[styhorporry]

Attraction of Worldly Life

It is easy to be fooled in to thinking that happiness lies in wealth and successful education, employment and careers. Although none of these things should be overlooked and belittled altogether, we should question ourselves as to what lies in the heart and mind as opposed to the hand. There were sahabah رضى الله عنهم (companions) who were rich and wealthy – wealth was in their hands and at times it may have showed on their bodies (in their clothing) but their hearts and minds were totally free from that wealth. Their hearts and minds lingered not in the dunya (worldly life) but rested in the hereafter even though they were walking the earth. One example is Sayyiduna Khabbab ibn al-Arat رضى الله عنه who was a blacksmith and was brutally persecuted by the pagans in Makkah. He survived to see the wealth of the Persian and Roman civilisations opened up to the Muslims and had plenty of wealth but had no love for his wealth in his heart. In fact, Khabbab ibn al-Arat رضى الله عنه lamented his wealth and said ‘What are we doing with this wealth? We are depositing it in the dust of the earth (i.e. constructing walls and buildings)’. When Khabbab Ibn Al-Arat رضى الله عنه died at the age of 73 in Kufa, Ameer-ul-Mumineen Sayyiduna Ali رضى الله عنه prayed janazah over him and said ‘May Allah have mercy on Khabbab for he embraced Islam willingly as a devotee, he did Hijrah with Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم as an obedient servant of Allah, and he lived his life as a Mujahid’.

Today we find even those who are poor, who have no wealth in their hands, but their hearts still lie in wealth and their minds are still devoted and attached to wealth and the glitter of the world. Thus, what is in the heart and mind is what really matters. Unfortunately, most Muslims are in that state where the dunya has caught them; its glitter has deceived them – the worldly life has attracted them in such a manner and in such a way that they have fallen for the promise of shaitaan, which is that success lies in the wealth of the dunya and related things and hence one should work only for the dunya and not the hereafter.


Oh Nafs! Isn’t it true…?


One great scholar in a classical piece of writing addresses his nafs (soul) and says ‘Oh Soul! Admit! Isn’t it true that when I recite the Qur’an you feel fatigue, tiredness and you remind me of the need for the body to rest. You feel the desire to go away and lie down. You remind me of the obligation of having mercy on my body. You make me feel tired and worn out. Oh nafs! Isn’t it true that you make me yawn. All of this when I’m reciting the words of Allah. However, nafs isn’t it true at the same time that when I do take pity on my body and on myself and I close the Qur’an or I stop reciting and I retire to rest, oh nafs isn’t it true that the moment I think of a couplet of poetry or I think of some other form of speech all of a sudden oh nafs you and I both find energy, renewed vigour, excitement and isn’t it true oh nafs that you make me (the body) sway in joy and in excitement.

This poem is an example which helps us understand the following ayah (verse):

وَإِذَا ذُكِرَ اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ اشْمَأَزَّتْ قُلُوبُ الَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْآخِرَةِ وَإِذَا ذُكِرَ الَّذِينَ مِن دُونِهِ إِذَا هُمْ يَسْتَبْشِرُونَ

When Allah alone is mentioned the hearts of those who do not believe in the hereafter shrink and shrivel in distaste and when others beside Allah are mentioned all of a sudden they rejoice in glee and happiness.
[Surah al Zumar, 39:45]