[Commentary]

The author, may Allah have mercy on him, cites several hadiths that illustrate renouncing the world and affirm that true bliss is the bliss of the Hereafter. Among them is the report from Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, in which the Prophet ﷺ said, “O Allah, there is no life but the life of the Hereafter.” In other words, the pleasant, satisfying, enduring life is the life to come; as for this worldly life, no matter how agreeable it may seem, its end is extinction, and if it is not accompanied by righteous deeds it is sheer loss.

Hence the hadith mentions that “the person who enjoyed the greatest luxury in the world”—that is, the one who experienced the fullest ease in his body, clothing, family, home, mount, and the like—“will be dipped once into the Fire.” He will be plunged into it a single time, and it will be said to him, “O son of Adam, did you ever see any good? Did any delight ever come your way?” He will answer, “No, by Allah, my Lord, I never saw any,” for he will have forgotten all that pleasure. And that is after only one brief immersion—so what of the one who is condemned to remain there forever, Allah forbid, for endless ages?

The author also quotes the hadith of Jābir: the Prophet ﷺ passed through the marketplace and came upon a stunted-eared kid—“kid” meaning a young goat, and “stunted-eared” meaning its ears had been cut off. The Prophet ﷺ took it, lifted it, and said, “Would any of you like to have this for a dirham?” They replied, “Messenger of Allah, we would not want it for anything.” He then asked, “Would any of you like it to be yours?” They said, “No.” He said, “By Allah, this world is more insignificant to Allah than this kid is to you.”

Here is a dead kid that is worth nothing, and yet the world is even more trivial and contemptible to Allah than that stunted-eared carcass. In itself it is nothing to Allah; but whoever performs righteous deeds in it turns it into a field he cultivates for the Hereafter, and through it he attains