The Ephemeral World

My Dear Readers,

السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

As-salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. (May the Peace, Mercy and Blessings of Allah be upon you)
  

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

 

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ نَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَسَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلاَ مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلاَ هَادِيَ لَهُ

وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

(See end note in the first post)

The Ephemeral World:

The rapid pace at which we lead our lives is apparent in the observation that time flies.  Weeks fleet by, and sometimes we live from weekends to weekends, only pausing to catch up on our sleep. We are so focused in our careers, or our worldly goals and ambitions (the end of semester, the graduation, the job, the next pay raise, the house, the car and so on) that before we realize years have passed by, and the only thing we have to show for them are a few inches under the belt, and a few strands grey hair.


If, during history at any time, we were in doubt that this world is temporary and will not last for us, now certainly that doubt is over.  We harbor no illusions about our mortality, nor we back the permanence of this world.  We know it is all going to end sooner or later, and for us it will end the moment we close our eyes for the last time. If we expect or believe that there is a life Hereafter, that is lasting, then our goals in the life of this world become much simpler. So what should be our relationship with this ephemeral world?

Let us look first at what the  Qur'an advises us?

اعْلَمُوا أَنَّمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا لَعِبٌ وَلَهْوٌ وَزِينَةٌ وَتَفَاخُرٌ بَيْنَكُمْ وَتَكَاثُرٌ فِي الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَوْلَادِ

 

 كَمَثَلِ غَيْثٍ أَعْجَبَ الْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتُهُ ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ فَتَرَاهُ مُصْفَرًّا ثُمَّ يَكُونُ حُطَامًا 

 

وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانٌ وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ

57:20 KNOW [O people] that the life of this world is but a play and a passing delight, and a beautiful show, and [the cause of] your boastful vying with one another, and [of your] greed for more and more riches and children.  Its parable is that of [life-giving] rain: the herbage which it causes to grow delights the tillers of the soil; but then it withers, and thou canst see it turn yellow; and in the end it crumbles into dust. But [the abiding truth of man’s condition will become fully apparent] in the life to come: [either] suffering severe, or God’s forgiveness and His goodly acceptance: for the life of this world is nothing but an enjoyment of self-delusion. - (audio)

زُيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ حُبُّ الشَّهَوَاتِ مِنَ النِّسَاء وَالْبَنِينَ

 

وَالْقَنَاطِيرِ الْمُقَنطَرَةِ مِنَ الذَّهَبِ وَالْفِضَّةِ

 

وَالْخَيْلِ الْمُسَوَّمَةِ وَالأَنْعَامِ وَالْحَرْثِ

 

ذَلِكَ مَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَاللّهُ عِندَهُ حُسْنُ الْمَآبِ

3:14 ALLURING unto man is the enjoyment of worldly desires through women, and children, and heaped-up treasures of gold and silver, and horses of high mark, and cattle, and lands. All this may be enjoyed in the life of this world - but the most beauteous of all goals is with God. - (audio)

مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ الْآخِرَةِ نَزِدْ لَهُ فِي حَرْثِهِ وَمَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ الدُّنْيَا نُؤتِهِ مِنْهَا 

 

وَمَا لَهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِن نَّصِيب

42:20 To him who desires a harvest in the life to come, We shall grant an increase in his harvest; whereas to him who desires [but] a harvest in this world, We [may] give something thereof - but he will have no share in [the blessings of] the life to come. - (audio)


The above three ayat are but a selection from numerous ayat that advise us against falling in love with this world.  And yet we spend our lives in pursuit of this world, barely delegating a fraction of our time or other resources for the life to come.

There are those amongst us who unabashedly pursue this world without regard to the consequences on their life Hereafter, may Allah guide them and us.

Then there are those who are apologetic in their approach, paying lip-service to the deen and the akhirah, but through their actions it can be observed that the life of this world - the hayat-ud-dunya - is clearly occupying most of their lives. This to me, seems to be the majority amongst us. May Allah forgive them and us, and show them and us the right path.  The ayah 42:20 should be particularly considered by such people. After reading this, should there be amongst us Muslims, who believe in the lasting life of the Hereafter, still desiring this world, at the expense of the life to come? Are we really paying heed to the advice of our Maker?

Then there is another minority amongst us that deludes itself in the pursuit of this world, convincing themselves that their intentions are for the akhirah.   This is a self-righteous, albeit self-harming state of mind, and may Allah enlighten them and us, and awaken them from their delusions and us from ours.

Lastly, there are amongst us believers, whose hearts are occupied with their Beloved, the by product of which being the Hereafter, no matter what they may be doing in this world. May Allah bless them, and make us all aspire to be like them.

