The Condemnation of the World

Volume 3: Things That Destroy

The source texts define the world not as a place of stability and settlement, but as a temporary bridge and field of trial on the road to the Hereafter. The most fundamental characteristic of the world is its deceitfulness; it is symbolized by a dream, a fleeting shadow, or a woman adorned outwardly yet ugly within. Man's greatest delusion in the world is to regard the transient as permanent and to make the world—which ought to be a means for meeting needs—into an ultimate end. The text emphasizes that zuhd (withdrawal from the world) does not mean abandoning the world entirely, but rather not being attached to it in the heart and being content with only the amount of "zaruret" (necessity) required for the journey to the Hereafter.

Summary

The source texts define the world not as a place of stability and settlement, but as a temporary bridge and field of trial on the road to the Hereafter.

Sections

A. The Nature of the World and Its Deceitfulness

The world, by its nature, is changeable and faithless. Various parables are used in the text to explain the reality of the world:

Fleeting Shadow and Dream: The world is like a dream in sleep or a shadow moving swiftly. It is in motion, yet the one who looks at it thinks it is fixed. When a person dies, he awakens from this sleep and realizes that what he held was empty.
The Snake Parable: When touched it is soft and alluring, yet its venom is deadly.
The Deceitful Woman: It is likened to an old woman who appears adorned and attractive from without, but when her veil is lifted her ugliness is revealed. She is a trickster who kills her husbands (her suitors) one by one, yet continues to attract new suitors.
Seawater: Whoever desires the world is like one who drinks seawater; the more he drinks, the more his thirst increases, and this continues until he dies.

B. Envy and the States of the Heart

At the opening of the text, envy (ḥasad) and its manifestations in the heart are discussed. The feelings that arise in the heart toward enemies are divided into three categories:

C. The World–Hereafter Relationship and the Bridge Metaphor

The world and the Hereafter are opposed to each other like "water and fire that cannot coexist in one vessel" or like "two spouses." To please one requires displeasing the other.

The Bridge Parable: The world is a bridge leading to the Hereafter. The cradle is the bridge's beginning, the grave its end. The intelligent person crosses the bridge but does not build palaces upon it.
The Ship and Island Parable: The people of the world are likened to travelers who disembark on an island by ship. Intelligent travelers quickly meet their needs and take the best places on the ship. Those who plunge into the world are deceived by the island's flowers and stones (gold/silver), miss the ship while occupied with fruits, or become wretched on the ship with the heavy, foul-smelling loads they have taken aboard.

D. Social Structure and the Origins of Occupations

To sustain worldly life, man has three basic needs: Provision, Dwelling, and Clothing. These three simple needs have, over the course of history, given rise to a complex social structure and countless fields of craft:

1. Basic Crafts: Agriculture (food), Weaving (clothing), Construction (shelter), Shepherding, and Hunting. 2. Auxiliary Crafts: Trades related to making tools, such as carpentry and blacksmithing. 3. Regulatory Institutions: When people were compelled to live together, problems of ownership and sharing arose; this made necessary fields such as jurisprudence (law), measurement (geometry), politics, military service, and administrative governance. 4. Deviations: Those who did not wish to work yet wished to consume another's labor developed theft, highway robbery, and various forms of trickery (begging, conjuring).

Conclusion: A Warning Concerning the Reality of the World

The world is worth no more than a "carcass" in God's sight. If it had even the value of a mosquito's wing, the disbeliever would not be given a sip of water from it. Man's success in the world is measured not by how much of the world he acquires, but by how productively he can use the world as a "field" for the Hereafter. The intelligent person is one who abandons the world before it abandons him; prepares the grave before entering it; and pleases his Lord before reaching Him.

Key concepts

The World: Every kind of portion, aim, desire, and pleasure realized before death. It comes from the root "*dunuw*" (nearness), meaning what is given to man immediately, what is close at hand.
The Hereafter: The permanent states that will come after death.
Provision for the Hereafter: Knowledge and sincere deeds whose fruit remains after death. Though lived in the world, they truly belong to the Hereafter.
The Condemned World: Sins and permissible excesses beyond need (extreme luxury, pride, ostentation) that give only temporary pleasure and bring no benefit in the Hereafter.
Means: Necessary needs required to sustain life and reach knowledge and action (sufficient food, clothing to cover oneself). If used with an intention of piety, they are not counted among the condemned world.
Forgiven State: When it appears as a natural inclination, yet the person hates it and regards it as ugly through reason.
Forbidden State: When this wish is expressed in speech or translated into action, turning into wrongdoing.
Disputed State: Envying in the heart without hating it, yet also not acting accordingly with one's limbs.

Study questions

According to Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, when does envy not harm a person?

It does not harm so long as envy is not expressed outwardly (in deed or speech) and the person does not make peace with this condition in his heart by failing to detest it.

What was the physical description of the world that Jesus (peace be upon him) saw in the realm of unveiling?

It was in the form of an old woman with a hunched back, bearing on her back something of every ornament.

According to the text, whose enemy is the world?

The world is the enemy of God, of His friends (the saintly servants), and of His enemies (the disbelievers).

What does the parable of "the one who walks in water" convey?

It conveys that it is impossible for the heart of one who mixes freely with the world not to be soaked and darkened by love of the world.

Why did Uways al-Qarānī tell the children, "If you are going to stone me, throw small stones"?

Because he feared his heels would bleed, the time for prayer would pass, or he would be prevented from performing prayer.