Introduction:

 Dear brother, first of all, man is a mobile creature, unlike this table in front of me, which is a motionless inanimate object, but what motivates man? In fact, his need to eat and drink motivates him in order to maintain his existence. Allah Al-Samad (The Self-Sufficient Master, Whom all creatures need, He neither eats nor drinks) is spontaneously everlasting Deity, but man is in need of outer means to maintain his existence, such as food and drink. Hence, food and drink are crucial for man to exist as an individual. Man is also in need of mating, so that his race will keep going, given if mating stops man race will cease to exist, and this makes the second need which motivates man.

 The third need, which motivates man, is self-esteem (according to psychologists). Having maintained his basic needs of food and drinks, and having got married, man needs to be noticeable, and he needs to hear sh3er saying that he is the top notch as an engineer, as a physician or as a rich man. Hence, superiority or self-esteem is the third need. Religion meets these three needs and maintains them at best levels. Man natural needs are met through religion since Allah allows man to eat and drink.

Man's needs:

  The Prophets, peace be upon them, also eat and drink, better yet this what marks them as human beings. Allah says that they:

﴾eat food﴿

[Al-Furqan, 7]

 Therefore, they are not Divine, but what proves such a fact? What proves such a fact is that they are in need of food and drink, and they are in need of the following:

﴾and walk about in the markets ﴿

[Al-Furqan, 7]

 Because they need to make a living in order to pay for their food and drink, they walk about in the markets. Allah says:

﴾And they say: "Why does this Messenger (Muhammad PBUH) eat food, and walk about in the markets (like ourselves)﴿

[Al-Furqan, 7]

 What marks man's weakness and his need of Allah Al-Wahid (the One) and Ad-Dayyan (the Judge) is being in need of food and drink, being in need of getting married and being in need of self-esteem. These are the basic needs of every human being.

The reason of man's existence:

 The reason of our existence makes us wonder why we exist in this worldly life. When a father sends his son to get PHD from the Sorbonne University, the existence of this student in that country is related to that purpose only. Paris is very big, its population is millions, it has buildings, institutes, night clubs, movie theatres, swimming pools and churches, and one might talk at length about this big city. However, the reason why that student is in that city is mainly to acquire the PHD.

 The same goes for man's existence in the worldly life; you should know why you exist in the worldly life and what the purpose of your existence is. Man evolves as he gets older, so he gets married, and he has a career such as being a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer or a merchant. Also, he evolves by the passage of time, his income becomes larger, and he has a major in order to get a promotion, so he buys a bigger house, he changes his furniture, he buys a new car or a house on the beach or in a summer resort then he buys more cars for different purposes. However, after all that, death comes when he is at his eighties and puts an end to everything he has worked for in one second. The minute his heart stops beating, he will own nothing at all.

 A man from Damascus owns an eighty story hotel in Paris, and it is full of customers all year long, but despite all that, and even if man owns a giant business, has an astronomical income, has huge accounts in banks and occupies a high class position in the society, he will lose all that in one second if his heart stops beating. Thus, it is out of prudence to prepare for this hour (the hour of death).

 I was once in the funeral of a relative of mine, and I know how rich he was. His house was worth 180 million Liras, it was 450 square meters, and it was full of art works that were tall enough to reach the ceiling. However, on the day of his funeral, it was raining cats and dogs and unfortunately the grave he was supposed to be buried in was full of sewage water. Upon asking his son what to do, he answered, "What should we do? Let us burry him and get this over with." I was there, and I said to myself, "O Lord, all that luxury life he led did no good to him when he descended this filthy grave." Therefore, preparing for this moment marks your prudence, reasoning, wisdom and superiority, because your grave can be a garden of the gardens of Paradise, or a hole of Hellfire. Hence, your success lies in preparing for the future.

If you ask 1000 people, almost all of them will tell you about their achievements in life and where they studied, and they go on and on talking about their past and present, but only one among those 1000 might live the future and might ask his ownself, "Will I die in this country? Will I die because of a disease? Will I die because of an accident? Will my death be due to normal reasons? Will my children be there for me when I die since they are all abroad now?

