THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS TO PARADISE: Live to please God or suffer pleasing Man!

Islam Is Righteousness,

A Way Of Life!

There Are No Shortcuts

To Paradise

Live To Please God

Or Suffer Pleasing Man!

(M. Javed Naseem)

“Say: Truly, my prayer and my service of

sacrifice, my life and my death, are (all) for

Allah, the Cherisher of the Worlds!”

(al-Quran 6:162)

The first humans – Adam and Eve – used to live in the Garden (the Paradise) as long as they obeyed God. Once they were fooled by the Devil who misled them, they committed the crime of ‘disobedience’ to God. As a punishment, they were thrown out of the Garden and were sent down on Earth to live for certain time. They were told how to repent and pray to God so that they could get their sins forgiven by the Merciful Creator. In other worlds, during our tenure on this earth, we have the opportunity to earn our place in the Garden again, and the only way to do that is to follow the commands of God. Obey Him and please Him, and He will fulfill His promise to reward us with a place in the Paradise (Garden) again, where we will live forever. Thus the cycle would be complete.

“Whosoever does right, whether male or female,

and is a believer, him verily We shall quicken with

good life, and We shall pay them a recompense in

proportion to the best of what they used to do.”

(al-Quran 16:97)

But there is one more thing to remember too! God knew that we would keep following the Devil, so to scare us and keep us on the right track, He also created the blazing Hell. He warned us about evil-doing, the reward of which would be Hellfire. Logically, this should work as a perfect deterrent and we dare not deviate. But that has not been the case. Man is foolishly bold and stupidly brave. He fears a mad dog, even a mouse. but shows no signs of fearing the Almighty Lord who warned him about the punishment. He keeps following the Devil, disobeying God and deviating from the right path. The result is that this world on the planet Earth today has literally become hell – too much bloodshed, killing, wars, bombs and explosions. No place is safe and nothing can be protected from the reach of the beast (the Man). God sends some warning signs like floods, earthquakes, heavy rains or droughts, fires and famines, but we don’t budge. We, arrogantly, keep walking the same destructive way.

The funny thing is that we believe that doing some special prayer on some special night or day, fasting on a particular day, and waking all night to pray on one particular night will win us the Paradise (Jannah). That’s not going to happen. Allah blesses those people who do good, no matter how small in nature, regularly and steadfastly. In other words, we should make good behavior a daily routine. There is no shortcut to Jannah. All roads pass through the valley, sometimes desert, of hard-work, patient perseverance, hurdles and difficulties in all spheres – physical, social, cultural, political, financial and spiritual. One has to keep walking the path of righteousness all the time. The Paradise (Jannah) comes with a big price.

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Islam is a system of life, a way to be practiced

by all believers in everyday life, 7-days a week.

It is not something for special occasions only,

or for particular (religious) people only!

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Allah, the Almighty has promised us that He will reward us for every little act of good, kindness and service to others. Nothing goes unpaid!

“They rejoice on account of favor from Allah

and (His) grace, and that Allah will not waste

the reward of the (deeds of) believers.”

(al-Quiran 3:171)

Here’s any guarantee from the Lord Creator of the universe:

“As to those who hold fast by the Book and

establish regular prayer, never shall We suffer

the reward of the righteous to perish.”

(al-Quran 7:170)

The Quran is full of verses, literally hundreds of them, assuring us of the rewards for our good deeds and acts of righteousness. Nothing will be wasted. Even the people of other faiths who believe in One God, His sovereignty in the heavens and the earth, believe in the Day of Judgment, and perform good deeds in life, would be positively rewarded. Such people won’t suffer from any fear or grief. In other words, Paradise (Jannah) is not the monopoly of Muslims only!

“Those who believe (in Allah), and those who

follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians

and the Sabians,- any who believe in Allah and

the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall

have their reward with their Lord; on them

shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.”

(al-Quran 2:62)

Most believers have not studied the Quran seriously or with careful attention. They only pick and choose. They go for shortcuts but, in fact, there is none. It is hard-work all along. You live your life by the Book or you don’t. There is no middle track. But that does not mean that you cannot make mistakes, cannot get carried away, or cannot sin. As a weak human being, you’ll fall into every trap the Devil has laid out there for you. But you keep trying and keep struggling to follow the right path. Allah loves that trying and struggle and rewards you with His mercy and blessings.

“…Then is it only a part of the Book that you

believe in, and do you reject the rest? But what

is the reward for those among you who behave

like this but disgrace in this life? On the Day

of Judgment they shall be consigned to the

most grievous penalty. For Allah is not

unmindful of what you do.”

(al-Quran 2:85)

Allah even promises you the unlimited rewards of your struggle if you struggle with sincerity, honesty and constantly:

“So believe in Allah and His messengers!

And if you believe and do right, you

have a reward without measure.”

(al-Quran 3:179)

Please beware of the misleading promises of Mullahs who quote all kinds of Hadiths to guarantee you that if you recite ‘that’ for 100 times, you’ll go to Jannah; or if you do ‘this’ thing on that particular day or night, you’ll get a house in Jannah. Those promises are valid only when you are trying to live your life by the book, fulfilling all obligations and obeying all commands of Allah everyday, and NOT once in a while, on some special occasion only.

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