Belief and Faith

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim – In the Name of Allah(S.W.T.) the most Beneficent, the most Merciful

Once Again, I would like to state that I am neither a very learned scholar nor do I claim that all my views are 100% correct. The purpose of presenting my views is thus for me and the other readers to be guided by debating, commenting or pondering on the topics and not by just reading them.

How can one live without faith?

For a minute lets forget about deciding where to eat, or what to wear, or any other the complications we have given ourselves in life, lets try and break it all down to the basic nitty gritties...

The human being can be very simply defined to be a creature that follows his goals and ambitions, which he himself creates through the intelligence given to him by Allah. The main problem arises when understanding why these goals should be set.

Most people find themselves setting a goal according to what they want, for example, “I want to get a good grade in my final year exam,” so I set that as a goal for myself, or maybe “I want to earn enough to provide for my family,” or even something like “I want to get into bed and sleep for a few hours.”

These are all goals to be achieved; from the smallest to the largest, which dictate what we do with our limited time in this world. But anyone can tell that there are differences between the goals, some are short term, some are long term, some have priority over others, and etcetera.

What we need to define in our lives is the goal which gives us a purpose for living; life itself cannot just be there for no reason! Think about it, we are born, we grow-up, we learn, we earn, we spend, we enjoy, we relax, we become old… Death awaits us all… it could come at anytime, during anyone of these phases...

How can there be no reason for me to be alive? How can there be no reason for me to study? Or to do anything that will benefit me? Unless the reason to do it is because of the benefit that I will get from it in this world… which makes no sense at all, because no one knows if they will live long enough to gain that benefit! I mean what if I die at this instant? Right now in life, I am studying so that I can earn a living later on; for my wife and family… but if I die at this instant, does it make sense that all I have studied so far has just been a waste to my time and energy because I haven’t gained the benefit of being able to provide??

NO… there must be a reason. After death no worldly items we have with us right now can help us. Look even at the Egyptian emperors who were buried with gold and slaves, could they even lift a finger against grave robbers? How can anyone think that life has no purpose beyond life itself when death would cause an abrupt stop to it whether or not we have completed what we want?

So then, what is this goal that we should be living for? What is the purpose of life??

Life only makes sense if after death there was something more, something worth living for… This is where faith comes in, when one believes that after death they will be rewarded or punished for what they have done in this world.

That means that I have to work hard and strive to become a better human, because the reason I am alive is to achieve the reward waiting for me after I die... So the purpose of my life is to prepare for death! Now we are getting somewhere... This actually makes sense, because if life is a preparation for death then even if death comes at anytime, what we are waiting for is actually what comes after it!!

But on the other hand; if living without this basic faith of some kind of reward after death, would anyone need to do anything in this life? Couldn't anyone come up and say, "well... I don't care about this world, all I care about is myself, and because I am not getting anything from being good, why shouldn't I do wrong and reap the quick and short-lived rewards of evil? I mean I am going to die in a few years anyway!!"

Living without any form of faith is illogical! Life cannot be worth living if we do not believe in something more... something that makes sense... something that is perfect!!

I came across this web page while reading a little on faith, its interesting how different people look at it, but some of the definitions given for it on this page are controversial; it makes me think... Here is the link: http://webweevers.com/faith.htm

Thus Zuhair’s view: Faith and Belief are needed to fulfill our purpose of creation.

Please feel free to argue against this, or if you feel you know something that would be beneficial and is not present please do write a comment... InshaAllah Allah will guide us all to the right path!