Part 1: The Concept of Happiness in Islam

FRIDAY KHUTBAH AT IIUM MOSQUE ON THE 6TH NOV 2009
Delivered by:
Dr Mohd Farid Mohd Shahran

Professors, Brothers and sisters in Islam,
As time goes by, we are over and over again witnessing around us, events, occurrences and all sorts of happenings took place in our life. Since they are so common and frequent to us we do not even have a chance to ponder upon the deeper meaning behind these events. They passed in front of us just like series of different episodes of a long story played by human being as the main actors.

There are many scenes of this long story. One scene presents us a setting where people are rushing hastily to their working place everyday in order to earn some money to sustain their living. For the poor among them, it is really a matter of survival. No money means no food. As for the rich, the matter is slightly different. The question is not what we are going to eat today but rather who are we going to eat today.

At another scene there are people struggling with the huge ammunition and weapons fighting under the name of their nation and land, to uphold the dignity of their state. What in their mind is only ways and strategies to kill the enemy. Life and death are at their fingertips. They are playing the role the angel Izrail to take life of human only by pressing one button or trigger.

The third scene takes place at the remote village of one of the so called developed country where science and technology as the new religion has replaced the old superstitions and biblical metaphysical beliefs. At one corner of the village a group of people assembled in a large hall to hear the sermons from their leader whom they also believed as the new Christ who come to save the mankind. They later burned themselves in the hall after police surrounded the place.

There is a fourth scene of the episodes. In a big stadium built from the charity of the people, a huge crowd are shouting and screaming to their idolized football teams. As the game were about to finish, the two big crowd ended up by fighting each other and resulted great casualties.

Brothers in Islam, the episodes which I purposely mentioned before are just some lucid examples of apparent phenomena which took place in our world today. If we further analyse the very final purpose of all these occurrences, we will notice that, whatever these people are doing, it is only one definite thing they are finally searching for, that is the ultimate happiness in life. The material wealth gained by the poor and the rich are definitely just means to achieve happiness. The political conflict, the war between nation states, the struggle for power are finally aimed at attaining true happiness. Even the spreading of cult movements scattered all over the world are none other than a manifestation of a physical or psychological struggle of man to reach the ultimate satisfaction and happiness in their life. So much so that even if we ask our own self for whatever purpose some of us came all the way from our distant countries to this university, it is none other to seek knowledge which will later bring us a higher state of living and happiness in this world. Happiness is indeed the end in itself not a mean to an end.

The most basic question which we would like to ask is, are all these people mentioned before really happy? What really makes happiness, happiness? And as Muslims, what Islam has to say about happiness?
Throughout the ages, the concept of happiness has been widely discussed by the great thinkers of the past oriental or occidental. The Greek philosophers have stated in clear a term that the ultimate happiness will take place through what they called virtues. They unanimously agreed that there are four cardinal virtues, namely temperance, courage, wisdom and justice. Thus a happy person is the one who possessed these cardinal virtues in their selves.

Unfortunately, happiness in the context of modern western man is never been defined in a definite manner. It has continuously changed depending of which philosophical school or line of thinking these definitions are derived from. The utilitarians will define happiness based on their practical purposes. The hedonistic school will define happiness based on pleasure and pain. The homosexuals will on the other hand view happiness as what satisfy their animalistic instincts. All these groups will view happiness based on their biased subjective mind. Happiness has become a relative thing and the western man will never be happy with whatever definition of happiness given.

What is the view of the Quran on happiness? In the Quran happiness is termed by the word sa’adah. Whenever the term sa’adah mentioned in the Quran, it is always related into two conditions; the happiness in the hereafter (ukhrawiyyah) and happiness in the present world. For a Muslim, the ultimate happiness is the happiness in the hereafter as mentioned by God in Surah Hud (11:108):
‘And those who are happy shall be in the Garden; they will dwell therein o long as the heaven and the earth endure, except as our Lord will, a gift without break’

This sa’adah refers to the happiness which is everlasting, the highest of which is to see God in the hereafter which is promised to those who inwardly have lived in a willing submission and conscious obedience of God’s commands and prohibitions. This definitely does not mean that a Muslim cannot attain happiness in this world. To be happy in this world is to prepare one self for the ultimate happiness in the hereafter by having a strong faith and firm belief in God. It is a state of spiritual tranquillity which is everlasting, permanent and stable in one’s heart.

It is deep feeling of secure and becoming free from fear, not the fear from God but the fear of the unknown , of the utter loneliness, and more importantly free from the fear of death and what lie beyond death. This is exactly what is meant by all the good virtues in Islam such as temperance (‘iffah), abstinence (wara’), piety (taqwa), truthfulness (sidq). All these religious virtues nevertheless should be preceded by the prior condition of consciousness in the soul of truth which is termed by the Quran as yaqin. There are three level of certainty mentioned by the Quran, ‘ilm al-yaqin, ‘ain al-yaqin and haqq al-yaqin.

to be continued...