Islamic Take on the Human Journey: Life, Faith, and Perspective
“ Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “Shall we inform you of who will be the biggest losers of deeds?, ˹They are˺ those whose efforts are in vain in this worldly life, while they think they are doing good!”
Quran 18:103-104
Everybody’s story
If you step back and observe your life or that of others around you, you’ll see that it all boils down to chasing dreams and means.
Our lives are in a constant orbit around our desires and “needs”.
You feel unhappy and incomplete until you reach your goal. Achieving that goal gives you a new life, but also a new sense of incompleteness that calls for another goal, another dream…From a dream to the next, years pass by, and chapters keep adding to your existence story.
Until now, nothing is wrong or harmful; that’s simply part of being human, a natural, instinctive human. It is not only natural, but also necessary, to dream about graduating at the top of your class, being successful in your job, finding the partner you love, owning the car and house you desire, or achieving a higher social standing.
Our lives are in a constant orbit around our desires and “needs”.
You feel unhappy and incomplete until you reach your goal. Achieving that goal gives you a new life, but also a new sense of incompleteness that calls for another goal, another dream…From a dream to the next, years pass by, and chapters keep adding to your existence story.
Until now, nothing is wrong or harmful; that’s simply part of being human, a natural, instinctive human. It is not only natural, but also necessary, to dream about graduating at the top of your class, being successful in your job, finding the partner you love, owning the car and house you desire, or achieving a higher social standing.
The Question!
If this is supposed to be normal and natural, then why does every dream eventually turn into a nightmare, and every achievement become the biggest “L”? Why does nothing and no one satisfy anymore?
The nice job becomes a trap, locking you in with hateful coworkers or a toxic boss. The love of your life, who was meant to help build your future, suddenly becomes your downfall. Your beloved, adorable little kid, once a source of joy and strength, now feels like a source of trouble and helplessness.
How and when do genuine, legitimate dreams for happiness turn into disasters, a fire that consumes your energy and well-being?
The nice job becomes a trap, locking you in with hateful coworkers or a toxic boss. The love of your life, who was meant to help build your future, suddenly becomes your downfall. Your beloved, adorable little kid, once a source of joy and strength, now feels like a source of trouble and helplessness.
How and when do genuine, legitimate dreams for happiness turn into disasters, a fire that consumes your energy and well-being?
“If We had willed, We would have elevated him with Our signs, but he clung to this life—following his evil desires. His example is that of a dog: if you chase it away, it pants, and if you leave it, it ˹still˺ pants. This is the example of the people who deny Our signs. So narrate ˹to them˺ stories ˹of the past˺, so perhaps they will reflect.”
Quran 7:176
The Answer!
Your wonder will vanish once you learn about the Islamic take on that dilemma:
All of those things you pursue as dreams and purpose throughout your life are, in fact, means and tools. (And here comes the plot twist): they are not tools in your hand, but tools and resources in God’s hand.
When you grind toward a missing piece (goal) that will complete your puzzle (happiness), trust that God can reshape that same piece to fit or ruin your whole puzzle.
Think of it like this: every tool you use in life can be easily turned to good or evil purposes. The same knife can help you prepare a nice meal or take a life. The same news channel can keep you informed and aware or poison your soul and distort your worldview.
Always keep in mind that Allah doesn’t use a tool to make you happy than a different one to punish you. No! He will use the same tool for unusual or even opposite purposes.
Therefore, Islam teaches you not to worship the causes but to worship the God of the causes. Every purpose is an illusion if it’s not built upon pleasing your Creator and following His commands.
All of those things you pursue as dreams and purpose throughout your life are, in fact, means and tools. (And here comes the plot twist): they are not tools in your hand, but tools and resources in God’s hand.
When you grind toward a missing piece (goal) that will complete your puzzle (happiness), trust that God can reshape that same piece to fit or ruin your whole puzzle.
Think of it like this: every tool you use in life can be easily turned to good or evil purposes. The same knife can help you prepare a nice meal or take a life. The same news channel can keep you informed and aware or poison your soul and distort your worldview.
