Dunya – a place of distraction and tests
Delusion and distraction
Allah Almighty has spoken about the dunya in many verses. In Surat al Fatir, He states:
O mankind, indeed the promise of Allah is true, so let not the earlier Life deceive you, and let not the Deceiver deceive you regarding Allah. (35:5)
The dunya is often described by Allah as a place of illusion and tests. The Prophet (peace be upon him) also warned people about the deceitful nature of dunya, and accordingly we have many narrations on this.
The last advice
Uqba bin`Amir (may Allah be pleased with him) said the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) offered supplications for the martyrs of Uhud, then he ascended the pulpit as if he was bidding farewell to the living and the dead. He said::
“I am your predecessor at the Hawd (a pool in Paradise), and its width is like the distance between Aila and Al-Juhfa. I do not fear that you will associate partners with Allah after me, but I fear for you the world that you will compete with each other in it, and you will kill each other and be destroyed, just like those before you were destroyed.” (Muslim)
As mentioned in Musannaf Abdur-Razzaq, the Prophet (peace be upon him) had a bandage on his head while he was on the mimbar due to the pain he was suffering. It was the last khutbah he delivered before he passed away, as Uqba mentioned:
This was the last time I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) on the pulpit. (Muslim)
Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) said:
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) sat on the pulpit and we sat around him. He said: “One of the things I fear for you is what Allah will open up for you of the splendour and adornment of this world.” (Bukhari and Muslim)
Materialism is very dangerous
This was his last will for the Ummah: he did not fear poverty for his Ummah, rather he was worried that the Ummah would be distracted by the dunya. In similar narrations, the wording is slightly different and the Prophet (peace be upon him) said he was worried that his Ummah would compete for material gains. In another, he was worried that his Ummah would fight and cause bloodshed in their pursuit of wealth, and that they would be punished and ruined by the dunya, as it ruined those who came before them. He (peace be upon him) said:
“Rejoice and hope for that which will please you. By Allah, it is not poverty that I fear for you, but I fear that this world will be opened up with its wealth for you as it was opened to those before you; and you vie with one another over it as they did and eventually it will ruin you as it ruined them.” (Bukhari and Muslim)
Pursuit of wealth is a source of conflict and bloodshed
`Amr bin `Auf (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) sent Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah to Bahrain to bring its tax. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had made peace with the people of Bahrain and appointed al-Ala ibn al-Hadrami as their governor. Abu Ubaidah arrived with money from Bahrain.The Ansar heard of his arrival, so they joined him in the morning prayer with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). When he returned, They approached him, and he smiled when he saw them and said, “I think you have heard about the arrival of Abu Ubaidah and that he has brought something.” They said, “Yes, O Messenger of Allah.” He said, “Then be happy and hope for what will please you, for by Allah, it is not poverty that I fear for you, but rather that the world will be made easy for you, as it was made easy for those who came before you. So you will compete for it as they competed for it, and it distracts you as it distracted them.” (Bukhari)
Do not be tempted by desires
In his last words to the Ummah, the Prophet (peace be upon him) gave a clear warning that we should be careful not to be fooled by the charms of the world. The world is a place of test and Shaytan is constantly orchestrating his deceptions. He is always trying to pull man away from his true purpose. Be careful not to be deceived by the world, or tempted by your desires.
See reality for what it really is
In his explanation, Ibn Kathir commented on the meaning of the ayah
O mankind, indeed the promise of Allah is true, so let not the earlier Life deceive you, and let not the Deceiver deceive you regarding Allah. (35:5)
He said “O mankind, indeed the promise of Allah is truth” means the Resurrection will inevitably happen. “So let not the worldly life delude you” means this worldly life is lowly in comparison to what Allah has prepared for His friends and followers of His messengers of great good. So do not be distracted from that everlasting thing by this fleeting flower. “And let not the Deceiver deceive you concerning Allah” refers to Satan.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) was not worried that his Ummah would commit shirk but that the dunya would beckon and the Ummah would fall for it hook, line and sinker. This is exactly the state of the Ummah, which is what the Prophet (peace be upon him) feared.
Finding balance between this world and the next
The scholars of Hadith commented that we should avoid the distraction of the dunya. In his work, Ihya Ulum ud-Din, Imam al-Ghazali observed that people are of three types:
- The one whose livelihood distracts him from his akhirah. He is among the doomed
- The one whose akhirah distracts him from his livelihood. He is among the victorious.
- The one who is closest to moderation is the third, whose livelihood serves his akhira, he is among those who are balanced.
The “Moderate Nation”
Allah Almighty made us the Ummatun Wasata (the moderate nation) – neither forgetful of the akhirah nor focused on akhirah and neglecting the dunya. Moderation is the key.
وَكَذَٰلِكَ جَعَلْنَاكُمْ أُمَّةً وَسَطًا لِّتَكُونُوا شُهَدَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ وَيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ عَلَيْكُمْ شَهِيدًا ۗ
And thus we have made you a middle community, that you may be witnesses over humanity and that the Messenger may be a witness over you (2:143)
That is why Allah Almighty said in Surat al Qasas, in the Quran:
But seek, through that which Allah has given you, the home of the Hereafter; And [yet], do not forget your share of the world. And do good as Allah has done good to you. And desire not corruption in the land. Indeed, Allah does not like corrupters. (28:77)
The temptations of the dunya are hard to resist. Many narrations mention that the dunya is beautiful and green, just as we are attracted to greenery,
Abu Sa’id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
Indeed, this world is sweet and green, and Allah will make you successors therein to see how you will act.
The world is sweet and green, and verily Allah is going to install you as vicegerents in it in order to see how you act. (Muslim)
Allah made dunya to tempt us and test us. The nature of the test is that it is tough. If dunya was ugly, everyone would stick to what was right. But we are not angels and we are tempted and this is where we have to use our will to refrain from the wrong thing and do the right thing. We are accountable for our decisions and our actions.
The joint statement by the leaders of France, UK and Canada is welcome but it is too little too late. The killing and starvation is ongoing. Instead of saying sanctions are starting tomorrow, they will continue to be complicit in the genocide until their actions match their words.
We have to make the right decision, because we are accountable for it, however dunya diverts us from making the right choices. What we lose for taking the wrong decisions outweighs everything in dunya. Dunya will not last, whereas the akhirah will last forever. Only then will we see the consequences of our decisions. Take the right decision before it is too late. Allah and His Prophet (peace be upon him) asked us to stand with the truth and uphold the truth. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said the best form of jihad is to speak the truth in front of a tyrannical leader.
عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيِّ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ” أَفْضَلُ الْجِهَادِ كَلِمَةُ عَدْلٍ عِنْدَ سُلْطَانٍ جَائِرٍ ”. أبو داود.
Abu Sa’id al-Khudri. narrated that the Prophet (ﷺ) said:
The best form of (jihad) in the path of Allah is (to speak) a word of justice to an oppressive ruler. (Abu Dawoud)
It is not easy, but that is why the reward is high. We need to side with the truth even if it is difficult.
We ask Allah to enable us to take the right decisions and not to be distracted by the dunya and to use the dunya to serve us to achieve the best in akhirah.
Based on the khutbah of Shaykh Haytham Tamim on 23rd May 2025.