Need or Desire? Nasip, Kismet, and Maintaining Balance

17 November 2021

Question: Does wanting something very much mean that we truly need it?

People sometimes confuse their needs with their desires.

We need water. We need food, air, and shelter. But a larger house, a better car, a higher position, or more money is not always a need.

As desires multiply, we may begin to see them as needs.

This is where balance is disrupted.

When Desire Grows, Moderation May Be Lost

We may have a goal. We may want to enter university, acquire a profession, marry, buy a house, or expand our business.

None of these is wrong in itself.

The problem is the goal beginning to govern our entire life.

Question: If what we want does not happen, does our life also lose its meaning?

If the answer is yes, our desire may have taken up more space than it should.

Ambition reveals itself here. People magnify the outcome so much that the path by which they reach it becomes less important.

Determination is something else. Determination works on the causes. Ambition wants to seize the outcome.

A student may aim for university. They study, address their shortcomings, and organize their time. These are the causes they set in motion.

But the outcome is not solely in their hands.

During the same process, helping their mother, teaching a friend what they know, and noticing a need are another side of their life.

This is where it becomes clear whether we see only ourselves as we pursue our goal.

If our goal makes us more selfish, we should consider what we are losing alongside what we are gaining.

What we possess in this world is not permanent. What we call ours today may leave our hands tomorrow.

That is why we should not regard our wealth, position, or opportunities as an absolute guarantee.

What Kind of Person Do We Become on the Way to the Outcome?

We want a job very much. An opportunity arises.

It is possible to lie to obtain that job. It is possible to present defective goods as flawless. It is possible to conceal the truth to win a project.

The test begins here.

Question: Does every path we use become good just because the outcome will be good?

No. Our goal does not make a wrong method right.

When people are under pressure, their inner standards become more visible. Being honest in comfortable times may be easy. Remaining honest when the possibility of loss arises requires more effort.

It is the same in marriage. Wanting someone very much does not justify concealing the truth to win them over.

It is the same in business. Overlooking the other party’s rights for the sake of earnings does not make those earnings clean.

The causes we set in motion for a goal must include lawful and upright behavior.

For what we become along the way matters as much as the outcome.

How Does Gratitude Appear When Abundance Comes?

People pray in scarcity. When abundance comes, however, they may become accustomed to what they possess.

There may be four kinds of cheese at home, yet they may feel something is lacking because there is no fifth.

This example makes us ask: Are we truly lacking, or do we feel a lack because we have become accustomed to abundance?

Gratitude is not merely a word spoken by the tongue. Recognizing what we have, not wasting it, and being able to share are also the aspects of gratitude reflected in our lives.

When we have an opportunity, let us not think it is a special superiority granted only to us.

Someone else may have a different talent. One person speaks easily; another listens well. One earns money; another is stronger in human relationships.

When we constantly compare, we may forget our own test.

Question: While looking at the blessing given to someone else, are we neglecting the responsibility for what has been given to us?

Each person struggles in a different area.

This difference can lead us to complement one another rather than to jealousy.

If we have a surplus, sharing it does more than reduce our possessions. We step a little outside the center of our own ego.

This aspect gains importance in what we call kismet: benefiting someone else as well as working toward our own goal.

The Causes Are Our Responsibility; the Outcome Is Within Allah’s Knowledge

Reaching a goal requires work. Merely waiting for an outcome without setting causes in motion is not the right attitude.

But we cannot consider the outcome guaranteed simply because we have set the causes in motion.

The moment we say, “I did it, I earned it,” we attribute extra power to ourselves.

Yet even being able to work is an opportunity. Health, time, family, education, and the people we encounter also contribute to the outcome.

That is why “inshallah” is not merely a habitual phrase. It is acknowledging that the future is not entirely in our hands.

People set their causes in motion. Then they rely on Allah.

When the outcome is as they wish, they give thanks. When it is not, they do not think their entire life is over.

Perhaps their desired department does not work out, but another becomes available. Perhaps their desired job does not work out, but another door appears.

We cannot see the whole future.

Therefore, instead of making the outcome our only option, we should strive to set the right causes in motion and preserve the right intention.

When Our Goal Is Tied to Allah’s Pleasure

If we do a job solely for money, all meaning may disappear when the money does not come.

If we pursue an education solely for a position, we may consider years of effort worthless when that position does not materialize.

But if our intention includes benefiting others, being honest, and seeking Allah’s pleasure, a meaning independent of the outcome also develops.

Question: Does the goal we pursue today bring us closer to Allah, or turn all our attention toward ourselves?

Let us take a step.

Let us choose a goal in our own lives. Let us write down the causes we set in motion for it. Then let us ask: Whom do I benefit on the way to this goal? Where does my ambition upset the balance? Where do I forget to be grateful?

Let us work for nasip. Let us produce goodness for kismet.

And let us not make the outcome our god.

A person’s true balance is not losing who they are while running toward what they want.

The Causes We Set in Motion in the Past May Appear Before Us Today

Our life today does not consist solely of the decisions we make today.

Knowledge we learned earlier, a relationship we formed, or an effort we made may appear before us as an opportunity years later.

Likewise, a responsibility we neglected in the past may later confront us as a deficiency.

That is why we should not think of cause and effect only in terms of the immediate moment.

When a student has worked for years, on exam day they encounter not merely that day’s work, but their accumulated effort.

Someone who develops themselves in their profession also becomes ready for an opportunity that emerges years later.

Question: Which small task we do today may become a major cause in our lives tomorrow?

Here, the word “inshallah” gains meaning again.

People plan, but they do not claim ownership of the future. When saying, “I will definitely do it,” they do not forget Allah’s will and the circumstances that may change.

This awareness does not make people passive. On the contrary, it makes them work more carefully. For setting causes in motion is our responsibility.

But when the outcome comes, we do not see ourselves as the sole cause.

This is how gratitude in success and the opportunity to work again after failure emerge.

A goal not being fulfilled may not mean all the effort was wasted. What we learned in that process may prove useful at another door.

Therefore, when looking at a goal, let us see not only the destination but also the skills and character we gain along the way.

Balance means not giving up desire, but not forgetting Allah, others’ rights, and our own limits while desiring.