Editorial

Past the Final Milestone

The journey takes many shapes and forms. Some walk with a steady gait, some ride at full speed, and others wander aimlessly. The glittering prizes that most people find throughout the journey present themselves as low hanging fruit, ripe for the taking while they steer the travelers away from the ultimate prize of joining the beloved servants of Allah in Jannah. In their own beguiling way, the world’s charms and trappings captivate the human mind, place it under the yoke of the desires of the nafs, and cloud its judgment.

Of course, the journey itself cares nothing for the endless desires and ambitions of mankind. If an aspiration is pursued for any reason other than the sake of Allah, the journey will slowly grind it into dust with the indifference of the wheels of time and cast the remains among the billions of lost and vagrant dreams the deceased regret chasing. Many have traveled down this road before, yet none have stayed. Many have trampled upon others, stepped on others' backs, and shed blood to climb to the top of the so-called pyramid. All of them are now beneath the ground, with no peak conquered and no height achieved other than a few short-lived decades of bragging rights. In fact, they only dug themselves deeper by committing so fully to amassing the riches of the world and climbing higher on the rungs where, in reality, no ladder exists other than pleasing Allah.

They knew that death, the great equalizer, was out there but it just didn’t register on a more conscious level. For them, it was just a force of nature, reaping one soul at a time while they were only an observer. Every single one of them came to regret this disconnected outlook, ungrounded in the stark reality of life after death.

In contrast, those who have rooted their interest in this world only in pleasing Allah have served Him their whole lives by spreading His divine message and serving His creation. This is the journey worth taking and the road worth traveling.

Our interest in this world needs to be symmetrical with where we ultimately hope to end up at the end of the journey. Our goals should be proportional to what we hope to attain, as in the example of the prophets and awliya, who sought no higher outcome or reached for no greater treasure than worshipping Allah.

We are faced with a world actively dismantling belief systems, and eroding Islamic culture and lifestyle in particular, which is naturally much better suited for prioritizing a conscientious progression in life towards our eternal home. As the only true faith, Islam is constantly under assault from ignorant, misguided, and materialistic ideologies. Our purpose in this life, which is clearly stated by Allah with the ayah, “I did not create jinn and humans except to worship Me,” is challenged by these misdirections every day. To maintain an undeviating trajectory on the straight path of Islam, we need to remain vigilant, guided by the hadith, “Be like a traveler in this world,” and follow the example of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) in all things.

I hope to see you in the July issue inshallah.

M. Galip Dönmez