Know that the life of this world is only a frolic and mummery, an ornamentation, boasting and bragging among yourselves, and lust for multiplying wealth and children. It is like rain so pleasing to the cultivator for his vegetation which sprouts and swells, and then begins to wither, and you see it turn to yellow and reduced to chaff. There is severe punishment in the Hereafter, but also forgiveness from God, and acceptance. As for the life of this world, it is no more than merchandise of vanity.
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Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (know that the life of this world) that which is in the life of this world (is only play) exultation, (and idle talk) falsehood, (and pageantry) an appearance, (and boasting among you) regarding status and lineage, (and rivalry about wealth and children) which will vanish and not last; (as the likeness of vegetation after rain, whereof the growth is pleasing to the husbandman, but afterward it drieth up and thou seest it turning yellow) after having been green (then it becometh straw) in the same vein, the life of the world will not last just as this vegetation did not. (and in the hereafter there is grievous punishment) for he who abstains from obeying allah and withholds the right of allah, (and (also) forgiveness from allah and his good pleasure) in the hereafter, for he who obeys allah and fulfils allah's right over his wealth, (whereas the life of the world) i.e. concerning its lastingness and evanescence (is but matter of illusion) like the illusion surrounding the utilities of the house such as plates and bowls.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : know that the life of this world is merely play and diversion and glitter, the frequent adornment [of oneself], and mutual vainglory in respect of wealth and children, that is, preoccupation with such things — but as for acts of obedience and incentives thereto, these are the concerns of the hereafter; as the likeness of, that is to say, it, in the manner in which you admire it and in the manner in which it will disappear, is as the likeness of, rain whose vegetation, which results from this [rain], the disbelievers, the sowers, admire; [but] then it withers, it becomes dried-up, and you see it turn yellow, then it becomes chaff, scatters vanishing with the winds. and in the hereafter there is a severe chastisement, for those who prefer this world to it, and forgiveness from god and beatitude, for those who have not preferred this world to it; and the life of this world, that is to say, the comfort [enjoyed] in it, is but the comfort of delusion.
Sahl al-Tustari
تفسير : know that the life of this world is merely play and diversion…he said:the world (dunyā) is a sleeping soul (nafs nāʾima), and the hereafter is a soul awake (nafs yaqẓāna).it was asked, ‘what is the way to salvation from it [the life of this world]?’ he replied:the root of this [salvation] is knowledge (ʿilm) and its fruit is opposing one’s desire (hawā) by avoiding what is forbidden (manāhī). then it is the soul’s endurance (mukābadat al-nafs) in fulfilling the divine commandments, [in a state of] purity (ṭahāra) from every kind of defilement(adnās). this will bring about ease in worship, and thereafter he will abide in the stations of the worshippers. then god will let him experience that which his friends (awliyāʾ) and elect (aṣfiyāʾ) experienced, which is the rank of tasting (madhāq). he [abū bakr al-sijzī] said, ‘he [sahl] then mentioned to us the following’:one day abraham <img border="0" src="images/alyhialsalam.jpg" width="34" height="19">, friend of the lord of mercy, was in the desert on an extremely hot day, and he was afflicted with great thirst. he saw an abyssinian man tending some camels, so he asked: ‘do you have any water?’ he replied, ‘o abraham, what do you prefer: water or milk?’ he said: ‘water.’he [sahl] continued:he then struck a rock with his foot upon which water gushed forth. abraham <img border="0" src="images/alyhialsalam.jpg" width="34" height="19"> was amazed, so god said to abraham, through inspiration, ‘if that abyssinian man had asked me to remove the heavens and earth from existence i would have removed them.’ so he [abraham] asked, ‘why is that, o lord?’ he replied, ‘it is because he does not desire anything from the world or the hereafter except me.’ ʿĀmir b. ʿabd al-qays said,i have found the world to comprise four main properties (khiṣāl). as for two of these, namely, the [desire for] women and the [desire] to amass wealth, my soul (nafs) has renounced them willingly. however, as for the other two, there is no doing without them, though i try to keep them away from me as much as i can; these are sleep and food. his words, exalted is he:
