Page 110 - Sincerity Described in the Qur'an

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SINCERITY DESCRIBED IN THE QUR’AN

Not Worrying about One’s Property or One’s Life

Another corrupt tendency of the lower-soul is its
passionate attachment to material objects and to one’s
physical self. For this reason, the lower-soul continuously
encourages the person to be more ambitious for these two
things. However, material objects and one’s physical self
were not created for passionate attachment to worldly things
but only to test men, as the following verse says:
You will be tested in your wealth and in yourselves...
(Surah Al ‘Imran: 186)

Allah gave the glad tidings of Paradise to those who
preferred to sacrifice their worldly possessions to gain His
assent, instead of pursuing them obsessively. He informed
humanity that they should only in this manner attain
happiness and success, as in the following verse:
Allah has bought from the believers their selves and
their wealth in return for the Garden. They fight in the
Way of Allah and they kill and are killed. It is a promise
binding on Him in the Torah, the Injil and the Qur’an
and who is truer to his contract than Allah? Rejoice then
in the bargain you have made. That is the great victory.
(Surat at-Tawba: 111)
Therefore, true believers should carefully refrain from
becoming passionately attached to their wealth and their
selves. The soul will certainly incite a man to these motives.
However, a believer who is aware of the promise of Allah
could in no way incline to his lower-soul. Hence, nothing
gained through one’s property or personal effort in this
worldly life could match the eternal blessings of the
hereafter. Therefore, Allah instructs men to "rejoice in your