The True Joy: Rejoicing and Gratitude

This is the first in a series of articles on true happiness, joy, and commitment according to the Quran and Sunna from the seminar The True Joy with Shaykh Abd al-Rahman al-Kharsa and Shaykh Faraz Rabbani.

This is a very important topic. Religiosity is a serious matter. Allah tells us about the day of Resurrection:

فَذَٰلِكَ يَوْمَئِذٍۢ يَوْمٌ عَسِيرٌ

“That, on that day, shall be a day bitterly dire.” [Quran, 74:9; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]

The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) also told us, “If you knew what I knew you would laugh little and weep much.” 

Allah says:

وَٱلۡعَصۡرِ

إِنَّ ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنَ لَفِی خُسۡرٍ

إِلَّا ٱلَّذِینَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ وَتَوَاصَوۡا۟ بِٱلۡحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوۡا۟ بِٱلصَّبۡرِ

“By the End of the Day! Truly Man is ruined in loss! Save those who believe and work righteous deeds, and bid each other to right, and bid each other to patience.” [Quran: 103:1-3; tr; Keller, Quran Beheld]

Our religion is about seriousness. It is about being purposeful. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) tells us, “Remain purposeful, remain purposeful, and you shall attain.” 

At the same time, from the marvel of our religion, its perfection, and the perfection of the prophetic example is that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) came with the complete and perfect balance, he said, “I have been sent to complete and perfect the very best traits of character.” 

A Balance of All Virtues

Part of that is that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) has taught us how to perfect every human quality and how to have the perfect balance of all virtues. He shows us how it is not a matter of either this or that. We are both serious and happy. We are both concerned and joyous.

Our beloved Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) was always cheerful yet constantly sorrowful. Some of the scholars short-sightedly said that you cannot have both qualities together, “How can you be happy and sad together? It does not make sense.” But it does. If you understand what happiness is and why you are happy and you understand what sorrow is and what are you sorry about. That is the beautiful balance of the Prophet.  

Every quality, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) had in its most beautiful perfect balance without one quality impeding on the other. He was both gentle and firm. He was forbearant and as for being angry, he was angry in the most beautiful ways. 

True Eid

We are divinely commanded to be happy and to rejoice. Allah says:

قُلۡ بِفَضۡلِ ٱللَّهِ وَبِرَحۡمَتِهِۦ فَبِذَ ٰلِكَ فَلۡیَفۡرَحُوا۟

“Say, ‘In this bounty of Allah and mercy of His, in that let them rejoice” [Quran, 10:58; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]

The command of rejoicing is like the command for fasting, charity, and prayer as the scholars tell us. 

The believer has acceptance, contentment, and joy, even in distress and that is the joy of the Prophets (upon them be peace) and the joy of the foremost servants of God. They are joyous not only when others would be joyous, their joy is in Allah. That which is connected to Allah and to the promise of Allah is not given two the vagaries of change, even if they were outwardly sad. 

The Reality of Happiness and Rejoicing 

The believer takes the means in life, beholding that both the means and effects are from Allah. Allah is the facilitator of means and the Effector of all effects. Allah is the Creator of everything. The key to contentment and joy is to see things as they are. Allah says:

قُلْ كُلٌّۭ مِّنْ عِندِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ

“Say, ‘Each is from Allah.’” [Quran, 4:78; tr; Keller, Quran Beheld]

The beginning of joy is focusing on Allah. Allah Most High has placed within the human being certain essential qualities that are from the innate temperament of the human being such as happiness, sadness, feeling honored, abased, feeling up, feeling down, feeling joy, distress, and other such qualities. 

These are personal qualities that the human self is characterized by, whether they are a believer or a disbeliever. From the qualities that Allah Most High has created the human being with is happiness. Happiness is to feel joy. 

When it comes to virtue, Islam is not merely about theory – it is about practice. Yes, there is a body of knowledge and that is important, but the very notion of the Sunna is the practical method of living virtue.