Epigraph: “And seek, through what Allah has given you, the Home of
the Hereafter.” — Qur’an 28:77
Source
Note: This is a direct English rendering of a recorded
discussion between Mr. Rizwanullah (Scholar, Al Mawrid, Lahore) and young participants. The
content has been translated faithfully into English with grammatical
refinement, without interpretive additions.
When the Qur’an is studied carefully, one notices that while it
repeatedly draws attention toward the final destination — the ultimate stage
for which one must prepare — Allah specifically mentions one important reality:
“Your
wealth and your children are but a trial (fitnah)…”
The question often arises: if
wealth and children are described as a fitnah (trial or test), then why does
Islam also describe righteous children and beneficial wealth as sources of
ongoing reward (sadaqah jariyah)?
Reply: The likely explanation given is this:
wealth and children, by themselves, are not automatically a means of success in
the Hereafter. Rather, they are tests that can either draw a person toward
Allah or distract him away from Allah. Yet
at the same time, we also see that Islam teaches: If your children are righteous, they continue praying for you
and become a source of reward for you even after your death. If you spend your wealth in good
causes, it continues benefiting you after you leave this world.
So the real issue is not wealth or
children themselves. The issue is how they are used, nurtured, and directed. If a person becomes so absorbed in
wealth and family that they distract him from his responsibility toward Allah
and the Hereafter, then they become a fitnah in the negative sense — a trial
that causes failure.
But if wealth is earned lawfully,
spent righteously, and children are given proper moral and spiritual
upbringing, then the very same things become among the greatest assets for the
Hereafter.
So these are not contradictory
statements. Rather, they describe two possible outcomes of the same blessings. The Qur’an calls them a test because
every test can lead either to success or failure depending on how a person
responds to it. So is it really
about how these things are used and how children are raised that transforms
them into something beneficial, or are these two contradictory ideas?
When the Qur’an uses the word fitnah regarding these things,
fitnah here means a test or trial. Wealth, children, family — all these become
a form of examination for human beings. In
what sense are they an examination?
Well, an examination means that a
question has been placed before you. You may answer it correctly or
incorrectly, but once the question appears, you have undeniably entered the
test. Exactly on this principle,
your children, your family, and your possessions become a continuous test for
you. Now it depends on you how you pass through this examination.
Both possibilities exist.
Sometimes these very blessings
gradually become a burden and a cause of ruin. How? When a person himself never
turns toward faith, never thinks seriously about the Hereafter or preparation
for accountability before Allah, and likewise never places those concerns into
the minds of his children. Instead, he teaches them only the formulas of
worldly success: how to become important, powerful, successful, wealthy, and
socially accomplished. Their upbringing revolves entirely around worldly
achievement.
Now the very things that were
granted to you as a test become, because of your response to them, not a means
of salvation for the Hereafter but a source of loss.
But now look at the other side. These same blessings can also become
provisions for your eternal journey.
There is a verse in the Qur’an
that beautifully expresses this idea. Usually, people place verses like “Hādhā
min faḍli Rabbī” (“This
is from the فضل of my Lord”) or
“Wallāhu khayrur-rāziqīn” (“Allah is the Best of providers”) in their homes. But the verse I have placed in my own
home is this: “And
seek, through what Allah has given you, the Home of the Hereafter.” — Qur’an 28:77
Meaning: whatever Allah has
granted you here — your family, your children, your home, your resources, your
blessings — do not limit their use merely to worldly enjoyment and temporary
comfort. Their real purpose is
much greater: Use them to build
your Hereafter. Take these
blessings forward with you into the next life. Purchase the eternal world
through them. Allah says: “Seek the Home of the
Hereafter through what Allah has given you.” One way is simply to eat, drink, enjoy, and remain absorbed
in worldly pleasures. The other way is to use these blessings to construct your
eternal life.
If you look at your family and
children with this perspective, then you not only help shape their Hereafter,
but after your death, they continue helping shape yours as well. Through
righteous upbringing, they pray for you, become a source of ongoing charity
(sadaqah jariyah), and continue benefiting you even after you leave this world.
So yes — that understanding is
absolutely correct. ________________________________________________________________________________
Question 2: Some people plan their lives in such a way that during the
earlier part of their lives, they commit every kind of wrongdoing. In their
businesses, they engage in adulteration or do not work honestly. But their plan
is that toward the last part of their lives, they will perform Hajj, all their
sins will be forgiven, and after that, they will spend a few years in the
remembrance of Allah.
In this way, according to them,
both their Hereafter and their worldly life will be secured. So is this
attitude correct?
Reply: Wrongdoing that happens suddenly — the
Qur’an says that some people fall into sin because they are swept away by
emotions. If that is the situation, then a return is also possible. A person
repents, turns back, and God, too, comes forward and embraces him in His mercy.
In fact, if I use the Qur’an’s own words, Allah says that for such a person who
returns, it becomes binding upon Him that He will certainly accept his
repentance: “Indeed,
repentance accepted by Allah is for those who commit wrongdoing out of
ignorance…” (Surah An-Nisa 4:17)
So this is one type of case. A
believer generally makes mistakes in this manner. A person who has God in his
heart, who has fear of God and concern for the Hereafter, is not free from
mistakes altogether. Whenever he becomes involved in sin, it is this kind of
lapse: it happens, but then he returns as well.
