How can one reconcile the description of this world as play, amusement, and adornment with its being toil, hardship, anxiety, and sorrow?
Verse 20 of Al-Hadid describes worldly life as "play and amusement and adornment and boasting to one another and competition in increase of wealth and children." It likens it to a rain whose growth impresses the disbelievers, then it dries and becomes debris. Ibn Atiyyah explains that this represents worldly preoccupations that are not related to obedience to God. Al-Sa'di clarifies that most people spend their lives in amusement and forgetfulness of the Hereafter, and that the adornment, boasting, and increase of this world are temporary and fleeting, unlike the lasting deeds of the Hereafter. The more the soul distances itself from God, the more its misery and wretchedness increase.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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