The year\n2021 will be welcomed in a few days\u2019, and most will be greeting others with “Happy\nNew Year!” just as at the start of 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The word\n“happy” is perhaps one of the most uttered words on earth. Unfortunately,\nmany have neither really understood its true meaning nor its essence. From time\nimmemorial, beginning with the earliest civilisations on earth, be they Western\nGreek philosophers or the people of Eastern Mesopotamia, they all wanted and\naspired to attain happiness in their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a\npractical religion that is suitable for all times, Islam provides a clear\nconcept of happiness in accordance with human nature. The problem with most\nideologies, philosophies or cultural religions of today is the inability to\nfully understand the true and real nature of man. In consequence, the pursuit\nof happiness is ultimately in vain and missed. The nature of man is grasped\nthrough the scientific-empirical method, or sociological or psychological\ndiscoveries which fail to fathom the existence of another aspect of the human\nnature which is the spirit. Only religious scholars are those who usually\nbelieve in the existence of the spiritual aspect which is not material called the\n\u201csoul\u201d. Even then, they are only able to come up with conjectures and\nhypotheses while lacking the full understanding of its true reality as they had\nnot received any divine revelation from God, the One who created man. Only\nIslam gives clear explanation on the human nature through the Divine Revelation\nor God\u2019s words as recorded in the Qur\u2019an and the Prophetic Traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to\nthe Qur\u2019an, man is created from clay of an altered black mud \u201csalsalin min\nhama\u2019in masnun<\/em>\u201d (Surah al-Hijr<\/em>,\n15: 26) and then \u201cafter God has proportioned him (Adam), He made him alive with\n<\/p>\n\n\n [created]<\/p>\n\n\n\n soul,\u201d (Surah al-Hijr<\/em>, 15: 29;\n38:72). Such evidence from God\u2019s words is clear that man is first composed of\nphysical body (clay) as well as spiritual aspect (soul). Indeed, understanding\nthis helps us in formulating how to attain complete happiness: since only by\nmanaging the two aspects can we truly gain true and comprehensive happiness.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n In general, many\nbelieve that happiness is synonymous with pleasure or enjoyment. With such a\nnotion, they believe that to be happy, they must strive to maximise their pleasures.\nIn reality, pleasures are associated with physical or bodily aspects of man.\nThe pleasures of the physical will neither last long nor contribute to the\nhappiness of the spiritual aspect of man. Hence, some may indulge in clubbing,\ndrug taking, promiscuous sex, excessive alcoholic drinking or other frenzy,\nbelieving that such indulgences could bring about happiness. Indeed, they do to\na certain extent, but not the true and lasting happiness that is hoped for, just\nmere momentary pleasures and enjoyments of the physical. This is because their behaviour\nis not much different from the so-called \u201chappiness\u201d that animals are generally\nup to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The happiness\n(sa\u2019adah<\/em>) of mankind from the Islamic viewpoint concerns more of the spiritual\naspect of man rather than his physical aspect even though Islam does not deny\nthe importance of the latter but priority is placed on the former. Spiritual happiness is related to man\u2019s own spiritual\nnature and his self entity, while the physical is more of temporarily organic and\nemotional lustful experiences. In order to truly affect man\u2019s spiritual nature,\nGod tells man he should constantly remember Him all the time for this will make\nhim tranquil, when He says in the Qur\u2019an (Surah\nal-Radd<\/em>, 13: 28): \u201cVerily! In the remembrance of Allah, do hearts find\ntranquility<\/em>\u201d. The constant remembrance of Allah will not come about unless\none has a strong conviction that Allah Himself exists, and He that He is not a\nmyth. The increasing remembrance of Allah daily increases one\u2019s conviction,\ntoo. Such a strong conviction is called faith (iman<\/em>) and God has\ncommanded man to worship Him until his iman<\/em> is firm and convinced, which\nits peak will only come when he dies. Allah says \u201c\u2026worship\nyour Lord until the last moment (of your life) that will most certainly come\u201d (Surah al-Hijr<\/em>, 15: 99).<\/p>\n\n\n\n In\npoint, true happiness lies in one\u2019s conviction of a certainty\u2014lofty and noble in\nthis worldly life\u2014which is permanent and fixed in nature. This includes the\ncertainty that God exists, that one will meet Him in the Hereafter, that one\nwill be rewarded and punished for what one has done in this world, of Paradise\nand Hellfire and others. With this in mind, man will surely know the purpose of\nhis existence and what he seeks for in this life, that is, his compass of life.\nKnowing the purpose of our own existence is one of the keys to make us happy.\nThe bodily pleasures that we enjoy are unable to match the spiritual pleasures.\nIt was reported that the Prophet Muhammad used to pray until his feet got\nswollen (al-Bukhari: 4836), out of love and gratitude to God. However, this\nshould not be understood that Islam encourages bodily harm or mortification. The\nProphet has reminded us on taking good care of the body when he says: \u201cYour\nbody has a right over you, your eyes have a right over you and your wife has a\nright over you.” (al-Bukhari: 5199). \nIt should be understood in the sense that spiritual happiness is of a higher\ndegree, noble to the extent that physical pain has no effect on oneself. Hence,\nthe real happiness that man should sought for is not the bodily pleasures. Bodily\npleasures is of a lesser degree which, if complements the spiritual aspect of\nman, will render man a wholeseome and comprehensive and true happiness,\nprovided that the bodily pleasures that one sought for is in accordance with\nGod\u2019s commandments that fit man\u2019s nature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The year 2021 will be welcomed in a few days\u2019, and most will be greeting others with “Happy New Year!” just as at the start of 2020. The word “happy” is perhaps one of the most uttered words on earth. Unfortunately, many have neither really understood its true meaning nor its essence. From time immemorial,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-straits-times","category-139","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28399\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}