This world is a means to the Hereafter.

The Shaykh :
Al-Nisai, and it is from the book al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib by al-Hafiz al-Mundhiri, and that is according to our plan which has become known to
all our brothers who commit to attending our lessons, which is to suffice from this book with the hadiths established in the rank of
Hasan
and above. The author (may Allah have mercy on him) says in the following hadith, which is authentic, from 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, who said: The Messenger of Allah
(peace and blessings be upon him) took my shoulders and said, "Be in this world as if you are a stranger or a passerby." And Ibn 'Umar used to say: When
you reach the evening, do not expect the morning, and when you reach the morning, do not expect the evening, and take from your health for your sickness and from your life for your death. It was narrated by
al-Bukhari ......
It was narrated by al-Bukhari and al-Tirmidhi, and its wording is: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) took part of my body and said, "Be in
this world as if you are a stranger or a passerby, and count yourself among the people of the graves." And he said to me, "O Ibn 'Umar, when you reach the morning, do
not entertain the thought of the evening, and when you reach the evening, do not entertain the thought of the morning, and take from your health before your sickness and from your life before your death,
for you do not know, O 'Abdullah, what your name will be tomorrow." And al-Bayhaqi and others narrated it similar to al-Tirmidhi's.
Here there are two narrations with a discrepancy between them. The first is the narration of Imam al-Bukhari, and the second is the narration of al-Tirmidhi.
Al-Tirmidhi's narration is more complete in meaning in terms of wording, but al-Bukhari's narration is more authentic in chain and slightly smaller in text.
Then there is a difference in some phrases regarding the stopping and raising, so the second half of al-Bukhari's narration of
the hadith is mawquf (stopping at a Companion), while we find this half in al-Tirmidhi's narration to be marfu' (traced to the Prophet). In reality, al-Tirmidhi's narration has weakness in its chain,
so it should have been judged from the perspective of hadith methodology as weak and defective, except that this narration which
al-Tirmidhi raised in his narration ....
al-Bukhari has found corroborating narrations that strengthen it, and therefore we judged the hadith with its two narrations to be an authentic hadith. Al-Bukhari's narration
is authentic in itself, and al-Tirmidhi's narration is authentic due to external evidence. Al-Bukhari's wording: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) took my shoulders.
He addressed Ibn 'Umar with the words, "Be in this world as if you are a stranger or a passerby." Up to here ends the marfu' hadith in al-Bukhari's narration. Then he said in this narration, "And Ibn 'Umar used to say: When you reach the evening" to the end ....
So he separated the first phrase or the first part of the marfu' hadith from the other part, making it mawquf where he said
"And Ibn 'Umar used to say: When you reach the evening, do not expect the morning, and when you reach the morning, do not expect the evening, and take from your health
for your sickness and from your life for your death." As for al-Tirmidhi, he also raised this second phrase, where his wording is: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) took part of my body and said, "Be in this world as if you are a stranger or a passerby." Up to here ends the previous marfu' narration of
al-Bukhari. Then al-Tirmidhi adds, saying, "And count yourself among the people of the graves." And he said to me, "O Ibn 'Umar,"
the previous phrase which was mawquf upon Ibn 'Umar. Here he says that the Messenger (peace be upon him) addressed Ibn 'Umar with the words: "When
you reach the morning, do not entertain the thought of the evening, and when you reach the evening, do not entertain the thought of the morning, and take from your health before your sickness and from
your life before your death, for you do not know, O 'Abdullah, what your name will be tomorrow."
We said that this addition, which is his saying "Count yourself among the people of the graves" and the rest of the addition that came in al-Bukhari's hadith
as mawquf, came in al-Tirmidhi's hadith as marfu'. I said that this is only authentic with respect to...
In summary, from the hadith perspective, the hadith is authentic and marfu' to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and there
is no contradiction between the mawquf and the marfu'. We return to some appropriate commentary on some phrases of this hadith.
He (peace be upon him) said to Ibn 'Umar, "Be in this world as if you are a stranger or a passerby." In this hadith, there is an exhortation from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for people not to rely on this world and not to be distracted by it, and to make themselves like strangers who do not have
a homeland in which to settle. And therefore he said, "Be in this world as if you are a stranger," because a stranger has no homeland and no stability on earth.
