WORLD RELIGIONS AND THE SPIRIT OF TOLERANCE

focus on earning God’s pleasure, not on achieving a trouble-free life, as that can only be achieved in the next world. The greatest offering to earn a place in Paradise is a thankful heart. Cultivating gratitude requires rising above life’s difficulties. Heaven’s price is gratitude; only those who pay this price will enter. 2. Patience “Those who do good in this world will receive a good reward, and God’s earth is vast. Those who persevere patiently will be rewarded without measure.” (39: 10) Building a life on faith is a great trial. Only those with faith as their greatest wealth, prepared to forego everything else, succeed. A life of faith is a life of patience. Believers who choose patience are blessed with God’s superior grace. Patience is connected to every aspect of our lives. For example, when overwhelmed by a desire, we control it, think about it, and do what wisdom demands. This is called exercising patience. Similarly, when someone causes us trouble, we feel the desire for revenge but stop ourselves and do what our faith wants us to do. This is also called exercising patience. In short, impatience is a hasty response, while patience is a well-thought-out one. 3. Adjustment “You may dislike something though it’s good for you, or like something though it’s bad for you: God knows but you don’t.” (2: 216) What a man dislikes may be pleasing to God, benefiting him in the next world. In God’s sight, evil is choosing one’s own pleasure over the Creator’s. Though it may seem beneficial in this world, it will harm in the afterlife. Adjustment is a way of life, not just a behaviour towards others. Our world is full of differences, and everyone has the freedom to behave as they choose, leading to a chaotic A person without commitment is living on the fringes of existence and will eventually degenerate. No truly superior being has ever been found among the idle. As the saying goes, the Devil finds work for idle hands.