18:7 Al-Kahf (The Cave)

يخبر تعالى: أنه جعل جميع ما على وجه الأرض، من مآكل لذيذة، ومشارب، ومساكن طيبة، وأشجار، وأنهار، وزروع، وثمار، ومناظر بهيجة، ورياض أنيقة، وأصوات شجية، وصور مليحة، وذهب وفضة، وخيل وإبل ونحوها، الجميع جعله الله زينة لهذه الدار، فتنة واختبارا. { لِنَبْلُوَهُمْ أَيُّهُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا } أي: أخلصه وأصوبه، ومع ذلك سيجعل الله جميع هذه المذكورات، فانية مضمحلة، وزائلة منقضية.

فقال " إنا جعلنا ما على الأرض زينة لها لنبلوهم أيهم أحسن عملا" قال فتادة عن أبي نضرة عن أبي سعيد عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أنه قال " إن الدنيا حلوة خضرة وإن الله مستخلفكم فيها فناظر ماذا تعملون فاتقوا الدنيا واتقوا النساء فإن أول فتنة بني إسرائيل كانت في النساء " ثم أخبر تعالى بزوالها وفنائها وفراغها وانقضائها وذهابها وخرابها.

Do not feel sorry because the Idolators do not believe Allah consoles His Messenger for his sorrow

فَلاَ تَذْهَبْ نَفْسُكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسَرَتٍ

(So destroy not yourself in sorrow for them.) 35:8

وَلاَ تَحْزَنْ عَلَيْهِمْ

(And grieve not over them.) 16:127

لَعَلَّكَ بَـخِعٌ نَّفْسَكَ أَلاَّ يَكُونُواْ مُؤْمِنِينَ

(It may be that you are going to kill yourself with grief, that they do not become believers.) 26:3 meaning, maybe you will destroy yourself with your grief over them. Allah says:

فَلَعَلَّكَ بَـخِعٌ نَّفْسَكَ عَلَى ءَاثَـرِهِمْ إِن لَّمْ يُؤْمِنُواْ بِهَـذَا الْحَدِيثِ

(Perhaps, you would kill yourself in grief, over their footsteps, because they believe not in this narration.) meaning the Qur'an.

أَسَفاً

(in grief) Allah is saying, `do not destroy yourself with regret.' Qatadah said: "killing yourself with anger and grief over them." Mujahid said: "with anxiety." These are synonymous, so the meaning is: `Do not feel sorry for them, just convey the Message of Allah to them. Whoever goes the right way, then he goes the right way only for the benefit of himself. And whoever goes astray, then he strays at his own loss, so do not destroy yourself in sorrow for them.'

This World is the Place of Trial Then Allah tells us that He has made this world a temporary abode, adorned with transient beauty, andHe made it a place of trial, not a place of settlement. So He says

إِنَّا جَعَلْنَا مَا عَلَى الاٌّرْضِ زِينَةً لَّهَا لِنَبْلُوَهُمْ أَيُّهُم أَحْسَنُ عَمَلاً

(Verily, we have made that which is on earth an adornment for it, in order that We may test which of them are best in deeds.) Abu Maslamah narrated from Abu Nadrah from Abu Sa`id that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

«إِنَّ الدُّنْيَا حُلْوَةٌ خَضِرَةٌ، وَإِنَّ اللهَ مُسْتَخْلِفُكُمْ فِيهَا فَنَاظِرٌ مَاذَا تَعْمَلُونَ، فَاتَّقُوا الدُّنْيَا، وَاتَّقُوا النِّسَاءَ، فَإِنَّ أَوَّلَ فِتْنَةِ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ كَانَتْ فِي النِّسَاء»

(This world is sweet and green, and Allah makes you generations succeeding one another, so He is watching what you will do. Beware of (the beguilements of) this world and beware of women, for the first affliction that Children of Israel suffered from was that of women.) Then Allah tells us that this world will pass away and come to an end, as He says:

وَإِنَّا لَجَاعِلُونَ مَا عَلَيْهَا صَعِيداً جُرُزاً

(And verily, We shall make all that is on it bare, dry soil.) means, `after having adorned it, We will destroy it and make everything on it bare and dry, with no vegetation or any other benefit.' Al-`Awfi reported from Ibn `Abbas that this means everything on it would be wiped out and destroyed. Mujahid said: "a dry and barren plain." Qatadah said, "A plain on which there are no trees or vegetation."

Truly We have made all that is on the earth in the way of animals plants trees rivers and so on as an adornment for it that We may try them that We may test mankind observing thereby which of them is best in conduct therein that is to see which of them is the most abstemious of it.

It was said in verse 7: إِنَّا جَعَلْنَا مَا عَلَى الْأَرْ‌ضِ زِينَةً لَّهَا (Surely, We have made what is on earth an adornment for it) with reference to all living forms, vegetation, mountains, minerals and everything else present on the earth. They are its embellishment. That there are snakes, scorpions, beasts and many harmful and fatal things may lead someone to doubt as to how can they be called 'an adornment for it.' This doubt is unfounded because everything in this world considered harmful, fatal or plain bad may be so in a restricted sense but, in terms of the totality of creation, nothing is bad. Everything, no matter how bad, has been invested with many benefits by Allah Ta’ ala on other counts. The medical use of poisonous and fatal life forms in the interest of human beings is an example. Therefore, things that are considered even bad are not that bad in terms of the function of this entire universe.

Surely We have made all that is on the earth an adornment for it. The folk who recognize God, love Him, and yearn for Him are the adornment of the earth: its stars, moons, and suns. When the lights of tawḤīd shine in the secret cores of the tawḤīd-voicers, all of the horizons become radiant with their brightness. The adornment of the earth is the friends of God. The cosmos is decorated with them and the world painted with them. Their hearts are lit by the light of recognition, their secret cores are given access to the presence of proximity by the mediation of wisdom, their faces are turned toward the presence of proximity by the well-trodden path of rectitude, and the avenue of the Tariqah and the Sunnah has been placed before them. They are the signposts of the religion and the Pegs of the earth, the lamps of the world and the keys to the Gardens. They lay down the foundations of friendship and prop up the portico of truthfulness. God's gentleness toward the creatures comes through them and the goal in the creation of the realm of being is they. In name and mark they are the poor, and in reality they are the kings of the earth-kings in tatters. Anyone who wants to know their conduct and adornment should recite the story of the Companions of the Cave, for God displays them in the Qur'an: