A faithful Muslim is ever pleased with what God has given to him in terms of sustenance while he is happy with what He had destined for him out of His bounties.
Whatever the Creator of the universe bestows on him out of His favour and mercy, he embraces it without comparing it with what has been given to others.
And because he is a believer, in the justice of Allah on whatever He gives to His servants, he queries not God on what He Has not deemed it fit to give to him. Instead, he prays diligently and seek the bounty of the oft-giving Creator.
This is the definition of contentment as it is enjoyed by the humane religion of Allah; Islam and as preached by the wise among the sages, saints and scholars, across the religious lines.
But Alas, most people have erred in defining the word “contentment “. Most importantly, it has been defined to mean: “banal fatality ” or accepting one’s social-economic and religious-political states without questioning, without striving to mend them or without seeking solutions to one’s problems.
To others, it has been giving way to life unrefined, being less ambitious in one’s quest to high standard of living and praising the life of want, poverty and more.
No, contentment is seeking among the bounties of the Creator that spreads across the entire globe and the pleasing with the share He bestowed on you out of this bounty without seeking it or what He does not give, through inimical, crooked and illegal means.
I repeat again, contentment is not barring oneself from aspirations or strives to to be great! The Director of the world and what abound therein, Has not created man to be dormant, lazy and immobile! The nature of man has been to strive for higher things, to move from hardship to easement and to absolve himself from primitive life to moral civilization.
This is the reason why, nakedness gave away to covering of the body after the stone age. This is also the reason for man’s movement from analog dexterity to digital finesse! The Lord of the worlds knows His creation than anybody and this is reason He admonished them to strive and move for knowledge and opportunities out of their comfort zones in the Qur’an 67:15when He says:
” It is He who Has made the earth manageable for you, so traverse through its tracts and enjoy the sustenance which He furnishes:but unto Him is the Resurrection ”
The energetic nature of man has been pictured by the prophet in one of his ahadith as fillows:
” If the son of Adam is blessed with two gold refineries , he will still seek the third one as nothing will ever satisfy the eyes of the son of Adam except sand(i.e grave)”
The reasons above are other reasons why it is incumbent upon the religion of Allah and its Scholars to provide a guiding moral for man to seek only what is germane and useful to live his life well and to show rectitude in exerting his energetic nature!.
Since, immoral wealth and amoral richness debar human progress , man is warned to desist from using his innate goodness negatively as it will negatively affect him, the public and even, the wealth of the nation! This explains why the glorious Qur’an has excoriated those that eke out their living through illegal means in many of its reference. For example, we read as follows in the glorious Qur’an 56:82:
“And you have made your livelihood that you must be lying ” I. e through lying!”
The prophet has also admonished man from ekeing out living through illegal means. He has instead, advised man to be gracious in seeking sustenance. He says:
“The pious Soul(Angel Jubril) breathed into my soul and inspired me that no soul will ever die until it is his appointed time, and unless he has enjoyed all his sustenance. Then fear God and be gracious in seeking (opportunities, bounties and sustenance, i. e, seek through permitted opportunities), while nobody among you in his effort in seeking sustenance should seek it through sins. Indeed Allah, the exalted ,gives not to people, what is with Him, except through obeying His commandments! ”
In the meantime time, contentment is not a blanket fatality! It is an admixture of human strive where it is fit to do so and submission where it is unfit of after the struggle!
This is the reason why we read verses such as verse 69 of suratul-Ankabut and verse 16 of
Suratu-taobah , and many others which prod human beings to strive for excellence, refinement and better standard of living here and for the hereafter!
In suratul-Ankabut Vs 16 for example, we read as follows :
“And those who strive in our cause, we will certainly guide them to our paths:for verily Allah is with those who do right! ”
Allama Yusuf Aliy has commented on the verse above thus:
” All that man can do is to strive in Allah’s cause. And as such as he strives with might and main, with constancy and determination, the Light and mercy of Allah will come to meet him. They correct his defects and shortcomings. They provide him with the means by which he can raise himself above himself. They point out the way and all the paths leading up to it! ”
It is therefore a point to note here that, whether one is looking for moral rectitude or elevation of his condition to refine oneself or he is after spiritual growth, what one needs is to strive towards his aims with determination, constancy and righteousness!
Righteousness to say the fact of the matter, is the missing magic that derails the progress of most people who desire and strive for greatness at this era!. In the hadith quoted above on this topic, the prophet (salawatu llahi alehi) has stressed as follows :
…And be righteous as well as gracious in seeking sustenance, while you should not try to seek it through sinning against the almighty, for indeed, nobody can get what lies with Him (in terms of blessings and more) except through righteousness! ”
Seeking Allah’s grace, striving for better living or seeking knowledge with a view to bettering one’s religion, and humanity have never been banned in this religion of ours! .Contentment will only come, after one has tried to be better after the exhaustion of legal means and within a moral ambit!
The definitions of contentment will now be:
_ Pleasing with the gift Allah Has endowed one which one cannot be changed and be satisfying with the natural limitations He has destined with one’s nature.
_ It connotes that one should never live on hands -out but should strive to eke out his living for the prophets of Allah had had one occupation or the other when alive! For examples : Muhammad (saw) was before his call as a prophet, was a guardian of shepherd and afterwards, he was sherpeding men to moral and good nature. Prophet Zakariyyah (a.s) was a carpenter while Idris (a.s) a Tailor or what is known today as a Designer!
_ Contentment is the acceptance of the goodness of Allah in one’s life without courting or giraffing to have by all means, what is in the possession of others _ like when an octogenarian is looking to be agile like a young man in his 30s or when a dark-complexion woman wants to turn herself to whitish by all means or bleaching, or when a medium size man wants to increase his height by medical operation or what have you or like the women during the time of the prophet (saw) who desired the rights and endowments naturally given to men until Allah the one who Endows revealed the verse 32 of the ideal of Women (suratul-Nisa’i) as follows :
” And in no wise you should covet those things in which Allah Has bestowed His gifts more freely on some of you than others:then to men is allotted what they earn, and to women what they earn:but ask Allah of His bounty. For Allah has full knowledge of all things! ”
In the final analysis, we glean from the above that men and women have gifts from Allah-some greater than others. They seem unequal, but we are assured that Allah has allotted them a scheme by which people receive what they earn. If this does not appear clear in our sight, let us remember that we have no full knowledge but Allah has.
Therefore, we must not be jealous of what other people have more than we have-in wealth or position or strength or talent or honour or happiness, but we are allowed to seek or strive for all these in God and through legal means.