Be always fearful of losing the love and care of your Lord and be pious.  Piety is not to be interested and to turn one’s back on what seems beautiful in this world.  Resulallah says:  “The love of this world is the instigator of all errors.  The pious are those who protect themselves against it.”  The beloved of Allah also said:  “My people love three things which are never going to be theirs.  One is the life in their body.  Two is the things in their possession.  The third is the world.”

“Dunya”, the world, in arabic means that which is closest to us because “ard”, this planet, upon which we spend our life is closer to us than the sun and the moon and the stars.  The life before “kiyamah”, the end of the world, which for us is the end of our lives is closer to us than the time after our private “kiyamah”, therefore, we call the first our life in this world and the next “ahirah”, which means later. 

But the spiritual meaning of “dunya” is the worst, the most harmful thing, that which contains all that is undesirable, harmful, which are the causes of that which is unlawful.  Even that which is permissible, when it prevents one from living according to the “shariah” is a part of “dunya”.

To like, to love something means a feeling which takes pleasure, which makes one comfortable, a thing with which one wishes to be together always, a lover remembers the beloved always and never forgets it.  The place of love is the “kalb”, the heart.  It is not the piece of meat in our chest, but the energy which is in it.

Then there is the mind, the intelligence, which is the energy inside the grey matter which is in our skulls.  “Kufur”, Faithlessness, infidelity, is the love for that which is religiously unlawful, harmful, dirty, undesirable.  “Kufur”, is also the hatred, dislike and refusal of that which Allah orders and Resulallah proposes.  To live like a Muslim is only possible when the heart leaves the love of this world.  The true Muslim who totally excludes the care of this world from his heart.  Those are called the “salih”.  To take all care of this world and the hereafter out of one’s heart brings one to the state  of “fana fillah”, the one who is together with nothing but his Lord.  Whoever reaches that state is called a “wali”, a friend of Allah, a saint.  A ‘wali” knows everything, for he is with the All-Knower.  He still lives in this world and functions well.  His mind is used   to deal with matters of this world.  He makes no errors in his job, in society, in his family.  He is rich, a pillar of society, the best father, mother, husband or wife.  But the connection between his mind and his heart is severed.  What his mind does does not effect his hear., His heart is connected only to his Lord  The heart which is attached to the world is sick.  It could only be cured when it is cleansed of the love of this world.  The medicine to cure this sickness is to know and abide by the “shariah”, Allah’s orders and the “sunnah”, the example of Allah’s Beloved. and to remember Allah and to see His signs and to listen to the ones who are close to Allah and to read what they wrote.  But not to listen to the ones who use mystical expressions, distorted quotations, who pretend and imitate for their own benefit, to accomplish their material gain or to achieve fame.  That would leave lead one towards the opposite direction, back to the world, away from Allah.

While being like this, if you become as rich as Haroun and as powerful as the Pharoah you still will not be of this world.  For neither the wealth nor the power would be yours.  They will stay with the “dunya” to which they belong and you will be with your Lord..

If your life will be long and your sustenance abundant, know that that is a test.  Our Master, the Beloved of Allah said to one of his blessed companions:  “Ya, Aba Hurairah, don’t build your hopes on anybody or anything except Allah.  Trust Him.  If you need anything, if you wish anything, ask Him.  For He creates both the causes  and the effects.  So you hold onto the cause and hope Allahu taala will create the effect . That is the meaning of ‘tawwakul’, trust in Allah.

If all the forces in the eighteen thousand universes were to get together they cannot touch you unless Allah so wills.  But if there is an earthquake, certainly you must run to an open space.  One day Hadrat Ali, may Allah’s blessings be upon him, quickened his pace while passing close to a wall which was leaning towards him.  Someone said, “Ya Ali, are you trying to run away from your destiny, what Allah has decreed.” He said,  “No, I am running from my destiny to my destiny.”

What you gain with your own efforts, working in an occupation which is lawful, gaining that which your efforts are worth and paying the “zekat” of what you have gained and being neither stingy nor spendthrift, if you become a multimillionaire is not considered to be worldly.  You also have to know that what is in your possession is not yours when you depart from this world it will stay with it, while all you will take with you will be either your sins or your good deeds.  So cleanse your body, feeding it with that which is lawful.  Cleanse your heart by taking out of it what your ego desires and beautify it first by the love of your brothers and sisters in Islam, then that of the Beloved of Allah and finally, with the love of your Lord.  And cleanse your mind from unnecessary knowledge and concerns the purpose of which is nothing but to make you think that you are better than others and from declaring things which you do not know about or gossip, blame or empty words meaning nothing.  Keep your hands away from that which is forbidden, your ears from listening to things which are unlawful and your feet from walking to places where you are not supposed to be.  Your eyes should  be taught to lower their gaze and be ashamed  of looking at that which is unlawful.  Keep your tongue from saying bitter words, then you will find salvation and peace in this world and in the hereafter, for your members will be witnesses on the day of last judgement.

When we leave this world and enter our graves, our first test will be the questions asked:

“Who is your Lord?”  “Who is your Prophet?”  “What is your religion?” “Which divine book do you follow?”  “Which direction do you turn in your prayers?” and, “What is your religious creed?”  For, Allah says:

                        “On that day, when we shall call every people with their leader.”

                        [Bani Israil 71}

The answers are:  “My Lord is Allahu ta’ala, my Prophet is Muhammed, alayhissalatu wa sallam, my religion is dini islam, my book is Qurani adhimushan, my direction is Kaabai sharif, my creed is Elhi-sunnah wal jamaah and my imam is imamu azaam Abu Hanifah.  Memorize this and teach it to your children.