 By Allah, I know a family from Damascus who owns the biggest factories, and they make wealth out of them. However, all the children traveled abroad, and when the mother died no one attended her funeral expect for a maid who was serving her. All that money and classy position came down to having only a maid walking in her funeral. Thus, your success which reflects your prudence, reasoning and superiority is to live the future. The future has the gravest event ever (i.e. death). Death puts an end to everything and every man even though he might be a father, he might have a high position in society, he has sons, daughters and sons in law and he might be very noticeable, will all these things over when his heart stops beating. Let alone, everything he possesses will go to his heirs.

 In fact, each one of us has valuable belongings (like antiques, medals, jewelry, and the like) he keeps in locked drawers, and he holds on to the key and let no one take the key from him, but after his death the key will go to his heirs, and they will open the locked drawers and take everything, and that is it.

 I repeat, your success, your wisdom, your reasoning, and your love to yourself must make you live the moment of death. Man's heroic manner is manifested in living the future and preparing for a moment like the moment of those who were kept inside a cave. Those people were stuck inside a cave when a big rock blocked the exit, but then their hardship was relieved when they make Du'a to Allah by virtue of their sincere good deeds. Therefore, the believer prepares himself for the hour of death, and doing so will mark his success, superiority and wisdom as he lives the future which hides the gravest event ever (i.e. death). The Prophet PBUH said:

((Abundantly remember the destroyer of pleasures, the separator between lovers and the disperser of groups))

[At-Tirmizi and Ibn Habban by Abi Hurairah]

 Death separates loves and disperses groups.

((Live as long as you want, for you will die. Love whomever you want, for you will leave him. Do whatever you want for you will be requited for it))

[Al-Hakim by Sahl bin Sa'd or Abdullah bin Umar]

Why man should be Divinely tested:

 Allah the Almighty says:

﴾And certainly, We shall test you﴿

[Al-Baqarah, 155]

 The test is the trial.

﴾And certainly, We shall test you with something of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives and fruits, but give glad tidings to As-Sabirin (the patient ones, etc.).﴿

[Al-Baqarah, 155]

 Afflictions of all sorts befall man, and some of these afflictions are what mentioned in the following Ayah:

﴾And certainly, We shall test you with something of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives and fruits, but give glad tidings to As-Sabirin (the patient ones, etc.). Who, when afflicted with calamity, say: "Truly! To Allah we belong and truly, to Him we shall return."﴿

[Al-Baqarah, 155-156]

 Allah says:

﴾ and truly, to Him we shall return."﴿

 "We shall return" (to Allah), and some scholars said in that regard, "Whoever does not learn his lesson from his adversities, then his affliction is his own self itself." Why this Great Lord afflicts us with some calamities? Does He need to afflict us with calamities? Absolutely not, since Allah does not need us.

((O My slaves, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to be as pious as the most pious heart of any one man of you, that would not increase My kingdom in anything. O My slaves, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to be as wicked as the most wicked heart of any one man of you, that would not decrease My kingdom in anything. O My slaves, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to rise up in one place and make a request of Me, and were I to give everyone what he requested, that would not decrease what I have, any more than a needle decreases the sea if put into it)).

[Muslim and At-Tirmizi by Abi Dharr]

 My point lies in the last paragraph of the Hadith which goes as follows:

((O My slaves, it is but your deeds that I reckon up for you and then recompense you for, so let him who finds good praise Allah and let him who finds other than that blame no one but himself."))

[Muslim and At-Tirmizi by Abi Dharr]

 Accordingly, the reason behind your existence is to be Divinely tested. You are Divinely tested in everything you are endued with, like your health. Did you consume your health in obeying Allah or in playing dice? Some people stay up all night playing backgammon, and they are proud of winning three times. What superiority they are proud of! Is wining playing dice something superior? The Prophet PBUH said:

((He who plays Nardshir (a game with dice that involves gambling) is just like the one who puts his hand in the flesh and blood of swine.))

