Chapter VI: Evils of the World
The wise Loqman said to his son: O darling, sell your world in exchange of your next world. You will then get benefit in both the worlds. Don't sell your next world in exchange of this world, you will then be a loser in both the worlds. Hazrat Ibn Abbas said : God divided the world into three parts — (1) one part for the believers, (2) one part for the hypocrites and (3) one part for the infidels. A believer gathers his provision therein, a hypocrite adorns it and an infidel makes enjoyments therein. Hazrat Baheli said : After the Prophet became the messenger of God, the armies of the devil came to him and said : One Prophet has appeared and one nation has come out. What shall we do now ? The devil said :
Do they love the world ? They said : Yes. The devil said : I have got no anxiety about them even though they do not worship idols provided they love the world. I will come to them
y0l-IH Attachment of the world 161
morning and evening with three advices — (1) acquire wealth Unjsutly,(2) spend money in improper places and (3) be miser in places where expenditure is necessary. All sins arise out of these three matters.
Hazrat AH was once asked about the world. He said in short that accounts will be taken of lawful things in the world and punishment will be given of unlawful things. Abu Solaiman Darani said : When there is the next world in the mind of a man, the world stands before him. When there is the world in his mind, the next world does not come in, as the next world is honourable but the world is an object of hatred. Malek-b-Dinar said : The thoughts of the world will come out of your mind in proportion to your sorrows for the next world. Hazrat Ali said : This world and the next world are like two-co-wives. A co-wife will be dissatisfied in proportion to your giving satisfaction to another co- wife.
Hazrat Hasan Basari said: I saw such men to whom this world was more an object of hatred than the trodden mud. They had no attention to whom it went, to whom it rested and from whom it set in. Once Hazrat Omar went to visit Syria when Abyu Obadah was its governor. He came riding on a she camel to receive Hazrat Omar. The she-camel had a rope tied with her nose. Hazrat Omar conversed with him and then came to his abode but found nothing therein except a sword, a shield and a wood stand for placing the Quran therein. The Caliph asked him :
Why have you not kept other necessary things in your house ?
The governor said : O Commander of the Faithful, these things will carry me to the place of questions and answers (grave). The wise Loqman said to his son : O darling, you are drifting away from this world from the day in which you were born and advacnir>£ towards the next world. The abode to which you are proceeding is better than the abode from which you are drifting away.