1c] How to be successful in life

1c]
because he knows that these are the result of vulnerable human nature
and of weakness and fear that have no basis. He also knows that Allaah
has guaranteed complete sufficiency to those who put their trust in
Him. So he trusts in Allaah and finds peace of mind in His promise,
and thus his worry and anxiety are dispelled; hardship is turned to
ease, sadness is turned to joy, fear is turned to peace. We ask Allaah
to keep us safe andsound, and to bless us with strength and
steadfastness of heart, and complete trust, for Allaah has guaranteed
all good things to those whoput their trust in Him, andhas guaranteed
to ward off all bad and harmful things from them.
If bad things happen or there is the fear of such, then you should
count themany blessings that you are still enjoying, both spiritual
and worldly, and compare them with the bad things that have happened,
for when you compare them you will see the many blessings that you are
enjoying, andthis will make the bad things appear less serious.
See al-Wasaa'il al-Mufeedah li'l-Hayaat al-Sa'eedah by Shatkh 'Abd
al-Rahmaan ibn Sa'di
Ibn al-Qayyim summed fifteen ways through which Allaah may dispel
worries and regret. These are as follows:
1- Tawheed al-Ruboobiyyah (belief in the Oneness of Divine Lordship)
2- Tawheed al-Uloohiyyah (belief in the Oneness of the Divine nature)
3- Tawheed of knowledge and belief (i.e.,Tawheed al-Asma'
wa'l_Sifaat, belief in the Oneness of the Divine names and attributes)
4- Thinking of Allaah as being above doing any injustice to His
slaves, andabove punishing anyone for no cause on the part of the
slave that would require such punishment.
5- The person's acknowledging that he is the one who has done wrong.
6- Beseeching Allaah bymeans of the things that are most beloved
to Him, which are His names and attributes. Two of His names that
encompass the meanings of all other names and attributes are al-Hayy
(the Ever-Living) and al-Qayyoom (the Eternal).
7- Seeking the help of Allaah Alone.
8- Affirming one's hope in Him.
9- Truly putting one's trust in Him and leaving matters to Him,
acknowledging that one's forelock is in His hand andthat He does as He
wills, that His will is forever executed and that He is just in all
that He decrees.
10-Letting one's heart wander in the garden of the Qur'aan, seeking
consolation in it from every calamity, seeking healing in it from all
diseases of the heart, so that it will bring comfort to his grief and
healing for his worries and distress.
11-Seeking forgiveness.
12-Repentance.
13-Jihad.
14-Salaah (prayer).
15-Declaring that he has no power and no strength, and leaving matters
to the One in Whose hand they are.
We ask Allaah to keep us safe and sound from worries and to relieve
us of distress and anxiety, forHe is the All-Hearing, Ever-Responsive,
and He isthe Ever-Living, Eternal.
See Alhomoom – Dealing with Worries and Stress, in the Books section
of this site.
And Allaah knows best. May Allaah send blessings and peace upon our
Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions.

1b] How to be successful in life

1b]
One of the most effective ways of dealing with worries about the
future is to recite this du'aa' which the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) used to recite:
"Allaahumma aslih li deeni alladhi huwa 'ismatu amri, wa aslih li
dunyaaya allati fiha ma'aashi, wa aslih li aakhirati allati ilayha
ma'aadi, waj'al al-hayaataziyaadatan li fi kulli khayr,wa'l-mawta
raahatan li min kulli sharr (O Allaah, correct my religious commitment
which is the foundation of my life, andcorrect my worldly affairs in
which is my livelihood, and grant me good in the Hereafter to which is
my return. Make my life a means of accumulating good, and make death a
respite for me from all evil)." (Narrated by Muslim, 2720).
And he said, "Allaahummarahmataka arju fa la takilni ila nafsi tarfata
'aynin wa aslih li sha'ni kullahu, laa ilaaha illa anta (O Allaah, for
Your mercy I hope, so do not abandon me to myself even for a moment.
And correct all my affairs. There is no god but You)."(Narrated by Abu
Dawoodwith a saheeh isnaad, no. 5090; classed as hasan by al-Albaani
in Saheeh al-Kalim al-Tayyib, p. 49).
If a person utters these du'aa's, which ask that hisspiritual and
worldly affairs may be set right or corrected, with proper presence of
mind and sincerity of intention, whilst striving to achieve that,
Allaah will grant himwhat he has prayed for, hoped for and striven
for, and He will turn his worryinto joy and happiness.
7 – If a person experiences anxiety and distress because of a
disaster, then one of the most effective means of relieving himself of
that isto think of the worst scenario to which that may lead, and try
to accept that. When he has done that, then he should try to alleviate
it as much as possible. By means of this acceptance and these efforts,
he will relieve himself of his worries and distress, and instead of
worrying he will strive to bring about good things and to deal with
whatever he can of the bad things. If he is faced with things that
cause fear or the possibility of sickness or poverty, then he should
deal with that by striving to make himself accept that, or something
even worse, with contentment, because by making himself accept the
worst-case scenario, he lessens the impact of the thing and makes it
seem less terrible, especially if he occupies himself with efforts to
ward it off as much as he can. Thus as well as striving to
achievesomething good which will distract him from his worries about
calamity, he will also renew his strength to resist bad things, and
put his trust and reliance in Allaah. Undoubtedly these matters are of
great benefit in attaining happiness and peace of mind, as well as
bringing the hope of reward in thisworld and in the Hereafter. This is
something which is well known from the experience of many who have
tried it.
8 – Steadfastness of heart and not being disturbed about the imaginary
things that bad thoughts may bring to mind. For when a person gives in
to his imagination and lets his mind be disturbed by these thoughts,
such as fear of disease and the like, or anger and confusion stirred
up by some grievous matter, or the expectation of bad things and the
loss of good things, that will fill him with worries, distress,mental
and physical illness and nervous breakdowns, which will have a bad
effect on him and which causes a great deal of harm, as many people
have seen. But when a person depends on Allaah and puts his trust in
Him, and does notgive in to his imagination or let bad thoughts
overwhelm him, and he relies on Allaah and has hope of His bounty,
that wards off his worries and distress, and relieves him of a great
deal of mental and physical sickness. It gives indescribable strength,
comfort and happiness to the heart. How many hospitals are filled with
the mentally sick victims of illusions and harmful imagination; how
often have these things had an effect upon the hearts of many
strongpeople, let alone the weak ones; how often have they led to
foolishness and insanity.
It should be noted that your life will follow your train of thought.
If your thoughts are of things that will bring you benefitin your
spiritual or worldly affairs, then your life will be good and happy.
Otherwise it will be the opposite.
The person who is safe from all of that is the one who is protected by
Allaah and helped by Him to strive to achieve that which will benefit
and strengthen the heart and ward off anxiety. Allaah says
(interpretation of themeaning):
"And whosoever puts his trust in Allaah, then He will suffice him"
[al-Talaaq 65:3]
i.e., He will be sufficient for all that is worrying him in his
spiritual and worldly affairs. The one who puts his trust in Allaah
will have strength in his heart and will not be affected by anything
he imagines or be disturbed by events,:->

1a] How to be successful in life

1a]
In this way a person may forget about the things that are making him
worried and distressed, and he may become happy and more energetic.
This is another means that believers and others have in common, but
the believer is distinguished by his faith, sincerity and hope of
reward when he occupies himself with that knowledge which he is
learning or teaching, or with the good deeds that he is doing.
The work with which he occupies himself should be something that he
likes and enjoys, for that is more likely to produce the desired
results. And Allaah knows best.
4 – Another thing that may ward off worry and anxiety is focusing all
one's thoughts of the present day, and not worrying about the futureor
grieving about the past. Hence the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) sought refuge with Allaahfrom worry and regret,
from regret for things in the past which one cannot put right or
change, and worry which may come because of fearfor the future. So one
should focus only on the present day, and focus one's efforts on
getting things right today. For if aperson is focused on that, this
means that he will dothings properly and forgetabout worry and regret.
When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said a
du'aa' ortaught a du'aa' to his ummah, as well as urging them to seek
the help of Allaah and hope for His bounty, he was also urging them to
strive to attain the thing they werepraying for through their own
efforts and to forget about the thing which they were praying would be
warded off from them. Because du'aa' (supplication) must be
accompanied by action. Soa person must strive to attain that which
will benefit him in worldly and spiritual terms, and ask his Lord to
make his efforts successful, and he should seek His help in that, as
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Strive
for that which will benefit you and seek the help of Allaah, and do
not be helpless. If anything (bad) happens to you, do not say, 'If
only I had done such-and-such, then such-and-such would have
happened.' Rather you should say, 'Qaddara Allaah wa ma sha'a fa'ala
(Allaah decrees, and what He wills He does),' for (thewords) 'If only'
open the door to the Shaytaan." (Narrated by Muslim). The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) connected the matter of
striving to achieve good things with the matter of seeking the help of
Allaah and not giving in to feelings of helplessness which are a
harmful kind of laziness, and with the matter of accepting things in
the past which are over and done with, and acknowledging that the will
and decree of Allaah will inevitably come to pass. He described
matters as being of two types:
1 – Matters which a person may strive to achieve or to achieve
whatever he can of them, or to ward them off or alleviate them. In
such cases a person must striveand make the effort, and also seek the
help of Allaah.
2 – Matters where such is not possible, so he must have peace of mind,
accept them and submit to Allaah's will.
Undoubtedly paying attention to this principle will bring happiness
and relieve worry and distress.
5 – One of the greatest means of feeling content and relaxed and of
acquiring peace of mind isto remember Allaah a great deal (dhikr).
That has a great effect in bringing contentment andpeace of mind, and
relieving worry and distress. Allaah says:
"verily, in the remembrance of Allaah dohearts find rest"
[al-Ra'd 13:28]
Remembering Allaah (dhikr) has a great effect in achieving this aim
because it has a special influence and because of the hope that it
brings of reward.
6 – Another of the means of bringing happiness andrelieving worry and
distress is striving to eliminate the things that cause worry and to
achieve the things that bring happiness. That maybe done by forgetting
about bad things in the past which cannot be changed, and realizing
that dwelling on them is awaste of time. So a personmust strive to
stop himself from thinking of that, and also strive to stop himself
from feeling anxious about the future and the things that he may
imagine of poverty, fear and other bad things that he thinks may
happen to him in the future. He should realize that the future is
something unknown, he cannot know what good or bad things are going
tohappen to him. That is in the hand of the Almighty, the Most Wise,
and all that His slaves can do is tostrive to attain the good things
and to ward off thebad things. A person should realize that if he
diverts his thoughts from worrying about his future and puts his trust
in his Lord to take care of his situation, and puts his mind at rest
concerning that, if he does that, then his heart will be at peace and
his situation will improve and he will be relieved of worry and
anxiety.

1] How to be successful in life

1]
How to obtain success and prosperity in this world and
hereafter.Whatkind of success or prosperity that islam want the ummah
islam gain in this world.
Praise be to Allaah.
Peace of mind, contentment, happiness and freedom from worriesand
anxiety… these are what everyone wants, and these are the ways in
which people can have a good life and find complete happiness and joy.
There are religious means of achieving that, and natural and practical
means, but no one can combine all of them except the believers;
although other people may achieve some of them, they will miss out on
others.
There follows a summary of the means of achieving this aim for which
everyone is striving. In some cases, those who achieve many of them
will live a joyful life and a good life; in other cases, those who
fail to achieve all of them will live a life of misery and hardship.
And there are others which are in between, according to what the means
he is able to attain.These means include the following:
1 – Faith and righteous deeds:
This is the greatest and most fundamental of means. Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning):
"Whoever works righteousness — whethermale or female — while he (or
she) is a true believer (of Islamic Monotheism) verily, to him We will
give a good life (in this world with respect, contentment and lawful
provision), and We shall pay them certainly a reward in proportion to
the best of what they used to do (i.e. Paradise inthe Hereafter)"
[al-Nahl 16:97]
Allaah tells us and promises us that whoevercombines faith with
righteous deeds will have a good life and a good reward in this world
and in the Hereafter.
The reason for that is clear: those who believe in Allaah – with
sincere faith that motivates them to do righteous deeds that change
hearts and attitudes and guides themto the straight path in thisworld
and the Hereafter – follow principles and guidelines by means of which
they deal with everything that happens to them, be it the causes of
happiness and excitement or the causes of anxiety, worry and grief.
They deal with the things that they like by accepting them and giving
thanks for them, and using them in good ways. When they deal with them
in this manner,that creates in them a sense of excitement and the hope
that it will continue and that they will be rewarded for their
gratitude, which is more important than the good things that happen to
them. And they deal with bad things, worries and distress by resisting
those that they can resist, alleviating those that theycan alleviate,
and bearing with goodly patience those that they cannot avoid. Thus as
a result of the bad things they gain alot of benefits,
experience,strength, patience and hope of reward, which aremore
important and which diminish the hardships they have undergone and
replace them with happiness and hope for the bounty and reward of
Allaah. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
expressed this in a saheeh hadeeth in which he said: "How wonderful is
the situation of the believer, for all his affairs are good. If
something good happens to him, he gives thanks for it and that is good
for him; if something bad happens to him, he bears it with patience,
and that is good for him. This does not apply to anyone but the
believer." (Narrated by Muslim, no. 2999).
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told us that
thebeliever is always gaining and the reward for his deeds is always
multiplying, no matter what happens to him, good or bad.
2 – Being kind to people in word and deed, and all kinds of doing
good. This is one of the means of removing worry, distress and
anxiety. By this means Allaah wards off worries and distress from
righteous and immoral like, but the believer has the greater share of
that, and is distinguished by the fact that his kindness to others
stems from sincerity and the hope of reward, so Allaah makes iteasy
for him to be kind to others because of the hope that this will bring
good things and ward off bad things, by means of his sincerity and
hope of reward. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"There is no good in most of their secret talks save (in) him who
orders Sadaqah (charity in Allaah's Cause), or Ma'roof (Islamic
Monotheism and all the good and righteous deeds which Allaah has
ordained), or conciliation between mankind; and he who does this,
seeking the good Pleasure of Allaah, We shall give him a great reward"
[al-Nisa' 4:114]
Part of that great reward is relief from worry, distress, troubles, etc.
3 – Another of the means of warding off anxiety that stems from
nervous tension and being preoccupied with disturbing thoughts is to
occupy oneself with good deeds or seeking beneficial knowledge, for
that will distract one fromdwelling on the matters that are causing
anxiety.
:->