Hawzah News Agency – The Almighty says in the Holy Qur’an:
«فَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنِ افْتَرَی عَلَی اللَّهِ کَذِبًا أَوْ کَذَّبَ بِآیَاتِهِ أُولَئِکَ یَنَالُهُمْ نَصِیبُهُمْ مِنَ الْکِتَابِ حَتَّی إِذَا جَاءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُنَا یَتَوَفَّوْنَهُمْ قَالُوا أَیْنَ مَا کُنْتُمْ تَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ قَالُوا ضَلُّوا عَنَّا وَشَهِدُوا عَلَی أَنْفُسِهِمْ أَنَّهُمْ کَانُوا کَافِرِینَ.»
So who is a greater wrongdoer than him who fabricates a lie against Allah, or denies His signs? Their share, as decreed in the Book, shall reach them. When Our messengers come to take them away, they will say, ‘Where is that which you used to invoke besides Allah?’ They will say, ‘They have forsaken us,’ and they will testify against themselves that they were faithless. (A'raf; 7:37)
Explanation:
There is a profoundly important point contained in the above verse. Turning our hearts toward it and truly believing in it can bring all of our choices, affections, preferences, and, in general, the course of our lives within the framework of the divine will.
Whatever we have become attached to in this world apart from the One who alone is worthy of worship and love—at the moment of death, no trace of any of it will remain. It will be as though it had never existed, and as though, throughout our worldly lives, we had merely been pursuing a mirage.
The reason it was stated that “turning our hearts toward and believing in this Qur’anic truth can be transformative” is that, while living in this world, human beings regard this mirage as something real and substantial. Yet, at the moment of death, when the veils are lifted from our eyes, the true nature of these worldly mirages becomes manifest to us. Alas, by then, it is too late.
In another verse of the Holy Qur’an, the Almighty reveals the fleeting and illusory nature of worldly attachments to us in another way, perhaps so that, by letting go of everything that separates us from God, our hearts may take on something of the divine in their character, fragrance, and hue. If this comes to pass, then that heart, that fragrance, and that hue will no longer be a mirage; rather, they will become an everlasting reality.
«وَإِنَّا لَجَاعِلُونَ مَا عَلَیْهَا صَعِیدًا جُرُزًا.»
And indeed We will turn whatever is on it (earth) into a barren plain. (Kahf; 18:8)
In reality, this verse is a warning to those who have attached their hearts to worldly possessions and adornments and have allowed themselves to become their captives, for all of these attachments will one day be reduced to dust.
It should, however, be noted that the adornment of the human being—namely, piety and righteous deeds—is never destined to perish. What will ultimately be destroyed and reduced to dust is the adornment of the earth, as He says:
«إِنَّا جَعَلْنَا مَا عَلَی الْأَرْضِ زِینَةً لَهَا.»
Indeed We have made whatever is on the earth an adornment for it... . (Kahf; 18:7)
This raises an important question: What, then, do these adornments do in the hands of me, the human being?
The Qur’an immediately provides the answer in the very same verse:
«لِنَبْلُوَهُمْ أَیُّهُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا.»
...that We may test them [to see] which of them is best in conduct.
Therefore, we must change the way we look at these worldly possessions and adornments, lest we fall into eternal loss and regret. Everything we possess in this world is an adornment of the earth, not an adornment of ourselves.
These adornments and attachments must acquire a divine character, fragrance, and hue in order to endure. Otherwise, a day will come when all of them will prove to us to have been nothing more than a mirage.
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