(131) “Do not let your eyes wander longingly toward the worldly splendor We have granted some groups among them as a test for them. Your Lord’s provision is better and more lasting.”

That is: do not gaze admiringly or repeatedly look with approval at the worldly circumstances of those who have been given its enjoyments—delicious food and drink, luxurious clothing, ornate homes, and beautiful women. All of this is merely the splendor of worldly life. It delights the souls of those deluded by it, captivates the eyes of those who turn away, and is enjoyed—without regard for the Hereafter—by wrongdoing people. Then it swiftly vanishes and passes away altogether, destroying ⦗517⦘ those who love and adore it. They will then regret it when regret is of no avail, and they will realize their true condition when they come forth on the Day of Resurrection. Allah has made it only a trial and a test, to reveal who stops at it and is deceived by it and who is best in deeds, as He, Exalted is He, says:

“We have made whatever is on the earth an adornment for it, so that We may test them as to which of them is best in deeds. And We will certainly reduce whatever is on it to barren ground.”

“Your Lord’s provision”—the immediate provision of knowledge, faith, and the true substance of righteous deeds, and the future provision of enduring bliss and wholesome life in the presence of the Most Merciful Lord—“is better” in itself and in its qualities than what We have granted those groups for enjoyment, “and more lasting,” because it never ends: its fruit is everlasting, and so is its shade. As He, Exalted is He, says:

“Yet you prefer the life of this world, though the Hereafter is better and more lasting.”

This verse also indicates that if a servant finds within himself a yearning for the adornments of this world and an inclination toward them, he should remind his soul of the provision awaiting him from his Lord and weigh the one against the other.