Pie in the Sky?

Perhaps we are very neglectful of spirituality because today even though we may profess to be Muslims we have been so affected by materialism that we devote all our attention to those things that are material. So we place trust in money instead of Allah.

We rely more on material things than we rely upon tawakkul (faith in Allah). We trust in material things and in money more then we trust in Allah. We trust in immediate material rewards more than we trust in a reward from Allah in the akhirah (hereafter).

Let us consider a scenario – if someone is in desperate need and they request you to help them even though they can’t pay you anything would you do it for the sake of Allah? Let us ask ourselves how many of us do things today for the sake of Allah?

We are often called upon to assist in Muslim charities. We are called upon to donate and to assist in religious schools, in mosques, in religious works and in helping each other. How many of us are willing to assist? Why – because there is no immediate tangible reward. The first question that springs to everyone’s mind is ‘How much am I going to paid for it?’  or ‘What’s in it for me?’ And if someone says ‘insha’Allah Allah will reward you in the akhirah’ no one is interested. Why? Forget Jannah, we want something now.

There is a phrase ‘I don’t want no pie in the sky when I die. I want something here on the ground while I’m still around’

This phrase sums up our attitude – it’s immediate, gratifying rewards that we are interested in not the akhirah.

[This short excerpt is based on the talk ‘Sickness of the Soul’ which was delivered by Shaykh Abu Yusuf Riyadh ul Haq on 26th November 2005 in London. For a more comprehensive understanding of this topic please refer to that lecture].