The Pursuit of Happiness
Happiness is such a broad and pervasive concept, meaning different things to different people and sought after in countless ways. Despite its multiplicity, maximising happiness in some form or the other is the ultimate goal for most people.
I like to break down happiness into two crude distinctions; temporal pleasure and deeper contentment. Temporal pleasure is the animalistic desire of our nafs, the carnal impulse which drives us to seek the basic necessities of life and if left untamed, fuels indulgence. Examples include eating delicious food, lusting for a girl or playing video games.
Comparatively, deeper contentment is the satisfaction of our ruh and it usually comes at the expense of sacrificing temporal pleasure. It is metaphysical in nature, achieved by realigning ourselves to our fitra (natural disposition) as slaves of God, thereby fulfilling our purpose;
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ ٱلْجِنَّ وَٱلْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
I did not create jinn and humans except to worship Me. (Quran 51:56)
As man relinquishes his thirst for temporal pleasures, deeper contentment grows in his heart. In that sense, even a kaafir can taste some contentment if he isn’t solely reliant on material pleasures.
Both types of happiness almost always require some form of effort to attain. You have to exchange something of wealth, input some time, exert some energy or make a sacrifice to participate in an event that will increase either temporal pleasure or deeper contentment.
Paradoxically, the exertion of effort can amplify the happiness yielded from an event. For example, scoring a century in cricket against a world class bowling attack will be much more rewarding than a century against an under 9’s club team.
Finding bliss
There is a happiness that I like to call bliss. It is when temporal pleasure, deeper contentment and no effort exist simultaneously.
Bliss = temporal pleasure + deeper contentment + no effort
All three must be present, for if one is missing, then it is not true bliss. Is such an occurrence even possible? Let us explore.
Temporal Pleasure + Deeper Contentment
Let us first investigate events that consist of just a pair from the three factors. For example, temporal pleasure plus deeper contentment. Is there an action where this exists? It must be an action that satiates the nafs whilst also bringing us closer towards God. An obvious example I can think of is being intimate with one’s wife.
The Prophet ﷺ mentioned,
وَفِي بُضْعِ أَحَدِكُمْ صَدَقَةٌ ” . قَالُوا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ أَيَأْتِي أَحَدُنَا شَهْوَتَهُ وَيَكُونُ لَهُ فِيهَا أَجْرٌ قَالَ ” أَرَأَيْتُمْ لَوْ وَضَعَهَا فِي حَرَامٍ أَكَانَ عَلَيْهِ فِيهَا وِزْرٌ فَكَذَلِكَ إِذَا وَضَعَهَا فِي الْحَلاَلِ كَانَ لَهُ أَجْرٌ
…And in man’s sexual Intercourse (with his wife) there is a Sadaqa. They (the Companions) said: Messenger of Allah, is there reward for him who satisfies his sexual passion among us? He said: Tell me, if he were to devote it to something forbidden, would it not be a sin on his part? Similarly, if he were to devote it to something lawful, he should have a reward. (Sahih Muslim)
Sexual activity satiates temporal pleasure like almost no other event. Amazed were Companions when they learnt that whilst doing so, they were getting closer to God, thereby increasing their deeper contentment. However, such an action requires effort to firstly titillate one’s wife and then the physicality of engaging in the action itself. Any joy tasted from this event is temporary. Thus, no matter how rewarding sexual activity with one’s wife may be, I cannot say it is true bliss.
A similar impediment arises for all other events where temporal pleasure and deeper contentment coexist, such as visiting a friend or playing sport. Though joyful, effort needs to be exerted, and thus these actions can never reach true bliss.
I also want to discuss the time value of happiness. We are willing to sacrifice some temporal pleasure now and endure effort and pain if we foresee that we will have increased happiness in the future. This is precisely how deeper contentment works; it’s a sacrifice of temporal pleasure now for prolonged joy in the future. We persevere through the ordeal of schooling and university so we have decent jobs to lead a comfortable life. We abide by the Sharia in this world so we can enjoy Jannah in the next. It’s all a value judgement and there is an assumption that the deeper contentment will be accompanied by a future temporal pleasure that is greater than the one available to us now.
I am tempted to stipulate the condition that bliss must be a happiness that is infinite. However, this will severely restrict this thought experiment. I’ll ignore this condition for now.
Unlimited Temporal Pleasure
What if one was to pursue temporal pleasures with no restriction? For example, instead of only being intimate with one’s wife, they are intimate with other women as well. And they also partake in other indulgences such as music, gluttony, drugs and alcohol. Usually these alone cannot bring deeper contentment, instead leaving us dissatisfied and yearning for more. But what if we pushed the limit, letting go of all boundaries? Is there such a point where the ephemeral pleasure becomes so great that the need for deeper contentment is obsolete?
