#purpose of existence

#The reason to be here...❣️

The Answers We Seek – Part 10

“This life….,

Or any other that will come again for you to be…

Is of a quest, or test, or simply -

- True development of all that does exist of YOU…”

Pavel Palev Volykhine

sheikh yusha evans  , sweetness of  faith 

The Creation is in Need of Allaah

We should be motivated to return to Him Alone at times of ease and at times of hardship.

And when we read that:

"If Allaah helps you none can overcome you, and if He forsakes you, who is there, after Him, that can help you. And in Allaah (alone) let believers put their trust." (Qur'an, 3:160)

The Qur'an, therefore, leads man to a true liberation from any false attachment. It brings peace to the heart. It helps the believer against hypocrisy and all forms of dishonesty. Imagine, for example, a believer facing a problem at work. He sees wrong and faces unlawful practices. He does not fear rejecting what is wrong. He knows that the job is only a means to gain his sustenance. While he may be unable to correct what is wrong, he knows well that Allaah is the One Who provides. If he leaves his job for the sake of Allaah, Allaah will give him a better one. Allaah (SW) said:

"And whosoever fears Allaah and keeps his duty to Him. He will make a way for him to get out (from) every (difficulty), and He will provide him from (sources) he could never imagine." (Qur'an, 65:2-3)

The above texts, necessitates that man must depend upon Allaah (SW) asking Him Alone for assistance. It also requires that man must love Allaah and worship Him Alone to gain His pleasure and His help. Is it not true that the people who consider this life as the "Final Goal" end up worshiping many things in it? You see them so careful about "having it all". They torture themselves: pain, difficulty, constant worry, keeping their hands in the banks for loan after loan to keep up with the "demands of development". They are under the constant threat of fore-closure. They constantly see poverty in front of their eyes. The Prophet  said:

Allaah says: 'Son of Adam: Fill your time with My worship and I will fill your heart with richness, and end off your poverty. But if you donot, I would make your hands fully busy (i.e. in worldly affairs) and I would not end off your poverty.'

(At-Tirmidhi said that it is a good hadeeth)

Our purpose of existence on earth is more meaningful than being slaves to worldly gains. There can be no meaningful life better than that prescribed by our Creator Allaah. Every act done according to Allaah's way is an act of worship. Man is the beneficiary and Allaah is in no need:

"O mankind! It is you who stand in need of Allaah, but Allaah is Rich (Free of all wants and needs), Worthy of All Praise." (Qur'an, 35:15)

'Knowledge is not inherited, it is acquired.'

Take some time out to learn the purpose of your existence. Yes even you dear Muslim sister and brother. Do not fall complacent just because Allaah has blessed you with a Muslim household. True belief is based on knowledge, knowledge produces a greater understanding of worship just like fertile soil produces ripe fruit and vegetation. Whilst taking notes in a study circle, I remember coming across a profound statement which has never left the ears nor the heart 'knowledge is not inherited, it is acquired.' 

29 January 2014- For lunch, I decided to eat at McDonalds near Cathedral. Reason why I was in Laoag at that late hour is because my first and only class for that day was at 3 'til 5.

I ordered the usual combination: chicken fillet with coke plus a regular fries. Total price: Php79. (This is my favorite McDo combi, now you know in case you're gonna treat me soon.)

Also, as usual, I sat at the table near the back door (that which leads you to more tables outdoor.) At 1:20 pm, I expected that there was no irritating crowd. So I enjoyed the ambience that is created when minimal number of customers are around. And there I started eating...

At the table next to where I seated sat a frail old woman, late fifties I think. Curious as to what she was doing there (since she wasn't eating and no empty plates were at her table), I studied her.

She wore all black, from her shirt to pants to bag to even her sandals. As I looked at her face, there was an unbearable level of sadness, one that could possibly lead me to mulling over the idea of suicide. Her eyes were watery. Her skin looked pale and chap. While seating there, she was folding a paper. Then after a moment or two or three, she stood up...

First, she went to a couple. I didn't hear her words for even if it was within my earshot, her voice was too low thus inaudible. First clue I got that she was asking for money: her face wore a pleading mask, sincere and expressing powerlessness. Second, the man handed her coins, probably his loose change. Indeed, she was asking for money.

Then she came to me. In Ilocano, she asked me if I could give any amount for her grandchild (she didn't specify the gender) who needs urgent medication. Her grandchild, I conclude based from the facts she'd given me, suffers from asthma. When it comes to asthma, I can relate easily for basic reason that my father, my sister and I were victims of it. My father died of it while my sister and I, thank God, were freed from its deadly attacks. And so she talked further and I listened more intently.

According to her, the child has been moved out from the hospital after the health conditions got worse and because of financial status. The grandmother is taking care of that sick child at their home in Marcos together with other four siblings. Left by their parents, the grandmother bore all the responsibilities.

She showed me the written prescription of a doctor surnamed Buduan. I didn't bother myself to look at whatever was written on that piece of paper thinking that I wouldn't understand a thing. (Medical terms are one of my waterloos.) Unsolicited, she gave me the total amount she needed: Php1,600.

At the middle of her talking, I caught these heart-breaking words, "Maymayat laengen nga kastoy agdawatak kanyayo ngem ta agtakawak. Ibagak ti problemak." (It is better for me to ask for money than to steal. It is better to tell my problems.)

Adding that she's gone to many people already, her last resort was to do solicitations from unknown people so she can have the sum of money to buy for the prescribed medicines worth the abovementioned. I gave Php20. Making this figure the average amount that she would get from an individual, then she'd need to tell her predicament to 60 people.

She'd went to the Cathedral Church and asked for help. A priest, whose name I didn't catch, helped by giving her rice and "payless". But is that what the Church can only afford to give? I bet not.

Concluding our conversation (which was apparently monopolized by her), she told me that she hadn't eaten lunch. I was eating my lunch so I felt a surge of guilt upon hearing her say so. I wanted to give her the fries I bought but I thought that if I did so, I would just crave for more. So I decided otherwise.

Now I regret that I only gave Php20. But a part of me justifies it. I have money enough only to fund my daily expenses. But then I suddenly realized, from the case of the old woman, that I've been giving superfluous things to myself. I'm having more than enough.

I can afford to buy milkteas, frappes and the like. Sometimes, even if there's really not a need to buy such, I still go for them. This is not wise spending, I reckon. So it got on me, "what is a small amount taken from my or your spending budget?" It is good to spend and to save for ourselves; I'm not against anything. But aside from ourselves, the people around us are also our responsibilities. So we need to extend our hands to those who seek for help.