"A Good Life: The Islamic Perspective"

The human is a profound being, not because it is absent of flaws rather due to its ability to build upon and contemplate abstract ideas. A good life is what seems to be the question that the human mind spends “The Life” seeking an answer to. This is arguably the most asked question but also heavily misunderstood. What does it mean to have a good life? Is a good life one that is enjoyed in the moment or one that leaves the soul in a state of perpetual happiness as it moves on to the other world? These are some questions that come to mind when one delves into this discussion. An attempt at answering these questions along with the main question will be made, albeit through an Islamic lens. The good life is not just a pleasurable experience because pleasure tends to fail in providing adequate satisfaction to the soul. Whereas contemplation or in better terms seeking the other reality through spirituality fails to please bodily desires and pleasures. So “a good life” should consist of both the fulfillment of our soul and our body. This would also mean that the idea is relative and is experienced differently at an individual level but can have a universal guide in order to attain it.

The body, the soul and the mind are parts of a single being. There is an interesting passage from the Islamic Prophet, Muhammad (peace and blessings upon him), that eludes to the respective contribution each of these parts offers in building a person’s being. He says:

“Indeed Allah (The Most High) created Adam from a Handful that he (Allah) took from all of the earth. So the children of Adam come in accordance with the earth, some of them come red, white and black, and between that, and (some of them come) lenient and hard-headed, and (some) filthy and clean.” (Al-Tirmidhi, Vol. 5, Book 44, Hadith 2955). [1]

An article published by Yaqeen Institute “Souls Assorted: An Islamic Theory of Spiritual Personality” gives a breakdown of this prophetic statement.

“This hadith is profoundly comprehensive, referencing the fundamental components of the human being. It informs us of the interesting connection between the qualities of the earth and the qualities of the human being. The first category of attributes mentioned deals with the physical body... The second category of attributes deals with personality, particularly on the dimension of agreeableness. The final category, according to the hadith commentator Mulla Ali al-Qari (d. 1014 AH), speaks to the akhlāq (character) of the human being in reference to spiritual purity and impurity. Altogether, the hadith references body, mind, and spirit.” (Abdul-Rahman, Khan). [2]

The quoted Hadith along with its understanding can be used to derive the requisites of a good life. The mind is seen as a mediator between the soul and the body. The soul desires spirituality and the body yearns to have its desires fulfilled. The mind is the one that decides what will bring about the best results for itself than pursues either-or. The pure soul and the healthy body is in theory what yields a satisfactory life. This balance is achieved when the mind explores both dimensions of the being and controls it without being biased. Although the hadith when speaking of the mind addresses the personality of a being, in essence, it establishes that people can be hard-headed (or lenient etc.) intrinsically. However, just like how the body can be changed by working out and the soul by means of meditation and contemplation, a person’s personality can also evolve. The combination of the soul and the body plays a role in how the world is seen by the being and also how the world sees the person. The mind is responsible for playing the part created by the composition of the soul and the body and this composition is what also shapes the personality.

Islam is a holistic religion for human beings because it seeks to train the soul, the mind and the body. Freedom is not a sacred idea in Islam as freedom has a tendency to violate the soul yet grants the body pleasure without limits. This inherently disturbs the balance between the soul and the body. The argument posed by the Islamic understanding is not that bodily pleasures should be discarded rather it presupposes that when the soul is continuously ignored the body will start feeling less and less satisfied even when it has no restrictions to indulge in all material affairs. So Islam seeks to create a lifestyle wherein a person is restricted from being unequivocally free to indulge in all types of pleasures and also sets commandments so that the soul may receive its share of spirituality. It sets a clear distinction between what is permissible to engage in from the earthly needs and what is impermissible. The Shariah also forbids complete neglect of earthly needs such as celibacy that is practiced within some circles as that would be violating the body’s earthly needs although it may satisfy the soul to a certain extent.