I don’t think so. I look to those who have it all in the dunya; celebrities. They have money, fame, women, and everything else one could wish for. Yet they are miserable, they aren’t happy. Temporal pleasure is a cup which the more you fill, the emptier it gets. What I mean to say is that it can never be completely satisfied. The more you chase it, the more you yearn it and the more it will evade you. Paradoxical is its nature as our Prophet ﷺ highlighted.
لَوْ أَنَّ لاِبْنِ آدَمَ وَادِيًا مِنْ ذَهَبٍ أَحَبَّ أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهُ وَادِيَانِ، وَلَنْ يَمْلأَ فَاهُ إِلاَّ التُّرَابُ، وَيَتُوبُ اللَّهُ عَلَى مَنْ تَابَ
“If Adam’s son had a valley full of gold, he would like to have two valleys, for nothing fills his mouth except dust. And Allah forgives him who repents to Him.” (Bukhari)
Bliss through temporal pleasures alone cannot be reached. It will result in vanity. What if one were to take a stimulant like ecstasy? Could this subvert the problem above? Though I have never tried any recreational drug, stimulants do seem to induce an intense euphoria. However, this is short lived, swiftly replaced by prolonged emptiness, medical complications and a veracious craving for that initial high. This is certainly not bliss.
Temporal Pleasure + No Effort
I want to explore this second pairing now. Most of the temporal pleasures I listed above require effort of some sort. It requires effort to purchase drugs, it requires effort to seduce a woman etc. Is there such a temporal pleasure that requires no effort, or negligible effort at the very least. It would have to be self-derived and easily accessible.
Sorry for being crude, but what comes to mind is self-gratification. In seclusion, it can be accessed very easily and isn’t dependent on anything else. I would say it requires minimal effort and it definitely increases temporal pleasure. Although it satisfies two of the three conditions needed for bliss, such an action does not add to deeper contentment. Instead, it yields only emptiness and the displeasure of God. There is no future temporal pleasure from self-gratification now and thus, I cannot say this is blissful.
What about sleep? When one is tired, sleep is easily accessible and it yields immense temporal pleasure. The same can be said when one eats food in hunger. The difference is that food requires effort to attain, sleep does not. Unlike self-gratification, sleeping can yield deeper contentment if it is done within limits. If bliss was possible in this world, sleep would be a strong contender. It alleviates us from the confines of our physical bodies and transports us into a metaphysical state of being. To this Allah says,
وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى يَتَوَفَّىٰكُم بِٱلَّيْلِ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا جَرَحْتُم بِٱلنَّهَارِ ثُمَّ يَبْعَثُكُمْ فِيهِ لِيُقْضَىٰٓ أَجَلٌۭ مُّسَمًّۭى ۖ ثُمَّ إِلَيْهِ مَرْجِعُكُمْ ثُمَّ يُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
He is the One Who calls back your souls by night and knows what you do by day, then revives you daily to complete your appointed term. To Him is your ˹ultimate˺ return, then He will inform you of what you used to do. (Quran 6:60)
The reason why sleep is so close to bliss, if not bliss itself, is because it emulates death. It’s an escape from the shackles of life. Temporal pleasure operates differently during sleep. Rather than requiring a material stimulus to induce, it is mimicked in our minds in the form of dreams. It subverts the very nature of pleasure itself. However, sleeping is a temporary state. Any bliss experienced ends and we return to the toils of reality.
What I will say about sleep is that it is blissful for a time but this bliss does not persist. It is a metaphysical state which technically does satisfy my initial condition of possessing temporal pleasure, deeper contentment and no effort. However, I come back to the condition which I ignored of the bliss being infinite in time. And thus, I want to investigate further.
