When you read about migration from Africa to Europe, the migrants
are often described as being “in search of a better life.” It’s assumed that
“a better life” applies only to material standards; food, clothes, cars,
houses, infrastructure. When I first went to Africa, though, it seemed to
me that in many ways, the people had better lives than myself.

I was an only child, and spent countless hours of my youth alone,
watching television or sitting on a computer. I had many toys, but often
no one to play with.

When I went to any beach frequented by Europeans, I noticed that the
people would try to avoid each other. If the beach was 2 miles long, the
first group to arrive would go to one end; the second group would go
to the opposite end. It was as if they were trying to get as far away
from each other as possible.

I later traveled to Africa, where I visited a beach in Senegal outside of
Dakar. It was a huge beach stretching miles in either direction, and I
was amazed because of around 500 people on the beach, all were
concentrated in one small stretch of the beach, perhaps 100 meters long.
The water was packed with children all noisily playing and shouting.
They all seemed to be, on average, quite a bit happier than a typical
American or European child.

As a Muslim, I now realize that social contact has major benefits on
overall emotional health and happiness. If I am angry or stressed,
going to the masjid, exchanging salams, shaking hands, and checking in
with my neighbors, and of course the baraka of the salah itself, always
leaves me in a better mood, with more patience for whatever difficulty
I am facing.

There is no question, although I am not as rich as I was before
becoming Muslim, that my life is better as a Muslim. And yet, when
you hear the media talking about muhajireen, you never hear phrases
like “European Muslims are migrating to Syria in search of a better
life.” But that’s exactly what they are doing.

This demonstrates how materialistic prevailing media narratives are. It
also shows how false the image of media neutrality is. Materialism is
an agenda in itself, and it is an agenda that directly supports the war
efforts of the disbelievers. The will of a people to fight is directly
connected to their belief in the superiority of their way of life— their
deen. Christians and Jews feel they are correct in waging war against
Muslims, because they believe that their science, technology, and their
morals have made the human condition better.

To implement Islam requires fighting, whereas following the way of
life imposed upon us by the kuffar is easy and comfortable. Why bother
with this struggle if our religion is not superior, or if it’s enough to be a
good Muslim in your private life, but submit to secularism and
liberalism in every other aspect of our lives?

This is one of the reasons why the kuffar are so aggressive in bombing
anyone who establishes sharia. They can’t even allow for there to be a
single example of Islam in action, because its superiority would be
manifest. Even in the few brief instances where sharia is implemented,
their media goes into overdrive misrepresenting and distorting the
reality, all while consistently pushing a materialistic worldview.
Meanwhile, the people on the ground will tell you that there is an
astonishing level of security, and an upsurge in religiosity.

A powerful biblical principle which helped lead me to Islam is the idea
that “you will know a tree by its fruit.” In Muslim lands, I saw the
fruit of Islam in the faith and gratitude in people’s eyes as they broke
their fast during Ramadan, in the maintenance of the ties of kinship, in
the mental health that comes along with strong and supportive
families, and in the happiness and gratitude of simple and pure people
living with very little.

Why was it, I wondered, that seemingly impoverished Muslims would
seem so much happier than many of my friends and family in
America? At first, I thought it might be cultural and have nothing to do
with the religion, but then I traveled to Pakistan in the East, and
Morocco and Mauritania in the West, and I saw similarities running
through very different cultures. The answer is that our disconnection
from our true purpose is at the root of our anxiety and sadness.

وَمَنۡ أَعۡرَضَ عَن ذِكۡرِی فَإِنَّ لَهُۥ مَعِیشَةࣰ ضَنكࣰا وَنَحۡشُرُهُۥ یَوۡمَ ٱلۡقِیَـٰمَةِ أَعۡمَىٰ

“And whoever turns away from My remembrance – indeed,
he will have a depressed life, and We will gather him on
the Day of Resurrection blind.”

20:124

Islam is a mercy sent to all humanity. The only truly “better life” is the
life in which we are better able to worship Allah. The materialistic
worldview constantly propagated by the media and educational
systems of the kuffar is in itself a rejection of the true purpose of life,
which is to worship our Lord. Materialistic thinking is very toxic, and
yet it has become so pervasive that we hardly even notice it. Even
Muslims who are affected by this thinking often unconsciously
propagate materialistic ideas and judgments, unaware that they
directly contradict Islam on a fundamental level.

In Surah al Kahf, Allah, subhanahu wa t’ala, tells us to stay in the
company of those who remember Him frequently, and not to obey
those who neglect the remembrance of Allah, and who follow their
desires:

وَٱصۡبِرۡ نَفۡسَكَ مَعَ ٱلَّذِینَ یَدۡعُونَ رَبَّهُم بِٱلۡغَدَوٰةِ وَٱلۡعَشِیِّ یُرِیدُونَ وَجۡهَهُۥۖ وَلَا تَعۡدُ عَیۡنَاكَ عَنۡهُمۡ تُرِیدُ زِینَةَ ٱلۡحَیَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنۡیَاۖ وَلَا تُطِعۡ مَنۡ أَغۡفَلۡنَا قَلۡبَهُۥ عَن ذِكۡرِنَا وَٱتَّبَعَ هَوَىٰهُ وَكَانَ أَمۡرُهُۥ فُرُطࣰا

“And keep yourself patient [by being] with those who call
upon their Lord in the morning and the evening, seeking
His countenance. And let not your eyes pass beyond
them, desiring adornments of the worldly life, and do not
obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our
remembrance and who follows his desire and whose
affair is ever [in] neglect.”

18:28

We are all living today in a system where following desires has become
the ordering principle of the entire world. All of the “human rights”
that are continuously being pushed down our throats are nothing more
than desires— the desire for life, the desire to eat, the desire to
reproduce, and desires are the basis of the law, because people vote
based on their desires. The elite bribe the public by fulfilling desires,
and they do it only to stay in power in order to fulfill their own desires.

Truly blessed are the ones that refuse to obey these awliya of Satan who
rule according to their desires, and seek instead to obey their Lord by
commanding the good and forbidding the evil. This is what makes the
Muslims the best ummah on earth.

كُنتُمۡ خَیۡرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخۡرِجَتۡ لِلنَّاسِ تَأۡمُرُونَ بِٱلۡمَعۡرُوفِ وَتَنۡهَوۡنَ عَنِ ٱلۡمُنكَرِ وَتُؤۡمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِۗ وَلَوۡ ءَامَنَ أَهۡلُ ٱلۡكِتَـٰبِ لَكَانَ خَیۡرࣰا لَّهُمۚ مِّنۡهُمُ ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنُونَ وَأَكۡثَرُهُمُ ٱلۡفَـٰسِقُونَ

“You are the best nation produced [as an example] for
mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is
wrong and believe in Allah. If only the People of the
Scripture had believed, it would have been better for
them. Among them are believers, but most of them are
defiantly disobedient.”

3:110

This is why the one who tries to change the sharia or replace it with
something else is not part of the ummah of Muhammed ﷺ. Islam is perfect guidance, and the sharia is its implementation and the basis of our identity as Muslims.

If our awareness of the deception of materialism and its false gods
increases, we will see the light and the life of the path of Allah; how the
hardship of that path burns away the impurities in the hearts of the
believers and pushes them towards the remembrance of Allah,
subhanahu wa t’ala, and reliance on Him alone. This is the true path to a
better life.

وَمَن یَتَوَكَّلۡ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ فَهُوَ حَسۡبُهُۥۤۚ

“And whoever relies upon Allah – then He is sufficient for
him.”

65:3