What is the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “Competition in [worldly things] has distracted you until you visit the graveyards”?

The questioner : I hope you will explain the noble verse in Surat al-Takathur: ?

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. First, I thank my brother the questioner who asked about the meaning of the noble verse, and that is because of my joy at people’s reflection on the meanings of the Noble Qur’an and their seeking of its interpretation, for this indicates care for the speech of Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
Second, the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted: is that He (Mighty and Majestic) addresses people and makes it clear to them that their competition among themselves in wealth and children distracted them from obeying Allah and occupied them from His remembrance until they died. This is the meaning of His saying: , meaning until you died. Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) named burial, i.e., the burial of the dead, a visit because the resurrection is inevitable. Therefore, when a Bedouin heard a reciter reciting: , he said: “By Allah, there is indeed something else behind that,” or words to that effect. For the visitor, as the Bedouin said, is not a resident. And he was truthful; behind that is the resurrection, and the visitor is, by his name, a visitor, not a resident. The people’s staying in the graves, even if the period is long, is a small thing compared to the Hereafter.
On this occasion, I would like to point out a word that some people say while being unaware of its implication. When a person dies, they say: “He has moved to his final abode.” This word, in its apparent meaning from its wording, is a serious word because its content and implication is that there is no resurrection and that the grave is the final abode. It is well known that there is a resurrection and that the final abode is either Paradise or the Fire. We ask Allah to make us among the people of Paradise.
Therefore, it is not permissible for a person to say about a deceased person when he is buried that he has returned to his final abode. Someone might say, “This is his final abode with regard to this world, for a person’s destination is the grave no matter how long his duration in this world is.” We say, yes, this is what people intend, it appears, especially the Muslims among them, for every Muslim believes in the Hereafter. But as long as the wording is capable of a corrupt meaning, which is also the apparent meaning of the wording, it is obligatory to avoid it. Yes.

The questioner : May Allah reward you. This is a questioner from the Arab Republic of Egypt. S. A. S. says.