Finally, the Grave
The Quran (102:1-2) expresses a general fact about people in these words: “Greed for more and more distracted you [from God] till you reached the grave.”
Many people make the amassing of as much material wealth as they can the sole purpose of their life. They remain fully engrossed in this activity until, suddenly, death arrives. Then, they depart from this world lamenting that they failed to obtain what they had set as their target.
The fact of the matter is that as far as our real needs are concerned, there is a limit to the wealth or money that we require. But when wealth for the sake of wealth itself becomes the purpose of life, there is no limit whatsoever. If you want to earn only so much wealth as you require to fulfil your needs, once you reach the required limit you will be satisfied. But if you have made wealth for the sake of wealth the purpose of your life, you will never be happy—because your desires will never end. You will live in a state of perpetual discontent and agitation, and you will die in that state too.
The famous American business magnate Bill Gates acquired a lot of wealth in life. He was so successful in this regard that he became, in terms of material wealth, the richest person in the world! But, finally, he realized that his needs were limited and that hoarding excessive material wealth was pointless. In a lecture he is reported to have said, “I can understand wanting to have a million dollars...but once you get beyond that, I have to tell you, it’s the same hamburger.” In other words, no matter how much wealth you accumulate, all you need to fill your stomach is the same snack!
People who spend their lives accumulating material wealth finally take nothing of this with them when they leave. No matter how big a palace you may own, you can be only in one room at a time. And then, finally, when death comes, you will be parted from your palace forever. No matter how big his empire may be, an emperor can sit only on one throne at a time. And one day or the other, the emperor will have to give up his throne when he is compelled to leave this world.
Given this, if you want to be practical, make Paradise your destination, not anything of this world.
If seen in terms of this world, an individual’s final place is just the grave. But seen in terms of the Hereafter, there is an eternal world that can open up to us, a world that has no limitations. This is the world of Paradise. Wise is the person who takes from this world only what and as much as he actually needs and makes Paradise in the eternal Hereafter the focus of his hopes and desires.
