The Second Parable: The Fleeting Nature of the World

The second example follows in the next section, from verse 45.

The word here generally means to strike, to hit, but also to strike an example — in this case an example of the life of this world. There is no story here; this is an example to think over, about the way things work.

Consider it. Allah says — and imagine that in Australia there was a great drought some months ago, and after the fires and the rest, when at last the water came, people were literally rolling about in that rain, in a way that would strike a man in England, who is trying to keep out of the rain, as strange. But these farmers roll in it, because they see the worth of it. Without rain there is hardship, and prices rise, because the crops cannot grow. So anyone well grounded in that respect can truly appreciate this.

He says: it is like the water We caused to descend from the heavens, with which the various crops of the ground are mingled. At first there is the whole bustle of it, the greenery, the lushness, all the crops, and the excitement, because that is food.

It is as at the time of ifṭār. In the daytime a man does not wish to see food — shopping while fasting is to be avoided, because more is bought than is needed, the stomach being greedy and the eyes greedier still. At ifṭār time, when a man is about to break his fast, and all that food is laid out, mā shāʾ Allāh, and all that barakah is there — can the goodness in it be seen, the goodness that is felt? The joy that is felt. The Prophet (peace be upon him) uses that, saying that there are two joys for the fasting man: the one is the joy felt there, the other the joy of meeting Allah; and the joy of meeting Allah will be greater still than this, great as the joy of ifṭār is.

But when the lushness has been seen, and all the food is there — subḥān Allāh — what follows is that when the rain does not come, everything withers, and it is all dry, and it becomes such that the wind simply blows it away. And that is exactly how life will be. A man begins, grows older, gains possessions, and then at length dies, and then it is nothing; every object of the world becomes so. This is materialism.

That is why Allah then says al-mālu wa al-banūna zīnatu al-ḥayāti al-dunyā: wealth and children are an adornment merely, not a permanence — a way of enjoying this life, and not an end in themselves — whereas the abiding good deeds are better in the sight of one's Lord in reward, and better in what may be hoped from them.

These may be duʿāʾs, or the tasbīḥ: lā ilāha illā Allāh waḥdahu lā sharīka lahu wa lahu al-mulku wa lahu al-ḥamd; subḥān Allāh wa al-ḥamdu li-llāh wa lā ilāha illā Allāh wa Allāhu akbar wa lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā bi-llāh. That is held to be bāqiyāt al-ṣāliḥāt. Otherwise, by the other opinion, if the tafsīrs are consulted, it is any good deeds at all, for they carry a man into the next world and benefit him there in the form of palaces, gardens, trees, the ḥūr al-ʿayn, whatever it may be; that is the benefit of them there.

That was the second example Allah (swt) gives. All these things may be taken as a means: enjoy the world, enjoy the food, enjoy the ifṭār, enjoy the ice cream, there is no difficulty in it. But it must be understood that Allah is the One who provides every means. These things are a tool in this world only, things to be used; it is Allah, and the good deeds, that must be the focus.