Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | The Sunday Guardian | May 08, 2016 | p. 12

The message of the Prophet of Islam to sum it up, is that of God-centred living. Man is of such a nature as to crave a focal point around which his life should revolve. No one is free of this compulsion. But, usually, people centre their attention on such worthless objective as material gain, political power, self-glorification, superficial enjoyment, and so on. The Prophet, however held that the achievement of such goals is not the real answer to the satisfaction of a person's needs and urges; such things afford only temporary solace; they cannot give one a wholesome sense of fulfilment throughout the entire course of one's life.

Man is limited in a variety of ways. That is why he makes worldly and not spiritual ambitions the permanent centre of his life.

It is because of his limitations that he continues to pin false hopes on one or more of these ephemeral goals.

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Sooner or later he begins, in consequence, to suffer from a feeling of severe frustration. His initial successes prove hollow and his life ends in futility.

The Prophet of Islam held that, for a human being, the only real and permanent centre of his existence was the Supreme Being - Almighty God. The Quran says: "Those who believe, and whose hearts find satisfaction in the remembrance of God, for without doubt, in the remembrance of God do hearts find satisfaction." (13:28)

Those who adopt God-centred living are beckoned by the Quran to a heavenly abode and given glad tidings: "O soul at peace, return to your Lord, joyful and well pleased. Join my servants and enter my Paradise." (89:27-30)

God, being man's Creator and Sustainer, is the only valid object of man's attention; as such he deserves to have man's life built up around Him.