{"id":13061,"date":"2016-02-16T05:11:15","date_gmt":"2016-02-16T05:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/new\/?p=13061"},"modified":"2016-02-16T05:11:15","modified_gmt":"2016-02-16T05:11:15","slug":"the-ultimate-goal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/?p=13061","title":{"rendered":"The Ultimate Goal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">How would you respond to the following question:\u00a0<em>What is your ultimate goal in life?<\/em>\u00a0Would any of the following responses ever be heard?:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>To become super-rich<\/li>\n<li>To keep expanding one\u2019s business<\/li>\n<li>To have the best comforts and luxuries<\/li>\n<li>To acquire the highest qualifications in one\u2019s field<\/li>\n<li>To build one\u2019s dream home or to own the smartest car<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Never!<\/em>\u00a0\u2026 A thousand times\u00a0<em>never<\/em>! We are\u00a0<em>Mu\u2019mineen<\/em>\u00a0(Believers). Our\u00a0<strong>ultimate goal<\/strong>\u00a0can never be such mundane things. A Mu\u2019min\u2019s ultimate goal can only be that which Allah Ta\u2019ala has himself declared:\u00a0<strong><em>\u201cAnd the Pleasure of Allah is the greatest\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>(S9:72). Since the pleasure of Allah Ta\u2019ala is the ultimate goal, whatever is necessary in order to acquire His pleasure must be happily undertaken while anything that becomes an obstacle in the path of obtaining His pleasure must be sacrificed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The great ibadah of\u00a0<em>Qurbani<\/em>\u00a0(sacrificing an animal on the occasion of<em>\u00a0Eidul-Adha<\/em>) teaches us exactly this lesson. The love for one\u2019s child is more than the love for everything in the world. One\u2019s last cent will be spent to save the life of one\u2019s child. Yet when Hazrath Ibrahim (A.S.) was commanded to slaughter his son, he set out to fulfil the command in order to acquire the pleasure of Allah Ta\u2019ala. Qurbani is a commemoration of this great spirit of sacrifice. It is a reminder of the fundamental lesson that the pleasure of Allah Ta\u2019ala is the ultimate goal and nothing must come in the way of attaining it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>FOR ALLAH TA\u2019ALA ALONE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In order to acquire the pleasure of Allah Ta\u2019ala, we must be guided by His commandments and by the noble example of our beloved Rasul (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam). Everything must be\u00a0<strong>for Allah Ta&#8217;ala alone<\/strong>, as commanded in the Glorious Qur\u2019an:\u00a0<strong><em>\u201cSay, verily my salaah, my acts of worship, my living and my dying are for Allah, the Rabb (Nurturer) of the universe\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(S6:162). To understand this fundamental concept, consider the following\u00a0\u00a0examples:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">BUSINESS: If one engages in business, it must be for the sake of Allah Ta\u2019ala alone \u2013 that is to fulfil His command to acquire halaal sustenance and to take care of the needs of one\u2019s family. Hence when the business is\u00a0<strong>for Allah alone<\/strong>, the business must stop for\u00a0<em>salaah<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 salaah must not be put on hold for business. Likewise the most lucrative deal must be sacrificed if it entails any haraam element. All the laws of\u00a0<em>Shariah<\/em>\u00a0pertaining to business must be upheld, since the business is\u00a0<strong>for Allah alone<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>LEAST EXPENSES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">NIKAH: Nikah is a great ibadah. One who gets married has completed half his Imaan. Nikah is also\u00a0<strong>for Allah Ta&#8217;ala alone<\/strong>. Therefore it will be done in a manner that earns His pleasure. One of the most fundamental aspects to earn His pleasure in Nikah is adopting simplicity. Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) has declared:<strong><em>\u00a0\u201cThe most blessed Nikah is wherein the least expenses were incurred\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(Mishkaat). Thus if a Nikah is\u00a0<strong>for Allah alone<\/strong>\u00a0it will be a simple affair, not a lavish function. Thousands of rands will not be wasted on \u201cdeco.\u201d Intermingling of males and females, music and other\u00a0<em>haraam<\/em>\u00a0activities will never take place. Let alone<em>\u00a0haraam<\/em>\u00a0activities, nothing will be done merely to impress people \u2013 since it is\u00a0<strong>for Allah Ta&#8217;ala alone<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">DRESSING: One\u2019s dressing is also\u00a0<strong>for Allah Ta&#8217;ala alone<\/strong>. Thus the choice of clothes must conform to the Qur\u2019an and Sunnah. Tight-fitting, revealing or western-style garments must never be worn, nor must the brand culture be followed. One must never dress to impress people (except the wife dressing for her husband) since Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) has declared:\u00a0<strong><em>\u201cThe one\u00a0who wears clothing to impress people, Allah Ta\u2019ala will clothe him in garments of disgrace on the day of Qiyamah.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GONE TO WASTE SERVING DEEN:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The primary objective of our existence on earth is to worship Allah Ta\u2019ala and to serve His Deen. It is obvious that serving Deen must be\u00a0for Allah Ta&#8217;ala alone\u00a0or else it will be rejected in His court. Therefore, one will ensure that the manner of serving Deen that one has adopted is pleasing to Allah Ta\u2019ala. Hence transgressing the laws of Shariah to \u201cserve\u201d Deen totally contradicts the objective of working\u00a0for Allah Ta&#8217;ala alone. The Qur\u2019an describes such people as<em>\u00a0\u201c\u2026 those whose efforts in the world have gone to waste, whereas they thought they were doing great acts\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(S18:103). Thus if our service to Deen is\u00a0for Allah Ta&#8217;ala alone, it must be done in conformance to Deen. These are merely some examples. Every aspect of our life must be scrutinized in the same way. Is it for Allah Ta\u2019ala alone &#8230; or is it for my ego, status, position, power, name and fame or for any other ulterior motive.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>FULL OF BARAKAH<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Whatever is\u00a0for Allah Ta&#8217;ala only\u00a0is full of barakah and will be accepted in the court of Allah Ta\u2019ala. The benefits of such actions are received in this world and the unimaginable rewards await one in the Hereafter, where Allah Ta\u2019ala will manifest His total pleasure.\u00a0<em>That<\/em>\u00a0is the ultimate goal.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13061"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13062,"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13061\/revisions\/13062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}