Always keep in mind that Allah doesn’t use a tool to make you happy than a different one to punish you. No! He will use the same tool for unusual or even opposite purposes.
Therefore, Islam teaches you not to worship the causes but to worship the God of the causes. Every purpose is an illusion if it’s not built upon pleasing your Creator and following His commands.
“As for the disbelievers, their deeds are like a mirage in a desert, which the thirsty perceive as water, but when they approach it, they find it to be nothing. Instead, they find Allah there ˹in the Hereafter, ready˺ to settle their account. And Allah is swift in reckoning.”
Quran 24:39
Everything In Life Is Relative
Your life is filled with stories about people whose outcomes are strangely opposite to their actions or lifestyles: many relaxed and happy individuals who are poor, miserable lovers, exhausted and sick unemployed young men, alongside energetic, healthy, hard workers; lonely, depressed beautiful women contrasted with unattractive women with families.
Well, if you don’t have those kinds of stories in your memory, let’s take Moses’ life as an example:
A helpless mother prays to Allah to save her baby from execution, so He instructs her to throw him into the sea, shifting him from a probable death to a certain, terrible one. However, death is a tool that, in God’s hands, can become life—just as Pharaoh saved that little boy from drowning in the sea and gave him life, a life in God’s hands that ultimately leads to Pharaoh’s death.
Well, if you don’t have those kinds of stories in your memory, let’s take Moses’ life as an example:
A helpless mother prays to Allah to save her baby from execution, so He instructs her to throw him into the sea, shifting him from a probable death to a certain, terrible one. However, death is a tool that, in God’s hands, can become life—just as Pharaoh saved that little boy from drowning in the sea and gave him life, a life in God’s hands that ultimately leads to Pharaoh’s death.
It’s Your POV against God’s will.
In life, you’ll face two types of decisions:
1- Problems within your control and responsibility: those that lie within your free will and conscious choices in life. These are actions that God will reward, punish, or forgive you for committing. In that case, you should strive to do your best and follow God’s commands, aiming for self-improvement and the best outcomes possible for yourself and society.
2- Matters that are beyond your control and power, like future improbable incomes of your actions, natural disasters, horrible parents, sickness…, those are matters that you accept with patience and surrender your will to God, having faith that is for good as God only does good, no matter how bad or evil current circumstances seem.
1- Problems within your control and responsibility: those that lie within your free will and conscious choices in life. These are actions that God will reward, punish, or forgive you for committing. In that case, you should strive to do your best and follow God’s commands, aiming for self-improvement and the best outcomes possible for yourself and society.
2- Matters that are beyond your control and power, like future improbable incomes of your actions, natural disasters, horrible parents, sickness…, those are matters that you accept with patience and surrender your will to God, having faith that is for good as God only does good, no matter how bad or evil current circumstances seem.
Your plans against Allah’s plans
In the Quran, the story of Joseph (PBUH) is given an entire chapter to shape that value in the believer’s heart and mind.
Now, imagine yourself as Joseph, and let’s relive that story using your human judgment versus God’s judgment:
You’re a good kid, your father loves you so much, and you are his favorite — every child’s dream. But that same love made your brothers throw you into a well to get rid of you — every child’s nightmare, now that’s a bad situation.
Well, that same unlucky situation will cause the wealthiest man in town to take you in and give you a happy life full of pleasures in his palace… Nice! Now, what appears to be a happy ending will unjustly lead you to jail;
Until now, your life has been a series of uncontrolled events that have ended in disaster.
But Joseph (PBUH) was a true believer. He never considered his life a disaster due to things that were beyond his control; he trusted his Lord and Master. He continued to live an obedient, righteous life—a way of life that, despite appearances and against all odds, was designed to lead him to sit on the throne, surrounded by his loved ones.
Now, imagine yourself as Joseph, and let’s relive that story using your human judgment versus God’s judgment:
You’re a good kid, your father loves you so much, and you are his favorite — every child’s dream. But that same love made your brothers throw you into a well to get rid of you — every child’s nightmare, now that’s a bad situation.
