What is success? How to define it?

If I were to ask you, "how do you define success?" What would you say?

You'd probably say: "a huge abundance of wealth, multiple properties, luxury items, the ability to travel wherever and whenever".

To be fair, I wouldn't blame you if you thought this way. We as humans have our desires and we always desire the satisfaction of possession. That is, to own. 

Question is, how do Ahlul Bayt(as) define it? Are we defining success in its true and proper sense? Is it any wonder that stress rates, suicidal rates and so on are more prevalent in first world countries as opposed to third world countries? 

Why? Well according to the dictionary, the actual definition of Success is: the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.

It’s not "the possession of a vast amount of materialistic things" it's simply an accomplishment.

You see, if we continue to place our perspective in that success is defined by extrinsic gains, when will we ever be satisfied? 

It is said that in many cases when a person owns the latest sports car, they are generally infatuated with its possession and truly want to show the world what they own. However, when they park somewhere to have lunch, their mind is not in the current situation of interaction with friends or family, rather, it is on the state of the vehicle.

As in, "did I park in a safe spot?", or "will someone hit my car and run?". These types of success tend to also come with a burden.

Imagine on the other hand if we defined success by spiritual growth, by personal development and so on. Imagine someone comes up to you and says "You helped me get out of a bad state in my life, I'm a happier person now, you motivated me, you inspire me". 

The intrinsic feeling you get, that happiness, it cannot be taken by anyone nor can be it substituted for anything else. It’s a great feeling!

There's a few things we need to know first. In a book called “The Tafsir (commentary on the Quran) ascribed to Imam Hassan al Askari(as)” By Syed Athar Husain S.H. Rizvi,:

“Allah told His servants: O those needing My Mercy! I have made need, lowliness and worship compulsorily necessary for you. Therefore, you should turn towards Me when you begin something and want to complete it. Because, If I wish to give you, none can stop and if I want to withhold, none can ever allow. So while starting anything big or small say “Bissmillah Al Rahman Al Raheem” (In the name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful” p.28

The hadith is clear. Whatever Allah desires is going to happen. In Tawhid Sadoq p.338, Allah says to prophet Dawuud, "Oh Dawuud, you want and I want. The only thing that is going to happen is what I want. If you submit to what I want, I will give you what you want. But, if you don't submit, I will make you tired in attaining what you want and in the end, it is my will what is to happen.”

Therefore, beginning anything big or small by the name of Allah and with sincerity will ultimately result in your success irrespective of the outcome.

Another book called “Mishkat al Anwar” by Hassan ibn fazl ibn Hassan Tabarsi, a few noteworthy hadiths have been mentioned that may give you a new limelight on what success may be truly seen as.

Hadith 1612: Imam al Baqir(as) says: whoever was given a grateful heart, a remembering tongue, a body persevering in the face of hardships and a pious wife is given the best of this world and the Hereafter

 If we look closely, nowhere does it say “an abundance of wealth”. In fact, where it says “a remembering tongue” could possibly further emphasise on when we say in Dua Kumayl “Oh He who’s name is medicine, and His remembrance is a cure”

Perhaps it is why in the Quran Allah says:

Sura 13 Verse 28: Those who believe, and whose hearts find satisfaction in the remembrance of Allah: for without doubt in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find satisfaction.

Furthermore, in the same book (Mishkat al Anwar) it also says:

Hadith 1613: Imam Al Sajjad(as) says: Whenever a believer withstands calamities for three days and does not complain to anyone, God will solve his problem.

There’s a bit of “Have Faith” happening here, hey? OK, let’s mention more narrations from the same book, this time talking about the abundance of wealth and perhaps why we should not see this as a means of success:

Hadith 1598: Imam al Baqir(as) said: God’s blessings will not increase unless God’s share of it increases

Hadith 1599: Imam al Sadiq(as) said: No believer got worldly gains through his expertise unless he lost some of his heavenly benefits.

Hadith 1600: Imam al Sadiq(as) said: God gave you this increased wealth to spend in ways ordained by God, not to save it.

Hadith 1601: Imam al Sadiq(as) said: God did not grant anyone a lot of wealth and later take him to Heaven, unless he reduced his benefits in Heaven.

Hadith 1602: Imam al Baqir(as): said: We like wealth, and only use it in good ways, whoever attains a lot of wealth in this world, will lose some of his benefits in the hereafter. Whoever owns 100 thousand Dirhams, is not one of our followers.

As you can see, I am quoting a lot of narrations, because truth be told, what are my words to the words of Ahlul Bayt(as)? Who am I in comparison to the gems that are Ahlul Bayt(as)? Their one sentence is perhaps the comparison of me writing novels!

But, let’s continue. If we look at the aforementioned narrations, we can see that an abundance of wealth is not necessarily a bad thing if used wisely and positively, but it can impact your Hereafter and is not a measure of success.

Here is a little segway that I find interesting. If you jump on the Internet and search up “Top 10 common regrets of the dying” and read them, you will find that neither one of the regrets (from what I’ve seen) are ever materialistic! They never say “I wish I saved so and so money” or, “I wish I had bought this car/house”.

The regrets are always intrinsic things, such as “I wish I spent more time with my family” or, “I wish I had worked less and lived more”. That intrinsic happiness is the true measure of success. So when we go about life, we need to have that tawakkul (faith) in Allah, we need to trust that everything Allah has destined for us, is in fact for our benefit! Here is a narration to back me up:

Hadith 1761: Imam al Sadiq(as) said: God will not destine anything for a believer unless it is good for him. It would be good for him even if he is torn to pieces, or becomes the owner of everything from the East to the West.

All in all, we measure success on materialistic things, we try to possess as much of materialism however we can’t. As a result, we make ourselves susceptible to the likes of stress and depression. Perhaps this could be a result of us looking for success in other than Allah? Turn to Allah sincerely and watch the beauty. Ask yourself, are you praying on time and consistently? Are you paying your khums and charity? Are you supporting the community? 

Remember, Allah created everything. He created time, matter and space. You and I are bound by it, but Allah is above it. He can alter it to suit you and I however He so pleases!

To summarise, often times we are caught up in this world and we define success by a means of never been able to actually attain it. This results in our dissatisfaction and may cause other issues. If we changed our perspective and life’s course, and directed it towards Allah and His Ahlul Bayt, we can inshallah attain success through other, longer lasting and more beneficial means. And He has the power to give the best in this world and the Hereafter!