Page 34 - The Pains of the False World

THE PAINS OF THE FALSE WORLD

their labors and the efforts they took such joy in are all empty:
But the actions of those who do not believe are like a mi -
rage in the desert. A thirsty man thinks it is water but
when he reaches it, he finds it to be nothing at all, but he
finds Allah there. He will pay him his account in full.
Allah is swift at reckoning. (Surat an-Nur, 39)

As we have seen, unless a person acts bearing the appro-
val of Allah in mind, even if he does the most important thing
in the world, this may still be of no worth in the Lord's sight.
So long as a person fails to act in conformity with the appro-
val of Allah, the esteem felt for him or her by all those around
or his or her recognition as a performer of good deeds cannot
prevent those actions proving empty. This is how Allah desc-
ribes in the Qur'an the position in the Hereafter of those who
imagine that they are doing good deeds:
People whose efforts in the life of this world are misgu -
ided while they suppose that they are doing good. (Su -
rat al-Kahf, 104)

After death, the misguided soul will come to realize that
all that he chased after with such enthusiasm is ultimately
worthless in comparison to the blessings of the Here a f t e r.
This will be a cause of immeasurable and eternal disappoint-
ment. Learning that a lifetime's efforts have all been for na-
ught will make a general re g ret become an eternal re g re t .
Allah describes the position of such people in the Hereafter in
the following terms:
But such people will have nothing in the Hereafter but

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