What is your definition of happiness?
This q is inspired by something I have seen on my vacation...
a really poor man was sitting on a street cafe in Cairo and a young girl (his daughter) approached him, so he went and bought her what I deem to be the smallest candy box I had ever seen.. her eyes just lit up, as she ran with it, every two minutes opening her box and looking inside, happiness couldn't contain her, and he went to sit back on the cafe with a content look on his face.. I couldn't help but think of the amount of foods we throw out every day, and how many of us medicate ourselves with pills to capture 'happiness' or at least a plateau of normalcy. It really tugged at my heart -- personally how I always think I'll be happiest when--- and then when comes and something else evades me.. how do we capture the ever elusive 'happiness'
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Happiness is when my 4 and 3 year old boys cuddle me kiss me and say love you daddy. Allah blessed me and the love I get from my lads causes me to burst with happiness. All praise is His
"O ye who belive! Endure, outdo all others in endurance, be ready, and observe your duty to Allah, in order that you may succeed"
For me, happiness would lie in being 'away from it all' and just living an incredibly peaceful and simple life somewhere distant. An existance in a place where life revolves around Islam to its fullest and all people around you are humble, helpful etc and have no ulterior motives behind treating you well. Above all, where all these people are content with everything and don't yearn for materialistic things. That would be bliss.
^^ sounds like paradise.. so are you happy?
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I personally feel that too many people equate happiness with pleasure and joy. Both of those may help bring happiness, but neither is happiness.
To me happiness is an inner belief that assures the person of a secure future and removes all need for external material stimulation or desires. I believe that a truly happy person will be happy no matter what trials and hardships they face.
I find that Islam provides that inner feeling for me.
Alpha Dude --> couldn't have said it better myself.
There are not many people you can find these day who truly earn for nothing but Allah's love. I only know one family, and every time I go to their house, I am drawn by the simplicity and the peace that fills their home. For as long as I can remember, they have inspired me to be a better Muslim, and though I try, It really is hard to ignore the worldly materialistic things.
I believe happiness is within all of us. Happiness is when you are praying and you feel connected to Allah. Happiness is reading the Quran and hearing the birds singing outside. Happiness is staring at the sky and remembering Allah and the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and doing Zikr. Happiness is feeding someone and seeing the light in their eyes. Happiness comes from the simplest things.
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue... and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.
I don't believe true happiness exists in this world. To me its just as abstract as the word 'perfection', that is, it can only be evaluated through previous experiences of 'happiness'. You'll always find something better during the course of your life, but you won't reach its epitome or completion because we're not supposed to. Happiness is reserved for our time in Paradise, just as Perfection is solely reserved for Allah.
There's a quote that says something along the lines of "Happiness if the feeling that we never want to stop feeling."
The only useful feeling to attempt to achieve in this world is sincere contentment, and that is where I find my 'happiness'.
It's interesting that so many people spend their entire lives seeking this thing called happiness, yet when it comes to defining it, they don't know what it is.
"I spent thirty years learning manners, and I spent twenty years learning knowledge."
Yeh. Sometimes, though, we have to have some reminder to drive us to that dhikr, like seeing a blind person and being thankful for our eyesight and just dwelling upon the simplicity of color that we would have never experienced. Allahu akbar, to have the entire world in your eyes! Or walking through the slums of a city and seeing all the homeless people--thinking of just that, one would realize that he lives in a castle even if it were just a tiny apartment.
I used to see the imam of my city walking around in the graveyard everyday...the value of life is an impact all in itself.
I think happiness does exist in this world, but not in the way many of us think of it as. Like with the girl who got her candy, that was happiness for her. In the sense that happiness is the emotion you experience when you feel well. When you have achieved something.
Only happiness is not eternal in this world. it never lasts.
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue... and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.
It's interesting that so many people spend their entire lives seeking this thing called happiness, yet when it comes to defining it, they don't know what it is.
you are absolutely right, but I think a few people mentioned contentment and I think that is the secret to happiness..
