اعلَموا أَنَّمَا الحَياةُ الدُّنيا لَعِبٌ وَلَهوٌ وَزينَةٌ وَتَفاخُرٌ بَينَكُم وَتَكاثُرٌ فِي الأَموالِ وَالأَولادِ ۖ كَمَثَلِ غَيثٍ أَعجَبَ الكُفّارَ نَباتُهُ ثُمَّ يَهيجُ فَتَراهُ مُصفَرًّا ثُمَّ يَكونُ حُطامًا ۖ وَفِي الآخِرَةِ عَذابٌ شَديدٌ وَمَغفِرَةٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضوانٌ ۚ وَمَا الحَياةُ الدُّنيا إِلّا مَتاعُ الغُرورِ

Know that the life of this world is just play and diversion, and glitter, and mutual vainglory among you, and covetousness for wealth and children – like the rain whose vegetation impresses the farmers; then it withers and you see it turn yellow, then it becomes chaff, while in the hereafter there is a severe punishment and forgiveness from Allah and His pleasure; and the life of this world is nothing but the wares of delusion.

EXEGESIS

The verse starts with the imperative Know which, as in verse 17, is to force a realisation to the statement that follows. Know removes any doubt, as if to say: Know, with absolute certainty, that the life of this world is just play …

Laʿib (play), also laʿb and liʿb, is an organised activity stemming from one’s imagination, like the role playing by children, and hence translated here as play. It is even used to mean game, joke, amusement, diversion, pastime, and sport.[1] A child’s toy is called luʿbah. The Quran uses laʿib mostly to describe fooling around and engaging in frivolous, meaningless distractions. Often it is given along with the terms lahw (diversion) (6:32, 6:70, 7:51, 21:3, 29:64, 47:36, 57:20), khawḍ (gossip) (6:91, 9:65, 43:83, 52:12, 70:42), and huzuw (derision) (5:57-58).

Lahw (diversion) is anything that distracts a person from his goal or from what is of greater importance. Its meaning as a distraction is noteworthy. For example, men whom neither trading nor bargaining distracts (tulhīhim) from the remembrance of Allah (24:37) is not extolling men who forsake society, isolate themselves in worship, and do not engage in trade at all; rather, seeking one’s livelihood is praised as Allah’s grace (faḍl allāh) (62:10) (cf. also 2:198, 22:28). What it means is they do not give trade so much importance that it becomes a distraction from God’s remembrance and worship.

Zīnah (glitter or adornment) is anything that increases attraction or desire towards something other than itself. A piece of jewellery, for example, is a zīnah insofar as it draws attraction to one who adorns it. Rāghib categorises zīnah to be of three types: beauty in one’s character, such as the beauty of faith (49:7), knowledge, or compassion for others; beauty in physical appearance (7:32); and beauty in possessions (wealth, property, children) as worldly adornments (al-zīnah al-dunyawiyyah) and that easily become a source of pride and boasting, like Korah, who emerged before his people in his finery (zīnatihi) (28:79). See 3:14 for more on zīnah.

Tafākhur (mutual vainglory) is from al-mufākharah (boasting) and means to pride over each other in, for example, one’s achievements or lineage. The conjunction and pronoun suffix baynakum (among you) after tafākhur allows for this mutual vainglory to separate from the word after – takāthur (covetousness) – otherwise, it would have been understood together, to mean vainglory and covetousness in having wealth and children. But with such a separation, the vainglory is for any matter whereas the covetousness is specific to wealth and children.

Takāthur (covetousness) is from kathrah (abundance) and in the sixth verb form of tafāʿala (like the previous word tafākhur) means to compete with each other in accumulating the world, hence the meaning of rivalry or covetousness. This rivalry combined with lahw – being preoccupied with the world and distracted from God and the hereafter – is combined in the opening verse of Sūrat al-Takāthur (102): Striving for more distracts you (alhākum al-takāthuru) (102:1).

Wealth and children are mentioned as the obsession and preoccupation of those who, instead of viewing these as God’s blessings and a means to gain proximity to Him, use them to replace trust in God, to acquire a false sense of security, and to gain an upper hand over others. For a detailed exposition of the Quran’s perspective on wealth and children as a blessing and a trial, see the Exposition of 71:21.