Then he did not suffice with this amount of exhortation in his saying "as if you are a stranger," but he said "or a passerby." A passerby is more eloquent than a stranger,
for a stranger may settle, even if he is a stranger who has moved, but he may settle in the land of his sojourn. And here you see groups numbering in the thousands
composed of millions of strangers whose origin is Muslim, who settled in the lands of disbelief and multiplied there, so their children after them
became Christians, leaving the religion of their fathers, and they are strangers who reside and settle in lands that are not their own. So even if
the stranger was a stranger, he may be a stranger settled in the land of his sojourn. Therefore, his (peace be upon him) conjunction of the previous
saying "Be in this world as if you are a stranger" with "or a passerby" is more eloquent in exhorting against paying attention to this world
and relying on it, because a passerby has no settlement; he is only departing. And if he settles, it is for a very short time as required by
necessity. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) struck a wonderful example for this when he said: "My example and the example of this world are like a rider who stopped under a tree where he shaded himself, and then shortly after he departed," or as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said. So this stopping
is quickly removed. Therefore, the scholars said that his saying "or a passerby" is from the category of idrab (shifting) from the previous phrase "as if you
are a stranger," but rather "as if you are a passerby." Then he said, "When you reach the evening," to confirm this matter that the Muslim should be in this life a stranger, rather
a passerby. He said, "When you reach the evening, do not expect the morning," meaning do not hope for life. And "when you reach the morning, do not expect the evening."
The purpose of this is that when the Muslim is like this, looking at himself in his being in this worldly life, knowing that he will shortly
depart, he will look at the transient matter here to utilize it and to provision himself for his coming life, the eternal life that has no end. Either
life in abiding pleasure, or life in Hellfire and the severe blazing Fire.
So when the Muslim looks at his existence in this world in this way, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) exhorted: "When you reach the evening, do not expect the morning,
and when you reach the morning, do not expect the evening," this contemplation and this view of his worldly life in which he lives drives him to work for his Hereafter.
And therefore he followed that advice with his (peace be upon him) saying, "And take from your health for your sickness and from your life for your death," meaning seize this
little time that you have been given in this world, which is a trial from Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), who said: "Who has made death and life to test you
which of you is best in deed." In response to this trial from Allah (Mighty and Majestic), he said, "Take from your health for your sickness and from your life
And when you reach the morning, do not expect the evening. This contemplation and this view of the worldly life in which he lives will lead him to work for the Hereafter.
In al-Tirmidhi's hadith, there is an addition after his saying "Be in this world as if you are a stranger or a passerby": "And count yourself among the people of the graves."
This hadith may be difficult for some people, and it seems to me that I read long ago a denial of it by some of them, and that they derive from it
complete turning away from this world, reliance, and lack of work. In reality, this hadith, especially when we look at it with what precedes it
of noble advice and guidance, we only understand from it that counting yourself among the people of the graves means that you do not care about the people
around you, do not rely on them, and do not calculate for them, but rather your concern is to work for your Hereafter and to seize your health before
your sickness and your free time before your busyness, as will come in some hadiths as well. So his (peace be upon him) saying "Count yourself among the people
of the graves" means you are alive among people, but you do not give them weight or calculation when you see them engrossed in their world, in
their gains, in their amusements. So you are like the people of the graves; their affairs do not divert you from what you are in, which is turning to the Hereafter
and working for it and preparing for it. This is the intended meaning of this phrase, which is his (peace be upon him) saying "Count yourself among
the people of the graves." And he said to me, "O Ibn 'Umar, when you reach the morning, do not entertain the thought of the evening, and when you reach the evening, do not entertain the thought
The graves, meaning you are alive among the people, but you assign them no weight or reckoning when you see them engrossed in their worldly affairs, in
their gains, in their amusements, so that you are as if one of the people of the graves; their affairs do not divert you from what you are engaged in, which is turning toward the Hereafter
and working for it and preparing for it. This is the intended meaning of this phrase, namely his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): "Count yourself among the
people of the graves." And he said to me, O Ibn 'Umar, when you reach the morning, do not let your self imagine the evening, and when you reach the evening, do not let your self imagine
in the morning, and take from your health before you fall ill, and from your life before you die, for you do not know, O servant of Allah, what your name will be tomorrow. For you do not know,
O servant of Allah, what was said here. Ibn 'Umar did not say "O servant of Allah" specifically; rather, he used the general term, saying "O servant of Allah," meaning any servant of Allah to whom the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) addressed his words, "You do not know what your name will be tomorrow."
What is the meaning of "You do not know what your name will be tomorrow"?
He used the word "name" to mean "description," meaning that you do not know whether you will be described as happy or wretched.
So it is obligatory upon you to work to be happy in the Hereafter, not to be wretched. You should be happy, not wretched. And these advices are, in reality, contrary to what some people might think; they are an exhortation to work.
It is an exhortation such that death is before you. Whoever imagines death before him does not think in the evening that he will live until the morning, and in the morning it does not cross his mind that he will live until the evening.
Whoever looks at this worldly life with this limited scope of time will hasten to seize the time and not waste it, and to employ it in obedience to his Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He.