But the second case — and I am
again referring to the verse from Surah An-Nisa — is of those people who keep
on committing wrong after wrong. Notice that the Qur’an used the singular form
earlier: “those who commit a wrong” (ya‘malūna as-sū’a) — meaning someone who
slips into a sin emotionally. But the second expression is: “they keep
committing evil deeds” (ya‘malūna as-sayyi’āt) — mistake upon mistake, sin upon
sin, continuously.
First of all, this attitude itself
cannot belong to a true believer. Then
it takes on an even uglier form when planning becomes part of it — when a
person decides: “I have fallen into continuous wrongdoing, and I will keep
doing this. And how long will I continue? Until I become sixty or sixty-five
years old.”
If you reflect carefully,
rebellion is now included in his sin. Earlier, he was merely a sinner committing
wrongdoing plainly, but now a kind of arrogance has entered into it. What does
this attitude really mean in simple words? It means: “I will not return. I will
not repent until I reach sixty or sixty-five.” This attitude is actually an act of arrogance and defiance
(istikbār).
About such a person, Allah says:
“I will not spare him.” At another
place, Allah used a very powerful expression: “Yes indeed, whoever earns evil and his
sins surround him completely…”
Meaning: at first, a person merely
commits a sin — that was still manageable. But then his sins begin to encompass
him entirely. His mornings and evenings become immersed in wrongdoing. Then a
third thing is added: he mentally plans that he has no intention of returning
until he has spent a certain age in sin. About
such a person, Allah says that he will become deserving of eternal Hell. The Qur’an (2:81).
And this matter should also be
looked at from another angle: where did this person get the certainty that, after spending all those years in sin, he will even get the chance to repent?
How did he become so sure? Even rationally, this is a false assumption. There
is no logical basis for someone to plan that, “At old age I will repent.” Does
anyone know the appointed time of death? One may suddenly be seized.
The Qur’an gives a very striking
picture: “Say:
the angel of death who has been appointed over you shall take your soul…” (Surah As-Sajdah 32:11). Notice the imagery. Allah
says an angel has been assigned over you. What does “assigned” mean? For
example, imagine a government appointing an intelligence officer over someone
and instructing him: “Keep observing him. Do not let him out of your sight. The
moment we command you, seize him.”
That is what “appointed” conveys
here. Allah says an angel has been
assigned, as though he is constantly watching — observing one’s movements,
one’s comings and goings — merely waiting for the command from God as to when
he should take him away.
When this is the reality, then how
can someone make plans that “I will reform myself in old age”? It is
impossible. The call may come at any moment. ___________________________________________________________________________________
Question 3: When Allah is ultimately going to deal
with me individually, and Allah has already declared that in the Hereafter, wealth, children, relatives — none of them will be of any benefit to me — then
why should I spend my life with them? Why should I not instead live only for
myself?
Reply: The examination is indeed yours — but
the question is: an examination in what?
It is precisely through these
relationships that you are being tested. You are given children, parents,
brothers and sisters, a neighborhood, relatives, and loved ones. Then you are
placed among them and told: this is how you are supposed to live with them — this is your test.
If you start thinking, “What
concern do I have with these people?” then, in another sense, it means you have
walked out of the examination hall altogether. Your test no longer even exists.
You will notice that in certain
mystical or ascetic traditions, this very mindset operates. They say, “If we
remain in society, there will always be chances of becoming involved in sin. So
let us renounce the world, retreat into forests, sit in caves, keep chanting
God’s name, and then neither will we face worldly distractions nor become
sinners.”
But this strategy is actually a
strategy of running away from the test. It
is just as if someone were told, “You must cross this river, and we will test
your swimming ability by seeing whether you can cross it or not.” And he
replies: “Well, if I enter the river, there is a possibility that I may drown,
so I simply will not enter it at all.”
That is exactly the situation
here. Wherever God sends us in
life, it is as though He has already prepared a testing environment and placed
us into it. Now your task is not to run away. Your task is to remain within
these very circumstances and adopt the correct attitude and conduct. That is
your examination: Steadfast
and balanced conduct. ___________________________________________________________________________________
Question 4: Now we often say that we
should prepare for the Hereafter. And you just mentioned that the time of death
is unknown. So a common question arises: if a person keeps all his focus only
on the fact that “I will die one day and I will be held accountable before
God,” then should he concentrate only on worship and righteous deeds?
What about all the inventions,
discoveries, and worldly advancements we see around us? This question comes up
very frequently in such discussions.
So, how much attention should we
give to worldly matters, and how should we manage our worldly life in such a
way that our journey toward the Hereafter also remains sound while our worldly
life too becomes productive and successful?
