Page 64 - The Truth of the Life of This World

hroughout life, we have particular goals to achieve: wealth,
possessions, and better status, and a spouse and children.
These are among the common goals shared by almost every-
one. All planning and effort are designed to meet these goals.
In spite of the sole incontrovertible fact that everything is inclined to age
and extinction, people cannot keep themselves from becoming deeply
attached to things. One day a brand-new car becomes old-fashioned; due
to natural causes, rich farmland becomes barren; a beautiful person loses
all her looks when she ages. Above all, every human being on earth dies,
leaving everything he owned behind. Yet despite all these irrefutable facts,
man shows an unfathomable devotion to possessions.
Those who spend their lives devoted blindly to worldly goods, will
realise that they consumed all their lives chasing illusions. They will realise
their ridiculous situation after they die. Only then will the ultimate purpose
of life, to be a sincere servant of Allah, be clear to them.
Allah in the Qur'an gives a considerable account of this "deep attach-
ment" in the following verse:
Fair in the eyes of men is the love of things they covet: women and sons;
heaped-up hoards of gold and silver; horses branded (for blood and excel-
lence); and (wealth of) cattle and well-tilled land. Such are the possessions
of this world's life; but in nearness to Allah is the best of the goals (to return
to). (Surah Ali-'Imran: 14)

62 The Lure of Worldly Goods