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This life in brief
It is reported that some people asked ‘Alî b. Abî Tâlib – Allâh be pleased with him - to describe this worldly life (the dunyâ). He said:
Do you want a long description or a brief one? They replied, “a brief one.” He said, “Its permissible things (halâl) [lead to] accounts being taken from you, and its forbidden things (harâm) [lead to the] Fire.
Ibn Abî Al-Dunyâ, Dham Al-Dunyâ article 17.
The Last Drops of this World
Khâlid b. ‘Umayr Al-’Adawî reports, ‘Utbah b. Ghazwân – Allâh be pleased with him – once gave us a sermon. He praised Allâh, then said:
The life of this world has announced its departure and is quickly turning away, and nothing remains of it save the likes of the last drop of water in a vessel as its possessor tries to catch it. You are moving on to an abode that has no end, so move on with the best [deeds] that you have. For it has been said to us that a rock can be dropped from the edge of Hell and fall for seventy years without reaching the bottom. Yet, by Allâh, it will be filled. Do you not then wonder? And it has been said to us that a single entrance to Paradise is as wide as a journey of forty years, yet there will come a day when it will be crowded.
I have seen myself as the seventh of seven [followers of] Allâh’s Messenger – Allâh’s peace and blessings be upon him; we had no food save the leaves of trees which put sores round our mouths. I once got a cloak which I tore in half to share with Sa’d b. Mâlik: I used half as my waist-wrap and he used the other. And yet today, there is not one of us except he has become a governor over some city – and I seek refuge with Allâh that I consider myself great and important when I am small in front of Allâh. Verily there was never prophet-hood except that it gradually changed until it ended up being a kingship, and verily you will see what the governors after us are like.
Sahîh Muslim no. 7624
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Dead Hearts and Empty Supplications
It is reported that Ibrâhîm b. Adham (d162H) – Allâh have mercy on him – once passed through the market of Basrah. People gathered around him and asked:
O Abû Ishâq, Allâh the Exalted says in his Book. ‘Call on me, I will answer your prayers’, but we have been calling on Him for a long time and He does not answer our prayers. [Ibrâhîm] replied, “O people of Basrah, your hearts have died in respect to ten things: First, you know Allâh but you do not give Him His rights; second, you have read Allâh’s Book but you do not act by it; third, you claim to love Allâh’s Messenger – Allâh’s peace and blessings be upon him – yet you abandon his Sunnah; fourth, you claim to be enemies to Shaytân but you conform to [his ways]; fifth, you say you love Paradise yet you do not work for it; sixth, you say you fear The Fire yet you put yourselves closer to it [by sinning]; seventh, you say death is true but you do not prepare for it; eighth, you busy yourselves with the faults of others and disregard your own; ninth, you consume the favors of your Lord but are not grateful for them; and tenth, you bury your dead but take no lesson from them.”
Abû Nu’aym, Hilyah Al-Awliyâ’ 8: 15, 16.
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No poverty after Paradise and no wealth in the Fire
It is reported that Jundub b. ‘Abdillâh Al-Bajalî – Allah be pleased with him – was once asked for advice and instruction. He said:
I advise you to fear Allâh and obey Him (taqwâ) and I advise you to adhere to the Quran, for it is a light in the dark night and a guidance during the day, so implement it no matter how much struggle and poverty you have to face. If a calamity befalls you, put your wealth forward to protect your religion, and if the calamity continues, put forward your wealth and your life to save your religion [but never risk your religion], for the ruined is he whose religion is ruined, and the looted is he whose religion is taken. And know that there is no poverty after Paradise, and no riches after the Fire.
Al-Dhahabî, Siyar A’lâm Al-Nubalâ` 3:174.
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Three Laughs and Three Tears
It is reported form Abû Al-Dardâ – Allâh be pleased with him – that he said, “Three make me laugh, and three make me cry.
Those that make me laugh are a person who puts his hopes in this worldly life while death pursues him, a person who is heedless [of his Lord] while [his Lord] is not heedless of him, and a person who always laughs while he does not know whether he has pleased Allâh or angered Him.
What makes me cry is being separated from my beloved: Muhammad and his party (the Companions), the horrors of the time of death, and standing in front of Allâh ‘azza wa jall on the Day when the secrets will be revealed and I do not know will I then go to Paradise or Hell?”
Ibn Al-Mubârak, Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqâ`iq article 250.
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