The fruits of contentment

(Allah is pleased with them and they with Him.)          (Qur’an 5: 119)

Contentment bears many blessed fruits. More than anything else, by being contented with that which is decreed, one is able to soar to the highest levels of faith and truthfulness.

Some might wish for only good to befall them, for only pleasant things to occur in their lives, but that is not what being Allah’s slave means. Many of the true believer’s characteristics, which include patience, total dependence, contentment, humbleness, and submission of one’s will, only become manifest when one is confronted with something that one dislikes. So being pleased with that which has been decreed does not mean being contented with only those things that suit one’s disposition; the real gauge for true contentment are those times when one goes through a painful situation. And it is not for the slave to dictate the terms of preordainment; he can be happy or discontented and it makes no difference except that by being discontented, he is sinning. Human beings do not have much of a choice in regards to the divine decree: the choice and decision thereof belong only with Allah. He is All- Knowing and Most High.