Abi Al-Dardaa (a companion) said:
Why do I see your scholars go and the ignorant among you don�t learn from them? Seek knowledge before Knowledge goes away by the death of scholars. Why are you so clinging to what Allah has guaranteed for you but you waste what Allah has asked you to seek? I know of the worst among you. They are those who don�t pay Zakat (charity) except by force, don�t come to Salat early but always late, don�t hear the Quran- that they leave reading it for long times, and they don�t free their slaves.

Clinging to life and hoping so much from it is two kinds, One is disliked and the other is accepted but leaving it is better than doing it.
The Disliked is the one that keeps you busy from doing what Allah has ordered you to do. Or if your only purpose from it is to accumulate money in order to brag and take pride in it. The accepted one is the one that you don�t leave anything Allah has ordered you for it. And you don�t look to brag and take pride in it.

Aicha the Prophet�s wife was asked what was the thing the Prophet used to say most? She said I often heard him say:
If Son of Adam were given two valleys full of gold he would wish if he got a third one. And nothing would fill the Son of Adam�s belly except sand but Allah forgives whoever repents to Him. Allah made this money only to help establish Salat and for paying Zakat.

In a Hadeeth the Prophet pbuh said:
Everything becomes old in the Son of Adam except clinging to life and long hope.

Ali bin Abi Talib the Prophet�s cousin and the third Khalifah (third President of the Muslim nation after the death of the Prophet pbuh) said:
Two things I fear on you the most, having long hope and following the desires. Having long hopes makes you forget about the hereafter and following desires keeps you away from (Al Haq) the truth and doing it.

The Prophet pbuh said:
Be in this life as a stranger or a traveler and always think of your self as a resident of a grave.

Abdullah bin Omar said:
If you wake up in the morning don�t expect the sunset. And if the evening comes don�t expect the morning. Take from your life as much as you can before you die and take from your health before you get sick because you never know what will become of you tomorrow.

A scholar said:
If one has short hope in this life Allah will grant him four gifts:
*To make him more tolerant on Allah�s obedience because he would know that he will die shortly. Making more obedience will make his good deeds grow more.
* To have less worries because death is coming soon.
* To accept the little that he gets from this life.
* To have Allah enlighten his heart for him.

It was said that enlightenment of the heart comes from 4 things:
1. A hungry stomach.
2. A good companion.
3. Not forgetting the sins that you�ve done in the past.
4. Short hopes in this life.

In a Hadeeth the Prophet pbuh said to his companions:
Do all of you want to enter Jennah (Paradise)?
They said Oh yes messenger of Allah. He said then you should have short hopes in this life and be truly shy from Allah. They said we are all shy from Allah. He said it isn�t that but to be shy from Allah is for you to remember the graves and death, to preserve the stomach and what enters it (means to be sure that it is always fed from a Halal (allowed) sources), the head and what is contained in it (means to preserve the senses from hearing, talking, eating, committing sins), and whoever amongst you desires success in the hereafter let him leave the decoration of this life. This is how to be truly shy from Allah and with this you deserve honoring from Him.

It was narrated that the prophet pbuh read the chapter from the Quran that says:
�The mutual rivalry for piling up (the good things of this world) diverts you (from the more serious things), until you visited the graves but nay you soon shall know the reality, again you soon shall know. Nay, were you to know the certainty of mind, you would beware. You shall see the hell-Fire, Again you shall see it with certainty of sight! Then you shall be questioned that day about the joy you indulged in.� [102]

Then the Prophet pbuh said:
Son of Adam keeps on saying Oh my money, my money. What do you really have from your money except what you ate from it then its gone away, or what you wore from then it was torn away, or what you had paid for charity then this is really what you saved from it and kept for yourself.

In another Hadeeth the prophet pbuh said:
The first thing this nation got fixed with is renouncing worldly pleasures and certainty. But the destruction of the last of this nation would be by stinginess and long hopes in this life.

May Allah guide us all to His obedience in this life and an honored position in the hereafter.

Ahmad & Linda

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