Assalamu Alaikum!
You know, sometimes I wonder whether we are as eager to succeed in the Akhirah (i.e. to enter Jannah), just as eager as we are to succeed in this Dunya.
We set goals, we make plans, we save up – and look, that’s not all bad. But if the ultimate goal becomes only the Dunya – that’s when it becomes a problem.
Because you see, when you study the lives of our pious predecessors, you’ll notice they all had their sights on a bigger and a more beautiful goal: Jannah.
And they worked hard towards it. Their sacrifices, their striving, their spending… was all purely for the sake of Allah so that they could enter Jannah. No matter what happened, they never lost sight of that end goal.
Abdur Rahman ibn Awf (ra) was one such person. He was an extremely successful businessman who was also known for his generosity.
And there is a beautiful incident concerning him and the narration goes as follows:
Anas (ra) narrated:
While Aisha (ra) was in her house, she heard a noise outside. She asked “What is that?” It was said: “A caravan of seven hundred camels of Abdur Rahman bin Awf has come from Syria.” Aisha (ra) further said: “Allah’s Messenger (saw) said: ‘I have seen Abdur Rahman bin Awf entreing Paradise crawling.’ Upon hearing that, Abdur Rahman (ra) said: ‘Indeed, I would enter it standing.’ He gave the whole caravan in the way of Allah.” [Ahmad]
Did you notice something?
He was given the good news of Jannah, but he didn’t just want to enter it crawling.
He wanted to enter Jannah standing.
You see, Abdur Rahman ibn Awf (ra) had such high aspirations for himself so much so that he gave away 700 camels laden with goods in the way of Allah.
And just like Abdur Rahman ibn Awf (ra), we need to have high aspirations for ourselves too. To make Jannah – not this Dunya – our ultimate goal. And to work hard towards that goal in sha Allah.
If you are interested in learning a little bit more about this great Companion, here’s a short video by Sheikh Omar Suleiman. Just Click Below:
