Key To The Garden : In Pursuit Of Happiness....

Pursuit of happiness is multi-dimensional.
Even from the Islamic perspective the formulla seems to differ from one shaykh to another.
If you talk to Prof Syed Naguib al-Attas, happiness in Islam is in following the right ADAB. The good prof is looking from an 'overview', 'eagle -eye', perspective

Prof Hoessien Nasr will put it differently. He has to contend with an almost 100 % Western  academic audience, and the need to pander to their minds, taste and perspective, and bring and cajole them forward to an Islamic one. If he 'talks' the way Naguib or Hasan al-basri do, not one of his audience would understand him, Such is the dichotomy between Islam and the West now
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p8kSiNLnEQ&feature=related ]

If  however you  can go back to the 7th century and are able to talk to the sufi saint of the tabi'in period, Hasan al-Basri, the foremost expert in experiential Islam, he would just encapsulate happiness or show the modus operandi to 'happiness' into just three things: daily recitation of the Qur'an; 'heart' in constant remembrance of Him; and the enjoyment of the daily obligatory solat.  

A very experiential  perspective full of wisdom.[ In his days and time, not being seen praying the obligatory solat in the mosque for a significant period of time without adequate excuse  was tantamount to the behavior akin to those of the al-munafikuns ! ]

All of them are looking and saying the same thing, but from different angles and perspective and different time and period frame..

Mufti al-Kawthari here gets down to the basic,nitty gritty of  what constitute happiness for the average present day Muslim, that  constitute 99.9 % of us....the average Muslim.

He is looking at the 'modus operandi' to happiness in say downtown London , which is audience consisting of university students , or in  Kuala Lumpur  for that matter. 

He looks at the 'nut and bolt' of happiness, which is still possible in 2012.


Mufti  Muhammad al-Kawthari, On Pursuit of Happiness,
[  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6UBrNir4DY&noredirect=1  ]



Ps: 

Key words from his lecture:-
'
Contentment of the 'heart'
Content with the divine decree
Always 'looking below you' in the matter of the 'dunya'- shukur
'Looking up' in the matter of  the 'Din'
Don't expect from people
Muraqabah tul mawt [ think about death many many times a day ! ]
Solatul fajar followed by recitation of the Qur'an, contemplation and zikir
Smile...............


I am going to throw two spanners into the 'engine of happiness', as a parting  remark :
Shaykh Abdal Qadir al- Jilani put it as ' Rida and then do the halal things and avoid the haram'.
We are going  back one whole circle......Rida with  what is thrown to us on our plate by Him, 24/7, 365 days a year, every year !
Abdullah al- Ansari, an 11th century sufi saint, look at a different perspective. He had this to say about sorrow , the direct opposite of happiness:
'My friend, sorrow stems from three 'wants': to want before it is due; to want what is beyond your allotment; and to want what belongs to others'.

.......................................

Fresh catch from " Pearls & Gem ",
Scene 2 : The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2012/11/case-history-good-bad-and-uglyscene-2.html