The 8 Pillars of Joy and the Teachings of the Prophet (ﷺ)
I read an amazing book very recently “The Book of Joy” by Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu. I learned about the eight pillars of joy from the book and came to realize that we were taught about the same eight pillars of joy by the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) 1,400 years ago. I will briefly discuss each one of the pillars below and relate to the Prophet (ﷺ)’s teaching.
Perspective
In the book, having a positive perspective is considered as the first pillar of joy. Meaning that, a positive point-of-view can even defeat death. The Prophet (ﷺ)’s personality was a fountain of optimism but to relate to the first pillar more precisely here’s a saying of the Prophet (ﷺ):
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Make things easy for the people, and do not make it difficult for them, and make them calm (with glad tidings) and do not repulse (them ). — Sahih al-Bukhari 6125
A positive perspective is one of the most important teachings of the Prophet (ﷺ). He used to have a great outlook for the future of Islam even though his own uncle was opposing him. So, next time you go through hard-times, make sure you outlook a great future for yourself and find joy in the little things that you have.
Humility
The second of the pillars is humility, the book says that if you want to find joy then you must have humility and think of yourself just like any other person in the world. In other words, if you consider yourself above other people then you may end up finding yourself in tremendous anxiety. I would like to relate this to the teachings of the Prophet (ﷺ) with the following quote and example:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: “Indeed, the most beloved of you to me and the nearest of you to my position on the Day of Judgement are the best of you in nature and in humility; and the furthest of you from me are the vainglorious, that is the arrogant.”
Once, a man came to the Prophet (ﷺ)shaking with fear, upon seeing the man the Prophet (ﷺ) smiled and comforted him, saying: “Be at ease. I am not a king but the son of a Quraishite woman who used to eat dried meat.”
Humor
In the book, humor is considered as the third pillar of joy by giving an example of Desmond Tutu about how he resolved a conflict between two ethnic groups by telling them a fictional story.
The Prophet (ﷺ) was very friendly and warmhearted. Once an old lady came to the Prophet (ﷺ)and asked him to make supplications for her so that she goes to heaven. The Prophet (ﷺ)replied: “Did you not hear it? Old women cannot go to heaven.” Upon hearing this, the old lady becomes upset and then the Prophet (ﷺ) tells her the verse that all women will enter heaven as a new creation and young.
Acceptance
You can never feel joy unless you accept the truth that life has hard moments — most of which you can not control. Acceptance is considered as the fourth pillar of joy in the book.
The Prophet (ﷺ) has always advised us to tackle difficult moments with patience and by being patient you basically accept your present moment and the fact that there is nothing you can do about it. As the Prophet (ﷺ) says: “No gift is better than patience.”
Gratitude
The fifth of the pillars is gratitude and the whole idea behind gratitude as a virtue is to take nothing for granted and to be thankful for everything that you have. In the book, gratitude is better explained by giving an example of Anthony Ray Hinton who served a 30-year sentence for a crime he did not commit. When released, he did not feel rage and forgave the people who locked him up.
In Islam we are asked to pray five times a day, not because of having hard moments but because of showing gratitude and being thankful for everything that is given to us. We are basically asked to practice gratitude five times a day— a much easier way to bring joy to our life.
Forgiveness
In the book, another pillar of joy is forgiveness and it is better explained by giving the example of a woman in Africa who forgives the people that were involved in the killing of her son.
What the African woman did is exactly what is taught to us in Islam. As the Prophet (ﷺ) said: “The believers are those who spend in charity during ease and hardship and who restrain their anger and pardon the people, for Allah loves the doers of good.” and there is no better example than this to relate to the sixth pillar of joy. If we read the complete biography of the Prophet (ﷺ), we will cross through hundreds of prophetic examples in regards to forgiveness.
Compassionate Concern
In the book it is said that being compassionate towards others is part of the core aspect of self-interest and that is way compassionate concern is considered as the seventh pillar of joy.
There are over forty sayings of the Prophet (ﷺ) in regards to being compassionate and showing mercy towards others. Here is one that relates to the seventh pillar:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: “Whoever wishes to be delivered from the fire and to enter paradise should treat other people as they wish to be treated themselves.”
Other’s Happiness
Last but not the least, according to the book the eight pillar of joy is spending time on other’s happiness. James Dody’s story is presented as an example; where he donates $30 million to a charity, only to lose all his wealth in the subsequent stock market crash. While his lawyer advises him to withdraw all his contribution, he refuses because he had realized that wealth will bring him neither power or love.
The Prophet (ﷺ) has frequently taught us on giving charity and choosing for others what we choose for ourselves which is also correlated to the Golden Rule. A perfect connection between the eighth pillar of joy and the teaching of the Prophet (ﷺ) is this hadith: “The believer’s shade on the Day of Resurrection will be his charity.”
Conclusion
To conclude, most of the things that we read today about joy and happiness are already taught and shown to us by our Prophet (ﷺ)with perfect examples and hadiths 1,400 years ago. All we need to do is correlate and apply the rules on our daily lives. Surely, there will be nothing to stop us from acquiring the joy we seek.
Note: Everything that I have mentioned above is from my personal knowledge and from the books that I have read. If you find any information incorrect or disagree with any point, please do let me know.
