سَابِقُوا إِلَىٰ مَغْفِرَةٍ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَجَنَّةٍ عَرْضُهَا كَعَرْضِ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ أُعِدَّتْ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِاللَّـهِ وَرُسُلِهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ فَضْلُ اللَّـهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَن يَشَاءُ ۚ وَاللَّـهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظِيمِ
Race toward forgiveness from your Lord and a Garden whose width is like the width of the heavens and earth, prepared for those who believed in Allah and His messengers. That is the bounty of Allah which He gives to whom He wills, and Allah is the possessor of great bounty.
Quran 57:21
If Allah forgives us our sins, and accepts our deeds then paradise is what awaits us. Rather than competing in making money and buying stuff, we should be competing in earning our spots in Jannah.
In a saheeh hadith the size of Jannah for the last one to enter it (the worst believer), is related to us as being TEN TIMES the size of Earth. So now imagine how big it would be for those in the middle, or at the very top.
It was narrated from ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ood (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “I know the last of the people of Hell to be brought forth, and the last of the people of Paradise to enter therein. It will be a man who will emerge crawling from Hell, and Allah will say to him: ‘Go and enter Paradise.’ He will come to it and it will appear to him to be full. He will go back and say, ‘O Lord, I found it full.’ Allah, may He be blessed and exalted, will say to him: ‘Go and enter Paradise.’ He will go to it and it will appear to him to be full. He will go back and say, ‘O Lord, I found it full.’ Allah, may He be blessed and exalted, will say to him: ‘Go and enter Paradise, and you will have the equivalent of the whole world and ten times as much.’ He will say, ‘Are You mocking me – or laughing at me – when You are the Sovereign?’” He said: And I saw the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) smile so broadly that his molars appeared. And he used to say: “That will be the lowest of the people of Paradise in status.”
Narrated by al-Bukhaari (6202); Muslim (186)
People race to have their pleasure in this world, but you can’t even compare the pleasure of this world to the next. Not to mention whatever you gain here will disappear, but whatever you gain in paradise will last forever.
This should apply to the priorities we give our lives, and the lives of our children. Whatever our children do that is Islamic should be exemplified much more so, than their secular accomplishments. Of course we praise them and support them in both, but Islam should always take priority.
In most cases even the secular things can be made Islamic. Like if they win a tournament or win an award, they can thank God in the interview or speech. They can make sujood ash-shukr. Throughout the process of the tournament they could be making thikr and so on.
If paradise truly is our goal, then it should be obvious in every action we make. We’re not perfect, so we ask for forgiveness if we slip or forget. May Allah accept our efforts and forgive our mistakes
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