DEITY AND PARADISE

It may seem strange to many, but it is a fact that, every one of us—whether he is a Muslim or a Non-Muslim, whether he believes in God or not, whether he is spiritually oriented or materially oriented, whether he craves for the ethereal or for the worldly things—he, consciously or sub-consciously worships one or the other ‘deity’ and yearns for some or the other type of ‘paradise’.

Someone submits his will to his own desires; yet some other intensely craves for the material pleasures or for a woman, so much so that his struggle of day and night revolves around this very theme; for some the domination of his community—even if it be at the cost of other communities—preoccupies his mental and physical faculties; yet for many others the progress and glory of ones own country (not always in a benign way), is the primary aim of their life; some other people want their race to rule over all other races of the world; and those who believe in God—in true sense—look for ways to please Him. Their activities, mission of life, aims and objectives of their undertakings revolve around their concept of God.

In other words: if a concept, an entity, an ideology, an emotion or a tangible and material thing, infiltrates the mental and body faculties of a person, so much so that he orients his life and its activities—consciously or sub-consciously—for the realization of those things and for the triumph of his inner desire and belief, he is in fact worshipping that ‘deity’. Even if he is not carrying out ostentatious ceremonies to that effect, he is in reality worshipping it. Ironically, he may be carrying out ceremonies of worship for one ‘deity’, but in reality worshipping some other ‘deity’.

Hence for some his desire of lust is his ‘deity’, for others their race or their culture or their nation or their community or their ideology is the ‘deity’. And their ‘paradise’ is a place, time or opportunity (real or imaginary) when these desires, dreams and aspirations get fulfilled.

A committed and faithful servant of his ‘deity’ will sacrifice his time, his energy, his resources, his talents and sometimes even his life for the fulfillment of his dream and for winning his ‘paradise’.

As far as true Muslims are concerned, their Deity is the real Deity, Allah, and their Paradise is the real Paradise, the Jannah, an eternal abode of peaceful bliss, promised for those who earn the Pleasure of Almighty Allah. A true Muslim sacrifices his time, his energies, his resources, his talents and if required his life to win the Pleasure of Allah and earn a place in His Paradise. In fact the intensity of love, reverence and dedication true Muslims have towards their Deity, Allah, is (much to the envy of Non-Muslims) many, many times more than the Non-Muslims have towards their various false ‘deities’.

When we understand this simple fact of our life, it will make easier for us to comprehend and reach for the solutions to the elusive problem of the backwardness of the Muslim Ummah.