THE DAILY ISLAMIC REMINDERS. Yaumul Jumuat, 2nd day of Rajab, 1440, (Friday, 8th March, 2019). PARADISE, OUR ULTIMATE GOAL. BismilLahir Rahmaanir Raheem. The Objectives are to learn the definition and types of happiness. To realize that the desire for Paradise is a significant factor in motivating a Muslim to do good deeds. To become familiar by means of modest, the nature of the gardens of Paradise. What drives us? What makes us do the things we do? What makes us happy? Many people will answer maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain is the ultimate key to human happiness. If so, how come people can be happy while in pain and unhappy while experiencing pleasure? If pleasure is not the only motivating force that drives us, what does? What desires must we fulfill to live a happy life? For most of those who see happiness in the carnal, rather than the spiritual, it is pretty basic: desire to avoid pain and anxiety, desire to spend time with relatives, desire to eat, desire for sexual gratification, desire for companionship, and desire for recognition to name a few. Life for such can be toilsome, provoking the plain query; what is it really aiming for? In their quest for happiness, all too often people fall short of achieving any kind of inner peace. We think that by always reaching higher and accomplishing more - more money, a better body, the perfect mate - we will automatically be happy. That is an illusion. People get caught up in chasing the materialistic dream under the illusion money can buy happiness until they discover the limits of materialism. Impressing the neighbors and envy of possessions leaves us devoid of passion and depth in our lives, leading to the Modern Man’s Paradox: Spiritual hunger in an age of plenty. What is the paradox? Simply put, it is this: As members of certain materialistic societies like the USA have grown richer, they have grown less content with their lives. No society in the history of the world has ever enjoyed the standard of living known today in these societies: Incomes are up, prices are stable, unemployment is down, life expectancy is rising; they enjoy more freedom and opportunity than ever before. Even their poor live well by world standards. Yet in America, for example, since 1960, the divorce rate has doubled, teen suicide has tripled, violent crime has quadrupled, the prison population has quintupled, and some estimates put the incidence of depression in the year 2014 at ten times what it was in the year 2000. Americans are less happy today than they were 40 years ago, despite the fact that they make 25% times as much money. Our bellies may be filled, but we are left spiritually hungry. To be continued tomorrow in shaa ALLAH. Please remember today is Friday so let's be well prepared and go to the masjid as early as possible dressed neatly and be attentive to the khutbah. May ALLAH keep guiding us all and make us among those who are successful. Aameen.