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Lesson: 53 Weakness of Ambition and its Harms
Islamic programme
encourages man that he should have high spirit and must not limit his ambitions
merely to the low affairs of this world. He should look at this vast universe
with a wide vision. It is the different views that make the thoughts and deeds
of people different. For example, the vision of a materialist man is limited
to the world of matter that results in his thoughts remaining limited to the
material world. So for fulfilling his material objects he indulges in anything,
so much so that he considers impermissible things also to be lawful.
But in the
view of a God worshipping man who believes that he is the vicegerent of God
and that the Lord creator has not created him for a short worldly life but,
that he is eternal; that in relation with the eternal world this earthly world
is like a drop of water compared to an ocean. Naturally the one who looks at
this world and its Creator in this way possesses radiant thinking, lofty courage,
deeds which please God and an attitude which is humane. Here we point out to
some Quranic verses and traditions censuring coward people having low level
thoughts:
Do you seek
goods of this worlds life! But with Allah there are abundant gains.
You desire
the frail goods of this world, while Allah desires for you the hereafter.
And do
not compel your slave girls to prostitution, when they desire to keep chaste,
in order to seek the frail good of this worlds life
A ra za a
term in this verse means a thing that is not permanent. Linguists use this word
as a simile to show the things which, in themselves, have no stability and their
existence is dependent on other things, for example, colour, taste etc
Traditions
Amirul Momineen
(a.s.) is reported to have said: Beware! This world has already turned away
its face and nothing except the leftover has remained like the left ever in
a vessel that is being thrown away.
Amirul Momineen
(a.s.) has said: Your world, in my eyes, is less precious than a leaf that is
being chewed by a grasshopper. Ibid.
Also he has
said: By God! Your world is, in my view, less valuable than a bone of swine
in the hand of a leper.
Also Ali (a.s.)
has said: They are racing with one another for this lowly of life of this world
and are rushing to a foul-smelling corpse like dogs!
Amirul Momineen
(a.s.) has also said: In the past I had a brother-in-Faith who hated this world
so much that it made him precious in my eyes.
He has also
said: Look at this worldly material life like those who are not interested therein
and turn away from it like the truthfuls.
And, with a
view to enlarge the viewpoint of people who may not stare at the world, the
Holy Quran says:
If you desire
this worlds life and its adornment, then come, I will give you a provision and
allow you to depart a goodly departing And if you desire Allah and His Apostle
and the latter abode, then surely Allah has prepared for the doers of good among
you a mighty reward.
And whoever
desires - the gain of this world, We give him of it, and in the hereafter he
has no portion.
And were
it not that all people had been a single nation, We would certainly have assigned
to those who disbelieve in the Beneficent God to make of silver the roofs of
their houses and the stairs by which they ascend. And the doors of their houses
and the couches on which they recline, And other embellishments of gold; and
all this is naught but provision of this worlds life, and the hereafter is with
your Lord only for those who guard against evil.
And sometimes,
asserts thus to those who are staring at the world and who have tied their ambitions
with it:
And this
worlds life is naught but a play and an idle sport and certainly the abode of
the hereafter is better for those who guard against evil; do you not then understand?
And this
life of the world is nothing but a sport and a play; and as for the next abode,
that most surely is the life - did they but know.
Know that
this worlds life is only sport and play and gaiety and boasting among yourselves,
and a vying in the multiplication of wealth and children, like the rain, whose
causing the vegetation to grow, pleases the farmers, then it withers away so
that you will see it become yellow, then it becomes dried up and broken down;
and in the hereafter is a severe chastisement.
LB AB play
is an action that has a sort of imaginary system and concord like a child's
play or game. The worldly life is a play because it is transient and goes away
soon just like the child's play which initially attracts a lot of attraction
of the child but thereafter it ends totally very soon and the children disperse
leaving all attachments. All the ambitions of people for achieving which they
race with one another and for which the oppressors harass others and battle
with them ambitions like wealth, wives, children power and position, ownership
etc. Really all of these ambitions are imaginary mirages. It is so because man
owns them only in his imagination and superstition. He never owns them really.
In other words man longs for them only due to his low ambitions and aimlessness.
But the eternal life of the Hereafter which man gains through Faith and good
deeds is indeed precious. In that eternal life of the Hereafter there is no
place for neglect or vanity or playfulness. It is a life without end. It has
taste but no grief and good fortune without in luck and adversity.
The above quoted
Holy verse has name the worldly life play and game. The word haazihi this in
this verse indicates its lowliness. It enlightens us that life is only the life
in the hereafter as it is real.
The divine
scholar Sheikh Bahai (r.a.) says: the five attributes of men mentioned in this
verse show that they are related serially or respectively to the stages of his
life. In his childhood man is very fond of games and plays. When he reaches
the age of adolescence he busies himself with amusing activities. After further
growth he adores beauties and ornaments and costly clothes and tall building
etc. then when he becomes still older he takes pride in his lineage and progeny
and increase in wealth and children etc.
In conclusion,
being content only with this worldly life and doing anything for its attainment
is the work only of low-ambitioned men. A man of Faith must always be lofty.
He should remember that Allah has made him His vicegerent. So he must never
bow before any power but Allah and must never extend his hand for asking except
toward the Almighty Lord. We must also know that this world is to come to end
very soon; that what is to remain is the world of the Hereafter after death.
Therefore we must endeavour to get it so as to reach the stage of Rizwanu minallahi
Akbar the greatest achievement is the pleasure of Only One God.
