One Love. One Heart: The Secret to Happiness – How I reveal the secret to myself?

In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful... Just the first verse of
the eternal love letters shows Allah’s love and care to His creations. How certain are you
that your mortal loved ones, love you? Yet, how long will they do? Not to mention broken
hearted, backstabbed, betrayal and dishonesty arouse along the way because humans are
born perfectly imperfect. So, why waste your time putting the whole world to people who at
the Resurrection Day will only care about themselves, leaving you all alone. Allah promised
us in Surah Ar-Rad, verse 28 that by remembering Him, one will seek peace and is far from
loneliness. Far from home, each one of us must have hold tightly to Allah’s promises that He
will never disregard us, which is beautifully written in His love letters, in order to be happy
in this foreign land. Our stories might be different from each other, but I hope my story will
reconnect the dots of yours and come to a point where all of us feel the same, hopeless yet
faithful to be happy in life.

If there is one secret to happiness in life, it is to always live because of Allah, for Allah
and to Allah. When my father passed away last year in the middle of compulsory semester
project lab, 50% worth assignment and society’s annual general meeting, that was the
moment the only one I have here in the UK is Allah. The one who promised to be there for
you in Surah At-Taubah, verse 40, so let not yourself be in grieve. It definitely did not give a
sudden happiness after you lost your dear someone, but indeed the full hope and faith you
had been holding on to Him was repaid by an inner strength to accept and be grateful to life
that made you happy deep inside, He chose you to be tested; Allah tests you because He
loves you. I realised that the meaning of love is not by always giving you literal happiness
and happy does not defined by always being surrounded by people who love you.

Truth hurts, reality bites, life sucks. In Surah Yassin, verse 76 stated that, “Therefore,
let not their speech grieve you; surely We know what they do in secret and what they do
openly.” This verse had risen me from my fall when people pushed me down in vain and
envy. So, whenever our enemies are fiercely attacking and slandering us to others, let’s keep
calm and stay strong to this verse of Quran which shows you truth and justice will prevail.
Even if we are down with heavy loads of problems, fear not that Allah will not burden us
with something that we cannot sustain and that His help will come through with our
patience and perseverance just as in Surah Al-Baqarah verse 286 and 214 respectively.
Wake up and realise that Allah gives all the pain and hardships to us because He is longing
for us to reclaim ourselves to Him while whispering He knows. Allah knows.
 Have you ever thought that why people keep ruining your happiness after the hope
and trust you gave them to bring you happiness? Think back, why would your happiness be
created by other people? YOU, yes you are the secret to your own happiness. Learn to love
yourself before you love someone else and you will be loved by those who are worth your
love. Charity Barnum in The Greatest Showman said, “You don’t need the whole world to
love you. Just a few good people.” Happiness is when you feel enough, enough of what you
have, what you are and what you get. Unleash your best self because humans are the best
creations as stated in Surah At-Tin, verse 4 and on the same time, embrace your flaws as it is
the mistakes that makes us interesting. Slowly but surely, you will feel happy by loving
yourself.

Dear lovelies, happiness is a blessing from Allah which falls together with a blessing
from our parents. Who’s next? Your mother. Who’s next? Your mother. Who’s next? Your
mother. And then your father. Our Prophet mentioned our mother three times and how
could that not be the most important being in your life? Her heart, her love, her care and
everything from her is better than any human could offer. Is your happiness is also her
happiness? Before you start drowning in sadness, check, whether everything you do
receives a blessing from your parents? I might lose a prayer from a father, lose the chance
to make him happy and all I can do now is to pray that whatever I do in this world bring
happiness to him and makes me a step closer to him in the hereafter. Little did we know the
next secret to happiness is maybe just as simple as I love you, mom and dad.

“Kindness is a mark of faith, and whoever is not kind has no faith.” A powerful yet
soothing words from our Prophet Muhammad SAW. Have you ever been happy by just
looking at someone being happy? By just making someone happy? By being the reason of
someone’s happiness? For instance, kids teach us how simple an act can bring happiness. A
balloon, a chocolate, a penny, a paper plane or as simple as sincerest smile makes them
happy. We often forget those small little things that bring us joy when the bigger ones keep
letting us down. If you want to be happy, you have to make people happy first and expect
nothing in return because in life, sometimes, those who make you happy aren’t always
those whom you give happiness to. It’s the perfect karma Allah plans for us and some
secrets are meant to be kept. I end my story with the final secret of happiness in a quote
from P. T. Barnum, “The noblest art is that of making others happy.”

By Aznie Othman