Searching for Tranquility

“We seek peace, knowing that peace is the climate of freedom.”
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Peace or tranquility – comes in many forms. It shines from a mother’s eye when she takes a look at her baby for the first time. It flows with the drops of rain in the golden summer. It gusts through the lullaby in the night wind from the child’s window. It will fly your heart to the galaxy of sparkling stars, let you breathe the air of the hanami season and feel the warmth of the sunny spring. Being an outstanding experience and beyond any words can describe, whenever it comes and goes, it leaves an impact to our soul.

Aware or not, from birth, we live to attain it and tend to miss it, but usually we get lost while trying to trace it. It’s like zam-zam that runs everywhere but comes out only from specific places. You can be fooled if you just run to the water reflection at the end of the desert without knowing the right path and the correct method.

“But the Unbelievers,- their deeds are like a mirage in sandy deserts, which the man parched with thirst mistakes for water; until when he comes up to it, he finds it to be nothing: But he finds God (ever) with him, and God will pay him his account: and God is swift in taking account.” (24:39)

People travel to every corner of the world, seeking for the serenity in the beauty of the earth and its content, and maybe some people even lay their bare hands on the moon’s floor while astonished by the sparkling galaxies in the outer space, just to feel the satisfaction. Some find peace in a form of faith to a force that they believe is the ultimate sovereign. By meditation, deliberation, logical consideration, and sometimes even without explanation, a clear vision just came and create a strong belief. This of course depends on how, where and why the person comes to approach it in the first place.

Most find themselves pleased when they search for peace in ones heart. Being where he/she belongs, feeling all the butterflies when nothing else matters, it seemed like the paradise has come to him/her. It was so pure, so deep, but when it comes to a point where those pleasures just vanish, the only things that stay were just stubborn stain and excruciating pain. As a result, salvation and redemption might develop, causing more chaos in ones mind. Then peace is much far to be found.

Many people would think they had acquired peace. They think happiness that comes temporarily in the form of material or maybe love is the real thing. Those are what Allah call ‘mirage’ or ‘illusion’.

“Those who desire the life of the present and it’s glitter,- to them We shall pay (the price of) their deeds theirin,- without diminution.” (11:15)

This is what I mean by the wrong path and method. You’ll mislead to a wrong destination when you can’t see what you are really searching for. My advice: find a map.

“When one recognizes himself, then he had recognizes his Creator.” –Al-hadith.

Find your soul. Find your root. Know your destination. The final destination.
Even though this has nothing to do with a thriller movie with the same title, it should be thrilling enough to make all the pleasure go away. As the Hadith said:

Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Remember frequently the thing that cuts off pleasures," i.e. death." [at-Tirmidhi]

Tranquility is what Islam offers for naturally it’s what every human are made to be seeking for. It’s the best thing a person can get, the highest pleasure a heart can achieve, more than anything else – love, lust, wealth, exuberance, or even achievement. You can have everything mentioned and still be dissatisfied, yet having nothing but peace can make you feel like you own the world.

“It is He Who sent down Tranquility into the hearts of the Believers, that they may add faith to their Faith;- for to God belong the forces of the heavens and the earth; and God is Full of Knowledge and Wisdom.” (48:4)

The salafussoleh said:
“If the kings know the tranquility we achieved, then they must be confiscating our possession with their own swords.”

IMAN NAILAH 2009