Ibrahim 14:3

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

"Those who love the life of this world more than the Hereafter, who hinder (men) from the
Path of Allah and seek therein something crooked: they are astray by a long distance."
[Ibrahim 14:3]

Sulaiman ibn 'Abdul-Malik, a calipha of the Ummayid dynasty, asked a scholar, "Why is it that
we hate death?" The scholar replied, "You have built up (constructed) this world and you
have destroyed the Hereafter. You hate to leave the thing that you have constructed for the
thing that you have ruined."

Three crooked traits have been identified in this verse, 1) To love this world more than the
hereafter, 2) To keep people away from the way of Allah, and 3) misreading and
misinterpreting the Qur'an and Sunnah in ways to satisfy personal ideas and wishes. This
verse is talking about the non-Muslims. However, the scholars say that when these three
traits are combined in a Muslim, then this ayah is addresing them also.

We should always be mindful that we are only going to be on this world for a few years (60,
70, or even 100 years) after which we will die. The life hereafter, in comparison to these few
years, is much longer (infinite). A simple equation of putting 100/infinite gives us the ratio of
importance of the this world to the hereafter.

A bit of good news though, we can make all of our actions of this world count for the
hereafter. The first hadith in Sahih Bukhari narrated by Umar (RA), the Messenger of Allah
(PBUH) said, "All actions are based on intentions." If we intend our actions for the right
reasons, then we can reap the benefits both in this world and the hereafter.

If we say, the reason I am eating is so that I can stay strong and worship you oh Allah, then
Allah (SWT) will reward us for it. If we say, the reason I am sleeping is so that I can rest my
body and then wake up to worship you oh Allah, then Allah (SWT) will reward us for it. This
same reasoning is applicable to all of the halal things we do in our daily lives. In this way, we
can make our entire lives a means for building for ourselves a life in the hereafter inshAllah.
--------------------

Source : sis Karen (email)