Such are the people about whom the Prophet ﷺ reportedly said, as quoted by Ibn Umar(رضي الله عنه‎) in Bukhari (Reference from Sunnah. com ):

 كُنْ فِي الدُّنْيَا كَأَنَّكَ غَرِيبٌ، أَوْ عَابِرُ سَبِيلٍ

 "Be in this world like a stranger or a wayfarer"
  
The Prophet ﷺ reportedly warned us :
"By Allah, this world in comparison to the Hereafter is nothing but as though one of you dipped his finger in the sea. So ponder how much (of sea water), the finger returns with?" (Muslim, Reference from Sunnah . com)

"What is there between myself and the world? This world and I are just like a rider who stops to rest beneath the shade of a tree then goes and leaves it." (Tirmidhi as quoted in Riyadh us saliheen (Reference from Sunnah . com), Ibn Majah(Reference from Sunnah. com)

This is further reinforced by the following:

And Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say, “In the evening do not expect [to live until] the morning, and in the morning do not expect [to live until] the evening. Take [advantage of] your health before times of sickness, and [take advantage of] your life before your death.”

 وَكَانَ ابْنُ عُمَرَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا يَقُولُ: إذَا أَمْسَيْتَ فَلَا تَنْتَظِرْ الصَّبَاحَ، وَإِذَا أَصْبَحْتَ فَلَا تَنْتَظِرْ الْمَسَاءَ، وَخُذْ مِنْ صِحَّتِك لِمَرَضِك، وَمِنْ حَيَاتِك لِمَوْتِك. 

 

In the exegesis of the verse 57:20 above, Imam Qurtubi narrates advice of sayyidina Ali (عليه السلام) to Ammar (رضي الله عنه):

وَعَنْ عَلِيٍّ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ لِعَمَّارٍ:

 

 لَا تَحْزَنْ عَلَى الدُّنْيَا، فَإِنَّ الدُّنْيَا سِتَّةُ أَشْيَاءَ: مَأْكُولٌ وَمَشْرُوبٌ وَمَلْبُوسٌ وَمَشْمُومٌ وَمَرْكُوبٌ وَمَنْكُوحٌ،

 

 فَأَحْسَنُ طَعَامِهَا الْعَسَلُ، وَهُوَ بَزْقَةُ ذُبَابَةٍ،

 

وَأَكْثَرُ شَرَابِهَا الْمَاءُ، يَسْتَوِي فِيهِ جَمِيعُ الْحَيَوَانِ،

 

وَأَفْضَلُ مَلْبُوسِهَا الدِّيبَاجُ، وَهُوَ نَسْجُ دُودَةٍ،

 

وَأَفْضَلُ الْمَشْمُومِ الْمِسْكُ، وَهُوَ دَمُ فَأْرَةٍ،

 

وَأَفْضَلُ الْمَرْكُوبِ الْفَرَسُ، وَعَلَيْهَا يُقْتَلُ الرِّجَالُ،

 

وَأَمَّا الْمَنْكُوحُ فَالنِّسَاءُ، وَهُوَ مَبَالٌ فِي مَبَالٍ، وَاللَّهِ إِنَّ الْمَرْأَةَ لَتُزَيِّنُ أَحْسَنَهَا، يُرَادُ بِهِ أَقْبَحُهَا.

It is related that ʿAlī (may God grant him peace) said to ʿAmmār(may God be pleased with him):

“Do not grieve over this world, for the world amounts to six things: something eaten, something drunk, something worn, something smelled, something ridden, and something sought in sexual relations.

As for its finest food, it is honey—yet it is but the spittle of a fly. Its most common drink is water, in which all animals are alike. Its finest clothing is silken brocade, yet it is the weaving of a worm. Its finest fragrance is musk, yet it is the sanguine extract of a mouse(deer). Its finest mount is the horse—yet upon it humans are killed.

And as for what is sought in intimate relations with women—it is ‘a place of urine entering a place of urine.’ By God, a woman adorns the best of what is in her, while what one is really after is the most repulsive of what is in her.”

(Notes on nuance: “بزقة” is a deliberately coarse word, something like “spittle”; “وهو مبال في مبال” is intentionally jarring and reductive, meant to strip away glamour; and “يراد به” suggests: what one is really after, beneath the outward attraction.)

This really shook Ammar, and he never thought of the world the way he thought prior to hearing this advice. I hope that this jolts us awake too, and may Allah guide us, and help us remember our purpose in this life and prevent us from getting waylaid by spending our time and resources for trivial pursuits.

 

 (In addition to Qurtubi, the above quote or its variants several classical works of Qur’anic commentary such as Tafsīr al-Thaʿlabī and ascetic literatur, for example Al-Zabīdī cites it in Ithāf al-Sādah al-Muttaqīn, although I could not locate his reference of Abū Nuʿaym reporting it in Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ).

وَٱللَّهُ أَعۡلَم
 Wa Allahu 'Alam (And Allah is the All-Knowing)