people may be commonly thought to posses a particular virtue, there may be others that are better than them.

It also indicates that it is commendable to make good use of the times when people tend to be negligent, by doing acts of worship. A group of the Salaf (predecessors) used to fill the time between Maghrib (sunset) and ‘Ishaa’ (evening) with prayer, saying that it was a time when many people were negligent. Another example is the remembrance of Allaah (Thikr) in the marketplace, because this means one is remembering Him in a place where people tend to be negligent. There are a number of benefits that come from making good use of times when people are often negligent, and using these times for worship, including the following:

Doing righteous deeds at times when people are distracted and negligent is more difficult. One of the indications of how virtuous a deed is, is how difficult it is: if everyone is doing a certain action, it is easy, but if most people are negligent, this makes it more difficult for those who do remember Allaah.

The Prophet said: “Worship at times of tribulation (Fitnah) is like Hijrah to me.” [Muslim] The phrase “worship at times of tribulation” refers to times of upheavals and trials, when people follow their own desires, and those who adhere to Islam are doing something difficult.

The scholars differed as to the reasons why the Prophet fasted so much in Sha’baan. Their various opinions were as follows:

That he had been unable to fast three days out of every month because he was travelling or for some other reason, so he made them all up together in Sha’baan. When the Prophet began to do some voluntary action, he would persist in it, and if he missed it, he would make it up later.
It was said that his wives used to make up the days that they missed of Ramadhaan in Sha’baan, so he used to fast because of that. This is the opposite of what was reported from ‘Aa’ishah that she used to delay making up days that she had missed in Ramadhaan until Sha’baan because she was too busy with the Messenger of Allaah to fast.
It was said that it was because this is a month which people do not pay attention to. This is the most correct view, because of the narration quoted above, in which he says: “That is a month to which people do not pay attention, between Rajab and Ramadhaan.” [An-Nasaa'ee]
When Sha’baan began, if the Prophet still had some voluntary fasts outstanding that he had not fasted, he would make them up during Sha’baan so that his voluntary fasts would be complete before Ramadhaan came. Similarly, if he had missed some Sunnah prayers or he had missed Qiyaam Al-Layl (the optional night prayer), he would make it up. ‘Aa’ishah used to make the most of this opportunity to make up any obligatory Ramadhaan fasts that she had missed because of menstruation; during other months she was too busy with the Prophet to fast.