How should Muslims view Duniya?

On one occasion, Ibn Omar reported that Prophet Mohamed (ﷺ) that on the authority of Abdullah ibn Umar radhiyAllahu anhu, who said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) took me by the shoulder and said, “Be in this world as though you were a stranger or a wayfarer.”[1]

And Ibn Umar radhiyAllahu anhu used to say, “In the evening do not expect [to live until] the morning, and in the morning do not expect [to live until] the evening. Take [advantage of] your health before times of sickness, and [take advantage of] your life before your death.” [2]

Isn’t the life of the strangers? You know when you are the stranger in an area; you just don’t feel attached to that area. You are according to the definition here, we are all strangers. We cannot live here and cannot make this as our home. So there will be a lot of issues that you can’t do here but you can do back at your home. You buy a lot of stuff that you know that you will leave it here. When you are at home you will buy it and keep it, but here you don’t do this. You will try to live with minimum. You don’t spend much money here because it is not your home.

It is the same way that you should look at your life. This is not our home; our home is the next life. This is one here is the short period we live here and we can’t keep anything with us except our deeds. This is how we should treat our life. You are only a stranger. You only treat yourself with what is necessary and that is why you are working here. You need to live, so you only buy what is necessary. Like refrigerator, stool and basic tools. Similarly, in terms of this life, you concentrate on the things that are necessary and that which you would take with you and are useful to you, ultimately; which are the good deeds.

Or like a traveler, Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said, be “like a traveler”, he is not attached to any event, he has got to do what is enough to do and he keep going. So he is not tied, he does not feel attached in a full sense.

Similarly, this is the way we have to look at the life, for us to be a better Muslim.

References:

[1] al-Bukhari

[2] al-Bukhari