The Ideology of LifeMan is born with an inquisitive nature. This is whatdifferentiates him from other species and life forms.Since, he is endowed with a reasoning faculty, hecannot help but question the activities andphenomena that take place around him. Heremains restless unless he finds rational answersto questions pertaining to the Ideology of Life suchas: Who am I?, Where did I come from?, What isthe purpose of my life?, Why do I have so manydesires?, Is life governed by destiny or free will?,Why is there suffering in the world?, Does Godexist?, How do I achieve salvation?, Why shouldn’tI only live for today?, What happens after death?...The questions are many, however, the answer isonly one – a reason-based understanding of man’spurpose as per the ideology of life.

What is the Ideology of Man’s Life?According to the Islamic concept of the ideology oflife, man is a pleasure-seeking animal. He has anabundance of desires and thus seeks to create aworld where he may fulfill all of them. Yet there isno one who can achieve that goal; everyone isdestined to die with desires unfulfilled.

This destiny, however, is special to man — no othercreature shares this fate. As is known, the physicalworld, the mountains, the rivers, the stars, etc. haveno desires at all, and this saves them from theproblem of unfulfilled desires.

Animals, as well, are not much different from thephysical world in this regard. Their desires are verylimited. For example, their desire for food is limitedin scope to the immediate present. Animals haveno concern for tomorrow and do not desire to storefood for tomorrow. They require food for themoment and that is achievable to them. So whenthey die there is not a single regret in their existence— they have no cause for lamenting: I have failedto achieve what I wanted to achieve.

Then why is it exceptionally the case for man thateven so-called super achievers feel, at their momentof death, that their life was a case of missedopportunities — they wanted so much yet achievedso little. What is worse, they are compelled to leaveeven those little achievements in this world andproceed to an unknown destination, completelyalone.

Why this tragic state-of-affairs? The reason for thisis that man has unlimited intellectual capability butphysically he is a limited being. This disparity inhis inner nature causes the problem.

After great labour, man acquires much wealth buthe dies without completely enjoying it. He buildshis dream house. Yet sadly, upon entering it, he feelsunable to fully enjoy it due to his limitations anddisadvantages. Any conceivable thing that heobtains is inherently imperfect whereas man isintellectually a perfectionist. After experiencingeach new goal that he has so long sought to achievehe desires it no more because after achieving it herealises that this latest goal too, is less than perfect.

There is hope in this situation. If nature was capableof creating a world that satisfies man’s physicalneeds then logically it must be capable of creatinga world that suits his intellectual needs. This worldfor the intellect exists but with only one difference— the world according to his physical nature wasgiven to him for his pre-death period of life and theworld according to his intellectual needs will begiven to him for his post-death period of life. Man’slife is actually like an iceberg. This limited worldlylife is only the tip of the iceberg and the eternalother-worldly life will be like the hidden majorityof the iceberg.

Thus there is no need for man to fall prey tofrustration. All that man needs to do is adopt a two-fold plan for his life. One based on his needs of thepresent world and the other according to his needsof the future world.

So a successful life in this world is one based onthe following concept: that the present life is wherewe can only sow and we shall harvest in the nextworld. If we were to plant a seed in the morningwith the hope of enjoying the fruit by dinnertime,we are sure to be frustrated. Had we planned toreap the fruit a hundred years from now, however,then we would not meet any frustration forfrustration is but the name of misplaced hope. Theproblem for man thus lies not in the nature of lifebut in his understanding of the ideology of his life.If man were to live his life understanding that he issowing the seeds in this life and he will enjoy itsfruits in the after-life he will never fall prey tofrustration.

Flowers and ThornsToday’s limited world is like a jungle. We haveflowers as well as thorns in it. In the eternal worldof ‘tomorrow’, the flowers and thorns will beseparated from each other and a final eternal worldwill be made in which one part will  consist  onlyof  thorns — hell, while the other part will consistonly of  flowers — paradise.The conditions of today’s world are  actually ameans of preparation of  the human personality. Godhas created this world as a testing ground. He hasgiven man a free-will and is getting a record madeof his thoughts, speach and actions. At this verymoment, two groups are being formed; one of thornsand one of flowers, and  every man is showing, fromthe record of his life, for which group he hasqualified himself —  the thorns or the flowers. In the world of today,  these kinds of personalitiesdo not appear to be separate, but in the world oftomorrow, both will be completely separated, the‘flowery’ personalities will be seen in the form offlowers and the  ‘thorny’ personalities will be seenin the form of thorns.The two sides of the human personality can alsobe termed  positive and  negative. Every man

experiences negativity in today’s world. One whosees nothing in a negative experience but itsnegativity will develop a negative personality. Butone who converts negative experiences intopositive food for  thought  and learns lessons fromthem will develop a positive personality.

For instance, if someone abuses you, troubles youor provokes you,   than you have two ways ofresponding. One way  is to give a ‘tit for tat’response. That is, just as you have been troubled,you likewise trouble  the other person by abusinghim, troubling him or harming him. So in times ofprovocation, you retaliate in like manner.One who retaliates in this way develops a negativepersonality. He grows within him a harvest ofthorns. In the eternal world of ‘tomorrow’ afterdeath, he will emerge as a thorny personality;  hewill then be put in a jungle of thorns and will spendthe rest of his life eternally grief-stricken andfrustrated.

A  quite different type of person is onewho  responds in a positive manner to  negativesituations. Others may abuse him, but he himselfwill not abuse anyone. Others may torment him,but he will not torment others.  He may be harmed,but he will not harm others. Others may provokehim, but he himself will not provoke anyone.This is the man who lives like a flower amidst thethorns. He discovers God while He is unseen inthis world and lives a God-oriented life of positivity.He takes the situation as an opportunity to takeblessings from God and builds within himself apersonality like a flower. So he will be given theopportunity to live in the Garden of flowers afterdeath in the eternal world of paradise.

How do we build a ‘Flowery’ Personality?There are two major parts of the human brain. Oneis the conscious mind and the other is theunconscious mind. When a thought entersthe  human mind,  it does so initially in the conscious

mind. Gradually, in due course, it reaches theunconscious mind. The unconscious mind is thepart where every thought is preserved forever,although that is not in the grasp of man’s consciousmind. Whosoever wants to have a ‘flowery’personality will have to activate his mind wheneverhe has a negative thought so as to convert it into apositive thought.  Consequently, in the next stagewhen this thought moves on to the unconsciousmind, it is stored as something positive  rather thannegative.

For instance, if any thought of hatred enters hisconscious mind, he has to quell that hatred andconvert it into  thoughts of love. When somethought comes to mind, which produces feelingsof jealousy, he should transform this into a senseof acknowledgement. Whenever his ego is touched,whatever may be the issue, he should convert hisegoism into modesty. The urge  to be selfish,whatever the situation, should be convertedinto  selflessness. Likewise, if he thinks he is beingdeprived of his rights, he  should turn his indignationat such injustice  into gratitude.

Those men and women who succeed in buildingsuch a personality will  find that the store of theirconsciousness will be a treasury of positivism. Itwill be completely free of negativism. It is positivepersonalities such as these who will receive a placein the Garden of flowers in the eternal world afterdeath – Paradise – where they shall spend their livesin a perpetual state of joy and bliss. The Ideology

of LifeMaulana Wahiduddin Khan

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