One Step Closer - Striving

1- One of the great principles in al-Islam, it is one of the key elements to success in the matters of this world and in the matters of the Hereafter, it is one of the main sources that give us strength and patience to deal with the hardships that we face in this life in order to make it to please Allah (Subhanhu Wa Ta'ala).

2- Allah (Subhanhu Wa Ta'ala) made it clear in the Qur’an that the nature of this life needs striving with patience to overcome the obstacles we face. Success cannot be achieved without struggling, because: “No pain no gain”, so if you want to accomplish a goal you need a lot of energy and determination being put to strive and take a proactive approach.

3- Everybody in this life is striving in one way or another, so why not make our striving for Allah, because Allah Himself gives us this as a prescription, that if we strive for His sake He will guide us to His Straight Path, and this means that we will not be lost, we will have guidance with which we can tell right from wrong, and truth from falsehood.

4- The prophet’s life was full with striving, before his prophet hood when he broke from the norms and did not engage in paganism, and after his prophet hood when he delivered the message facing all sorts of obstacles, his life was a theory of striving, and we have to learn from him how to strive, and we have to know that we will never grow without striving.

5- We can cultivate the principle of striving by attaching our aspirations to Allah (Subhanhu Wa Ta'ala) and making His pleasure our ultimate goal, and this goal is very noble, and the one who can foresee the ultimate goal and the happiness and the joy that can be attained by it, this will help him put up with the hardships that he might face to reach his precious goal.

6- Strive against your desires, ambitions, and society, will lead you to the epic level of striving, because you cannot jump and say: I want to strive in the battle field before having Jihad against your nafs!

Now the more you strive for Allah with pure intention the higher your rank will be in paradise, the closer you become to Allah, so by this; striving becomes an act of worship.


Moutasem al-Hameedy

alhameedy.wordpress.com