We all have expectations of living a full life, right? I mean don’t you want to ace your studies, secure a steady income, marry the person of your dreams, raise your children to be better than you, and then finally retire to a comfortable life of being a wise old grandparent-slash-communitarian (no, there is no such word, but you get the picture, right)? But despite our expectations to live that full life, we have no such guarantees—I mean, I could leave this world a discontented man in my middle ages, while you could gracefully bow out as the wise grandparent; so how do we know for sure that ‘Ijhra’il (the angel of death in Islam) won’t be picking up my ticket to the grave next? Or yours? And yet we somehow manage to live through our days as if we’ll live out all our ‘nine lives’! But what if you assume wrongly (like the economists do), and you catch some terminal illness that will now put you away in a couple of months’ time?—would that change the way you live? Don’t get me wrong here; of course I’m not wishing death upon you, but what I want you to ask yourself is: how would your life change if it suddenly became shorter?
If you’ve thrown the fair share of your mind at this question, you’ll realize that the answer isn’t as hypothetical as the question: we’d obviously appreciate our remaining days more fully. Allow me to clarify. With our lives shorter, there would suddenly now be so many undone things to do… and so many done things to undo… that now, instead of sleeping or gossiping away your extra time, you find more time for God and your family. Perhaps, instead of thinking about what movie to watch, you’re more concerned about how you could right all the wrongs in your life, and how you want to live each day in such a way that you can cherish every minute of your remaining time, and experience life to its fullest! In other words, a shorter life drives you to put more thought and effort into your everyday actions, so that you live each day less wastefully (and more meaningfully).
So the point we shouldn’t miss here is this: that we tend to appreciate our lives more if we have less of it! When we have less time, we use it more carefully (that is, we value it more). But besides time, this also applies to most other things as well, such as food—why does a poor man value his meal more than a rich man? And feelings—why do you love your family more when you’re away from them? The general principle we can then apply in life, is this: if you have lesser of something, you will value it more. So does this not mean that if you have too much of something, you will value it less? Wouldn’t a person who can buy ten watches, value her watch less than a person who can only afford one? This is because, a scratch on the watch would make the first person think: I’ll buy me another one; whereas the second person thinks: Who’ll buy me another one? So Person 1 would take less care of her watch, while Person 2 cares more for her watch.
Another example could be applied in ethics—in the case of lying. Let’s consider a fictitious person named, G. W. Bush, and let’s say he loves lying and that he’s the President of the US of A. Now this Bush-person is so used to lying, that he undervalues it (undermines its consequences), and he can look his people straight in the eye and tell them that the Palestinians are the cause of everything evil, including corruption in Pakistan, Iran’s nuclear project and especially terrorism (the Palestinians are considered the deadliest of fighters with their long-range stones and short-range rocks—especially the children!). And so, the US supports another (fictitious) liar called Olmert in his save-the-Jews-from-the-stones-they-threw campaign. And the good people of US have so little knowledge, that they value it a lot… and they believe him! Yes, that was a joke. Georgie doesn’t lie, he actually believes all that he says.
But the jokes (and jerks) aside, what all this talk comes down to is really quite simple; when you have too much of something, you tend to value it less. So reducing it helps you appreciate it more. And if you appreciate it more, you don’t misuse it. This brings me to conclude that those who feel that Islam is ‘restrictive’ should start trying to feel differently, because these ‘restrictions’ are there to make your life more valuable and meaningful. This is why Islam embodies the practices of charity, hijab (modesty?) and moderation. Charity helps you reduce what you have so you realize its importance. Practicing correct hijab urges us to appreciate a person for the qualities he possesses, so that now a person’s actions determine whether he’s a good person—not his looks (sisters!). And moderation in our consumption ensures that we consume Allah’s Provisions in a respectful manner—not in a wasteful one!
So if we were to accept all these ‘restrictions’, why shouldn’t our lives become more meaningful and more valuable? This is the beauty and depth of Islam: contrary to the modern ideology, that the more you have, the higher the value of your life; Islam teaches us that the value of life can increase by reducing some things in life! SubhanAllah! I mean who would imagine that we can grow from reductions? We were always led to believe that two plus one equaled three, but Islam tells us that sometimes two minus one can also equal three. But if you still insist on rejecting this notion and believe that Islam asks too much of you, look at it this way: first, that Islam is asking the right thing of you; and second, that it’s not Islam that’s restrictive, but perhaps it’s your lifestyle that’s too extravagant… With that, I want to leave the following impressed on our minds: that if we live our lives as if we have a month left and not a lifetime; our everyday-actions become more meaningful and less directionless. And trust Islam enough to allow yourself to grow through decrease—not always through increase…