Meaning of Success

By Anthea Davis

"If you asked one hundred different people what they mean by “success,” you would probably get many different answers. Some people think that in order to be considered successful you have to have lots of material wealth, others think you have to be one of the beautiful people of the world, while still others think you should excel in everything you do. But the reality is that not everyone is rich, beautiful, or extremely intelligent. So what do we do? Give up?
The trick to achieving success is to learn to steer your own course. The world is feeding people standardized ideas of what success is and how to achieve it. We see these in the form of images we observe every day in advertisements, television shows, films, fashion, and education. From the time we are very young we are taught to conform to these standards; then we are trained to be materialistic, and to judge everything by its outside, for example, how much money a person has, what kind of car a person drives, how a person looks, who a person knows….

In many places in the world, we are given the message through interacting with people. We begin to understand that doctors and lawyers are more “successful” than teachers or clerks. This is simply because of standardized ideas of the importance of wealth, position, and preconceived ideas of prestige.

All this seems extremely complicated and a person could really get caught up trying to make sense of people’s and society’s expectations of us. For example, young women today face enormous challenges. Society expects them to be:

*Beautiful
*Successful at school
*Extroverted (not shy)
*Career oriented
*Fashionable
*Sporty
*An excellent communicator
*Funny

How many women sink beneath the enormity of these expectations only to be told they are a “failure” and thus adding insult to injury.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah Who has simplified the whole thing and given us the starting point of life as a clear and strong base. Ultimately, the judge of our success or failure in life is Allah—not society, the boss, or anyone else. And Allah looks to our hearts and intentions, not to the color of our skin, our wealth, and all that. He says that the only way you can become more “successful” is to be more pious.

There we have the base! It isn’t beauty, wealth, power, or position that marks a person as successful—it is piety. And the irony is that you can still study hard and excel, work hard and achieve, or anything else and still be pious. You can be a son, a daughter, a sister, a brother, a wife, a husband, a doctor, a teacher, a judge, a clerk, a volunteer, or a brain surgeon, and still be pious.

You have to gain knowledge in any field that interests you and maintain your identity, keep your head held high, honor your commitment to Allah, and be pious.
Since piety is the key to success in this life and the next, we should know what it is. Pious people:

*Love, fear, and obey Allah and His Prophet
*Trust in Allah
*Stand up for the truth
*Are honest
*Persevere patiently
*Do their best in whatever they try to do
*Are hardworking
*Are kind and generous
*Are unselfish
*Give to others
*Love for others what they love for themselves
*Are punctual

This is the base of your life. Use your summer to establish this base firmly and strongly. I guarantee that whatever you build on top of this base, will reflect the beauty and sweetness of piety that pervades everything it touches. Once this base is established, then get to know yourself and recognize your strengths and weaknesses. Try different sports and activities and meet different people. Do not be afraid to try and fail. It's all part of the learning process.
Identify your skills and abilities and find ways to develop them. I guarantee that if you do the things you enjoy and are good at, you will feel happy and you will have more chance of succeeding. For example, I met a student who loved the sciences. She dreamed of having a job in a laboratory; however, her parents pushed her into studying languages. She was very unhappy and became depressed.

Her results were merely passing grades and she certainly didn't feel she had succeeded in life, even though she ended up with a degree. She kind of gave up hope that she would ever be happy in the field her parents had chosen for her. My advice to her was to find a way to steer her own course within the boundaries Allah prescribed for us—keeping in mind that these boundaries are there for our own good and protection.

One of the most “successful” people I met was a lady who lived alone. Her sons had grown up and moved away. She wanted to stay in her home. She tended a beautiful garden, self-studied natural medicine, she had memorized nearly half the Qur’an, and constantly had poor and needy people coming to her door—no one was ever turned away empty handed. She wasn't rich in worldly terms but the beauty, dignity, and wisdom that emanated from her lit up any room she entered. She honored her commitment to Allah. One day, I asked her if she had finished university and she smiled and replied that her parents had sent her to university to study economics but she never pursued it as a career. “I have forged my own path,” she said. She was one of the happiest people I have ever met."

Source:http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1164267233355&pagename=Zone-English-Youth%2FYTELayout