 This Hadith refers to all dice games. When man plays these games or plays cards all night long till dawn, what purpose does he achieve? The most valuable thing you own is time, and you are "nothing but a number of days, whenever each day passes then part of you has gone."

 Someone once asked me, "What is the difference between homicide and death?" I said to him, "It is like the difference between turning off a pulp by moving the switch to cut the power and by breaking the pulp. In both cases the pulp does not receive power anymore, so death is like turning off the switch, whereas homicide is like breaking the pulp, and this is the difference.

 Keep mind that life ends with death. In NLP there is a golden rule which goes as follows, "Start from the end". This rule is applied to us, so one should start from death, and when man does so, all his actions will be a preparation for this hour. At the university, we had to study "intelligence" which was written in 80 pages, but the brilliant psychologist who was supposed to teach it to us said, "Would you like me to summarize intelligence in one word?" We said, "Yes, please", to which he said, "Intelligence is adapting".

 I will borrow his metaphorical quote and say, one should adapt with the event of death and with aging in general. Man in his youth looks after his children who might be eight (sons and daughters), but after he becomes old and all his children are married, where will he end up? He will end up staying with his son in his house, and the process is all reversed, but this is life. Hence, in order to succeed, you should live the future, live the event of old age or think about dementia which could be a big problem. I once read a Hadith that is mentioned in the relic, and it goes as follows:

((Whoever learns the Quran shall never be afflicted with feeble-mindedness till he dies.))

 He shall never have dementia or Alzheimer, but why is that? The brain is like any other muscle in man's body, and so you should keep this rule in mind concerning it, "Use it or you will lose it". Whatever is neglected shall shrink. Muslim responds to Fajr Salah with full energy, and he rushes to offer his prayer during which reads Al-Fatiha and Ayat from the Quran, and he is always energetic in offering all his daily prayers.

 A doctor once said to me while my late mother, may Allah have mercy on her soul, was sick, "You should keep talking to her." At that moment I did not get what he wanted to say and did not understand his instruction, but he clarified to me that upon talking to her we motivate her brain to respond, so it was like practicing her brain and that would revive its functions.

 Hence, the believer is in a continuous vivacity as long as he offers his prayers. The five daily Fard prayers spread over the day, and every prayer has specific Ruka'at, and in each Raka'a, the Muslim reauthors the Quran and Al-Fatihah, then he is in the first sitting position then the last one. After that, he reads the Tahiyyat (plural word of tahiyyah which means greeting). Thus, while he is performing all that, he is in full energy.

 I repeat the rule; use it or lose it. Therefore, man should live the future, and the gravest event in the future is leaving the worldly life. Thus, the prudent, the clever, the superior, the intelligent and the successful man is the one who prepares himself for death. By the way, the word "success" might refer to so many limitedly successful achievements like becoming rich, or having a successful marriage, but "prosperity" is to be successful in achieving the purpose you are created for.

﴾Alif-Lam-Mim. [These letters are one of the miracles of the Qur'an and none but Allah (Alone) knows their meanings]* This is the Book (the Qur'an), whereof there is no doubt, a guidance to those who are Al-Muttaqun [the pious and righteous persons who fear Allah much (abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds which He has forbidden) and love Allah much (perform all kinds of good deeds which He has ordained)]* Who believe in the Ghaib and perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat), and spend out of what we have provided for them [i.e. give Zakat, spend on themselves, their parents, their children, their wives, etc., and also give charity to the poor and also in Allah's Cause - Jihad, etc.]* And who believe in (the Qur'an and the Sunnah) which has been sent down (revealed) to you (Muhammad PBUH) and in [the Taurat (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel), etc.] which were sent down before you and they believe with certainty in the Hereafter. (Resurrection, recompense of their good and bad deeds, Paradise and Hell, etc.)* They are on (true) guidance from their Lord, and they are the successful.﴿

[Al-Baqarah, 1-5]

 Hence, success lies in fulfilling the purpose of your existence. In other words, achieving the main purpose you are created for. This success lies in being prosperous, and though this word is used a lot by common people, its real meaning lies in achieving the purpose of one's existence.