Page 28 - Prayer in the Qur'an

26 PRAYER IN THE QUR'AN

fill His obligations.
One's wishes pertaining to this life may come true. Yet, as is said
earlier, these may not turn out to be good for him. He asks for
money, but that money may lead him astray, for in an environment
where material values are idolized, almost everyone surrounding

him will behave in a manner opposite to the tenets of religion.
The wish in question is a mundane one and it may well be
granted in this world. But in the hereafter, what he encounters may
not meet his expectations. Some of the lures of this world are related
in the following verse :
To mankind the love of worldly appetites is painted in glowing
colors: women and children, and heaped-up mounds of gold
and silver, and horses with fine markings, and livestock and
fertile farmland. All that is merely the enjoyment of the life of
the world. The best homecoming is in the presence of Allah.
(Surah Al Imran: 14)

Of course there is some benefit to attaining these goals in this life,
but each one of these mundane benefits may ultimately turn out to
be a loss in the hereafter. However, as the examples of prophets
show us, when asked for with the right intention, worldly benefits
can also be a gain in the hereafter.
These noble people asked for the temporary gains of this world
such as material goods, children and an enviable status in society
only to earn Allah's good pleasure. None of the prophets asked for
children to enjoy the privilege of the continuance of their names:

they only wanted children so that their children could become lead-
ers to people of faith after them.
Meanwhile, if someone desires many children as a way to show
off, to satisfy his or her ambitions or for feelings of superiority, Allah