ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Islamic Culture and Religious Studies Book -4 Lesson 9 : the Effect of Faith in Life When a person truly declares his belief in God, the effects of this faith cannot be confined to one or a few specific instances in his life. The belief that God is creator of the entire universe consequently affects all areas of his life and influences his choices and decisions. It sets out a path for him to follow in order to conform to this faith.

Let us look at a few areas that the belief in One God influences in a persons life. There are many and perhaps after reading this chapter, you will be able to research and find the others. 1] Idleness The word idle can be used to describe two states that have different meaning in the picture of life: a) That first is when a person has no specific goal in life. His existence is then considered useless, because what gives meaning to the life of a man is the aim he has to achieve.

b) The second would refer to a state that is not individual like the one above but covers mankind as a whole. Those who do not believe in God, as a consequence do not believe that man has a noble aim to achieve and that he will be accountable for his actions one day. In such a persons opinion, man is here to live life to its fullest and enjoy the luxuries of the world with no thought of what is to come in the hereafter.

Such a person believes that humanity came into existence for an idle purpose i.e. no defined purpose at all. Comparing this second state of idleness with the state of those who do believe in God, we see that the latter not only believe that man has an aim but that all of creation has a role to fulfill and is significant in some way to the Plan of God. Such people then set out to discover these goals, with the help of divine Books and Messengers, and then to attain them.

The ultimate goal is the attaining eternal bliss and closeness to Divine Mercy. For those who do not believe in God or have a distorted faith, the only way to live is to create worldly goals whenever they find a chance. Following success, wealth, family, material happiness, reputation and the like, they believe that they will succeed in fulfilling their aim in life.

It is clear though, that such goals have nothing to do with the true aim of life and they only succeed in taking man away from his real purpose.