Reply: Things have to be managed step by step,
side by side. For example, I was just coming from Faisalabad by bus. Now, among
the fifty passengers on the bus, not everyone can have the same mindset. Some
may be religiously inclined, while others may have no religious inclination at
all and may be purely worldly people. But notice something carefully: both of
them traveled. In the same way, neither that person’s worldliness nor this
person’s religiosity affected the actual journey.
Exactly on the same principle,
when you live in this world, you also have to study worldly sciences and
progress in them. These are unavoidable requirements of living in the world.
Human needs will exist, and therefore inventions will also exist.
Now, within this process of living
in the world and studying these disciplines and advancing in them, both a
religious person and a non-religious person can participate. Both can make the
journey, and both are capable of making inventions. There is no issue in that
regard.
In fact, if you need a practical
example, then study the earlier Muslim era. The Muslims among us were
themselves producing these things and creating this body of knowledge. People
from outside the Muslim world were not the ones doing it. So this itself is
proof that our method of seeking knowledge makes it possible to do all these
things while remaining within religion. None of this is hindered by faith.
However, I would like to make an
overall comment here: despite all this, there still remains a difference. And
that difference is this: when you are a religious person, your faith influences
your decisions.
For example, take the case of
travel again. Two people may both be traveling, but one person may have one
purpose behind the journey, while the other has a completely different purpose.
One may be traveling somewhere to serve the religion, while another may leave
home in order to go somewhere and commit wrongdoing. The journey is the same,
but the moral value changes.
Likewise, whether you study
worldly sciences as a religious person or as a purely worldly person, the rules
and mechanics of the sciences themselves will not create any obstacle. What
changes is the moral and spiritual value attached to your actions.
But even here, the important point
that should remain before us is this: if at some point you begin to feel that
these sciences and disciplines are entangling you to such an extent that your
next life — the Hereafter — is disappearing from your sight, then you should
not pursue them in that way.
This is not only the demand of
religion; it is also the demand of reason.
If the price of worldly inventions
becomes your Hereafter, then what would religion demand from you? Think about
it rationally: between a temporary life of a few days and an eternal life,
which one would you prefer? Obviously, the eternal life.
Religiously as well, the matter is
the same. If a situation ever arises where you are forced to choose only one of
the two paths and there is no third option available, then as a believer, you
should understand that if you personally do not make an invention, the world’s
progress will not stop. Many people are already engaged in these fields and are
doing excellent work. It is not necessary that I myself must accomplish it.
But if my Hereafter is being
ruined because of it, then I should give greater attention to my Hereafter
instead. _________________________________________________________________________________
Question 5: Please shed some light on
this situation: suppose there is a doctor who is also a Muslim, and whose goal
is also the Hereafter. Among his fundamental responsibilities here is that he
has to take care of a patient, and he has even taken an oath that he will not
compromise on the patient’s health.
Now, if during an operation the
time for prayer arrives, and he skips the prayer to continue with the
operation, then how should this attitude be viewed?
Reply: So this is actually his commitment,
isn’t it? You are looking at it from one angle as a worldly commitment — that
he must care for the patient and look after him. But if you look at it from
another perspective, it is actually a demand of his religion as well. It is a
religious obligation because of the agreement he has entered into, and even if
there were no formal agreement, the patient still has rights over him. The
patient is in a vulnerable state, perhaps even dying — how can the doctor
become indifferent to him? He has to save him, regardless of whether he
formally took an oath or not. And when he performs this duty, he is in fact
acting upon his religion.
Now let us come to the second
matter: prayer. Did God make prayer obligatory upon you in such a way that
under no circumstances would you ever be given any concession regarding its
timing? Or is the matter actually the opposite — that concessions have indeed
been given in timing?
You know that in our religion, prayers can even be combined.
Now imagine a doctor standing in
an operating theater. He has already made an incision in the patient.
Obviously, after making the incision, he cannot simply say, “Let me go and offer
the prayer right now.” We are talking about situations where major surgeries
sometimes continue for four or five hours, and during that time, the doctors
cannot even move away from their positions.
In fact, some time ago, a doctor
asked me this very question, and I told him, “First, take care of your patient.
God has not imposed such a restriction upon you that even in this circumstance, you must pray exactly at that moment.” Allah has granted concession for such
situations. Once you are free, you may combine the prayers and offer them
together.
And this kind of situation is not
unprecedented. During the time of the Prophet ﷺ,
on the occasion of the Battle of the Trench (Ghazwah al-Khandaq), the Muslims
were stationed at the defensive lines and did not even get the opportunity to
offer the prayers on time, so they later made them up as missed prayers.
So the point is this: when you are
living in the world and acting according to moral principles, then in reality
you are already acting upon religion itself. These responsibilities should not
be viewed as something standing in opposition to religion. Rather, they
themselves should be understood as commands and demands of religion. _________________________________________________________________________________
“And
seek, through what Allah has given you, the Home of the Hereafter.” — Qur’an 28:77
Source: Mr.
Rizwanullah, Scholar Al Mawrid, Lahore
_________________________________________________________________________________
Arranged by:
Aamir I. Yazdani
MPhil Islamic Thought & Civilization (PAKISTAN)
MSc Irrigation Engineering (UK)
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