Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | The Sunday Guardian | Nov 22, 2020
According to Islam the basic, most important fact of life is that we have been born in this world to be tested. This fact should always be in our mind as we through life. This thought should dominate our every moment. Our basic purpose in life is to succeed in the test of life. Only if we remember our purpose, will we be successful both in our transient life in this world and in our eternal destiny in the hereafter
Whatever we have been granted in this world has been given to us by God. He is the Owner of all things. We should think of God as the true owner of our possessions and realize that they will only be with us as long as our trial of life has not run its course. When it is over, everything will be taken away from us. All we will be left with will be our actions on earth. There will be no trace of the power and wealth which surrounds us today.
And what of this world? What are the implications of life’s trial with regard to our existence on earth? It means that just as we are free in this world, so are others free. The freedom of every individual has made this world a place of competition. With every person and every nation free to pursue their own ends, rivalry between people and nations is inevitable.
The Quran exhorts us to “race against one another in good deeds” (2:148). This shows that there is competition between human beings in eternal matters, just as there is in worldly affairs. The way people set their minds on winning the race of life, so should their efforts be directed, with a greater degree, towards outdoing others in the good deeds which will earn them success in the next, eternal world. All things will eventually return to God, their true and rightful owner. Those who were supported by other things besides God will have nothing left to support them when that time comes. worthless in the sight of God.