Suppressing Temporal Pleasure
Temporal pleasure is in some way a prison for man. We are bound by it, needing to satisfy some of it for mere survival whilst also ensuring we do not go overboard and let it consume us. Interestingly, the Four Noble Truths in Buddhism are centred around this concept;
- Suffering is an innate characteristic of this worldly life
- Suffering originates from temporal pleasure
- Suffering can be ended by letting go of all temporal pleasures
- The path to do this is the Noble Eightfold Path
I want to focus on the first three points. Suffering is connected to temporal pleasure and the solution provided is to let go of all temporal pleasures. I’m not sure if I would call it suffering, but there is definitely an enslavement and struggle caused by our temporal pleasures. Islam also recognises this and encourages us to relinquish many of our desires. That is why we have fasting, the night prayers and charity. Where Islam is different however is that it encourages us to channel these pleasures in a way sanctioned by God through the Quran and Sunnah. These pleasures are still restricted a great deal but they aren’t totally ignored for that would destroy us as humans. The following hadith demonstrates this concept really well;
قَالَ أَحَدُهُمْ أَمَّا أَنَا فَإِنِّي أُصَلِّي اللَّيْلَ أَبَدًا. وَقَالَ آخَرُ أَنَا أَصُومُ الدَّهْرَ وَلاَ أُفْطِرُ. وَقَالَ آخَرُ أَنَا أَعْتَزِلُ النِّسَاءَ فَلاَ أَتَزَوَّجُ أَبَدًا. فَجَاءَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالَ “ أَنْتُمُ الَّذِينَ قُلْتُمْ كَذَا وَكَذَا أَمَا وَاللَّهِ إِنِّي لأَخْشَاكُمْ لِلَّهِ وَأَتْقَاكُمْ لَهُ، لَكِنِّي أَصُومُ وَأُفْطِرُ، وَأُصَلِّي وَأَرْقُدُ وَأَتَزَوَّجُ النِّسَاءَ، فَمَنْ رَغِبَ عَنْ سُنَّتِي فَلَيْسَ مِنِّي
One man said, “I will offer the prayer throughout the night forever.” Another man said, “I will fast throughout the year and will not break my fast.” A third man said, “I will keep away from the women and will not marry forever.” Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) came to them and said, “Are you the same people who said so-and-so? By Allah, I am more submissive to Allah and more afraid of Him than you; yet I fast and break my fast, I do sleep and I also marry women. So he who does not follow my tradition in religion, is not from me (not one of my followers). (Bukhari)
Sleep, eating food and sexual intimacy are of the most basic temporal pleasures yet here the Prophet ﷺ discouraged these men to relinquish these desires completely. That is not to detract from the fact that our tradition encourages us to limit these desires drastically. Night prayers and sunnah fasts are highly recommended and intimacy is limited only to one’s wife or legitimate servant. The focus thus is not pleasure — or happiness — itself but rather worshipping God alone by following the example of our beloved Prophet ﷺ. In that sense, temporal pleasures are a sign of our slavehood to God — a test for us in this world — highlighting our hopelessness and ultimate reliance on God alone.
Deeper Contentment + No Effort
This is the last of the pairs I wish to explore. I restate the assumption that deeper contentment is increased by performing any action that is pleasing to God. I think it is safe to assume this. Also, what I mean when I mention deeper contentment is a lasting satisfaction and tranquillity. This can only happen when we fulfill our true purpose; to worship God as He ought to be worshipped.
But worship by its very nature requires effort. That is, unless it’s something menial. For example, sleeping early with the intention to wake up early. But even in these things, there is a friction between one’s temporal desire to stay up late and enjoy the night. For many things in fact, a constant war between temporal pleasure and deeper contentment exists. Worship or fast, pray at night or sleep, read Quran or watch TV, take an Islamic class or play video games etc. Allah presents this dichotomy between temporal pleasure and deeper contentment in the Quran,
زُيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ حُبُّ ٱلشَّهَوَٰتِ مِنَ ٱلنِّسَآءِ وَٱلْبَنِينَ وَٱلْقَنَـٰطِيرِ ٱلْمُقَنطَرَةِ مِنَ ٱلذَّهَبِ وَٱلْفِضَّةِ وَٱلْخَيْلِ ٱلْمُسَوَّمَةِ وَٱلْأَنْعَـٰمِ وَٱلْحَرْثِ ۗ ذَٰلِكَ مَتَـٰعُ ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا ۖ وَٱللَّهُ عِندَهُۥ حُسْنُ ٱلْمَـَٔابِ. قُلْ أَؤُنَبِّئُكُم بِخَيْرٍۢ مِّن ذَٰلِكُمْ ۚ لِلَّذِينَ ٱتَّقَوْا۟ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ جَنَّـٰتٌۭ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهَا ٱلْأَنْهَـٰرُ خَـٰلِدِينَ فِيهَا وَأَزْوَٰجٌۭ مُّطَهَّرَةٌۭ وَرِضْوَٰنٌۭ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ بَصِيرٌۢ بِٱلْعِبَادِ
The enjoyment of ˹worldly˺ desires — women, children, treasures of gold and silver, fine horses, cattle, and fertile land — has been made appealing to people. These are the pleasures of this worldly life, but with Allah is the finest destination. Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “Shall I inform you of what is better than ˹all of˺ this? Those mindful ˹of Allah˺ will have Gardens with their Lord under which rivers flow, to stay there forever, and pure spouses, along with Allah’s pleasure.” And Allah is All-Seeing of ˹His˺ servants (Surah Imraan, 14–15)
Here the pleasures of this world are being compared with the pleasures of the Hereafter. In fact, the most sought-after things are mentioned in this world; women, children etc. But immediately we are reminded it’s temporary, and a dramatic comparison with the Hereafter is made. We are reminded that it’s a permanent pleasure. Most striking of all, we are told that pleasure itself is from Allah.
Why does Allah want to satisfy these temporal pleasures we have in the Hereafter if our purpose is to worship Him anyways? Sure, it makes sense we forsake some temporal pleasure now to receive eternal pleasure in the Hereafter, but if we were created to worship Allah anyways, why do we need incentives to motivate us?
