This a transcript of a khutbah delivered Friday 26th November 2010 in London
The government announced yesterday that there will be new measures for wellbeing which will go beyond economic prosperity and touch on happiness in general.
The current measure boils down to three initials GDP – which is solely an economic measurement.
Either because of the tough economic times we are living in or as a result of realising that money does not in itself bring happiness the government is thinking wider than the old paradigm.
There will be a consultation/study by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to look at what makes people happy and how to measure this and then the ONS will collect annual figures to evaluate the state of wellbeing or happiness in Britain.
I was listening to the radio the other day and people were saying what would make them more happy.
- A closer link to nature by planting more trees.
- Better job opportunities.
- Not penalising the middle classes.
- Withdraw from Afghanistan and spend the money at home.
There were some who argued the government is not responsible for making people happy and this would be nothing more than a waste of money.
Arguably it is part of human nature to want to be happy, who wants to be unhappy right!
So why is it clear that the present happiness drive is doomed to failure?
2 reasons
1) There is a lack of consensus on what the ingredients of true happiness are. This is so subjective as to make this exercise futile, one man’s happiness is another’s misery!
There needs to be one test for all.
2) True happiness cannot be achieved let alone measured in a secular society. By removing man’s purpose from its impact on life you are removing the true ingredients for happiness. The result of this in a capitalist society is the prioritisation of accumulating wealth which leads to the culture of consumerism.
Happiness is still measured in society by the material.
In this celebrity obsessed society over a quarter of children (26 per cent) want to become celebrities when they grow up.
They believe this would make them happy.
How many people yearn to win the lottery and make a million or two. The checking of numbers becomes a weekly ritual.
Anas reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: If the son of Adam were to possess two valleys of riches, he would long for the third one. And the stomach of the son of Adam is not filled but with dust. And Allah returns to him who repents.
If the accumulation is wealth is a goal in life it will never lead to happiness as man’s appetite to possess will never keep up with his hunger for more. How much wealth is enough, right!
Consumerism is the accumulation of more and more, but the realisation that this cannot satisfy man’s true purpose will not be realised until he enters his grave.
“Two greedy people are never satiated: one who is greedy for knowledge can never get enough of it, and one who is greedy for worldly possessions can never get enough of them.” (Bayhaqi)
There is a crisis of values in this society. Over time traditional Christian values have been downgraded. The sense of community that once existed has been replaced by individualism.
This is not to say that society a hundred years ago was perfect but it was arguably more cohesive.
Removing the purpose of life from the question of how to achieve happiness is both arrogant and self defeating.
If we read Surah Humazah we would realise the futility of our race for wealth as our objective in life.
Surah Al-Humazah
Muhammad bin Ka`b said concerning Allah’s statement
عَدَّدَهُوَ مَالاً جَمَعَ
Who has gathered wealth and counted it,
“His wealth occupies his time in the day, going from this to that. Then when the night comes he sleeps like a rotting corpse.”
أَخْلَدَهُ مَالَهُ أَنَّ يَحْسَبُ
He thinks that his wealth will make him last forever!
الْحُطَمَةِ فِى لَيُنبَذَنَّ كَلاَّ
Nay! Verily, he will be thrown into the crushing Fire.
الْمُوقَدَةُ اللَّهِ نَارُ – الْحُطَمَةُ مَا أَدْرَاكَ وَمَآ
الاٌّفْئِدَةِ عَلَى تَطَّلِعُ الَّتِى –
And what will make you know what the crushing Fire is?
The fire of Allah, kindled,
Which leaps up over the hearts,
Verily, it shall be closed in on them,
In pillars stretched forth (i.e. they will be punished in the Fire with pillars, etc.).
Wealth accumulation as an objective in life leads to misery rather than happiness.
Fitra
Separating a thing from its purpose is not something we do in the mundane but we accept this in the arena of the fundamental question of life. Every household appliance has a purpose and to use something for other than the purpose it was intended leads to dangerous if not fatal consequences.
We must recognise that our purpose is intrinsically linked with our fitrah. We have an innate nature that motivates us to resolve the mystery of creation. This is our fitra. It is an instinct often denied, but it is deeply embedded within our conscience and has since the dawn of time drawn man to search for a creator and the worship of god.
“…verily in the remembrance of Allah do the hearts find solace”. (13: 28)
Happiness is unique for a Muslim in that is truly attained by believing in Allah, by worshipping and obeying Allah, by glorifying him, by seeking his forgiveness and mercy, and through emulating his blessed Messenger salAllahu alaihi wasallam.
حَيَوةً طَيِّبَةً
“Whoever does good whether male or female and is a believer, We will most certainly make him live a happy life, and We will most certainly give them their reward for the best of what they did.” Noble Qur’an (16:97)
