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Advice of Scholars - ABANDONING THIS WORLD

As îmân and kufr are opposite one another, so are this world and the next. This world and the next world cannot stay together. In order to earn the next world it is necessary to abandon this world, that is, the harâms. Abandoning this world can be done in two ways.

Firstly, it is to abandon the mubâh, that is, many of the activities that are not sins, together with all the things that are harâm, and to use as many of the mubahs as is only necessary to live. In other words, it is to abandon the habits of being lazy or idle and/or diving into pleasures, dissipations and amusements of the world. Intead, we must spend our time worshipping, while making and using the most advanced forms of technology that are necessary for the protection and comfort of Muslims. And we must work so that non-Muslims may come to reason. Working for these purposes must be our hobby in this world. All the Ashâb of our Prophet and many of our superiors worked in this way. It is very meritorious and very useful to abandon the world in such a way. We say once more that the purpose of this path is to sacrifice all comforts and pleasures in order to do the things which the Islamic religion commands.

Secondly, it is to abstain from the things that are harâm and dubious in this world without abandoning the mubâh. Even this kind of abandoning of the world is of value in light of the present world’s condition.

Then, it is positively necessary for each Muslim to abstain from the things which the Islamic religion prohibits.