It is the argument of Professor Jordan Peterson that real happiness entails being filled with the spirit of God. He draws this conclusion from the fact that the root of the word happiness is enthusiasm which is derived from the Greek word “entheos”, meaning ‘God within’.
As the legendary motivational speaker and author Earl Nightingale teaches us “the happiest, most interesting people are those who have found the secret of maintaining their enthusiasm, that ‘God within’.
Add this to the Quranic fact that “without doubt in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find satisfaction”, as taught in verse 28 of Surah Ra’d; and then you would not have any doubts that the month of fasting and recitation of the Quran with remembrance (zikr) as well as acts of charity is indeed the month of real happiness.
If that does not suffice to convince you, then consider the words of Allah when he says in verse 56 of Surah Dhariyat: “And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.”
In the entire Islamic calendar, according to the practice of the best of all creation Muhammad, (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) is there a period more devoted to worship than Ramadan?
Therefore those seeking happiness in this life as well as the hereafter should know that this blessed month is the best period to attain their goal.
As Harvard Professor Arthur Brooks teaches us: One of the fundamental keys to happiness is a sense of #purpose and that matters a lot.
Professor Brooks tells us: “Purpose is one of the macronutrients of happiness and if you cannot find that out you will end up dealing with an existential crisis”
We know fully well that our purpose as humans is to serve our creator.
By the Sunnah of our Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) we are more engaged in that service in Ramadan; and some of us actually go for extra time as well in voluntary acts as we do in the added 6 days.
Shall we not also be reminded that this month of fasting is also the month of the Quran?
In Surah Baqarah verse 185, Allah reminds us: “The month of Ramadhan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur’an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion…”
And that Quran is indeed our guaranteed source of happiness as Allah teaches us in His Holy Scripture:
Say, “In the bounty of Allah and in His mercy – in that let them rejoice; it is better than what they accumulate.”
– Surah Yunus, 58
Perhaps at this point the Soninkara readers of this essay must be cursing me as they think about the pain of hunger and thirst. But let me remind them that good things don’t come easy.
‘Marremmu’, the soldiers’ mantra of “no pain, no gain” is the real law of nature so we must pay the price if we really want to be happy in meaningful ways.
Let me share a paragraph from an essay i wrote on this same matter 14 years ago:
Fasting may not be easy, especially with our ingrained habits of three square meals a day, but all good things and results can only be attained by paying the price. That is the law of the universe: “do the thing and you shall have the power” as American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson would say. In the words of another philosopher James Allen: “those who set their feet firmly upon the path of self-conquest, who walk aided by the staff of faith on the highway of self-sacrifice, will assuredly achieve the highest prosperity, and will reap abounding and enduring joy and bliss.”
M. Sabally
