The Qur’ān (3:14) says: “Alluring to man is the enjoyment of worldly desires through women and offspring, heaped-up treasures of gold and silver, horses of high mark, cattle and plantations. These are the comforts of this life. With Allah is the best of all goals.”
Allah’s Messenger ﷺ has said: “The love of dunya (worldly life or worldly enjoyments) is the main source of all errors.” Allah, the Exalted, made this world a place of trial and has placed delights and pleasures in it as a test for mankind. These transient worldly things make a person oblivious of the realities pertaining to the next life and he no longer remembers the fact that the most excellent reward is with Allah, which is far better than all passing delights of this short life.
The Qur’ānic statement, which is concerned with the education of the Muslims, mentions all these comforts and pleasures, but portrays alongside them a variety of physical and spiritual pleasures which are provided in the life to come for those who control their natural instincts in this life. These are the reward awaiting those who maintain their noble human standard, and who do not allow themselves to be overwhelmed by the cheap, physical enjoyments of this world.
In a single ayah the surah groups together the most enjoyable pleasures of this life: women, children, endless wealth, splendid horses, fertile land and cattle. These represent the total sum of worldly pleasures, either by themselves, or because of what they can provide for their owners by way of other pleasures.
We, certainly love to enjoy these pleasures. It is essential for human life so that it may continue and progress. But there is certainly another side which is also infused in human nature and that is to balance that love and to guard man against total consumption by it to the extent that he loses the great effects of the spiritual element in his constitution. That aspect provides us with the ability to look up to the sublime and to control our desires and fulfil them in a befitting and appropriate measure. One can thus achieve one’s fulfilment here but, at the same time, elevate human life spiritually and look forward to the life to come where one can enjoy Allah’s good pleasure.
The ayah speaks of those worldly desires as being made alluring to man. There is no suggestion, implicit or explicit, that they are disgraceful, or that they should be treated as such. We are only called upon to understand their nature in order to place them in their appropriate place in our lives and not allow them to suppress what is superior to and nobler than them.
Islam is distinguished by its realistic approach to human nature and its constant effort to elevate rather than suppress it. Suppression stems from the condemnation of natural desires, or looking down on them with contempt. They are portrayed as sinful and evil. There is, on the other hand, the pressure of these desires themselves which cannot be overcome because they are deeply rooted in human nature, having an essential role to play in human life. Indeed, they have not been made part of human nature in vain.
As this conflict rages within man, it gives rise to psychological complexes. This is the opinion held by scientists specialised in psychology. Assuming that their theory is correct, we still find that Islam has kept man safe from this conflict between the two parts of his human soul, the temptation to indulge in wanton satisfaction of desire and seek every type of easy pleasure and the aspirations to a nobler existence. It caters for the fulfilment of both, combining continuity with moderation.
It will be noted that things named in the ayah are the centre of attraction for human beings, out of which, women come first and then the children. For whatever man goes about procuring is because of the needs of his family – wife and children – to share it with them. Then come other forms of wealth and possessions like gold, silver, cattle and tillage – which attract people secondarily.
It goes without saying that women and children are among the most important and strongest desires of man. Coupled with these in the text listing the desires of this world are “heaped-up treasures of gold and silver”. The phrase “heaped-up treasures” implies a consuming greed for wealth. If it was merely a love of wealth that is meant here, the Qur’ān would simply have used the term “money”, or “gold and silver”. “Heaped-up treasures” however, adds a further connotation, that is treasure for its own sake.
The implication here being the greed to amass gold and silver, because the mere amassing of wealth is a human desire, regardless of what that wealth may be used for, especially in satisfying other desires.
The Qur’ānic ayah then adds, “horses of high mark.” Even in the material world of machines in which we live, horses remain among those pleasures loved and desired by all people. A stallion combines beauty with vigour, strength, intelligence and a close relationship with his owner. Even those who do not ride horses warm to the sight of a lively horse as it runs.
Cattle and plantations are then mentioned. The two are closely linked together in our minds and in real life. People love the scene of plants growing out of the earth, of life blossoming. When the desire of ownership is coupled with this, cattle and plantations are certainly craved. All the desires mentioned in this ayah are mere examples of what people strive to have.
The ones so identified were particularly appealing to the community which the Qur’ān addressed for the first time, but many of them appeal to all people in all ages. The Qur’ān mentions them before stating their real value so that they are given their proper place in the list of priorities of any believer: “These are the comforts of this life.” (Ayah 14)
Lastly, “Alluring to man is the enjoyment of worldly desires through women and offspring, heaped-up treasures of gold and silver, horses of high mark, cattle and plantations.” Why has man been made in a way that he is temperamentally attracted to these things? The answer is that Allah, the Exalted, has done so in His ultimate wisdom; if man was not naturally inclined to and even enamoured with these things, all worldly business would have gone topsy-turvy.
Why would someone sweat on farms and fields? Why would a wage-earner or an entrepreneur burn themselves out in an industry, or a business-man would put his capital and labour in buying and selling things? The secret was that the people of the world were made to grow and survive through this instinctive love for such things whereby they would go about collecting and preserving these. If we think about it, we shall realise that it was the love for what is desirable in this mortal world which brought them out of their homes, and in this silent process, gave the world a strong and ongoing social system.