What is the purpose of our existence? Since Allah has given us great responsibilities to be His vicegerent and servant in this world, the success in undertaking those responsibilities is a great accomplishment of divinity mission of man. Allah has promised paradise to these people as mentioned in al-Qur'an in surah Al-Mukminun 23:10-11 and this is the ultimate definition of success to mankind.
Achieving falah is the ultimate aim in our life. As defined by Al-Ghazali, falah means ‘eternal’ happiness. The only place possible to achieve this is in the paradise. This world cannot be the place because our life in this world is short (life expectancy rate around 70-80 years). Furthermore, within this short period of life in this world, we are constrained by the process of aging, limitation of resources, time constraint, sickness and many more. Thus, pleasure in this world is mixed with pain, agony, sorrow etc.
Basically, we can say that the real success to man is when he enters the paradise of Allah, the Almighty in the hereafter.
Nonetheless, Islam does not neglect the importance of success in this world. In fact, this world is the place where we are being tested by Allah (Al-Mulk 67:2) to see whose among us are the best in deeds and conducts.
We are reminded not to forget our portion in this world (Al-Qasas 28:77). Islam, in fact, encourages material pursuit with the condition that material well-being must not divert us from our main purpose of existence – to achieve falah. This is suitable with the inherent nature of man who loves material well-being (Ali-'Imran 3:14). However, we must remember that wealth and success that we gain in this world are not the ultimate aim and definition of success. Striving for them is part of ibadah and they must be used as means to achieve the real success in the hereafter.
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