₦airaland Forum

How to be successful in life

by Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid


How to obtain success and prosperity in this world and hereafter.What kind of success or prosperity that islam want the ummah islam gain in this world.

Praise be to Allaah.

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. Allaah 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)”

[al-Nahl 16:97]

Allaah 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 Allaah – 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 Allaah. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah 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 Allaah 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 Allaah 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 Allaah 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. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“There is no good in most of their secret talks save (in) him who orders Sadaqah (charity in Allaah’s Cause), or Ma‘roof (Islamic Monotheism and all the good and righteous deeds which Allaah has ordained), or conciliation between mankind; and he who does this, seeking the good Pleasure of Allaah, We shall give him a great reward”


[al-Nisa’ 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 Allaah 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 Allaah be upon him) sought refuge with Allaah 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 Allaah 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 Allaah 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 Allaah be upon him) said: “Strive for that which will benefit you and seek the help of Allaah, 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 Allaah wa ma sha’a fa’ala (Allaah 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 Allaah be upon him) connected the matter of striving to achieve good things with the matter of seeking the help of Allaah 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 Allaah 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 Allaah.

2 – Matters where such is not possible, so he must have peace of mind, accept them and submit to Allaah’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 Allaah a great deal (dhikr). That has a great effect in bringing contentment and peace of mind, and relieving worry and distress. Allaah says:

“verily, in the remembrance of Allaah do hearts find rest”

[al-Ra’d 13:28]

Part 2 Next Week inshAllah, Final Part


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Emure

Idanre

Udi

FunmyKemmy:
A ko le fi we ti adigbonanku


A fi ase gbe ojo, ,

A fi ase gbe ojo, ntan ara e je.


Bi asedanu ko ba ti nii po ju,____________________

Quote
That woman probably committed a traffic offence and driving off is sign of arrogance a behavior she would drop as soon as she passes the NDLEA post at MMA if she is travelling out of Naija.


umm ok
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bawomolo:

Thanks God, you have one Ok. We are agreeing little by little. lol

bawomolo:
no LAPD officer would throw yansh over bonnet  

LAPD have a better pedigree than Nigerian police officers. do you think Americans would have respect for cops if they were asking for 5 dollar bribes?  The Nigerian police sold themselves out.

LAPD, Scotland yard M15, KGB and the rest are performing based on enviroment they are. It is on record the Nigerian Police like other Nigerians too perform excellently when assigned role in United Nations all over the world.

You can continue to put down what is yours, you would get the results.

All I know is that anywhere in the world, when police stops you, you stop.  You do not even come out of your car until told to do so in the USA or you may be shot.

That woman probably committed a traffic offence and driving off is sign of arrogance a behavior she would drop as soon as she passes the NDLEA post at MMA if she is travelling out of Naija.

Ijabe

Ikoyi

Odo Iye

Orooruwo

spikedcylinder:
Are you in the Nigerian Police?

I am not and do not have to be to say what I think is the truth.

North Carolina

Ilugun

Ewvreni

Ago-are

1. Are you sure about Singapore police officers being poverty ridden?
2. Are you also sure about Nigerian police officers putting their lives on the line for an average Nigerian?

I doubt most Nigerians would agree with your point (I mean point number 2).
[quote][/quote]I am not sure of Singapore or any other pore for that matter, but beleive it or not precense of police in town deters small small criminals. If police go on strike I would not leave my house.

argent:
The lady should have stopped, just imagine if it was those trigger happy policemen.

See as the police fall yakata for ground, serves her right.

While not holding brief for police, because most of them do not deserve that anyway, that lady should have stopped. The guy who posted the pictures could shed more light on the full story that led to this too.  You must have committed an offence before police, particularly the ones running traffic stops you. They do not just stop everyone. Even the so called extortionist focus on commercial drivers only, they largely let private drivers be, unless they are on stop and search or you commit an offence. If she is abroad would she dare move an inch, a cop was pulling her aside.
If she killed that policelady she would have known the gravity of her offence.

Ajilete

Eyele fi esin re pamo; o nse eleya adie

E pari eyi:

Ai ni ora ogongo,________________________

E pari eyi:

  Aare npe o o un da ifa,_____________________

Did you notice the driver is a woman, trying to kill another woman.!!!! What a shame on her.

Check this saying:

Agosasa

Abua

epi:
@Poster

I pray and sincerely hope you are joking. 

Last December a student posted a suicide note on My-Space and we were all laughing about it. He was found dead three days later.  Personally, I find suicide jokes to be insensitive and tasteless.

THERE IS NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT SUICIDE

I do not know what you are going through but my thoughts and prayers are with you.

1 love

Epi, dis one na Naija guy, we no dey die like that, who in go take am resemble. You no check wetin we done survive  for that place called Naija, abegi,

Oslo

Ewekoro

Emenike

Umudike

December 2009 is too far, if you would not be available 2010 the earlier the better. Since you,ve lost all hope on earth maybe you would get some seniority in hell so hurry up. Take sleeping tablet overdose before the rat poison for smooth sail. Extend our greetings to Fela, Abiola, Ken Saro Wiwa, Stella Obasanjo et al. We will not miss you!!!!!!!!!! Adeu Amigo, Sun re o.