{"_id":"6a4fa75388ddb0081e6011c9","title":"{\"ops\":[{\"insert\":\"How should I deal with regret about my degree or career?\\n\"}]}","question":"{\"ops\":[{\"insert\":\"How should a Muslim deal with regret over the degree they chose or the career path they pursued?\\n\"}]}","answer":"{\"ops\":[{\"insert\":\"Ask yourself if a career is a goal or a means. If it's a goal, then what is that goal? Has Allah assigned it to you? And how does it impact your Afterlife? You will find that it's not a goal but rather a means to secure sustenance while you are present in this life, where sustenance is needed. Once your soul leaves your body, sustenance is no longer needed, hence your career is no longer required. So it is a temporary means that expires alongside your physical body.\\n\\nThe true purpose of a human being is Marifah (experiential knowledge of the Divine), which is attained through devotion to worship and refinement of character. This is where we should be worried about failure. When it comes to sustenance, it can be achieved through a career or by foraging; the goal is the same. However, if your career becomes a means to prestige, then you've misplaced it.\\n\\nAs for regret, it is healthy if it inspires you to make changes that improve your present situation. But if it causes you to live in a past that no longer exists, where no actions can be taken and no decisions can be rewritten, then it's just a distraction. Your nafs uses it to keep you from recognizing the potential of your present moment. As the Sufis say, be the child of your present moment (ibn al-waqt). The past is dead, the future is unborn, and all you have is the present moment. If you don't live in it, then you've wasted it.\\n\\nAlso, your regret is coming from your belief that had you made a different decision about your career, then things would have been better. But how do you know that for sure? There is no way for you to know that, so why base all of this regret on a mere guess? Does it make sense to put yourself through so much pain for a pure speculation? Instead, you should find peace in the fact that Allah knows all, and that you submit to His decree and turn to Him for comfort and tranquility and not rely on your own limited vision.\\n\"}]}","tags":[{"_id":"668d9ff00b76658b4c2329a9","tag":"Contemporary Life: Jobs and Career","count":124},{"_id":"668da0320b76658b4c2330a7","tag":"Worship: Tazkiyyah","count":91},{"_id":"682e8d592d0f3a9bf9f0954f","tag":"Contemporary Life: Education","count":14}],"createdOn":"2026-07-09T13:51:15.133Z"}