We all seek happiness and tranquility. Often, we may associate money and prosperity with success and happiness. As a matter of fact, for many people money, a good job, a big house and health are the most important things that guarantee happiness. Those people, who think in that manner, spend much time and energy in order to secure money and profession.
It is good to think and plan to improve our personal life conditions. Yet, working for this life only and forgetting about the Hereafter is a guaranteed path to stress and concern.
This is due to the fact that God had created us originally in order to worship Him and do good deeds. If we divert from this path, we would firstly sense the absence of God's spirit in our lives. In addition to that, if we focus only on this life, the work, the money etc. and turn away from God, then God will also turn away from us.
It was narrated by Anas bin Malik (أنس بن مالك) (may Allaah be pleased with him): “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
‘Whoever has the Hereafter as his main concern, Allaah will fill his heart with a feeling of richness and independence; he will be focused and feel content, and this world will come to him in spite of it. Whoever has this world as his main concern, Allaah will cause him to feel constant fear of poverty; he will be distracted and unfocused, and he will have nothing of this world except what was already predestined for him.’
The prophet's saying is clear.
To understand better the above mentioned saying, let's examine what the great Scholar Ibn al-Qayyim Al Jawzyiah (ابن القيم الجوزية) (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
When a person spends his entire day with no other concern but Allaah alone, Allaah, may He be glorified, will take care of all his needs and take care of all that is worrying him; He will empty his heart so that it will be filled only with love for Him, free his tongue so that it will speak only in remembrance of Him (dhikr, Arabic: الذِّكْر) and cause all his faculties to work only in obedience to Him. But if a person spends his entire day with no other concern but this world, Allaah will make him bear its distress, anxiety and pain; He will leave him to sort himself out, and cause his heart to be distracted from the love of Allaah towards the love of some created being, cause his tongue to speak only in remembrance of that creation instead of remembering Allaah, and cause his faculties to work in obeying and serving them. So he will strive hard, labouring like some work-animal, to serve something other than Allaah. Everyone who turns away from being a true slave of Allaah and obeying Him and loving Him will be burdened with servitude, love and obedience to some created being.
Allaah says in the Holy Quran (followed by translation into English):
وَمَنْ أَعْرَضَ عَنْ ذِكْرِي فَإِنَّ لَهُ مَعِيشَةً ضَنْكًا وَنَحْشُرُهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ أَعْمَىٰ
‘But whoever disregards My remembrance, his shall be a wretched life, and on the Day of Resurrection We shall raise him blind.’
[ṬĀ ḤĀ 20:124]
Thus, having belief in God and focusing in doing the good deeds that please Him guarantees His care and mercy upon us. He would guide us, save us from stress and anxiety, take care of our lives and fill our heart with peace and tranquility.