Like the rain (ghayth) whose vegetation impresses the farmers is an analogy to mean the life of this world whose pleasures and glamour impress one who pays attention to them. Paying too much attention to the world and constantly chasing its short-lived pleasures and enjoyments causes one to be enamoured by it, ignoring what it ultimately becomes and leads to, then it withers and you see it turn yellow. It may all seem worthwhile and lasting for a short time, but soon becomes chaff.

Ghayth (pl. ghuyūth and aghyāth) is abundant rain (31:34, 42:28, 57:20). It is one of several names the Quran uses for rain. Others include ṣayyib (2:19), maṭar (4:102, 25:40), wadq (24:43, 30:48), and wābil (downpour) (2:264-265). Often the Quran simply elides the word rain and mentions God sending down water from the sky (2:164, 8:11, 10:24, 14:32, 15:22) or even just sending down the skies abundantly (6:6, 11:52, 71:11). Here it is used as an analogy for the life of this world and the apparent joys it showers down on those who pursue it.

Ghayth also shares a root with ghawth (help, aid) and istighāthah (to appeal for aid, call for help). For an explanation on the subtlety that connects the two meanings (rain and aid), see 18:29.

The word farmers is given as kuffār, usually understood as the plural of faithless (kāfir). Most exegetes, however, based on the verse’s context, understand it here to mean farmers, leaning on the etymology of the verb k-f-r, which means to hide or conceal. One who is faithless is a kāfir because he hides the truth by denying God. And farmers (usually called zurāʾ) are kuffār by virtue of their hiding seeds in the ground when they sow and plant them. Thaʿlabī tells us even the sea and the night can be referred to as kāfir because of what they cover and conceal.^[2] Another reason to interpret kuffār as farmers in this verse is that the phrase impresses the farmers (aʿjaba al-kuffār) is seen as resembling impressing the sowers (yuʿjibu al-zurrāʿ) in 48:29. For more on the debate of whether kuffār in this verse refers to farmers or the faithless, see Review of Tafsīr Literature.

Then it withers and you see it turn yellow, then it becomes chaff. Yahīju (it withers) is from hayj, which is withering and drying that causes yellowness, especially the kind that is apparent in a plant (cf. 39:21).[3] Yahīju has also been defined as the altering in state of a thing due to difficulty and stress.[4]

Ḥuṭāmah (chaff) is from ḥaṭama, which is to smash, shatter, or break something down to pieces, and the fragments and shards from it are called ḥuṭām. This includes anything that breaks down easily because of being overly dry, like straws and dry stalks (39:21) that remain from the preceding year.[5] The Quran often uses ḥuṭāmah to draw parallels to the life and pleasures of this world due to their being ephemeral and worthless,[6] and it is used as a synonym to hashīm (18:45, 54:31). For more on the meaning of ḥatama especially with the meaning of crushing, see 104:4-5.

While in the hereafter there is a severe punishment and forgiveness from Allah and His pleasure means severe punishment for those taken in by the world and whose evil exceeds their good (7:9, 23:103), and forgiveness from Allah and His pleasure for the righteous, who do not prefer anyone or anything above God and who come to God on Judgement Day with a tranquil heart (26:89). The contrasting of chastisement and reward, as in the previous verse, maintains the perfect balance of fear and hope in the heart of the faithful.

The pleasure of God is given as His riḍwān, which signifies consent or approval.[7] The Quran always uses it to refer to God’s pleasure and approval (3:15, 3:162, 3:174, 5:2, 5:16, 9:21, 9:72, 9:102, 48:29, 57:20, 57:27, 59:8) and almost always in reference to the faithful’s desire to seek it or as a reward for the faithful in the hereafter. Only once is it given about the hypocrites, who pursue what displeases God whilst loathing God’s pleasure (riḍwān) (47:28). In traditions, Riḍwān is also the name of the archangel in charge of paradise, though he is not named in the Quran, unlike Mālik, the keeper of hellfire (43:77).

