A Comfortable Life
It is reported that ʿUmar b. ʿAbd Al-‘Azīz once wrote to Al-Ḥasan Al-Baṣrī to get a brief exhortation from him, so Al-Ḥasan wrote back , “The dunyā distracts and preoccupies the heart and body, but al-zuhd (asceticism, not giving importance to worldly things) gives rest to the heart and body. Verily, Allāh will ask us about the ḥalāl things we enjoyed, so what about the ḥarām!”
Al-Bayhaqī, Al-Zuhd Al-Kabīr, article 26.
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Related sayings.
It is reported that Al-Hasan Al-Basrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said: Four signs of wretchedness are: [having] a hard heart, dry eyes [that never cry], extended hopes [about this life], and greed and keenness to amass worldly things (the dunyā). Ibn Abī Al-Dunyā, Kitāb Al-Zuhd article 36.
It is reported that Al-Hasan Al-Basrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said: How strange it is that a people whose departure (from this world to the next) has been announced, and whose predecessors have already departed, still play around! Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-‘Ilm article 843.