Attending to This World and the Next

The man who gives his worldly life and his Hereafter equal attention, and has inwardly the same degree of concentration and eagerness and outwardly the same amount of effort and pursuit, is excessively foolish and stupid. What then of the man who gives more attention and effort to his worldly life? And what then of the man who pays no attention at all nor exerts any effort for his life-to-come? We ask God to guard us against this and all other afflictions and dangers and to guard our loved ones and all Muslims!

Those who give their worldly life and their Hereafter equal attention deserve this description because they do not differentiate between that which is better, more permanent, purer, and more spacious, and that which is lowlier, ephemeral, turbid, disturbing, and constricting. They are similar to the man who treats equally diamonds and dung, or pure gold and clay. They are even stranger and more extraordinary than that. Had the life-to-come nothing to its credit but perpetuity and freedom from flaws, these alone should suffice that it be given priority. As one of our virtuous predecessors once said, "Had the world been made of perishable gold and the Hereafter or permanent clay, we should have preferred permanent clay to perishable gold. What then when the reality is the reverse?" It is clearly evident that those who prefer the world to the Hereafter are doubt-ridden skeptics, while those who treat them equally are unintelligent fools. Only those who prefer the Hereafter are intelligent and resolute believers.

Graciousness belongs to God. He bestows His favors upon whomever He wills. Guidance is God's; He guides whom He wills. He is the Wise, the Knowing.

-Imam 'Abdallah ibn 'Alawi al-Haddad, Knowledge and Wisdom (Fusus al-'ilmiyah wa-al-usul al-hikamiyah)