And the life of this world is nothing but the wares (matāʿ) of delusion (ghurūr) is a reiteration, to show the humbleness and insignificance of this world before God’s eyes (see Insights from Hadith). Matāʿ is wares but also pleasure and any object of delight. And ghurūr is delusion and deception but it can also mean conceit and snobbery.^[8] Therefore, the concluding statement in this verse can also be read as: what is the life of this world except the [temporary] enjoyment of deceptions,[9] or even: what is the life of this world except the [accumulation of] wares of conceit? Many other verses also describe the world’s matāʿ (wares) as being insignificant in comparison to the hereafter (3:14, 3:185, 4:77, 9:38, 13:26, 28:61).

It was this same ghurūr that was mentioned earlier as the cause of the hypocrites’ downfall – being deceived by false hopes and being deceived by al-gharūr – the Devil or self-delusion (verse 14).

EXPOSITION

The purpose of this verse is to remind of the limitations and imperfections of the temporary world and inspire, instead, the pursuit of the hereafter, which is perfect and everlasting.

Many verses in the Quran warn against being deceived that this life is permanent (3:185), reminding the faithful that the hereafter is far better (6:32, 87:16-17). The example of rich vegetation in spring and summer that seems to be enduring yet quickly change colour and wither to chaff in autumn and disappear in winter is a common analogy the Quran uses to describe the life of the world (2:266, 18:32-42, 18:45-46, 39:21, 68:17-33), impressive at one moment when one is young and strong, yet quickly leads to nothing and changes to waste as one grows old and weak. Imagery of the opposite is also given frequently: just as God revives the dead earth and bare trees, year after year, so it is easy for Him to resurrect the dead and give them life once again (7:57, 25:48-49, 35:9, 36:33, 43:11, 50:11, 57:17).

These are forceful arguments to remind man that while he is created to live eternally, the world is not; and therefore it must not be his goal and final destination in all his ambitions. Man is sent here – On the earth shall be your abode and sustenance [only] for a time (2:36) – only to prepare for the hereafter, which is eternal.

But it should also be noted that the life of this world is play and diversion only if it is without consciousness of God and driven by materialism, a preoccupation to survive, seeking comfort and escaping pain, and with no focus or purpose toward any end goal upon the cessation of life.

Such a life is just play and diversion, and glitter, and mutual vainglory among you and covetousness for wealth and children. But for the God-wary, this life is a farmland where they sow for an eternal life of bliss and reap its rewards upon death. It is in describing this praiseworthy angle of the world that Imam al-Bāqir (a) is reported as saying: ‘The world is the best support for [attaining] the hereafter.’[10] And Rāzī quotes Saʿīd ibn Jubayr as saying: ‘The world is a temporary enjoyment and a deception when it distracts you from seeking the hereafter. But when it invites you to seek God’s pleasure and the hereafter, it is the best of means.’^[11]

A general look at this verse reveals at least seven adjectives to describe the life of this world: play (laʿib), diversion (lahw), glitter (zīnah), mutual vainglory (tafākhur), covetousness (takāthur), wares (matāʿ), and delusion (ghurūr). All these, collectively, reflect the paltry and frivolous nature of this world and how it does not behove one who is driven by a seriousness to succeed, and to something meaningful, to be distracted by the world.

Tabatabai quotes al-Bahāʾī on the first five of these adjectives, in how they reflect the stages of typical human growth: as children, we engage in play (laʿb). When we become youth, diversions (lahw) and vain matters occupy us. As we grow into adults, we busy ourselves with adornments and glitter (zīnah), that our financial independence empowers us to indulge in. And as we grow even older, we take up boasting and mutual vainglory (tafākhur) of our achievements, status, and lineage; and finally, when we are old, we become greedy and covetous of wealth and children (takāthur fī al-amwāl wa al-awlād) (as a means of security).^[12]

Compared to these five illusions and pseudo-realities is the incontestable reality in the hereafter: either the pleasure of the Lord or the chastisement of the soul, while in the hereafter there is a severe punishment and forgiveness from Allah and His pleasure.

