A person with this illness in his heart wants and desires a long life so that he may derive all the pleasures, joys and enjoyments. Desiring a long life for the purpose of performing worships is not considered as a worldly ambition. Those who have worldly ambitions will not perform their worships within their prescribed times. They will not make tawba (repentance). Their hearts are impenetrable. They don’t remember death. Preaching and advice will not have any effect on them. The following hadith-i-sharifs [1] communicate: “Remember often the things that will put an end to pleasures,” and “If animals knew what you know about the happenings of life after death, you wouldn’t find any well fed animal,” and “Anyone who remembers death constantly day and night will accompany martyrs on the Day of Gathering ‘Qiyamat’.” A person who has worldly ambitions (tul-i amal) always thinks of how to obtain worldly possessions and ranks and wastes his life to obtain them. He forgets about the next world and preoccupies himself with pleasures and enjoyments. Striving to earn enough money to obtain food stuffs which are necessary to support one’s family members for a duration of one year is not considered as “tul-i amal”. This one year’s food is called “hawayij-i ’asliyya” and is considered among the things that are necessary to support life. Therefore, it is not included in the calculation of “nisab” for obligatory almsgiving. Anyone having only this much money is not considered rich. A bachelor who does not have this much money may store 40 days’ food stuff. Storing more than this amount causes him to lose his trust (tawakkul) in Allahu ta’ala. The following hadith-i-sharifs communicate: “The best among the human beings is the one who lives a long life and performs good deeds,” and “The worst among the human beings is the one who lives a long life and performs evil deeds,” and “Do not wish or ask to die. Punishments in the grave are very severe. Leading a long life spent in obedience to Islam’s injunctions is a great fortune.” and “The hair of a human being, which becomes white while the owner of that hair ages in the way of Islam, will be nur (light) on the Day of Gathering ‘Qiyamat’.”
Causes of worldly ambitions are love and attachment to worldly pleasures and abandonment of the thought of death and a short-sighted trust in youth and health. One should eliminate these causes to get rid of worldly ambitions. Death might come any moment and health or youth cannot stop the forthcoming death. According to statistics the number of deaths among young people is greater than that among older ones. It is a frequent event that many ailing people recover while many a healthy person dies all of a sudden with no apparent reason. One should learn about the disastrous effects of having worldly ambitions and benefits of remembrance of death. Rasulullah ‘sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sal-lam’ states in a hadith-i-sharif: “Remember death often! Remembrance of death holds you back from sinning and also holds you back from doing those actions which would be harmful for the life after death.”
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GLOSSARY
[1] hadith (sharif): i) a saying of the Prophet (‘alaihi ‘s-salam).; al-Hadith ash-sharif: all the hadiths as a whole; ii) ‘ilm al-hadith; iii) Books of the hadith ash-sharif. iv) Al-hadith al-qudsi, as-sahih, al-hasan: kinds of hadiths (for which, see Endless Bliss, II).
Causes of worldly ambitions are love and attachment to worldly pleasures and abandonment of the thought of death and a short-sighted trust in youth and health. One should eliminate these causes to get rid of worldly ambitions. Death might come any moment and health or youth cannot stop the forthcoming death. According to statistics the number of deaths among young people is greater than that among older ones. It is a frequent event that many ailing people recover while many a healthy person dies all of a sudden with no apparent reason. One should learn about the disastrous effects of having worldly ambitions and benefits of remembrance of death. Rasulullah ‘sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sal-lam’ states in a hadith-i-sharif: “Remember death often! Remembrance of death holds you back from sinning and also holds you back from doing those actions which would be harmful for the life after death.”
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GLOSSARY
[1] hadith (sharif): i) a saying of the Prophet (‘alaihi ‘s-salam).; al-Hadith ash-sharif: all the hadiths as a whole; ii) ‘ilm al-hadith; iii) Books of the hadith ash-sharif. iv) Al-hadith al-qudsi, as-sahih, al-hasan: kinds of hadiths (for which, see Endless Bliss, II).
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