Let’s think about the goals we all strive for throughout life — our lifetime goals. Each one of us is likely to have some burning ambition, some clear objective or ideal that drives us forward each day. It may be a deadline for our homework or coursework, it may be a forthcoming exam or a karate or tae kwon do grading session, or we may be working towards a particular career that we want to pursue after leaving school.
Consciously or subconsciously, we all have short-, medium-, and long-term goals that we hope to achieve before our life is over. The difference from soccer is that in real life no one knows when the final whistle will blow. No one knows just how, when, and where the life will end. We Muslims are reminded to live each day as if it is our last day and to offer every prayer as if it is our last prayer. We must therefore be totally focused and sincere in what we do.
In order to achieve any goal, there is nearly always an economic dimension. We need money to get things done. No matter how noble or generous we want to be, we still need some degree of financial independence for ourselves in order to get what we want. This is simply in the nature of things. We may not want to be wealthy just for own sake, to show off and live a flashy lifestyle; rather, in order to be more effective in society, we must be able to stand on our own feet financially.
Therefore, we need to work to earn money to do what we would like to do. The danger is that the means can sometimes become the end in themselves. How many young people have not set out in life with high ideals of making the world a better place for all, only to be distracted along the way? How many young men have not become mere consumers, buying all the latest gadgets and fashionable clothes, enjoying all the material pleasures of life and forgetting that their life should really have a higher and nobler purpose?