These days, there is always an excitement among people to compete in buying the latest: Furniture, cars, cell phones,… etc. People Just can’t live without comparison with others. They make efforts and spend time in picking the choice that is admired the most. They would always consider their achievements & possessions by keeping in mind what others have or do not have. They feel pride in the efforts & pains that they had to go through in achieving what they value so much, which is good but to a certain extent, but where should we apply the brakes of ‘contentment’ ? No matter in which “field” a person selects for satisfying his hunger of excelling in life, the greed for more keeps on increasing till the last breath.
After arrival of Islam, those who used to previously compete in sword fighting, horse riding, property making and gold collecting applied brakes to their desires of nafs and pressed the accelerator of competition in ‘deeds’ that strengthens ones bond with Allah (swt).
S/he offers 10 rakahs tahajjud and I am only offering 4 every night ?!? Why should I give less charity than him while I am richer than him. He has got more responsibilities, more troubles, less time, less facilities, YET he manages to recite more Quran daily than I recite in a week ?! SHAME on ME! He is more respectable in my eyes because his sacrifices are more in the way of Islam, he obeys Allah more and follows the sunnah of the prophet (saw) more than others…Nothing else should earn him more respect..status, wealth, property…these are good but not the criteria for becoming valuable in front of Allah (swt)!
Abubakr (r.a) and khadija (r.a), were rich traders of Arab before Islam, but excelled so much from others in their dedication towards Islam that they were the only two to receive the “Salam of Allah” through Jibrail (r.a). BUT this happened only after everything they had was sacrificed for Islam. Their time, energy, wealth, family, thoughts…EVERYTHING. We can’t reach the dust of their feet in developing our hunger for the ‘deeds’ that brings one closer to Allah (swt) but at least we can look up to them as role models, not only in words but also in actions.