As we go continue our everyday lives, do we ever take a pause to reflect on where we are heading? We toil throughout the day, in pursuit of All our efforts are directed towards the achievement of Well, the answers may be different for different persons, Some may have a career goal, some business, and some education, etc. But what is our goal, our aim, our objective, our target for our Afterlife, which is our true life, the life last that we have to live forever and ever and ever and ever, whether we wish to live it or not?

Have we even set our goals for the after-life or are we so consumed in bettering this temporary life for ourselves and our families that we never had the chance to give a second thought to the afterlives of ourselves and our families.
Ultimately, we all have to face our Lord, answer His questions, give an account of our life in this world, and then proceed to our final destination, may it be Heaven or Hell?

If, we enter Heaven, SubhanAllah, alhamdulillah, but what if?. just imagine what would be the state of our terror, when on the Day of Judgement, we have to go to Hell. Will the status we worked so hard to achieve in this life be of any avail? Will the wealth we spent day and night earning save us from the Fire?

YUNUS, 54
[And if every person who had wronged, possessed all that is on the earth and sought to ransom himself therewith (it will not be accepted), and they would feel in their hearts regret when they see the torment.]

What use will it be if we regret then when we cannot return back, when the register of our deeds will be closed, and nothing can be done?

IBRAHIM, 44
[And warn mankind of the Day when the torment will come unto them, then the wrongdoers will say: Our Lord! Respite us for a little while, we will answer Your Call and follow the messengers! (It will be said): Had u not sworn afore time that you would not leave (the world for the Here-After).]

Today, maybe we don’t swear verbally that we will never have to leave this world, but our actions are enough to prove our beliefs.

Before the sands of time slip, and we are in a no-return position, we have to work for our afterlives and for that we have to have a goal in mind a specific target, and do I need to say, what the goal must be? all of us wanting to achieve everlasting pleasures, our goal is to achieve Jannah, which is the criterion of real success.

Surah al-‘Imran, verse 185
“Only he who is saved far from the Fire and admitted to the Garden will have indeed attained the object of life [or: been successful]” (3:185).
The success of this life, the mansions we build, the wealth we amass, the enormous amount of bank balance we add up, the precious gems and jewelry we possess, they all are a temporal success, when we breathe our last, when our soul departs our body, this success will then not even matter the amount of a speck of dust to us, True success lies in seeking and achieving Jannah, AND THAT IS WHAT WE MUST STRIVE FOR.

How can we not seek to enter al-Jannah and it is the real success, it is the house of eternity, the house of lasting joy and happiness, the house where there is no sorrow, no pain, no death but just pleasure and enjoyment and above all there is in Jannah the PLEASURE OF ALLAH on its inhabitants. It is in Jannah where the believers would see their LORD, where they will meet with the Messengers and their companions, and the Martyrs.

The Jannah that is so wonderful the description of which lies in a hadith “Bricks of gold and silver, and mortar of fragrant musk, pebbles of pearl and sapphire, and soil of saffron. Whoever enters it is filled with joy and will never feel miserable; he will live there forever and never die; their clothes will never wear out and their youth will never fade.” [Ahmad, at-Tirmidhi, ad-Daarimee, Mishkaat al-Masaabeeh, 3/29, sahih].
Subhanallah,

In another hadith, we have
What Allaah (SWT) has kept hidden from us the delights of Paradise is beyond our ability to comprehend: al-Bukhaari reported from Abu Hurayrah (RA) that the Prophet (saw) said that Allaah (swt) said, “I have prepared for My slaves what no eye has seen, no ear has heard and no human heart can imagine”. Recite if you wish, “No person know what is kept hidden for them of joy as a reward for what they used to do.” (32:17).

LET US ALL PRIORITISE, SORT OUT WHAT IT IS WE ACTUALLY SEEK TO ATTAIN, AND WORK HARD TOWARDS THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THAT GOAL, AND NOT LET OTHER TRIVIAL MATTERS STOP US FROM STRIVING TOWARDS OUR FINAL DESTINATION: JANNAH.

ALLAH tells us in Surah Aal-Imran,Verse 133:
[And run to forgiveness from ur Lord, and to Paradise as wide as the heavens and the earth, prepared for Al-Muttaqun]

And in Surah Hadid, ayah 21:
[Race with one another in hastening towards forgiveness from your LORD, AND paradise, the width whereof is as the width of the heaven and the earth, prepared for those who believe in Allah and His Messengers. That is the Grace of Allah, which He bestows on whom He is pleased with.]

This is how our manner should be in seeking Jannah, running, hastening and racing with one another, but we only compete with each other for worldly means and remain amazingly heedless to our Lord’s commands, what a shame it is.

In this world, the higher we set our aims, the harder we have to work, the more we have to sacrifice, then let us not be under the misconception that the path to Jannah is an easy one.

Al-Baqarah, 214
[Or do u think that you will enter Paradise without such trials as those who passed away before you? They were afflicted with severe poverty and ailments and were so shaken that even the Messenger and those who believed along with Him said: When will the help of ALLAH come? Yes! Certainly, the Help of Allah is near!]

We will have to bear with patience all the difficulties and obstacles that come our way, and there are bound to be loads, but we have an excellent example in our Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) to follow. And all the difficulties, when compared to the rewards one hopes to obtain in Jannah, are minute.

At-Taubah, 111
[Verily, Allah has purchased of the believers their lives and their properties for (the price) that theirs shall be the Paradise. They fight in Allah’s Cause, so they kill (others) and are killed. It is a promise in truth, which is binding on Him in the Torah and the Gospel and the Qur’an. And who is truer to His covenant than Allah. Then rejoice in the bargain you have concluded. That is the supreme success.]

Let us now march forward with a clear perspective of what we aim to achieve. The clock is ticking, none of us know when the angels of Death will approach us, its high time we realize the mission in our life, and labor towards it. The path may be difficult, but once the destination is reached, we will know our efforts were not put in vain.

I ask ALLAH, He makes it easy for us to follow the path that leads to Jannah and encompass us with His Mercy and Fadhl.
I conclude with the dua of Prophet Ibrahim Alayhi salaam,
[And make me one of the inheritors of the Paradise of Delight]
Ash-Shu’ara. Verse 85

Must Read Posts:

  1. Our Goal In Life
  2. Muslims Should Strive For Unity
  3. Do You Really Want Paradise?
  4. Finding A Worthy Purpose To Devote Our Life For
  5. A Muslim Must Be Productive And Beneficial To Society