Al-Hadid (The Iron)

20. Know that the worldly life is only play and amusement, pomp and mutual boasting among you, and rivalry in respect of wealth and children. [It is] the likeness of vegetation after rain, thereof the growth is pleasing to the farmer; afterwards it dries up and you see it turning yellow; then it becomes straw. But in the Hereafter [there is] a severe torment and forgiveness from Allah and good pleasure. And the life of this world is only a deceiving enjoyment.

Since love for the mundane world is the origin of all sins and the springhead of all errors, the blessed Verse presents a telling depiction of the worldly life, its different stages, and the motives dominating each stage by saying:

"Know that the worldly life is only play and amusement, pomp and mutual boasting among you, and rivalry in respect of wealth and children."

The five cycles of human life consist of neglect, amusement, luxury, boasting, and rivalry in respect of wealth and children. Childhood is spent in neglect, ignorance, and amusement. Adolescence is spent in playfulness and escaping from serious issues to amusement.

Youth is spent in lust, love, and luxury. Then, man reaches the fourth stage when man is inclined toward prestige and boastfulness. Finally, the fifth stage is when man is preoccupied with gaining more possessions and having more children.

The early stages are nearly determined by advancement in years, but later stages vary in different people and stages like gaining further possessions may occupy man to the end of his life. Some maintain, however, that each of the said stages occupies eight years of life totaling to forty years when man's character is fixed.

The blessed Verse proceeds with a similitude as to the beginning and the end of worldly life, saying:

"[It is] the likeness of vegetation after rain, thereof the growth is pleasing to the farmer; afterwards it dries up and you see it turning yellow; then it becomes straw."

The Arabic word kuffar herein denotes farmers since the word kufr originally denotes covering and since farmers sows the seeds by covering it by soil. Nonetheless, some exegetes maintain that the word is employed herein in the sense of disbelievers, since worldly possessions may solely deceive disbelievers and inspire wonder in them.

The Arabic word hutam denotes shattering and breaking into pieces and it is also applied to the straw scattered by wind. The word ghayth denotes good rain. The verbal form yahiju is employed in two senses: withering of plants and excitement.

It is worthy of note that human stages lasting seventy years and beyond are reflected in plants within a period of several months. Man may sit by the farmland and witness in brief the transience of life.

The blessed Verse proceeds with the fruits of life saying that consequent to one's deeds, either severe torment or Divine Satisfaction may fall into man's share. Finally, the blessed Verse ends by saying that worldly life is nothing but deception. The Arabic word ghurur denotes deception and mata‘ signifies the means of using something.

Thus, the blessed Verse is saying that worldly life is the means of deception, namely it serves as the means of deceiving oneself and others. It is worthy of note that the means of deception applies to those who regard mundane life as their final goal. They attach themselves to and rely on it. they set their final goal on gaining further possessions.

However, if the bounties of the mundane world serve as the means of attaining to exalted human values and everlasting happiness, it will be like the farm of the Hereafter and a bridge which may be employed to attain to sublime goals. Attending to the world and its bounties as a passageway and temporary place of residence may lead man to two different orientations.

It may either lead to quarrels, corruption, injustice, tyranny, disobedience, and neglect or it may lead to awareness, awakening, sacrifice, brotherhood, and forgiving. In other words, what leads disbelievers to deception and chastisement may lead believers to growth, development, and Divine Forgiveness and Satisfaction.