A Bunch Of Facts

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

There is a difference in presentation of facts and a narrative. If you say "John Smith died," this is a fact. I can turn this into a narrative like this--The king died and then the queen died of grief. They left no heir, so the kingdom went into disarray. The people started to fight with each other for the throne. John Smith died in the midst of violence. I connected bites of information (facts) together in cause and effect such that one lead to the other. I have given meanings to a bunch of facts with this narrative. I have related to you a story.

We all live lives. Some people they live life as a bunch of facts. For example:

I go to work.
I make this amount of money
I came back and play with my kids
I eat
Tomorrow I will go to work
I go to work
I make this amount of money
I came back and watch TV
I eat
Tomorrow I will go to work
I go to work
My car broke down (why?)
My child is sick (why?)
My wife ran away (why me?)
...

After a while they become bored because their lives is fact after fact after fact. The things don't come together. There is no purpose. There is no meaning.

Allah created us all in a special way. All of us have an inner urge to try to give meaning to the events that happen around us. A life without meaning is not worth living. If there is no purpose, if there is no meaning, things happen just like that and that's all to it, a human being will self destruct.

Animals are not like this. They respond to stimuli in a certain way. Human beings are created such that they want meaning. Human beings are psychologically compelled to make sense of life. If they don't find meaning, they don't live a happy life and nothing will make sense. This is a terrible state of mind to be in. They get all kinds of psychological problems. They fall into depression, have anxiety, get angry and have rancor in their lives.

If people don't find meaning, they don't find inner rest. So they go after something they enjoy: eat food, listen to the music, watch TV, go to amusement park, smoke, drink ... but all of these things don't really give meaning to their lives. These are just temporary distractions that come to an end. When they keep on repeating it, they get bored of it.

Human beings don't find meaning in their lives by behaving like animals. Animals drink, eat, play and have sex. Human beings were not made for that purpose. Human beings were made for a higher purpose. They will not be satisfied until they find that purpose.

Islam teaches us that everything happens for a purpose. There is a chain of cause and events that come together and they all moving towards an unavoidable conclusion. At the end there will be a beautiful story, grand and momentus. This is why we should learn Islam and practice it to the fullest. Only Islam give meaning to your entire life. There won't be a moment of boredom in your life and you can't wait for that grand ending. This is the blessing of Iman (Faith).

May Allah guide us. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam