Nature of joyfulness from the view of Islam and psychology
What is the nature of joyfulness and happiness?
All of us have experienced happy moments in our lives. Our sentiments comprising joyfulness, sorrow, anger, hatred, etc are passive forms of one’s self in the face of external affairs. Humans will become happy as they face things that are sources of happiness and they will feel grief as they face sorrowful things. The concept of joyfulness has also been mentioned by the holy Qur’an on approximately 21 occasions.
Psychology has also provided a precise definition for joyfulness which means overcoming anger and eliminating any sort of lethargy in one’s resolve while adopting a decision.
Psychological studies have shown that the feeling of happiness and satisfaction is something acquisitive. It can be concluded that if one attains whatever he/she is interested in, he/she will experience a feeling of happiness and joyfulness. Joyfulness is neither good nor bad from an absolute perspective. In other words, one should take into consideration clear moral principles and in this way joyfulness can be divided into two categories namely admirable happiness and fake happiness.
Admirable happiness
In many cases, Islam has not offered any definite viewpoint and has merely offered explanation about the qualities. Sentiments are included in this category since sentiments vary from one person to the other. Feeling of joyfulness must be controlled and be maintained at a logical and moderate level and one should also remind himself of God’s presence. Islam is the religion of boundaries distinguishing the right and wrong.
Fake happiness
Feelings of joyfulness that cause disobedience of God, harassing of other people as well as futile and perilous actions are considered as fake and unacceptable cases of happiness and joyfulness.
From the psychological point of view, a smile or a pleasant behavior in the face of a customer or an unexpected guest is also considered as a fake one. Basically, fake joyfulness lasts very shortly and brings about unpleasant results.
Translated by: Sadroddin Musawi
Other links:
Allah will grant the one who swallows his anger (Part 1)
Allah will grant the one who swallows his anger (Part 2)
Religious Passion
Music in Heaven
