WHERE ARE WE GOING The Purpose of Life
{"Image DocumentName": "WHERE ARE WE GOING? The Purpose of Life", "Image ImageDescription": "Peace of paradise not restricted from those who live in this world. Allah (swt) says: The one who is among those who are near to Allah (al-muqarrabeen) is happiness, bounty, and a garden of delight (Qur\u2019an 56:88) Indeed in the remembrance of Allah lies the tranquility of the heart (Qur\u2019an 13:28) Imam Ali (a) says of the Ahl al-Bayt (a): Our bodies are in this world, but our hearts are in the gardens. Story of Prophet (s) and companions who feared being hypocrites. slide 21: for these people, pleasure of heaven and escape from hell cannot be their only goal in life. in fact in this world they have access to both of these. for example the qur an says that those who are near are happiness, bounty, and a garden of delight . qur an doesn t say that eventually they will get these things, but rather it says that they are these things right now. and for someone who is occupied with Allah (swt) and knows that what is with Allah (swt) is better than anything you can find elsewhere, it is this person that has tranquility of the heart. this tranquility is what people around the world are searching everywhere for -- they escape on vacations, take world tours, do drugs, etc. to find this tranquility but they are looking in the wrong places. quote of Imam Ali (a) shows that they have access to jannah even in this world. the theme in this slide is that when you have complete reliance on Allah (swt), things of heaven become accessible to you  in this world . you don t have to wait til the hereafter. a couple of stories that show this point: - Imam Ali, in a conversation with Kumayl-bin-Ziad, declares that there is no one to whom he may divulge the secret of his heart. But he says there are some individuals in the world who have attained the point of perfect certainty in knowledge and feel that there is no space to separate them from the spirit of certitude. That thing, namely livelihood, which is difficult for men of pleasure and materialists to achieve is tame and easy for them, and what is the source of terror for the former, namely privacy with God, is the means of companionship for the latter. They go along with people but their spirits soar high, and while they are here they are also simultaneously in the next world going through the mystic and devotional pains and communions that Ali had. (quoted from Perfect Man, available on Al-Islam) - It is narrated that one day the companions of the holy Apostle said to him: We fear to be hypocrites. They were true believers and yet they felt this anxiety. The Prophet asked the reason. They said: When we come before you, and you preach of God, resurrection and sin, we have a deep feeling of penitence that is so pleasant. But when we leave you and go back to our family, we find ourselves as we had been before. Is this not hypocrisy The Prophet answered: No, this is not hypocrisy which is the act of being double-faced. What you describe about is about two conditions of the mind, when it is downcast. Then he continued: If you remain in the same state as when you are with me, then the angels will shake hands with you, and if it becomes a habit with you, you can walk on water without being drowned. (Perfect Man) - sometime after karbala 4th imam (a) was put in prison in damascus. a companion came to him and the companion was sad (or crying) because of the state of the imam (a). imam (a) told him not to cry for his state, because the imam (a) was not suffering. the imam (a) put his hand over the companion s face to show him what the Imam (a) was experiencing at that time, and the companion was able to see jannah. - Imam Ali (a) explains in Nahj al-Balagha about those who are true mutaqeen Nahj al-Balagha sermon 193: The greatness of the Creator is seated in their heart, and, so, everything else appears small in their eyes. Thus to them Paradise is as though they see it and are enjoying its favours. To them, Hell is also as if they see it and are suffering punishment in it. <-- this is extremely important. it proves without a doubt that paradise/hell can t be the goal of life since awliyaa can experience these in this world.", "Image XResolution": "37", "Image YResolution": "37", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Centimeter", "Image Software": "SlidePlayer", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered"}