I warn you about the world, for it is (apparently) sweet and pleasant, fresh and verdant. Carnal desires have surrounded it. It becomes beloved to people because of its quickly available blessings, and makes them desirous with its little (adornments). It is decorated with (false) hopes and is adorned with deception and fraud. Neither are its joys lasting, nor can one remain satisfied with its sudden calamities. It is deceptive, harmful, changing, and perishing, ending, and disappearing, devouring and destroying. When it reaches the ultimate desires of those who incline toward it and are happy with it, then it is only what Allah the Exalted has described: (The example of this worldly life is) 'like water which We send down from the sky, then the vegetation of the earth mixes with it, and (it swells and blooms well) then dries up and becomes scattered straw which the winds (blow here and there), and Allah has power over all things.' Whoever enjoys the comfort of this world, then his tears also flow afterward, and whoever looks at the face of the world's joys, it pushes him into calamities and shows him its coldness. And whoever gets light sprinkles of the rain of comfort and ease, heavy downpours of calamity and affliction also fall on him. It is appropriate for the world that in the morning it becomes a friend to someone and takes revenge for him (from the enemy), and in the evening it becomes as if there was no acquaintance. If one side of it is sweet and pleasant, the other part is bitter and distasteful. Whoever fulfills any desire from the freshness of the world, it also brings the hardships of calamities upon him. Whoever has evening on the wings of security and safety, morning comes to him on the wings of fear. It is deceptive, and everything of it is deceptive. It itself is going to perish, and the one living in it is also perishable. In none of its provisions is there the glory of security and God-consciousness. Whoever takes less share increases the means of comfort for himself. And whoever gathers more of the world increases destructive things for himself. (Although) he has to separate from his wealth and possessions soon. How many people are there who trusted the world, and it put them in calamities. And how many were sitting satisfied with it, whom it threw down, and how many were with awe and grandeur, whom it made low and base, and how many were with pride and arrogance, whom it degraded and left. Its kingdom is a thing that passes from hand to hand, its source is turbid, its pleasant water is salty, its sweetness is bitter like aloe, its food is deadly poison, and its chains of causes and means are weak. The one who remains alive is in danger of destruction, and the healthy faces diseases. Its dominion is going to be taken away, its powerful is going to become subordinate, the wealthy is tormented by misfortunes, and the neighbor is plundered. Do you not live in the houses of the previous people who were long-lived, with lasting signs, binding great hopes, with great numbers and large armies? How they worshiped the world in various ways, and how they preferred it over the Hereafter. Then they left without any such provision and mount that would take them through the path to the destination. Has the news ever reached you that the world offered any ransom for them, or sent them any help, or stayed well with them? Rather, it broke mountains of calamities upon them, made them helpless and defeated with repeated afflictions, shook them with returning hardships, threw them face down on the dust, crushed them with its hooves, and helped the events of time against them. You have seen that whoever slightly inclined toward the world and adopted it and clung to it, it adopted (such) strangeness toward them (changing its nature) until they separated from it forever and left, and it gave them nothing as provision except hunger, and no means of staying except a narrow place, and no light except deep darkness, and no result except regret. So do you prefer this world, or are you satisfied with it, or are you dying for it? Whoever does not remain distrustful of the world and lives in it without fear and danger, for him this is a bad house. Know, and indeed you know, that (one day or another) you have to leave the world, and depart from here. Take lesson from those people who used to say: 'Who is greater than us in strength and power?' They were carried to the graves, but not in such a way that they were considered riders. They were placed in graves, but they are not called guests. Their graves were built with stones, and dust shrouds were placed on them. They are such neighbors that they do not answer the caller, and cannot prevent injustices, and do not care about those who weep and wail. If clouds (gather and) rain on them, they do not become happy, and if famine comes, despair does not cover them. They are in one place, but separate. They are neighbors to each other, but far apart. They are close, but there is no meeting. They are near, but do not reach each other. They lie as burdens, unaware. Their enmity and animosity have ended, and grudges have been erased. There is no fear of any harm from them, nor any expectation of removing any trouble. They have exchanged the upper part of the earth with the inner part, and spaciousness and width with narrowness, and home and dwelling with wilderness, and light with darkness. And just as they were born barefoot and bare-bodied, so they have become (buried) in the earth, and have departed from this world taking only deeds toward eternal life and the everlasting house. As Allah the Exalted has said: 'Just as We created the creatures the first time, so We will create them again. Fulfilling this promise is Our responsibility, and We will certainly fulfill it.'