Muhammad (Muhammad)

36. The life of this world is mere play and pastime, but if you believe and fear Allah and avoid evil, He will grant you your rewards and will not ask you your wealth.

The preceding Verse was a warning against frailty and complacency against disbelievers. The Verse in question makes a reference to the main ground behind frailty - attachment to worldly possessions: “Be careful to not be deceived by the world.”

The majority of people regard the world as the scene of pastime and pleasure, but believers consider it as the scene of Divine Manifestations consisting of Divine Signs, where they exchange the rewards of the Hereafter for righteous good deeds and obtaining merits and virtues. The blessed Verse encourages Muslims to obey God in general and raises the issue of jihad in particular.

It also refers to the vanity of mundane life since mundane attachments serve as a significant factor hindering people from engagement in jihad.

The Verse reads:

“The life of this world is mere play and pastime.” The word la’b (“play”) is applied to involvement in a kind of imaginary order in order to attain to an imaginary goal. Lahw (“pastime”) denotes what preoccupies man and leads to his deviation from fundamental issues. Indeed the life of the world is play and pastime since no advantage or permanence may be accrued from it. The pleasures of the transient world end in hardships.

The Verse further adds:

“but if you believe and fear Allah and avoid evil, He will grant you your rewards and will not ask you your wealth.”

Divine Rewards in this world and the Hereafter are all non gratia. Neither He nor His Messenger (S) ask for anything. He is All-Sufficient and His Messenger solely needs Him and no one else.

The meager amount of your wealth which is paid as alms tax and other religious levies are spent for you, the upkeep of orphans, the needy, and the stranded poor travelers and also for jihad, defending the security and independence of the land, maintenance of peace and security, meeting the needs, and the development of towns and cities.

Such meager amount is paid for your own sake since God is All-Sufficient. Therefore, there exists no inconsistency between the meaning of the Verse in question and those concerning expending for Allah’s Cause, paying alms tax, and the like.