Finding the Purpose

"I haven't seen you in a while.."

"yea, been busy", I said.

And then silence.

"I have to go, long day ahead."

"Not quite.", said The Rock, "I know you didn't like what I told you last time."

"I don't like talking in circles."

"Woah...we weren't going round in circles."

"Yes, we were. I was trying to get out of the confusion, and you just pushed me deeper into it."

"I'm sorry, that was not my intention. We can talk, what do you think?"

I thought about it for a minute. And then another.

"Well, okay... ". I thought for another minute and continued. "I think I'm having problems having a constant attitude towards my life. Sometimes I'm happy with it, and at other times, I feel as if I'm not in control. And when I feel like that, all the happy times just seem as if I was really wasting..."

"Slow down", The Rock interrupted, "let's talk about the purpose of life."

"That's simple, enjoining in good, forbidding in evil; promoting brotherhood, excelling in whatever we do, and fulfilling the rights of others with excellence."

"True. Very true. And if one always keeps that in mind, they'd be such an amazing person. But, all that comes afterwards. Is that really the purpose? Why are we here? And where are we headed?"

"umm... we are here because Allah (swt) created us, and we're headed towards the Hereafter... where every person will either be in hell, or paradise..."

"Isn't it strange though", said The Rock, "that we all know it, yet, when we look at our lives, much of what we do does not even take us close to that real goal?"
And it continued...
"It can't be that everyone has the same purpose in life, otherwise, our lives would not be so different. Hence, so many people spend their lives trying to get somewhere, believing that that is their purpose. But once they get there, they're off on another quest, because they haven't quite achieved what they thought they wanted. It just seems as if they are under an illusion, and that perhaps, is another thing common to people.

And often in these quests, we reach plains of spiritual wilderness. We are frustrated that life is so rich, but it has deceived us. We question our significance, and then we long for intimacy with Allah (swt). Did we ever have it? And then we do all sorts of things to cultivate our spiritual growth to discover the abundant life we were meant to live...

And some of us find answers. Some people find the inner peace in Islam, and enter the religion, while others go astray. Allah (swt) says in the Qur'an: "Remember me, and I will remember you"... yet, we make to-do lists, 5 year plans, 10 year plans, promises, schedules, and what not, just to find that purpose- and we don't realise it, because we forget the picture since we're so shortsighted. As humans we complicate the simplest things, and the last thing that is complicated is...becoming intimate with Our Creator. Everyone can do it, from the lay person to the doctor.

And because everyone can do it, that's why life is such a positive experience. I mean, life should be a positive experience. And all of us, each one of us in this search for the purpose of life, is in a constant synergy, a powerful force that keeps us going- This force, that allows us to look at the lives of others, and say "oh man, things could have been worse if that happened to me, Alhamdulillah", or, doing little acts of charity that fill our hearts of happiness, and I can give countless examples...

Really, life is beautiful... I wish we weren't such a failure at realising that..."