and hating it are commended by religious law, rather than arising from natural disposition, for Allah Most High has made it attractive while warning against it, as a trial and a test. Some people have said that an ascetic is only someone who instinctively hates this world, just as he hates foul odors and the like; anyone who has not reached this state, even if he hates this world in its entirety, is not an ascetic but merely someone exercising patience. This is clearly mistaken, for a person is not rewarded for an innate disposition, since it involves no effort on his part. Rather, the ascetic is rewarded for persevering in renouncing what he is naturally inclined to love. Allah, mighty and majestic, says:
“The love of desirable things has been made attractive to people: women, sons, and heaped-up treasures of gold and silver” [Āl Imrān: 14], to the end of the verse.
He also says:
“You will never attain righteousness until you spend from what you love” [Āl Imrān: 92].
And:
“And gives wealth, despite his love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, and the traveler” [al-Baqarah: 177].
And:
“And they give food, despite their love for it” [al-Insān: 8], to the end of the verse.
Some of them said: “Asceticism concerning this world means holding it in little regard because it is of little worth to Allah.” They cited the report that “the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, passed by a young goat that had been thrown onto a people’s refuse heap. His Companions were with him, and he asked: ‘Do you think its owners threw it away because they found it repugnant, or because it was of little worth to them?’ They replied: ‘Rather, because it was of little worth to them.’ He said: ‘This world is worth less to Allah than this is to its owners.’” He thus urged them to hold in little regard what Allah holds in little regard.
Al-Hasan said: “Woe to you, son of Adam! Do not oppose Allah in what He loves, for Allah does not love this world.”
Ibn al-Munkadir said: “If I were to meet Allah with no sin other than love of this world, I would fear being told: ‘This man loved what Allah hated.’” Thus, the proponent of this statement described asceticism in terms of the true nature of what results from it, without departing from its meaning. Do you not see that you say, “I renounced this world, so it became insignificant to me,” rather than, “It became insignificant to me, so I renounced it”? Similarly, none of those who made the preceding statements departed, in speaking of