By al-Hâfidh Ibn Rajab
Taken from Jâmi' al-U'lûm wal-Hikam [1]
Hadîth #40:
Ibn Umar (Radhiallahu 'Anhum) said: Allâh's Messenger (Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wa Sallam) took me by my shoulder and said:
"Be in this life as if you were a stranger or a traveler on a path."
Ibn Umar used to say,
"If you reach the evening then do not expect to reach the morning, and if you reach the morning then do not expect to reach the evening. Take from your health before your sickness, and from your life before your death." - [Reported by al-Bukhârî]
This hadîth is the foundation for limiting one's hope in this life. So a believer must not take this life as a homeland or permanent residence, his heart being tranquil and resting assured within it. Rather, he must be in it as if he were on a journey, preparing himself to depart. The advice of the Prophets and their followers confirmed this.
Allâh said, narrating upon a believer at the time of Fir'awn that he said:
"O my people! Truly, this life of the world is nothing but a (quick passing) enjoyment, and verily, the hereafter that is the home that will remain forever." [Ghafir : 39]
Alî ibn Abi Tâlib used to say,
"Certainly this life has begun travelling away, and the hereafter has begun travelling forward, and each has its children. So be from the children of the hereafter, and don't be from the children of this life. For indeed today there is action with no account, and tomorrow there will be account with no action."
Umar ibn Abdul Azîz said in his khutbah,