The body in the Islamic tradition is earthly and is seen as a vessel for the soul which is heavenly. The commandments are set to keep the heavenly component of the human safe from being violated as it dwells within the earth. This becomes clear when we correlate intimacy with love. An intimate relationship in the absence of love is empty and leaves the body drained of stamina and has no benefits other than the pleasure felt for a few moments. While the one who loves but is deprived of any form of intimacy will eventually lose his love as the body will feel void of any pleasure. A healthy relationship generally consists of both love and intimacy. Love is pure and heavenly in nature whereas intimacy is earthly. Islam allows one to fulfill both the soul’s and the body’s desire, meaning love and intimacy, under the permissibility of marriage. The sacredness of marriage lies within the upholding of God’s command of maintaining chastity which in turn permits one to indulge in fulfilling the desire of the human body while also letting the soul experience love.

What is a good life? The Islamic understanding of good is what is in alignment with the Shariah. Evil is what opposes or is considered outside the parameters placed by the Shariah. So Islam supposes that to live a good life one must live “the Godly” life. The alchemy of happiness is achieved through ones striving in what Islam defines as “the straight path”. By threading this path that Muslims are commanded to seek in their five daily prayers, God promises the being with the satisfaction of the heart. The Quran makes this abundantly clear when it says:

“Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest!” (Hilālī, Khan. translation of the Quran, Ar-Ra'd verse 28 324). [3]

The act of his remembrance for a Muslim is the most important in the sense that, to enjoy the beauty of life one must delve in the realm of true love.

Love is an emotion that is different from the rest because it involves a person from thinking about the loved, not oneself. Love is associated always with the heart as though the heart’s natural state is love. This is quite interesting when we take a look at al-Ghazzali’s work “the Alchemy of Happiness”. The heart described by al-Ghazzali is not of flesh rather he calls the heart the spirit from the other world. His words are:

“that heart, which is emphatically called spirit, does not belong to this world, and although it has come to this world, it has only come to leave it… its especial attributes is to know God and to enjoy the beauty of the Lord God… it is capable of happiness and misery.” (15-16). [4]

The reason why the heart is attributed to love is that it is in fact, love. The spirit of the other world (i.e. the soul) bears this desire to find rest and satisfaction through the love of the almighty and his remembrance. The earthly vessel (i.e. the body) at times forgets and seeks to satisfy the spirit’s search for Happiness with its pleasures. However, the law of God is only the vessel, can be pleased by the earth. For the spirit, you must seek God himself.

The human is yet to find all the answers to what a good life is because a good life is not dictated by reason or rationality but from revelation. So, from the Islamic perspective, the answer is simple. Obey God and respect the commandments set by him and his messenger, then surely when you look back at your life in the last moment when your spirit is about to return, you will see nothing but goodness. Life is what we fight for even though the end is our reason for living, yet many have not realized. A good life is not enjoyed only in the moment rather it is what makes the soul feel at ease. In the moment and in the end. For a person to have a good life the key is the balance established by tending to the body and the soul. Recognizing the needs of the vessel and the spirit and understanding that violating either-or will have consequences.

Works Cited

1. Al-Tirmidhi, Muhamed Ibn 'Isa. “Jami' Al-Tirmidhi.” Hadith - Chapters on Tafsir - Jami` at-Tirmidhi - Sunnah.com - Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم), sunnah.com/urn/639390.

2. Abdul-Rahman, Zohair, and Nazir Khan. “Souls Assorted: An Islamic Theory of Spiritual Personality.” Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, 5 Mar. 2020, yaqeeninstitute.org/zohair/souls-assorted-an-islamic-theory-of-spiritual-personality/.

3. “Ar-Ra'd .” Translation of the Meanings of the Noble Qurʼan in the English Language = Tafsīr maʻānī Al-Qurʼān Al-Karīm Bi-Al-Lughah Al-Injilīziyah, by Hilālī Taqī al-Dīn and Muhammad Muhsin Khan, King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qurʼan, 1999, pp. 324–324.

4. “On Knowledge of the Soul.” The Alchemy of Happiness, by Mohammed Al-Ghazzali, the Mohammedan Philosopher. Translated by H.A. Homes. (In Advance of the Transactions of the Albany Institute, Vol. VIII.), by Ghazzālī and Henry A. HOMES, 1873, pp. 15–16.

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