Contentment is the Key to Success

On December 4 media reports said a 30-year-old man, identified as Athar Rasheed, died of multiple organ failure allegedly caused by a botched hair transplant treatment at a clinic in Delhi. Rasheed’s mother Asiya Begum wished she didn’t want any other mother to lose her son like she did.

Written by

Sikandar Azam

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On December 4 media reports said a 30-year-old man, identified as Athar Rasheed, died of multiple organ failure allegedly caused by a botched hair transplant treatment at a clinic in Delhi. Rasheed’s mother Asiya Begum wished she didn’t want any other mother to lose her son like she did.

Let’s also recall the Qatari young boy, Ghanim Al Muftah, who kicked off the historic opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 on November 20 by reciting a Qur’ānic verse. Al Muftah is by birth suffering from a disease called caudal retraction syndrome. This syndrome, also known as caudal dip or sacral dysgenesis, is a rare congenital disorder that occurs when the lower part of the spine is not fully formed before birth.

Any family having a child with this syndrome would have lost every ounce of hope. But thanks to the Lord Creator that Al Muftah’s parents, as thanksgiving believers, tried their level best to educate Al Muftah and train him to be a thanksgiving believer. And we see Al Muftah, at this young age of 20, has achieved what many don’t in their entire life. Al Muftah attributes his positive outlook on life to his mother, and learning persistence and patience from his father.

In one of the videos, Al Muftah said, “Since I was young, I learned to reconcile with myself, and with things that I cannot change, so I reconciled with my body, I reconciled with my appearance… By the grace of God, I have reached the conviction that God – Glory be to Him – created me in the best form, and that my pains were healed with patience, praise and supplication.” He explained, “Reconciliation with things that we cannot change is strength and not weakness, happiness and not misery, hope and not pain. I have accepted my body and thank God for it.”

This reconciliation and contentment with and paying thanks to God for what one has been blessed with is the key to success.

The Qur’ān (82:6-7) says: “O man, what has lured you away from your gracious Lord Who created and moulded you and gave you an upright form?” Thanks to the Lord Creator Who gave us an “upright form” (the Qur’ān 82:6) and moulded us in “the finest form” (the Qur’ān 95:4). But those with physical deformity might complain that they have not been made in the best form. To them, the Qur’ān (82:8) says: “He can give you whatever shape He wills.”

Man’s life is so limited that there is no other way than to be contended with what we have. This does not mean that we shouldn’t strive for the better; we must. But we mustn’t indulge in fulfilling our wishes and fancies. This is the lesson we can draw from the two cases of Athar Rasheed and Al Muftah.