Well, that same unlucky situation will cause the wealthiest man in town to take you in and give you a happy life full of pleasures in his palace… Nice! Now, what appears to be a happy ending will unjustly lead you to jail;
Until now, your life has been a series of uncontrolled events that have ended in disaster.
But Joseph (PBUH) was a true believer. He never considered his life a disaster due to things that were beyond his control; he trusted his Lord and Master. He continued to live an obedient, righteous life—a way of life that, despite appearances and against all odds, was designed to lead him to sit on the throne, surrounded by his loved ones.
“As for the ship, it belonged to some poor people, working at sea. So I intended to damage it, for there was a ˹tyrant˺ king ahead of them who seizes every ˹good˺ ship by force. And as for the boy, his parents were ˹true˺ believers, and we1 feared that he would pressure them into defiance and disbelief. So we hoped that their Lord would give them another, more virtuous and caring in his place.”
Quran 81:79
Happiness is about values, not capital.
Stop fixating on what is beneficial or desirable, and start focusing on what God created you for and your role in life at this moment and place, with the means He provided you with.
Beware of going against your Lord using the same blessings and means He provided you with.
If pleasing your partner causes you to turn away from Allah, that partner will eventually turn against you. If that dream car or job makes you look down on others, treat people with arrogance, or believe you only achieved them through your super intelligence and power, God can make them a source of ruin and ongoing trouble. The death of a dear person to your heart can make you a better, spiritual person in this life and grant you an eternal, happy life in the next.
…
Beware of going against your Lord using the same blessings and means He provided you with.
If pleasing your partner causes you to turn away from Allah, that partner will eventually turn against you. If that dream car or job makes you look down on others, treat people with arrogance, or believe you only achieved them through your super intelligence and power, God can make them a source of ruin and ongoing trouble. The death of a dear person to your heart can make you a better, spiritual person in this life and grant you an eternal, happy life in the next.
…
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:
“How wonderful is the case of a believer; there is good for him in everything and this applies only to a believer. If prosperity attends him, he expresses gratitude to Allah and that is good for him; and if adversity befalls him, he endures it patiently and that is better for him”.”
Be Grateful
For this chapter, I am going to let the famous neuroscientist, Prof. Steve Peters, describe his findings about gratitude and how he promotes it in his closing statement in a renowned podcast that I highly encourage you to watch:
“The scientific evidence is overwhelming that people who are grateful throughout life have really good psychological and physical health, so it affects the entire system just by being grateful in different life settings rather than constantly thinking about what I lack, look at what you’ve got. And you can practice that and make it into a habit.”
Prof. Steve Peters, The Chimp Paradox | E96
Spiritually, gratitude is essential for individual well-being. Recognizing the blessings of Allah and being thankful for them brings contentment and peace. It also improves mental health by focusing on the positives rather than dwelling on what’s beyond one’s control or reach.
Desirable vs Beneficial
Stop obsessing over what others find attractive or pleasing, and start focusing on what is truly beneficial and what God created you for, including your role in life right now and the resources He has given you.
Be cautious about using the blessings and means He provided you with against your Lord.
If pleasing your partner causes you to turn away from Allah, that partner will eventually turn against you. If that dream car or job makes you look down on others, treat people with arrogance, or believe you only achieved them through your super intelligence and power, God can make them a source of humiliation and ongoing trouble. The death of a dear person to your heart can make you a better, spiritual person in this life and grant you an eternal, happy life in the next.
…
Be cautious about using the blessings and means He provided you with against your Lord.
If pleasing your partner causes you to turn away from Allah, that partner will eventually turn against you. If that dream car or job makes you look down on others, treat people with arrogance, or believe you only achieved them through your super intelligence and power, God can make them a source of humiliation and ongoing trouble. The death of a dear person to your heart can make you a better, spiritual person in this life and grant you an eternal, happy life in the next.
…
Conclusion
Our life on Earth is a test; health, wealth, and loved ones are tools to help you pass that test with ease, not an end goal. The true goal is to worship your Creator and seek His guidance and satisfaction; Be patient when He tests you and be grateful when He provides for you; automatically, everything good will follow.
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