Forgiveness from Allah is mentioned before His pleasure because purification from sin must come first before one enjoys God’s pleasure. And as Tabatabai notes, the fact that from Allah is mentioned with forgiveness but not along with severe punishment shows that God’s primary goal is forgiveness.^[13] Punishment is not what is sought but a person falls into it by forsaking servitude to God and being deluded by the world. Hence the concluding words: and the life of this world is nothing but the wares of delusion. Both options are given with the hope that man will choose the forgiveness of God and His pleasure.

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. In the tradition of the Night of Ascension and God’s conversation with the Prophet: ‘O Aḥmad, beware of being like a child who, when it sees the green and the yellow and is given something sweet or sour, is deceived by it.’[14]

Note: ‘The green and the yellow’ means the flourishing and the withering, just like the ‘sweet or sour’; one should not be deceived by the fortunes and misfortunes of the world.

2. From the Prophet: ‘God gives the world to one whom He loves and one whom He does not. But He does not give the hereafter except to one whom He loves. Indeed the world has its children and so does the hereafter. So be from the children of the hereafter and do not be the children of this world.’[15]

Note: See also 43:33-35.

3. From Imam Ali (a): ‘Is there no free person who can leave this chewed up morsel [meaning the world] to those who like it? Certainly, the only price for yourselves is paradise. Therefore do not sell yourself except for paradise.’[16]
4. From Imam Ali (a): ‘What is wrong with you that you rejoice with the little of the world that you gain but you are not grieved by the much of the hereafter that escapes you?!’[17]
5. From Imam Ali (a): ‘The similitude of the world is like that of a serpent – soft to the touch but its inside is full of venom. The ignorant one, who is deceived by it, is attracted to it [and hankers after it], while the wise and intelligent one keeps on guard against it.’[18]
6. Imam al-Kāẓim (a) said: ‘Both the provisions of this world and the hereafter are hard to acquire. As for the provisions of this world, whenever you extend your hand to anything, you will find a profligate (fājir) has already preceded you [in snatching it], and as for the provisions of the hereafter, you will not find any helpers to support you [in acquiring it].’[19]

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

As mentioned in the Exegesis, kuffār usually refers to the faithless (2:161, 3:91, 4:18, 9:68, and others) but here it has been interpreted by most exegetes as farmers.

Zamakhsharī however seems to favour interpreting kuffār as faithless because they deny God’s role in the blessings they enjoy until God sends a drought upon them and it destroys all they created and turns it yellow, then it becomes chaff, while in the hereafter there is a severe punishment. He compares this parable to the story of the people of the garden in 68:17-33 who took pride in their farms, vowing to keep the poor away from their harvests, but God destroyed it before they got to any of it.^[20] Rāzī also has said kuffār in this verse could apply to the faithless as well because when they see the world and what they have made for themselves, they are far more impressed by its beauty (2:212) than the faithful, and they suppose it to be the result of their own efforts.^[21]

Yet the verse’s subject is not the kuffār and their being impressed by the world; it is the rich vegetation that appears impressive to the eye. To Makārim Shīrāzī’s point, kuffār can only mean farmers in this verse because both the faithful and the faithless would be equally impressed by such vegetation.^[22] In other words, the verse is not merely condemning the faithless for being misled by the world. It is also cautioning the faithful that they may find the world attractive and be impressed by it, but they should not give in to its temptations and should remain on guard against its delusions.

[1] Hans Wehr, l-ʿ-b.
[2] Thalabi, 1/149.
[3] Lane, h-y-j.
[4] Lisan, h-y-j; Tahqiq, h-y-j.
[5] Lane, ḥ-ṭ-m.
[6] Tahqiq, ḥ-ṭ-m; Lisan, ḥ-ṭ-m.
[7] Hans Wehr, r-ḍ-y.
[8] Hans Wehr, gh-r-r.
[9]
[10] Bihar, 73/107.
[11] Razi, 29/464.
[12] Mizan, 19/164.
[13] Mizan, 19/165.
[14] Daylami, p. 200.
[15] Bihar, 77/188.
[16] Nahj, saying 465.
[17] Ghurar, h. 9652.
[18] Nahj, saying 119.
[19] Bihar, 78/320.
[20] Zamakhshari, 4/479.
[21] Razi, 29/464.
[22] Nemuneh, 23/353.