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   From: bv8bv8bv8@gmail.com   
      
   ISLAM and the AIM of LIFE   
   What is your purpose in life? What is the rationale behind our life?   
   Why do we live in this life? These questions frequently intrigue   
   people who try to find accurate answers.   
   People provide different answers to these questions. Some people   
   believe the purpose of life is to accumulate wealth. But one may   
   wonder: What is the purpose of life after one has collected colossal   
   amounts of money? What then? What will the purpose be once money is   
   gathered? If the purpose of life is to gain money, there will be no   
   purpose after becoming wealthy. And in fact, here lies the problem of   
   some disbelievers or misbelievers at some stage of their life, when   
   collecting money is the target of their life. When they have collected   
   the money they dreamt of, their life loses its purpose. They suffer   
   from the panic of nothingness and they live in tension and   
   restlessness.   
   Can Wealth Be an Aim?   
   We often hear of a millionaire committing suicide, sometimes, not the   
   millionaire himself but his wife, son, or daughter. The question that   
   poses itself is: Can wealth bring happiness to one’s life? In most   
   cases the answer is NO. Is the purpose of collecting wealth a standing   
   purpose? As we know, the five-year old child does not look for wealth:   
   a toy for him is equal to a million dollars. The eighteen-year old   
   adolescent does not dream of wealth because he is busy with more   
   important things. The ninety-year old man does not care about money;   
   he is worried more about his health. This proves that wealth cannot be   
   a standing purpose in all the stages of the individual's life.   
   Wealth can do little to bring happiness to a disbeliever, because he/   
   she is not sure about his fate. A disbeliever does not know the   
   purpose of life. And if he has a purpose, this purpose is doomed to be   
   temporary or self destructive.   
   What is the use of wealth to a disbeliever if he feels scared of the   
   end and skeptical of everything. A disbeliever may gain a lot of   
   money, but will surely lose himself.   
   Worshipping Allah as an Aim   
   On the contrary, faith in Allah gives the believer the purpose of life   
   that he needs. In Islam, the purpose of life is to worship Allah. The   
   term "Worship" covers all acts of obedience to Allah.   
   The Islamic purpose of life is a standing purpose. The true Muslim   
   sticks to this purpose throughout all the stages of his life, whether   
   he is a child, adolescent, adult, or an old man.   
   Worshipping Allah makes life purposeful and meaningful, especially   
   within the framework of Islam. According to Islam this worldly life is   
   just a short stage of our life. Then there is the other life. The   
   boundary between the first and second life is the death stage, which   
   is a transitory stage to the second life. The type of life in the   
   second stage a person deserves depends on his deeds in the first life.   
   At the end of the death stage comes the day of judgment. On this day,   
   Allah rewards or punishes people according to their deeds in the first   
   life.   
   The First Life as an Examination   
   So, Islam looks at the first life as an examination of man. The death   
   stage is similar to a rest period after the test, i. e. after the   
   first life. The Day of Judgment is similar to the day of announcing   
   the results of the examinees. The second life is the time when each   
   examinee enjoys or suffers from the outcome of his behavior during the   
   test period.   
   In Islam, the line of life is clear, simple, and logical: the first   
   life, death, the Day of Judgment, and then the second life. With this   
   clear line of life, the Muslim has a clear purpose in life. The Muslim   
   knows he is created by Allah. Muslims know they are going to spend   
   some years in this first life, during which they have to obey God,   
   because God will question them and hold them responsible for their   
   public or private deeds, because Allah knows about all the deeds of   
   all people. The Muslim knows that his deeds in the first life will   
   determine the type of second life they will live in. The Muslim knows   
   that this first life is a very short one, one hundred years, more or   
   less, whereas the second life is an eternal one.   
   The Eternity of the Second Life   
   The concept of the eternity of the second life has a tremendous effect   
   on a Muslims during their first life, because Muslims believe that   
   their first life determines the shape of their second life. In   
   addition, this determines the shape of their second life and this   
   determination will be through the Judgment of Allah, the All just and   
   Almighty.   
   With this belief in the second life and the Day of Judgment, the   
   Muslim's life becomes purposeful and meaningful. Moreover, the   
   Muslim's standing purpose is to go to Paradise in the second life.   
   In other words, the Muslim's permanent purpose is to obey Allah, to   
   submit to Allah, to carry out His orders, and to keep in continues   
   contact with Him through prayers (five times a day), through fasting   
   (one month a year), through charity (as often as possible), and   
   through pilgrimage (once in one's life).   
   The Need for a Permanent Purpose   
   Disbelievers have purposes in their lives such as collecting money and   
   property, indulging in sex, eating, and dancing. But all these   
   purposes are transient and passing ones. All these purposes come and   
   go, go up and down. Money comes and goes. Health comes and goes.   
   Sexual activities cannot continue forever. All these lusts for money,   
   food and sex cannot answer the individual's questions: so what? Then   
   What?   
   However, Islam saves Muslims from the trouble of asking the question,   
   because Islam makes it clear, from the very beginning, that the   
   permanent purpose of the Muslim in this life is to obey Allah in order   
   to go to Paradise in the second life.   
   We should know that the only way for our salvation in this life and in   
   the hereafter is to know our Lord who created us, believe in Him, and   
   worship Him alone.   
   We should also know our Prophet whom Allah had sent to all mankind,   
   believe in Him and follow Him. We should, know the religion of truth   
   which our Lord has commanded us to believe in, and practice it …   
   Those in search of truth   
   Who have an open mind and heart,   
   Islamic Education Foundation   
   Welcome You.   
   Objectives: -   
   To Convey the message of Islam   
   To Educate Muslims about Islam   
   To keep in close contact with new Muslims.   
   Activities:   
   Offering Courses and presenting lectures about Islam in several   
   languages.   
   Teaching Islam and Arabic.   
   Teaching new Muslims to receive the Holy Quran.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)