Chapter VI: Love, Longing, Contentment
(37) Jesus Christ said: It is of greater virtuous act to give up the world for those who search the world for religion. (38) The Prophet of Islam said : The world will be broadened for you after me but it will consume your faith in such a way as fire consumes a dry wood. (39) God sent revelation to Moses : O Moses, don't be addicted to the world, as you will not come to me with a greater sin than this. (40) Once Moses passed by a man who was weeping. He found the man in the same condition when he was returning. Then Moses prayed to God : O Lord, your servant is weeping for fear of you. God said : O son of Imran, if his tears flow over his head and he keeps his hands raised up till they fall down, I shall not forgive him as he loves the world.
Wise sayings Hazrat AH said ': He who has got six virtues leaves nothing for search for Paradise and for salvation from Hell- obeying God after knowing Him, following truth after knowing it, disobeying the devil after knowing him, saving himself from falsehood after knowing it, giving up the world after knowing it, and search for the next world after knowing it.
Hazrat Hasan Basari said : God shows mercy on him who competes with another in matters of religion and He throws one ,
160 The Book of Destructive evils
on his neck who competes with you in matters of the world.
Loqman advised his son : O darling, the world is a deep sea and many people are drowned therein. Make God-fear as your boat, Iman as your oar, God-reliance as your sail, so that you may get salvation, or else I don' t see the cause of your salvation.
The saint Fazil said: We should ponder deeply over the Quranic verse : I have made adornments for the world. I have created them with the object that I will see who among them is great in good works. A hermit was questioned : What do you think about time ? He said : Time destroys the body, creates new hopes, takes death near and removes light distant. A certain sage said : success in the world means failure, cleanliness therein means unclean Hness and its dwellers remain in fear of loss of wealth, of clamity and impending death. One man said to the saint Abu Hazem : I have got no abode in the world, yet I complain to you about my attachment to the world. He said :
Look to what God granted you regarding wealth. Don't take except what is lawful. Don't spend except for things for which, you should spend. If you conduct yourself in such a way, attachment for the world will not harm you. The saint Fazil said :
If the transient world was made of gold and ever-lasting and the next world of clay, it would have been our duty to love the clay-made next world than the world made of gold. How futile is it to love transient earth-made world than to ever-lasting gold-made next world.