What Excites You and What Pains You?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate

Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

There was nothing that excited me more or made me happier than hearing each of my eight babies' first cry. How many parents, at the sound of the first cry of their babies ever thought your helpless newborn would one day stand up and argue with you or hate you or can't stand to be around you? Indeed, children are constant tests for parents one way or the other from day 1 and expect till the day you die -- they bring our pleasure and they bring our pain. So, how do we pass those on-going tests?

In general, pain and pleasure are good if they drive us to Allah, and bad if they drive us away from Allah.

Pain drives you away from Allah when it causes you to get caught up in worry and anxiety so that you can't--for example--focus on Allah during you prayer. Or, even worse, the pain may lead you to disobey Allah in order to relieve it.

Pleasure drives you away from Allah when it causes you to get caught up in excitement and exultation so that you can't--for example--focus on Allah during your prayer. Or, even worse, the excitement may lead you to disobey Allah in order to keep it.

One way to remedy this is to reflect on the hadith of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace):

The person who had the most pleasing life in this world, of any of the people of hell, will be summoned on Resurrection Day and utterly plunged into the Hellfire, then asked, "O human being, have you ever beheld any good at all; have you ever felt a single joy? "and he will say, "No by God, my Lord. "And the most miserable sufferer in this world, of any of the people of Paradise, will be summoned and utterly plunged into paradise, then asked, "O human being, have you ever seen any bad at all; have you ever experienced a single misery? "and he will say, "No by God, my Lord: I have never seen any bad or suffered a single misery." [Related by Muslim]

We should focus on what Allah wants, rather than what we want for ourselves. Pleasure and pain relate to our personal wants, and we need to prevent them from coming in the way of our obedience to Allah.

May Allah grant us good in this life and the next and save us from the torment of the Hellfire. Ameen.

And Allah knows best and He alone grant success.

Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wassallam.