1. Blessing and Dissipation

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In the following sections, we will analyze how the Qur'an looks at
Paradise and, based upon these descriptions,"try to imagine this
perfect place.But before we do this, let's look at a few important
points. In today's societies, many people have erroneous ideas and
impressions in their conscious and subconscious minds. As such
obstacles cause themto formulate a mistaken view, we must describe
some basic Islamic concepts whose meaningshave departed from their
original understanding.
With this in mind, we firsthave to distinguish between "blessing"
and"dissipation."
In the following pages, we will see that the Qur'an describes Paradise
as an extremely luxurious and magnificent place, and that life therein
is as comfortable and attractive as it can be.
However, to many people today, such a life is not so much "Islamic" as
it is a natural outcome of being alienated from Allah and religious
moral teaching.
So, because of this erroneous understanding that dominates society,
very many people think that a comfortable, luxurious, and ostentatious
life, and all that goes along with it, are "un-Islamic." They see such
things as expensive clothes, rich food, entertainment, dinner parties,
magnificently appointed houses, d�cor, and valuable art works as
belonging to ignorant people cut off from their religion. They usually
call a life filled with these things "dissolute," and criticize those
who give this society its name as"living undisciplined lives of
dissolution." The word"dissolution" (safahat) comes from the Arabic
safih, and can be translated as "a lack of discipline,
overindulgence,a weakness of mind that comes from living an
irresponsible life of wealth and comfort."
Here, we encounter a falseunderstanding that must be corrected. The
life of Paradise that Allah has been pleased to choose for His
servants, as well asa life that contains every kind of luxury,
comfort, and ostentation, is also the most beautiful and noble way of
life, one thatconforms as closely as possible to religious moral
teaching.
A false definition of dissolution opens the wayto misunderstanding.
Dissolution, or rebellion against Allah through a lack of discipline
and overindulgence, is a condition of the human mind. People are not
dissolute because of their clothes, ostentatious houses, aesthetic
environments, or materialwealth. Rather, the problem is in their
minds.
The natural result of this situation is this: If people have a
Qur'anic morality and a strong faith, they can live among the
richestopulence imaginable without ever becoming dissolute. On the
contrary,because they view everything they encounter according to the
Qur'anic criteria and moral teaching, they see all of the beauty
surrounding them as a blessing. In other words, they realize that all
of these things are gifts fromAllah. So, if Muslims know that Allah
has given all of the surrounding riches, beauty, opulence, and
magnificence, naturally they thank our Lord for what He has provided.
This is, after all, why all blessings have been created.
If we applied this general way of thinking to our present society, we
wouldhave to say that those who live a dissolute life and turn away
from Allah's commands have gone astray, because theydo not see that
all of theirpossibilities are blessings from Him. If they saw these
things as blessings, this understanding would lead them to give thanks
to Allah. And then, they would use these blessingsas Allah intended
them to be used: avoiding waste and using them in a way pleasing to
Him.
So, wealth can be defined in two ways. Some rich people are believers
who consider all of their possessions to be blessings from Allah,
while other rich people goastray by considering all of their
possessions as their own, forget Allah, and fall into dissolution.
However, the model that Allah has proposed for all of His servants is
wealth, as mentioned in the first model above. Wealth and poverty are
tests for believers. Although some believers may be tested by poverty,
Allah commands: "We desired to show kindness to thosewho were
oppressed in the land, and to make them leaders and inheritors" (Surat
al-Qasas,5). This might happen in the world, but it certainly will
happen in the afterlife.
Therefore, it would be very wrong for Muslims tofind fault with grand,
luxurious, and opulent lives. Muslims must not shun such people and
regard them with disdain,because, after all, all material things in
this life (e.g., fine clothes, deliciousfood, magnificent homes and
works of art) were created for Muslims, as weread in Surat al-A'raf,
32:
Say: "Who has forbidden the fine clothing that Allah has produced for
Hisservants and the good kinds of provision? :->
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