Page 121 - The Truth of the Life of This World

their responsibility is to respond to them with patience and constancy.
Furthermore these are great opportunities to show one's perseverance and
commitment to Allah and are a means to attain personal maturity in His
sight. Thus, a believer becomes happier, excited and more committed on
such occasions.
However, the attitude of disbelievers is totally different. Difficult times
make them fall into despair. Apart from physical pain, a disbeliever also
suffers from great mental distress.
The fear, hopelessness, pessimism, grief, worry, anxiety and agitation

that are the characteristic traits of disbelievers in this world are but pale
versions of the real pain from which they will suffer in the Hereafter. Allah
"makes their breast close and constricted, as if they had to climb up to the
skies and thus Allah (heaps) the penalty on those who refuse to believe."
(Surah al-An'am: 125)
On the other hand, those true believers that seek forgiveness and repent
to Allah are the recipients of the benevolence and favours of Allah in this
world as related in the following verse:
(And to preach thus), "Seek you the forgiveness of your Lord, and turn to
Him in repentance; that He may grant you enjoyment, good (and true), for a
term appointed, and bestow His abounding grace on all who abound in
merit! But if you turn away, then I fear for you the penalty of a great day."
(Surah Hud: 3)
In another verse, the life of believers is described as follows:
To the righteous (when) it is said, "What is it that your Lord has revealed?"
They say "All that is good." To those who do good, there is good in this
world, and the Home of the Hereafter is even better and excellent indeed is
the Home of the righteous. (Surat an-Nahl: 30)
The Hereafter is surely superior to and better than this world. Compared
to the Hereafter, this world is but a mean and entirely worthless place.
Hence, if a person wants to set a goal for himself, that goal should be par-
adise in the Hereafter. It should also be remembered that those who seek
paradise receive the benevolence of their Creator in this world as well. But
those who seek this world in rebellion against Allah often attain nothing of
worth from it and then their abode in the next life is hell.

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