We are in a dilemma. Why? Because we don’t know that much, we think we know a lot, but we really don’t know that much. The prophet, sallā llāhu ʿalay-hi wa-sallam, at one time stopped getting revelation, and he said, “What will become of me?” Imagine, the prophet said, “What will become of me?” So, what will become of us, and what is the path that we should choose that seems to be the most sensible for us?
Now, in this world, there are many different ways to go and many different paths to choose. Most of the world is looking for paths that bring worldly success, and they see worldly success as a solution to their situation: “I don’t have enough money. If I had enough money, bada-bing bada-boom everything would be perfect.” “If I had enough fame everything would be perfect.” “If I had enough of this, if I had enough of that, and how do I go about getting it?”
Well, there’s another path, and this path is not for a lot of people, this path is for people who want to know what will become of them after they disappear from this world. So, think of it: this world, not this world, what’s next? What are you trying to solve? Which is the real path? Which is the real place that you’re going to? What is your permanent home? Have you thought about what is your permanent home, and have you thought about what to do for your permanent home? And what consideration do you give to your temporary home?
Imagine if you had a trip and you were going to Alaska and to Florida, and you only packed for Florida. What would happen when you got to Alaska? It would be very cold and you would have a big problem. So you would have to pack for both places. Well, in the situation that we’re in, we have to make way for this world and for the next world. We have to decide what to do in this world and what to do in the next world. We cannot entirely ignore either, because if we ignore either we’ll lead ourselves into a dilemma.
So, what I have found is that if you truly understand the path towards the next world, and what you have to do on the path to the next world, and even if you don’t truly understand it, even if you know the kinds of things that need to be done to prepare for that, it will also prepare you for this world.
If you alter your being towards the qualities of Allah, and truly alter your being towards the qualities of Allah, which means that you really do become compassionate, or you really do become merciful, or you really do love, you’ll find that your way in this world will ease because the compassion that you expound, the compassion that you give out, the mercy that you give out, the love that you give out will pave the way for you in this world. And if things don’t go exactly as the way you had them in mind, patience will take care of that, and the mercy that you feel will allow you to overcome difficult circumstances…
