Understanding Salat — Page 30
Understanding S al A t 30 One by one, these things come in front of him, and about each, he estimates that he cannot live without it, as if it is his god. ( Tafs ī r-e-Kab ī r, vol. 2, pp. 318) If a six-month-old child could speak and under- stand, and he was told that when he grows up, he will leave his mother’s lap and that his attachment to his mother would decrease, he would be shocked. If a seven-year-old were told that when he grows up, he will marry a woman and his attachment will be more to her and he will leave his mother, then he will say, ‘I’m not insane, I wouldn’t leave my mother. Other people would do this, I will never do this. ’ Thus, it is a part of nature that at different times man is inclined to different things. When he is inclined to each of those things, he cannot imagine that he will one day leave it. When he gets older, he never thinks that at one time he was inclined to those things, and he con- sidered his life empty without them. ( Tafs ī r-e-Kab ī r, vol. 2, pp. 319) Each time we grow out of an obsession, looking back it seems like nothing more than child’s play. But we are so short- sighted that we don’t realize that our current obsession is no different. That is why Allah Almighty has described the life of this world as child’s play. Keep in mind that the life of this world is only sport