The answer lies in the following verse;
إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا ٱلْأَمَانَةَ عَلَى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَٱلْجِبَالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَن يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا ٱلْإِنسَـٰنُ ۖ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ ظَلُومًۭا جَهُولًۭا
Indeed, We offered the trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they ˹all˺ declined to bear it, being fearful of it. But humanity assumed it, ˹for˺ they are truly wrongful ˹to themselves˺ and ignorant ˹of the consequences (Surah Ahzaab, Verse 72)
The ‘trust’ described above is of freewill; the ability to choose to worship Allah if we please, or not worship Him if we please. Here is the reason why effort to worship Allah will forever exist. There is a friction we constantly face between worship and our temporal pleasures which the rest of creation, except the jinn, do not experience. For the rest of creation, worship is something they were always programmed to do. There is no effort, it is built into their existence. But for us, every living breathing moment is a struggle against ourselves — our nafs — and so there cannot be worship without effort. This is why there is no deeper contentment without effort.
Tasting Bliss
Sheikh ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy upon him) said,
إِنَّ فِي الدُّنْيَا جَنَّةً مَنْ لَمْ يَدْخُلْهَا لَمْ يَدْخُلْ جَنَّةَ الْآخِرَةِ
“Verily, there is a Paradise in this world and whoever does not enter it now will not enter the Paradise of the Hereafter.”
The Paradise described here is not the physical one with rivers flowing, but an internal state of being filled with deeper contentment. Ibn Taymiyyah also said;
“The real prisoner is someone whose heart is imprisoned from his Lord; the true captive is someone captured by his passions.”
This bliss that he tasted was not accompanied by temporal pleasures but rather shielded from them. He only sought the bare necessities as stipulated by the Quran and Sunnah and nothing more. This world is not worth even the wing of a fly, so seeking bliss from this world alone is impossible. Rather, we are prevented from ever tasting true bliss here and patiently wait for death, so we can finally witness the ultimate bliss of the Hereafter. In that sense, this world is a prison for mankind, and death is our escape.
So, what exactly was Ibn Taymiyyah referring to when he mentioned the Paradise of this world? For this, we come to the statement of the great scholar Abdullah Ibn Mubarak;
“Worldly people leave the world before having feasted on the sweetest thing in it.” The people asked him what that was and he answered, “The knowledge of Almighty Allah.”
Ibn Qayyim captured what this entails better than I ever could;
To love Allah, to know Him intimately, to remember Him constantly, to find peace and rest in Him, to make Him alone the [ultimate] object of love, fear, hope and trust; to base one’s act on His control of His servant’s cares, aspirations and will — such is the world’s Heaven, and such is a blessing with which no other blessing can compare. It is by this that the hearts of those who love Allah are gladdened and that the gnostics find life. As their hearts are gladdened by Allah, so others are gladdened by them. For whoever finds his source of gladness in Allah, gladdens all hearts; whoever does not, finds nothing in this world but restlessness.
This describes fulfilling our purpose as slaves of Allah in its most complete form. The greatest motivation to worship Allah is not Jannah or Jahannam, but rather for who Allah is and what we are to Him. The temporal pleasures Allah promises in the next life are a gift from His mercy, not the objective themselves. The objective is, and always was, Allah. And even in the Hereafter, the greatest pleasure will be to see Allah in person. Deeper contentment then is a window through which we can glance at the bliss that is to come, and this window will only be visible to us if Allah is in our hearts.
What about the kaafir then who finds some sense of peace and contentment? It might not be complete, but they can taste it. For example, the isolated monk or the altruistic agnostic still feel some contentment, and they lead happier lives than people solely chasing trivial material things. The way I will explain this is that they are engaging in actions which are pleasing to God, such as helping others, controlling their desires, giving in charity etc. And thus, despite them not directing their actions for God holistically, God allows them to have a sniff of this contentment from His mercy, even if it’s just a fraction of what a pious Muslim tastes.
My Findings
This was an interesting thought experiment which I personally feel was a bit disjointed. I tried to follow a logical progression however I also wanted to be authentic. I’m not sure how accurate my breaking up of happiness into three components was, and the more I think about it, the more I feel like time is an important factor.
Nonetheless, I think my conclusion was sound. Through minimal effort, you can satiate some temporal pleasures to an extent, but temporal pleasures in and within themselves will never lead to lasting happiness. Rather, the only true way to do that is by aligning ourselves to our true purpose; to worship God alone. The rewards of this happiness won’t be tasted in entirety until we leave this world and enter Jannah In shaa Allah. That is why sleep is so close to bliss; because it emulates death. However, it’s a fake death, returning us to the struggle of life. A pious believer waits each day for his real death, so he can be united with his Lord, Allah SWT.
