My dear brothers and sisters! How do we live in this world without our hearts being attached to it? How do we struggle against materialism and hedonism? How does the Qur’an describe the reality of this life? How does the life of this world compare with the life of the hereafter? These are some of the questions that I’ll be addressing in my Khutba today.
What is the reality of this world? As real as it may appear, it is no more than an illusion. We are told in ayah 185 of Surat Aal ‘Imran,
وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلاَّ مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ
“The life of this world is only a deceptive pleasure.”
And we are told in ayah 64 of Surat al-‘Ankabut,
وَمَا هَذِهِ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلاَّ لَهْوٌ وَلَعِبٌ وَإِنَّ الدَّارَ الآَخِرَةَ لَهِيَ الْحَيَوَانُ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ
“The life of this world is nothing but amusement and play, but the home of the Hereafter is indeed Life, if they only knew.” (al-‘Ankabut, 29:64).
Referring to the impermanence of this world, we have in Surat al-Rahman,
كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ () وَيَبْقَى وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ ذُو الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ
“All that is on earth will perish: while your Lord’s own Self will remain full of majesty and glory” (al-Rahman, 55; 26-27).
In ayah 20 of Surat al-Hadid, the Qur’an describes through an analogy, the reality of this life. The translated version of this ayah is:
“Know that the life of this world is only play and amusement, an adornment, a cause of boasting among you, of competition in wealth and children. It is like plants that spring up after the rain. Their growth at first delights the farmers, but then you see them wither away, turn yellow, and become stubble. There is terrible punishment in the next life as well as forgiveness and approval from Allah; the life of this world is only a deceptive pleasure.” (al-Hadid, 57:20)
When we look at this ayah, the order by which Allah (SWT) describes the life of this world is very note worthy. To begin with, life is described as play. To a child, all that really matters is playing with toys. If a child is given anything other thing, no matter how expensive it is, the child won’t care – all a child cares about is toys. This is because all that matters at that point in his dunya is playing. Later, as an adolescent, the focus shifts from playing with toys to finding other ways of amusement and entertainment such as hobbies and sports. It is no longer about playing with toys. As a young teenager in high-school, the emphasis is mostly on looks; the dunya becomes all about the external appearance—the hairstyle, the dressing; the makeup; the trendy fashion, and so on. After high school, when we start applying to different colleges and universities, the focus of our dunya changes again. What we wear is not that important; something else becomes more important. It’s all about what university did that person get accepted to – showing off and mutual boasting about our accomplishments (تَفَاخُرٌ بَيْنَكُمْ). Then one settles down, gets married and has kids, now what is dunya about? It is no longer relevant what toys one played with at childhood, or the entertainment, or what was worn at high school, or even what university one went to – now it’s about competing with respect to one’s wealth and children. Now the focus is: what did my child do versus what did your child do. What university is your child in versus what university is my child is in. And how much money did I spend on my child versus how much money did you spend on your child. How much did my house and car cost versus how much your house and car cost.
In essence, we are all at different stages of this timeline. But after all of that, Allah (SWT) gives us a parable—the parable of plants that spring up after a rain. The farmer becomes delighted with their growth. But what happens over time to the vegetation? It dries up and you see it turning yellow, drying up and crumbling. This is its natural life cycle. Now if we go back to the beginning of this ayah – the things that are listed: the play, the entertainment, the boasting, the competition; they are all beautiful for a moment at different stages of our life. At the end, they all pale into insignificance. And at the end, all what is left is either Allah’s severe punishment or His forgiveness and good pleasure. A part of this ayah says,
وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ
What is a (متاع)? When translated it usually refers to pleasure or enjoyment, but when we look at the root of this word, it is resource, or tool. Now, imagine we are given a box of tools so we can build a house. How many of us will open the box and pick out the hammer, the screwdriver, the nail – and then fall in love with these tools forgetting what we’re supposed to do with them?
What we have done in this life is exactly that. Allah (SWT) has given us a box of tools (متاع), and the purpose of those tools is to build our home in paradise. But what we do is that we fall in love with the tools and forget the purpose for which they were given. We fall in love with the money; we fall in love with the people in our lives; we fall in love with wealth, power, and status – and we forget that all of these things are just tools or means to achieve the end. It is okay to own money, but there is a problem when the money begins to own you, and your heart gets attached to it. This worldly life, the dunya, is just like the ocean. And our hearts are the ships. As long as the ocean’s water remains outside the ship, the ship will continue to float and be in control. But what happens as soon as the water creeps into the ship? What happens when the dunya enters our heart? That is when the boat sinks. That is when we drown in the ocean of dunya.
