Quotes About The Shortness and Ephemeral Nature of Dunya (Worldly Life)

“When you’re faced with a choice, remember this: Everything else will pass away. Your family. Your friends. Your material possessions. Your beauty. Your youth. Your life. And there is only one thing that remains. Ask yourself: Which are you chasing?

“This life, all of it, is nothing but a single chapter of a novel with numerous chapters, and death is not the end of the adventure, it is the beginning of it.

Dr. Mustafa Mahmud

“Everything will go away and disappear. It is we who give it value and importance, and then suffer pain and torment for the sake of its supposed importance.

Dr. Mustafa Mahmud

“Get yourself out of this limited world of diseases to the wide world of the hereafter, which has what the eyes have never seen. Nothing is impossible there, and love is not lost.

O you who sold yourself for the sake of something that will cause you suffering and pain, and which will also lose its beauty, you sold the most precious item for the cheapest price, as if you neither knew the value of the goods nor the meanness of the price. Wait until you come on the Day of mutual loss and gain and you will discover the injustice of this contract.

"There is no God but Allah" is something that Allah is buying. Its price is Paradise, and the Messenger is its agent, and you will be pleased to part with a small part of this worldly life to obtain it. The part you lose is a small part of something that as a whole is not worth a mosquito’s wing.

Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah

“Son of Adam; you seek the world as if your very life depended on it and you seek the Hereafter as if you have no need of it! You will acquire what you need from this world even if you do not run after it, but you will only attain the Hereafter if you run after it. So be aware of your true condition!

Yahya ibn Mu`adh

“Everything is a metaphor. Everything is a sign and contains a lesson. Don’t reflect on how quickly Ramadan came and went, without realizing that in this is a sign of how quickly this life will come and go.

“To endure short-lived difficulties that are followed by Long Lasting ease, is better than hurrying for a short-lived ease that is followed by ever-lasting hardship.

al-Hasan al-Basri

“We will be asked, “what did you love most in this world? What did you spend life doing? What did you run after? Will it last? The things that you chased, will they last? Will they help you, or will they hurt you when the illusion of this life has passed?

“O soul of mine! It is not but a few days of patience; as if the extent were but a few dreams. O soul of mine! Pass on quickly through this world; and leave it, for indeed life lies ahead of it.

Imam ash-Shafi`i

“This life is not real. I conquered the world and it did not bring me satisfaction. God gave me this illness to remind me that I’m not number One; He is.

Muhammad Ali (American Muslim Boxer)

“This place is a dream. Only a sleeper considers it real. Then death comes like dawn, and you wake up laughing at what you thought was your grief.

“Travelers, it is late. Life’s sun is going to set. During these brief days that you have strength, be quick and spare no effort of your wings.

“With life as short as a half taken breath, don’t plant anything but Love.

“I tell you truly everything you now see will vanish like a dream.

“The realest things in this life are the things you can't see. If you can see it, its probably an illusion.

“All that you love in this life is only what is a glimpse of the next.The beauty, the pleasure, the love, even the fruit is only a sample.

“Today was a day of tears. The pain reminds this heart that this is not, this is not our home. It's not our home.

“Only by escaping the false dependencies, letting go of our fleeting attachments, and holding on to Allah, can we return with water from the mirage of oceans. Only Allah is lasting. Everything else, we are in a constant and active state of losing. Everything else is only that withering petal which we fall in love with today, but which crumbles tomorrow.

“With the withering of the rose, and with each fallen petal, Allah is reminding us that everything here is passing away. He is reminding us that nothing in this world will remain, except for Allah.

“What I have or do not have in a worldly sense is only relevant in as much as it brings me closer or farther from my Aim: God. This dunya (life) becomes nothing more than that dream that I experience for a moment and then awaken from. Whether that dream was good or bad for me, depends only on my state once I awaken.

“In dunya, the image is always better than the reality. In Jennah, the Reality is better than any image ever could be.

“This life is going to seem very real. At times its going to make us cry and flee to illusions for shelter. But it's only a test.

“This life is a training for the Reality beyond the test.

“Keep your eyes on your Ending. Few other things so effectively reveal the illusion and insignificance of our present day concerns.

“What relationship do I have with this world? I am in this world like a rider who halts in the shade of a tree for a short time, and after taking some rest, resumes his journey, leaving the tree behind.

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

“Like the ocean’s water entering the boat, the moment that we let the dunya enter our hearts, we will sink. The ocean was never intended to enter the boat; it was intended only as a means that must remain outside of it. The dunya, too, was never intended to enter our heart. It is only a means that must not enter or control us. This is why Allah (swt) repeatedly refers to the dunya in the Qur’an as a mata’a. The word mata’a can be translated as a “resource for transitory worldly delight.” It is a resource. It is a tool. It is the path—not the destination.

“As long as the ocean’s water remains outside the ship, the ship will continue to float and be in control. But what happens as soon as the water creeps into the ship? What happens when the dunya is not just water outside of our hearts, when the dunya is no longer just a means? What happens when the dunya enters our heart?

That is when the boat sinks.

That is when the heart is taken hostage and becomes a slave. And that is when the dunya – which was once under our control – begins to control us. When the ocean’s water enters and overtakes a ship, that ship is no longer in control. The boat then becomes at the mercy of the ocean.

“This worldly life, the dunya, is just like the ocean. And our hearts are the ships. We can use the ocean for our needs and as a means to get to our final destination. But the ocean is only that: a means. It is a means for seeking food of the sea. It is a means of travel. It is a means of seeking a higher purpose.

“As every day goes by, realize that a part of you goes with it.

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