I have seen people with wealth alot more than that little girl with her little 7alwa could dream of and they are absolutely miserable.. I wonder if when she grows older she would lose that genuine state... I wonder if happiness is stage of life related?
Text without context is pretext If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him
it's very hard to put it in words,the simplest questions are hardest to answer,, I think the answer lies somewhere along the line of you getting what you truly lack ie. want, being true to your ideals, making someone else happy. also, it's created, as in we have to strive for it, actually more like we need to,,
you are absolutely right, but I think a few people mentioned contentment and I think that is the secret to happiness..
I have seen people with wealth alot more than that little girl with her little 7alwa could dream of and they are absolutely miserable.. I wonder if when she grows older she would lose that genuine state... I wonder if happiness is stage of life related?
Sounds like your making a connection between happiness and "innocence"...the little girl can find joy in the simple things in life, whereas, when people get older, ambitions develop(well, not all of us of course), and they always want more,more, more, thinking it will make them happy.
Simply put;
Happiness is peace at heart. Peace at heart is rare in this world; Allah(Swt) is constantly testing us, whether it be with sickness, poverty or wealth, failures,etc... Even if calamities aren't affecting us directly, as muslims, when we see our brothers & sisters suffering in war, can our hearts truly be at peace? Mine can't.
Therefore look for happiness in moments, as described in earlier posts (hugs from a loved one, for example), because true bliss is not eternal in this world.
Happiness for me is measured on how content your heart is that your doing your utmost best to recieve the rewards of the hereafter. That means loving for the sake of Allah SWT and seeing the best results of my hard efforts to benefit my family and closest friends.
"And do not Die unless you are in the state of Islam (Submission)"
We all search for the beam of happiness that life claims to bring. I don’t have a direct definition as to what happiness means to me, because I don’t think I have reached that state of being where I was genuinely happy. I personally feel that… erm… well how can we be happy if we are always preparing to live? We go to school to get into a great college, go to college to get a degree, get that degree so we can a have a secure job, and some where along those lines we have to prepare for marriage and kids. Then when we work we work for retirement. Not only do we prepare in this life, but the hereafter as well. Now I’m not saying we should be careless and live our days as if it was our last. You are never promised tomorrow, nor are you ever promised your next breath. Now back to the question what is happiness? That answer to me personally sadly is yet to be discovered.
believe that a truly happy person will be happy no matter what trials and hardships they face.
I believe this too...
But i came to know (for a year), i can never be truly happy if i don't take extra care with my salah...
“Truly, to a happy state shall attain the believers:
those who humble themselves in their prayer,
and who turn away from all that is frivolous,
and who are intent on inner purity.”
[Qur'an 23:1-4]
So...if i'm happy i'm just imagining it myself.
Last edited by syilla; 03-25-2009 at 01:46 AM.
25:36 And the true servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk the earth with humility and when the ignorant address them, they respond with words of peace.
I think and I am sure that the real happiness is being close to Allah and living just for his sake laa ilaha illa Allah
I swear by Allah the One who has our souls in his hand that living just for the sake of Allah is the true happiness ever coz when u do wa Allahi u will live happialy for ever and give up in this Dunya and its pleasuers and no matter what u will face and matter what u will lose u will be happy really happy coz Allah is in ur heart and ur thoughts always ....
trust Allah and u will feel like u r in heaven wa Allah and u r when being with Allah...
I am with my brother Woodrow %100
may Allah help us to worship him right and to get closer and closer to him and may he be pleased with us all Ameeeeeeeeeeen
Last edited by Amat Allah; 03-25-2009 at 03:52 AM.
Hapinnes is being happy of the small things that happen more or less often, like meeting with the family, seeing friends, watching Champions League semi finals, eating fried rice with chicken from the vietnam bar or owning the long awaited album.
This country is dying because of a lack of men, not a lack of programs.
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