The garden of satisfaction

The house of toil, trouble, hardship, and misery: If you are happy one day, you will be sad another day. If you laugh one day, you shall be sad another day. The world is not everlasting but it is transit, and its conditions are inconstant.

These conditions and circumstances need a soul that is satisfied with Allah and His Decree.

If blessings are flowing, gratitude is a must. When wrath comes suddenly, patience is a good solution for it because it is full of goodness: It begins with bitterness but ends with sweetness.

Allah rewards the patient without reckoning, and you may imagine the meaning of "without reckoning" from Allah, the All-Mighty, All-Wise.

• Satisfaction is a higher degree than patience and more sublime. Self-peace for each decree and love for everything that Allah loves, even the trials, pains, and sadness of the world a person sees them good; how would they not be good whereas they are coming from Allah?!

Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) was suffering death agonies while saying: How happy am I! Tomorrow I shall see Muhammad and his Companions. This is a type of satisfaction, and whoever has such satisfaction and gladness, happiness will fill his heart. There will be no sadness, boredom, complaint, nor resentment, but only complete satisfaction and gladness.

• You may pass by a blind man, you wonder at his smile which fills his face and the phrases of gratitude and satisfaction which he repeats. He does not complain to anyone and does not complain of anyone. You may wonder how many people complain about the world and its concerns while he is sound!

- You visit a sick who has remained sick for years and he does not move anything but his head, but his tongue is thankful and you feel the happiness of his heart and satisfaction of his sickness. Then you wonder: How many sick people move and go everywhere, however they hate their conditions and complain about their circumstances!

• A simple worker works under the burning sun without complaining, whereas there is a man riding his luxurious car and complains about the heat of the sun!

• A simple employee takes a small salary, but he is moderate in spending and consumes according to his needs, moreover he gives in charity for the sake of Allah, whereas another person who takes a high salary with a higher position complains about his expenditures and consumption.

Satisfaction with the destiny of Allah is not easy. We repeat everyday: "I have satisfied with Allah as a lord," which means the total satisfaction with Allah (Glory be to Him) and His Decree: Advancement, humiliation, richness and poverty, and sadness and joy.

"And with Islam as a religion," by submission to this great religion, fulfilling our duties, and abstaining from prohibited matters and doubts for the sake of the Lord of the earth and the heavens.

"And with Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a prophet" who will be a role model and an example to follow in all our affairs, moreover we should enjoy that and love him more than ourselves.

Types of satisfaction: There have been many types of satisfaction in the society of the Companions and before them the Prophet (peace be upon him), of these types: The torture which Muslims faced in Makkah, but they took that with satisfied souls and grateful hearts.

It was reported that the leg of `Urwah ibn Az-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him) was cut off and his dearest son died all in one night, then his friends came to him and consoled him. Thereupon, he said: "O Allah, for You is all praise. My children were seven: You had taken one and left six. I had four limbs: You had taken one and left three for me. If You took, You had given, and if You afflicted me, You had made me sound."

This is the condition of satisfied people, so what is the condition of the discontent? Their conditions are confused and sad, swaying between sadness and concern, misery and hardship, always complaining and gloomy.

If they see affliction, they show resentment and annoy, and the world becomes narrow in their eyes, and they shall no longer see light which exists everywhere because their hearts are dark.

They have no guide to direct them, so their wicked souls become their guide when they lose the great guidance. Satan becomes their guide when they keep away from the Most Gracious, leading them to destruction, we ask Allah for safety.

Dear valued brother, be satisfied with the destiny of Allah because you shall not die until you see your destiny and nothing from your sustenance nor your lifetime will be missed, so why is fear?

You look worried about the future and live the present while suffering the sadness of the past, so your day and lifetime have been lost while you are suffering a great sadness and concern.

Be satisfied with Allah so that Allah would be satisfied with you; have not you ponder over Allah's Saying: "Their reward with their Lord is 'Adn (Eden) Paradise (Gardens of Eternity), underneath which rivers flow. They will abide therein forever, Allâh will be pleased with them, and they with Him. That is for him who fears his Lord." [Surat Al Bayyinat: 8].

O Allah, we ask You for souls that are satisfied with Your Decree, and loving to meet you. Allah (Glory be to Him) says: "And certainly, We shall test you with something of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives and fruits, but give glad tidings to As-Sâbirûn (the patient). * Who, when afflicted with calamity, say: Truly! To Allâh we belong and truly, to Him we shall return. * They are those on whom are the Salawât (i.e. who are blessed and will be forgiven) from their Lord, and (they are those who receive His) Mercy, and it is they who are the guided ones." [Surat Al Baqarah: 155 - 157].

Light from the Sunnah:

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "Verily the creation of each one of you is brought together in his mother's belly for forty days in the form of seed, then he is a clot of blood for a like period, then a morsel of flesh for a like period, then there is sent to him the angel who blows the breath of life into him and who is commanded about four matters: to write down his means of livelihood, his life span, his actions, and whether happy or unhappy. By Allah, other than Whom there is no god, verily one of you behaves like the people of Paradise until there is but an arm's length between him and it, and that which has been written over takes him and so he behaves like the people of Hell-fire and thus he enters it; and one of you behaves like the people of Hell-fire until there is but an arm's length between him and it, and that which has been written over takes him and so he behaves like the people of Paradise and thus he enters it." [Reported by Al Bukhari and Muslim].

An example:

`Umar ibn `Abdul-`Aziz said: I am only satisfied by the Decree. He was asked: What do you love? He said: Anything Allah decrees.