and he feared that his heart might become attached to it, so he would say, “At Your service! True life is the life of the Hereafter.” The human soul is naturally disposed to love whatever it inclines toward; therefore, whenever one sees something of this world that delights him, let him say, “At Your service, O Lord!”—meaning, “I respond to You, my Lord.”
Real life is the life of the Hereafter, whereas the life of this world is passing and doomed to vanish.
These, then, are some of the benefits of fasting that the author—may Allah have mercy on him—has conveyed from what Abu Hurayra narrated from the Prophet ﷺ. Within this single report there are two kinds of speech: sacred words that are Allah’s own, transmitted by the Prophet ﷺ from his Lord, and prophetic words that originate with the Prophet ﷺ himself. Allah knows best.
1216 — Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Whoever spends a pair of something in the cause of Allah will be called from the gates of Paradise: ‘Servant of Allah, this is good!’ Whoever excelled in prayer will be summoned from the Gate of Prayer; whoever excelled in jihad will be summoned from the Gate of Jihad; whoever excelled in fasting will be summoned from the Gate of al-Rayyān; and whoever excelled in charity will be summoned from the Gate of Charity.” Abu Bakr said, “May my father and mother be your ransom, O Messenger of Allah! A person who is called from any one of those gates needs nothing more—but will anyone be called from all of them?” He ﷺ replied, “Yes, and I hope you will be among them.” Agreed upon.