Therefore, as long as a person does not know what his name will be tomorrow, what his description will be, whether he is happy or wretched, he must engage in the causes that Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, has prescribed and made into legal laws leading to
him being happy with Allah, and he must avoid engaging in the causes that Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, has also made into legal causes leading to
him being wretched with Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Therefore, there is no contradiction between a person's ignorance of whether he is happy with Allah or wretched,
and between the writing of happiness and wretchedness mentioned in some authentic hadiths, such as the hadith of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud
in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, which begins: "The creation of one of you is gathered in the womb of his mother for forty days as a nutfah (drop of fluid), then it mentions the stages
that a human passes through. In the last stage, when the soul is to be breathed into him, an angel comes to him and writes his lifespan, his happiness, and his wretchedness, and whether he is male
or female. The writing of happiness at this moment when the soul is breathed into the fetus is undoubtedly a noble writing, as the scholar Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah established in his great book, al-Shifa al-'Alil, regarding wisdom, divine decree and destiny, and causation. He explained there that this
writing, when the angel comes to the fetus, is a writing preceded by the time when Allah, Mighty and Majestic, wrote in the Preserved Tablet, when
He said to the Pen, as He (peace be upon him) said: "The first thing Allah created was the Pen, and He said to it: 'Write.' It said: 'What shall I write?' He said: 'Write what is destined to happen until
the Day of Resurrection.' So every small and large matter is recorded and registered with Allah, Mighty and Majestic. This writing is a copy of the previous writing which
was recorded in the Preserved Tablet. None of these writings means that a person, as many ignorant people have imagined, both in the past and present, is compelled. He is not compelled. We have left the research on this matter, having mentioned it repeatedly, and I only want to point out now
that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) himself, when he spoke in an authentic hadith about the precedence of divine decree for every
large or small matter, some of the Companions said to him: "Then what is the use of working?" He said: "Work, for every person is facilitated for what he was created for. Even if he is from the people of Paradise, he will do the deeds of the people of Paradise, and even if he is from the people of the Fire, he will do the deeds of the people of the Fire." So your wretchedness and happiness, which Allah's knowledge preceded and which He determined in the Preserved Tablet, is in reality something for which you are the cause of its recording.
Since that ancient recording is unknown to us, a person must be prudent and rational. As long as we do not know what has been written for us
and how our lives will end, we must strive and work to be happy with Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and not be wretched. This hadith
is an exhortation to this work, which does not contradict divine decree, because work is part of divine decree. Therefore, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Work, for every person is facilitated for what he was created for. Whoever is from the people of Paradise will do the deeds of the people of Paradise, and whoever is from the people of the Fire will do
the deeds of the people of the Fire." Is there any one of us who knows, or as some extremists among the Sufis claim, that the Preserved Tablet was revealed to him
and he saw his name among the people of the Fire, so he became negligent and said, "What is the benefit of working as long as... my vision was revealed to me and I saw my name
registered among the wretched, not among the happy. So what is the use of working?" No one knows whether he is happy or wretched. Therefore, the answer of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was a wise answer when he was asked, "What is the use of working as long as the matter is already decided?" He said: "Work, for every person is facilitated for what he was created for."
This is quoted from the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: "But as for he who gives and fears Allah and believes in the good, We will make easy for him the easy.
But as for he who is stingy and considers himself self-sufficient and denies the good, We will make easy for him the difficult." Therefore, no one has any excuse ever, if Allah,
if he is wretched with Allah, because this wretchedness is what he strived for. And Allah, Mighty and Majestic, by His prior knowledge, revealed this striving from His servant and recorded it
with Him in His Tablet. So do not blame divine decree, but blame yourselves. His (peace and blessings be upon him) saying, "For you do not know, O servant of Allah, what your name
will be tomorrow," is an exhortation to your piety, along with those advices, that it is obligatory upon you, O servant of Allah, to work for your happiness so that your name is described
with happiness, not with wretchedness.
I ask Allah, Mighty and Majestic, to make us among the happy and not to write us among the wretched. And this is sufficient, and all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) gave a wise answer when it was said to him, "What is the use of working if the matter is already decreed?" He said, "Work, for everyone is facilitated for what
he was created for." This is derived from the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): "But as for he who gives and fears Allah and believes in the good, We will make easy for him the easy."
"And as for he who is stingy and considers himself self-sufficient and denies the good, We will make easy for him the difficult." Therefore, no one has an excuse ever, if Allah has not permitted it, if he is wretched in the sight of
Allah, because this wretchedness is what he strived for, and Allah (Mighty and Majestic), by His prior knowledge, uncovered this striving from His servant and recorded it
with Him in His Tablet. So do not blame the divine decree, but rather blame yourselves. So his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): "For you do not know, O servant of Allah, what your name will be
tomorrow" is an admonition based on the fact that it is obligatory upon you, O servant of Allah, to work for your happiness so that your name will be described
with happiness and not with wretchedness.
I ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to make us among the happy ones and not to record us among the wretched ones. And this is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, the Lord of
the worlds.