Spirit of Islam, Nov-Dec 2025

M an is a pleasure-seeking being. He has an abundance of desires and thus seeks to create a world where he may fulfill all of them. Yet there is no one who can achieve that goal; everyone is destined to die with desires unfulfilled. This destiny, however, is special to man—no other creature shares this fate. The physical world, the mountains, the rivers, the stars, etc., have no desires at all, saving them from the problem of unfulfilled wants. Animals as well, are not much different from the physical world in this regard. Their desires are very limited. For example, their desire for food is limited in scope to the immediate present. Animals have no concern for tomorrow and do not desire to store food for tomorrow. They require food for the moment and that is achievable to them. So, when they die there is not a single regret in their existence—they have no cause for lamenting: I have failed to achieve what I wanted to achieve. Then why is it exceptionally the case for man that even so-called super achievers feel, at their moment of death, that their life was a case of missed opportunities; they wanted so much yet achieved so little. What is worse, they are compelled to leave even those little achievements in this world and proceed to an unknown destination completely alone. Why this tragic state-of-affairs? The reason according to Islam is that man is born with a dual personality. Intellectually he is unlimited in capability but physically he is a limited being. This disparity in his inner nature causes the problem. After great labor, man acquires much wealth, but he dies without completely enjoying it. He builds his dream house. Yet sadly, upon entering it, he feels unable to fully enjoy it due to his limitations and disadvantages. Any conceivable thing that he obtains is inherently imperfect whereas man is intellectually a perfectionist. After experiencing each new goal that he has so long sought to achieve he desires it no more because after achieving it he realizes that this latest goal too, is less than perfect. If man were to live according to his physical being, then there would be no problem with this world. Man would live like an animal with some limited kind of immediate desires and would die without any feeling of failure for not achieving his desires. ISLAMIC INTERPRETATION OF LIFE Two Phases of Life