The human body is not as strong or resilient as a stone or a piece of
metal; rather, it is made of an extremely perishable material: flesh.
The body is covered with a thin skinthat could be torn at any moment
by the slightest accident. Structurally speaking, flesh is very
vulnerable. It can be wounded, bruised, and twisted by the slightest
blow, and, with age, begins to lose its former youthfulness and
becomes rough and wrinkled. After death, it starts to rot. A few weeks
after burial, the body begins to disintegrate andbe eaten by worms and
bacteria, until finally it mixes with the soil and disappears.
As stated earlier, this shows us our frailty and reminds us that the
imperfections in the world are specially created. Instead of flesh,
human beings could have been created from much stronger and purer
materials or could have been totally free of pain, illness, and
vileness. However, all of these things were created to remind human
beings of how poor and needy theyare in relation to Allah, and to show
them just how imperfect and deficient a place this world really is.
When we look at these imperfections, we can see our own frailty and
understand the transitory nature of all people's earthly strength and
values. Meanwhile, we also can understand that the people who we
adore,try to please, or earn theirrespect and praise are as weak and
imperfect as anybody else.
But as most people cannot understand this or see this world's great
imperfection and flaws, they find satisfaction in this earthly life.
Actually, this is the result of an extreme ignorance and lack of
intelligence.
The morality of such people is described in the Qur'an as follows:
So turn away from him who turns away from Our remembrance and desires
nothing but the life of theworld. That is as far as their knowledge
extends...(Surat an-Najm, 29-30)
Those who are unaware of this truth and bound bya passion for the life
of this world are people without "knowledge," as the verse says.
But what is this"knowledge" that we must have in this matter? In
truth, it is nothing less than the knowledge of Paradise, which Allah
has promised to us. The most important steps toward this are to be
well-versed in the Qur'an and to think seriously about what it says.
In the Qur'an, Allah described the believers' real homeland in these words:
The life of the world is nothing but a game and adiversion. The abode
of the hereafter - that is truly Life, if they only knew. (Surah
al-'Ankabut, 64)
One hadith records our Prophet (saas) as saying that Paradise is
humanity's real abode, a place in which there will be no human
imperfection:
A proclaimer will proclaim: "For you there iseverlasting health, and
you will never be sick. For you there is everlasting life, and you
will never die. For you there is perpetual youth, and you will never
get old. And foryou there is everlasting bliss, and you will never be
in want. (Muslim)
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