A Life of Beauty or Duty

Contributed by: Mishal Saeed on 5th Dec 2003 at http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/thepointofview

Yesterday in the lecture hall, I happened to read an interesting quotation written on a desk..

I slept and dreamt that life is beauty
I woke and found that life is duty..

So who agrees? Any comments?

Replied to by Sajjad Ali Parmar on 6th Dec 2003 at http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/thepointofview

Mishal, I think you both dreamt and found the right things. Life is beauty because we have free will, and life is a duty to me because I should be thankful to Allah every moment of my life, and everything that I do should be align to what is expected of me. I mean this is the best thing about life I think. I have free will and I have a few restrictions and that also for my good. By compromising on a few things not only do I make Allah Happy, but I remain satisfied and happy as well.

Replied to by Raza Ali on 8th Dec 2003 at http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/thepointofview

Life is both beauty as well as duty. It is a balancing act, like walking the tight rope. Allah doesnt show Himself except in His creation, can you really know Allah anyway except by appreciating the beauty and perfection of His creation? Or can you just appreciate the beauty of the creation without fulfilling the duties imposed by The Creator?

Without appreciation for the beauty, the act of fulfilling the duty will become robotic and uninspiring. Without the balance of duty, appreciation of beauty will lead to over-indulgence. Beauty alone clouds the view and duty alone kills the spirit. According to The Quran we share our spirit with The Creator, if He is just, how can we be otherwise?

Further replied to by Mishal Saeed on 8th Dec 2003 at http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/thepointofview

I also agree with the statement, life is beauty and duty both at the same time...the actual magic actually lies in the fact that how one manages...

Secondly...when we say that life is beauty...or dream of a beautiful life..its not just like a fascinating one with few restrictions...or with few ups and downs....beauty lies in the eyes of the viewer and every one views life with its own point of view...so this again comes to everyone's own definition of the beauty phenomenon....life led with own will and few hardships...more or less restrictions... ups and downs...might be beauty but same kind of life is not led by everyone...

There is no need to mention I guess that what kind of a beautiful life 99 percent of people say in our own country ....in our own religion, are leading...so dreaming of a beautiful life is not that simple....all that glitters is not gold...the concept of beauty in life which we possess...might not be an exact concept...a comfortable life in all aspects like mentally, physically, religiously, socially and economically, comes under the definition of life lead with beauty these days...but a poor ratio of life led with such kind of a beauty is observed....

This comes to the conclusion that:

The people not having proper opportunities or TAUFEEQ of such kinda strategy of life, are leading their lives without any beauty??? Or the exact beauty of life lies in some other thing...like coming up with a real aim...a real objective...with belief..with faith..no matter how corrupt the system is, the desire for honesty and achievement of that...no matter how much an administration is involved in fraud, good will to repair the losses...the desire for "Jihad" (Holy War) ...self-control...only remembering Allah in losses, hard times and always maintaining relations with Allah's people...A big heart, no matter how small your house is..., or what is your status quo?...like what????

What is actually dreaming a beautiful life??? Life is beauty, this is understood and agreed but what kind of a beauty?

What is actually beauty to us?
13 members..13 concepts of beauty of life..14 crores of people...14 crore concepts...and so on!!!

Likewise is that life is duty....wat are the duties? We all know its a life of duty...but what is duty again? Sleeping, eating, studying, worldly achievements, marriage, kids...securing their future and going back....?

Or is it good for evil...and all written before in beauty context...is that duty???

Raza is right beauty of life and duty of life are interelated...if one is misbalanced other too..and misbalance starts even with the false image of B of beauty....and D of duty!!!

I know..the question asked was not this, but answer given is incomplete without the details of what exactly the beauty and duty of life to us is...? and to what extent are we coming up to that!!!