Dealing with questions from a teenager

It is tough raising teenagers. The world is a confusing place and they need us to understand their world, their reality, their peer pressure...to help them make sense of what is around them and how does Islam fit into that reality. They need guidance on how to view the world from the islamic viewpoint. I am no expert but this is a question which was posed to me, and I hope I handled it in the best way.

Question: What will happen if we do all the things Islam ask us to do, and we do all of it but in the end for whatever reason, we do not go to Jannah (paradise). What would be the point of all that? We will not get this life like fun things and we will not get the hereafter either.

Y'know there's two things that we need to address here.

1. You are making an assumption that despite doing what Allah wants you to do, you will still not enter Jannah. That's the wrong way of viewing things. For that reason, we need know and understand Him. Allah doesn't break His promise. He doesn't betray our trust, He doesn't forget, He is not weak. He is nothing that we human are.  He SWT says in the Qur'an

“Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has Faith, verily, to him will We give a new Life, a life that is good and pure and We will bestow on such their reward according to the best of their actions.”

[Al Qur’an 16:97]

When Allah SWT tells us to do fardh actions and avoid haram, we must trust that by doing these things for His sake, He will fulfil His promise to us, by His Mercy we hope for His Jannah. 

We need to make a choice and that choice we have to make now. What do we want? Do we want the Hereafter or do we want this life? If we want this life, then we will only get this life but if we strive for the hereafter then, we will have this life and the hereafter (17:18-21, 42:20)

Allah SWT is All Forgiving, All Merciful. We are humans and He made us imperfect, we make mistakes, we do silly things but we can seek forgiveness and we can repent and we hope for His Mercy. So, by doing what Allah wants us to do is never a waste of time. Every good deed we do, we will see it and every bad deed we will see it on the day of judgement. Nothing is ever a waste....

2. When you say...by doing the things Allah wants us to do that we are 'missing' out on this life. What does it mean? What are we missing? Are we really missing out on fun things?

Freedom doesn't guarantee happiness. The people who wear whatever they want to wear, go out with whoever they want, have various relationships...does that make them happy? Going to parties and discos, mixing men and women...it maybe fun and exciting for a while but the rest of the time...it is emptiness. The happiness is short lived, not permanent, there is no calmness or tranquility...and we keep trying to fill that emptiness with more and more excitement but it is like a bottomless pit with no satisfaction. This life is like a mirage...you're in a desert and you see water and run towards it but when you reach it, it's gone. (9:38, 6:32, 24:39)

Instead fill our hearts with the love of Allah and we will get calmness, tranquility, satisfaction that cannot be replaced or substituted by anything or anyone.

This is because of all the desires in this world and the wants we have in this world, there is one desire that is greater than all others which is the desire to worship. Some people worship money, wealth, things, people...whatever but there is only One that deserves to be worship and can actually fulfil that desire we have, and that is to worship Allah.

So, don't be worried...don't be put off by doing the right things because you are afraid of missing out on something 'fun'....truth is you are not missing out on anything. Instead, you receive the greatest treasure of this life and the next.