There is a very beautiful story of Imam Abu Hanifa (Rahmatullah ‘alaihi) that illustrates this. He was a merchant. Once while he was teaching, some people came to him and told him that his ships carrying merchandise had sunk. This is like someone finding out that he had lost a lot of money. Abu Hanifa paused for a moment and said: “Alhamdulillah”, and continued teaching. A while later, they went back to him and told him that they were mistaken and that it wasn’t his ships that sunk; his ships were fine. Again, Abu Hanifa paused and said: “Alhamdulillah”, and continued teaching. When he was asked about that, he explained that when he was first told that his ships had sunk, he paused to examine his heart. He found it unmoved by the loss, so he said “Alhamdulillah”. And then again, when he was told that his ships were fine, he paused and examined his heart. Again, he found it unmoved by the gain, so he said “Alhamdulillah”. His “Alhamdulillah” wasn’t about the gain or the loss. His “Alhamdulillah” was about the fact that his heart was not attached to the gain or the loss.
أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ المُسْلِمينَ وَالمُسْلِمَاتْ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهْ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد المرسلين وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين
My dear brothers and sisters! All the blessings and bounties of life are gifts from Allah (SWT). Allah gives us health, wealth, intellect, well-being, family, and all other bounties. Our problem is that when we receive the gifts, we hold them in our heart. There is nothing wrong with having the gifts as long as they stay in our hand. As long as the money is in our hand, as long as the status is in our hand, as long as the relationships with the creation are in our hand, we’re fine. The problem arises when we begin to love these things more than the one who gave them to us. And when we do that, these things start to control us.
How do we know if we are holding the gift in the heart instead of the hand? There are certain indications by which we can know: What do you think about all day? What occupies your mind most of the day? What is the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning? And what is the last thing you think about when you sleep? What keeps you awake at night? What makes you cry? What are you most afraid of losing? What makes you most angry? And what causes you the most pain in your life? Upon examination, if the answers to all these questions are related to the usual things of this world – my money, my job, my children, my spouse, or what people think of me, and so on, then this tells us what is really filling our heart.
The truth is that when we love something, we are always thinking about what we love. It is impossible to be in love with something and not think about it. Thus, we have to re-examine our claim of love towards Allah and His Messenger. Ayah 24 of Surat al-Tawbah clearly lays out the criterion. The translation of the meaning of this ayah is:
“Say, if your fathers and your sons and your brothers and your spouses and your family ties, and the worldly goods which you have acquired, and the commerce which you fear will decline, and the homes you love are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger and the struggle for His cause, then wait until Allah fulfills His decree. Allah does not guide the disobedient people.” (al-Tawbah, 9:24).
This is a frightful concept because the punishment is not specific, and the decree is to be fulfilled here, in this life before the next life. And it will be that very thing that we love more than Allah and His Messenger and striving in His cause that will be the cause of our greatest pain. And yet, it is the passing and fleeting life of this world that the multitude of humanity prefers over the real and permanent life of the hereafter.
بَلْ تُؤْثِرُونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا () وَالْآَخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَى
“But you prefer the life of this world, although the hereafter is better and more lasting” (al-A’la, 87:16-17).
What is it about this life that hurts us? Two things: (1) it is not perfect; it can never be perfect, and (2) it does not last – no matter what we do; what heights we achieve, we have to leave everything behind us. No wonder our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said in a hadith, “Be in the world as if you are a stranger or a traveler.” So, how can we prefer this life when the hereafter is better and everlasting? Live in this dunya but keep your hearts attached to the hereafter. It is perfect; it lasts forever, it doesn’t end. We don’t have to worry there about getting sick, about getting old, about death.
Therefore, we need to start focusing and seeing the real thing, and when we do that, it becomes easier to let our hearts not be attached to this world. It will be easier to give up the haram; it will be easier to perform the ritual prayers and other modes of worship; it will be easier to hold on to the straight path. This way, we will become more conscious of our ultimate destination, and will insha’Allah qualify for Allah’s mercy and forgiveness.
