One Path to Divine Nearness: Choosing Happiness
While the routes to destruction are numerous and scattered, there is only one path to true happiness. As Al-Mizan explains, the path of happiness is the shortest route, constantly elevating the believer’s rank until it reaches divine nearness.
In contrast, the path of unhappiness is long and demeaning, leading to the lowest depths.
This singular clarity demands our unwavering focus. We must recognise that all souls are unavoidably proceeding towards God, yet only the path of obedience delivers us to success.
By upholding the bounds of Allah, we choose the clear road that grants spiritual perfection and eternal felicity, ensuring we do not wander among the devious ways.
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أَ تَرْجُو أَنْ يُعْطِيَكَ اللهُ أَجْرَ الْمُتَوَاضِعِينَ وَأَنْتَ عِنْدَهُ مِنَ الْمُتَكَبِّرِينَ! وَتَطْمَعُ ـ وَأَنْتَ مُتَمَرِّغٌ فِي النَّعِيمِ، تَمْنَعُهُ الضَّعِيفَ وَالْأَرْمَلَةَ ـ أَنْ يُوجِبَ لَكَ ثَوَابَ الْمتَصَدِّقِينَ؟ وَإِنَّمَا الْمَرْءُ مَجْزِيٌّ بَمَا أسلَفَ، وَقَادِمٌ عَلَى مَا قَدَّمَ، وَالسَّلَامُ.
Do you expect that Allāh may give you the reward of the humble while you yourself remain vain in His view? And do you covet that He may give you the reward of those practising charity while you enjoy comforts and deny them to the weak and the widows? Certainly, a man is awarded according as he acts and meets what he has sent forward; and that is an end to the matter.
— Nahjul Balagha, Letter 21, Section 3