Soul Food for College Students
Aug 14, 2026 · 44 min · 11 segments
Become a sustainer at http://rootsdfw.org/sustain
Ameen AlmallahHost
Because when we think of the concept of happiness, happiness is not something that is easily attainable.
People don't just go to some random house or some random friend who's like, "Oh, here's some gold." It doesn't work like that.
If you want some gold, where do you find it? It was always found in the palaces of the kings.
Because gold was something that was so valuable that you had to be an honorable person, a respectable person to own it.
You have to have a level of wealth or status to be able to purchase something of that much value.
Similarly, happiness, something that is even more valuable than gold, is with the King of all Kings, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala.
They search for this level of contentment, that, "What can I do in my life that I-- that will make me happy?" So one person searches for one job, and then they do a career switch, and then they go for one major, and they're just like, "Just kidding.
Let me switch to another major," and they're like, "Yeah, this might have been my fourth major, but I'm only adding, like, another year and a half.
Like, in the grand scheme of things, when I'm 40, it's not gonna be a big deal." But, like, you're just pushing and pushing because you're like, "No, this doesn't feel good.
And no matter how much we look, every single night, if you're an intuitive and a reflective person, as you're going to sleep, you're thinking...
This is not it." Because what you might think you are searching for, money, job, status, friends, followers, that is not what will help you attain that feeling of contentment.
Rather, what it is that you are searching for is your soul and your-- the happiness of your soul.
Therefore, Imam Ghazali, he, he g- he likens gold to happiness, and he likens any other happiness attained through a worldly means as a counterfeit dollar.
He says that if you become happy from other than Allah, so you make a lot of money, or you have whatever, you're a great athlete, and you're, like, super happy about it, he says you might think that you're rich.
Because when we think of the concept of happiness, happiness is not something that is easily attainable.
People don't just go to some random house or some random friend who's like, "Oh, here's some gold." It doesn't work like that.
If you want some gold, where do you find it? It was always found in the palaces of the kings.
Because gold was something that was so valuable that you had to be an honorable person, a respectable person to own it.
You have to have a level of wealth or status to be able to purchase something of that much value.
Similarly, happiness, something that is even more valuable than gold, is with the King of all Kings, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala.
They search for this level of contentment, that, "What can I do in my life that I-- that will make me happy?" So one person searches for one job, and then they do a career switch, and then they go for one major, and they're just like, "Just kidding.
Let me switch to another major," and they're like, "Yeah, this might have been my fourth major, but I'm only adding, like, another year and a half.
Like, in the grand scheme of things, when I'm 40, it's not gonna be a big deal." But, like, you're just pushing and pushing because you're like, "No, this doesn't feel good.
And no matter how much we look, every single night, if you're an intuitive and a reflective person, as you're going to sleep, you're thinking...
This is not it." Because what you might think you are searching for, money, job, status, friends, followers, that is not what will help you attain that feeling of contentment.
Rather, what it is that you are searching for is your soul and your-- the happiness of your soul.
Therefore, Imam Ghazali, he, he g- he likens gold to happiness, and he likens any other happiness attained through a worldly means as a counterfeit dollar.
He says that if you become happy from other than Allah, so you make a lot of money, or you have whatever, you're a great athlete, and you're, like, super happy about it, he says you might think that you're rich.
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