Basic This World & Hereafter Surah: Al-Hadid (20)

Verse: "Know that the life of this world is but play, amusement, adornment, boasting among yourselves, and competition in wealth and children — like a rainfall whose vegetation impresses the disbelievers, then it withers and you see it turned yellow, then it becomes debris." (57:20) — Five stages of this world: play, amusement, adornment, boasting, accumulation — each deeper and more intense. The parable: vegetation that impresses then yellows then crumbles = human lifespan in visible form. "Enjoyment of delusion" = deceptive pleasure. But the verse does not deny that this world is a plantation — it denies that it is the goal. "The life of this world is nothing but play and amusement — and the home of the hereafter is better for those who fear Allah" — the hereafter is better, not this world absolutely evil. Lesson: this world is neither a prison nor paradise — it is a plantation sown for the hereafter.

Source: Ibn Kathir (7/505); Al-Sadi

Tags: الحديدالدنياالآخرةالغرورالزهد