Searching For The Meaning Of Success

When I was a little girl growing up, I used to sit under mango trees and dream about a glorious future. By now, according to my schedule, I should be well on my way to winning that Pulitzer, or should have at least completed that great American novel, the one that was supposed to garnish for me worldwide recognition and accolades for the prowess of my pen. But “umpteen” years later, I see that nothing has gone according to plan.

Ever since I hit the big THREE-O, I’ve been taking stock of my life, and trying to document my accomplishments. When I compare myself to my peers, who I attended university with, I often feel like I’ve sunk to the bottom of the pile. Most of them are now doctors, lawyers, and junior executives at Fortune 500 companies, while I have become a Muslim, a wife and a mother. Sometimes it’s hard to reconcile who I am now, with whom I strived to become for the better part of my life. After talking with a friend of mine, who is also a revert to Islam and hovering around that 30-year-benchmark, I found that I was not alone in my feelings of inadequacy and failure, and now I find myself searching for the true meaning of success.

Success according to popular consensus is having a lavish home, a luxury car, a diverse stock portfolio and the opportunity to vacation extensively, at least once a year. Well, alhamdalillah, Allah, SWT, also has a definition of success. He says, “And the measuring out on that day will be just; then as for him whose measure (of good deeds) is heavy, those are they who shall be successful.” [7:8] According to Allah, success is not measured in how many designer shoes you own, or the square footage of your home, success is measured in the accomplishing of good deeds. The beginning of this road to success starts with submitting your will to Allah, AWJ, as He says, “The response of the believers, when they are invited to Allah and His Apostle, that he may judge between them, is only to say: We hear and we obey; and these it is that are successful.” [24:51]

After I accepted Islam, and since then, I’ve tried to give dawa to my old friends, but most of them laugh at me, and feel that the only reason I need this religion, is because I don’t have all the things that they have. When I invite them to follow the Prophet, SAWS, they say that he was just a man, but Allah says, “Those who follow the Apostle-Prophet, the Ummi, whom they find written down with them in the Taurat and the Injeel, (who) enjoins them good and forbids them evil, and makes lawful to them the good things and makes unlawful to them impure things, and removes from them their burden and the shackles which were upon them; so (as for) those who believe in him and honor him and help him, and follow the light which has been sent down with him, these it is that are the successful ones.” [7:157]

When we think of success, it is only human nature to focus on this worldly life, and the possessions of it: our homes, our cars, our clothing, our food, our wives/husbands, our children and our wealth. As Muslims however, it is imperative that we learn to look at success, as Allah, SWT, has described it, and strive for that, and not to be deceived by Shaytaan and this Dunya, by putting all of our efforts into acquiring this illusionary success. For Allah says, “Say: The bad and the good are not equal, though the abundance of the bad may please you; so be careful of (your duty to) Allah, O men of understanding, that you may be successful.” [5:100]

Allah gives to whomsoever of His servants what He Wills of the good of this life, but that does not guarantee you the same in the next life. The best of Allah’s creation, our beloved Prophet, SAWS, used to sleep on a straw mat on the ground, and his worldly possessions were few, but Allah, granted him the supreme success, the promise of Paradise, and the highest station in it. And when we see others enjoying the good of this world, while being neglectful of the hereafter, we should not long for what they have, because it only hinders our own success. For Allah says, “And those who yearned for his place only the day before began to say: Ah, know that Allah amplifies and straitens the means of subsistence for whom He pleases of His servants; had not Allah been gracious to us, He would most surely have abased us; ah, know that the ungrateful are never successful.” [28:82]