instead. As for praising the abandonment of this world in itself, this is found neither in Allah’s Book nor in the Sunnah of His Messenger. Do not be swayed by how often people condemn this world on grounds unrelated to religion. Most ordinary people condemn it only because they have not obtained what they wanted from it. It has never afforded anyone untroubled happiness, however much he may have gained from it. No home has ever been filled with joy without also being filled with tears.

Sensible people therefore condemn the ignorant who place their trust in this world and imagine that their authority, wealth and enjoyment of its pleasures will endure. Yet they themselves still need its necessities, and most of them seek the very things in it that they condemn. Their condemnation of this world is, in reality, a worldly condemnation prompted by its worldly harms. It resembles sensible people’s condemnation of commerce or a craft that brings no profit but only toil, or your condemnation of keeping company with someone who harms you without benefiting you, as in marrying an ill-tempered woman, and similar matters whose harm and benefit concern this world alone.

There is no doubt that whatever causes harm in this world is blameworthy if it brings no benefit in the Hereafter, such as wasting wealth or undertaking arduous acts of worship that neither Allah nor His Messenger has commanded. Whatever brings benefit in this world is blameworthy if it causes harm in the Hereafter, such as enjoying forbidden pleasures and satisfying forbidden desires. The same applies to permissible pleasures and desires if they weaken a person’s resolve and hold him back in matters concerning the Hereafter and his pursuit of it. Whatever is harmful both in this world and in the Hereafter is evil and hardship. Whatever is beneficial in the Hereafter is praiseworthy, even if it causes harm in this world, such as sacrificing lives and wealth