It takes giving up what we love to attain love

4th of Ramadhan 1441 Hijriah (27th April 2020)

As human beings, it is natural to have affinity or love toward certain things in life. And as with many of us, love for this world is manifested in the things we own. Be it the money we have, the houses, the cars, the newest gadget, etc. 

In reality, the love that we have for goods of this ephemeral world might deprive us of becoming better human beings and reaching a higher form of love. When we clutch hard to the things we own, despite the fact that there are others in more need of them, we are not realizing our full potential as human beings, particularly in the spiritual aspect.

In the Islamic tradition, it is said in the Quran that we will not attain piety or righteousness until we spend/give out what we love (to others that need it more). It takes a lot of heart giving out our hard-earned cash to other people in need, while the money could get us the stuff that we want; it is tough to give our favorite book to a friend that is in need of the knowledge written in it; it is tough to give up the privacy of our homes for people who might need shelter, and the list goes on. 

But when we do have the courage to give out what we love to others who are in more need of it, God will replace it with blessings more immense than what we have let go. It may not be able to be proven empirically, but from personal experience, whenever I give out something that I love for other people, especially people in need, I get a kind of satisfaction for being able to do something good. On top of that, whatever amount I gave away, God returns it in other forms of riches with the same amount or even more. Perhaps this is a glimpse of experiential righteousness or piety.

The definition of righteousness is acting in accordance with the divine or moral law. In other words, righteousness is our natural state of being. The state in which we are charitable, caring, and deprived of our ego. The state where we understand that it is not always about us. Rather, it is about collectively making this world a better place, in accordance with what God wants us to become.

The current global pandemic that we are in is giving us an even stronger case to give up the many things that we love. Be it from a material and immaterial perspective. Obviously, there are many people who are hit with hardship, and it is our obligation to share the excess of material goods we have. In addition, we also need to curb our love toward boasting, excess talking, and other negative expressions of emotion to not make the situation even worse. The times we are living in have given us the chance to rise and give up the many things that we love so that we can attain righteousness and in turn God’s approval and love.

-Fendrri

#Love #Islam #Reflection #Quran #AliImran #Charity #Ramadhan #CeritaKamiRefleksi