rely on the dunya, or be beguiled by it, or let it distract him from the Hereafter, or allow it to bar him from the remembrance of Allah. Among the verses that warn against this is His statement: “The likeness of the life of this world is that of water We send down from the sky” — that is, rain — “whereby the vegetation of the earth mingles and grows,” meaning that the earth brings forth a varied, interwoven, and closely packed growth, with no gaps devoid of plants; the entire ground is covered with grasses of every delightful kind. “Then, when the earth has taken on its adornment and is beautified” — that is, when its splendor is complete — “and its inhabitants imagine that they have mastery over it, Our command comes upon it by night or by day, and We reduce it to a harvested field, as though it had not flourished the day before,” as though it had never existed at all.
Such is this worldly life. Reflect on your own experience: how many people have you lived among who enjoyed a contented worldly existence, surrounded by luxury, comfort, children, spouses, palaces, and cars—then they departed from it, as though they had never been here yesterday? Either they left the world, or something struck their possessions and ruined them. How many a wealthy person, once owner of vast fortunes, awoke to find himself poor, begging from others!
This, then, is the dunya. Allah has set forth this parable only so that we would not be deceived by it. He says, “Thus do We clarify the signs for a people who reflect,” that is, for those who think matters through and weigh their ultimate consequences.
Then He says, “Allah invites to the Abode of Peace” (Yūnus 25). How great the difference between the two! The Abode of Peace is Paradise—may Allah make me and you among its people. It is called so because it is free of every impurity, every vexation, every harm. After mentioning the dunya, He said, “Allah invites to the Abode of Peace.” To which of the two will you incline, O intelligent one? Surely the rational person inclines toward the Abode of Peace and cares nothing for the realm of perishing.