The Parable of Worldly Life: Water from the Sky, of Which You Own Nothing

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 19 July 2025 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

A Parable Repeated Twice

In the words of the Lord of the Worlds, glory and exaltation be to Him: ﴿وَاضْرِبْ لَهُم مَّثَلَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا كَمَاءٍ أَنزَلْنَاهُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ فَاخْتَلَطَ بِهِ نَبَاتُ الْأَرْضِ﴾ ("And present to them the parable of the life of this world: it is like water that We sent down from the sky, and the vegetation of the earth mingled with it"), this comparison is repeated twice in the Noble Qur'an: the first in Sūrat Yūnus, the second in Sūrat al-Kahf.^[1] What draws the eye is that Allah gives this example for worldly life: water He sent down from the sky, and the vegetation of the earth mingled with it, then it grows and thrives and flourishes and bears fruit, then it becomes dry rubble and dies. Glory be to the All-Powerful.

After Ten Years

And in the situations that arise among people, where quarrels and arguments and disagreements recur, reflect: ten years from now, the one involved in the dispute may be under the earth. When his voice was raised, or his zeal was excessive, or his arguments were sharp, he never imagined that after a little while he would be folded away beneath the ground.

The Owner of the Two Gardens

It is as though the Lord of the Worlds, glory and exaltation be to Him, is commenting with this on the story of the owner of the two gardens, when one of the two says: ﴿مَا أَظُنُّ أَن تَبِيدَ هَٰذِهِ أَبَدًا وَمَا أَظُنُّ السَّاعَةَ قَائِمَةً وَلَئِن رُّدِدتُّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّي لَأَجِدَنَّ خَيْرًا مِّنْهَا مُنقَلَبًا﴾ ("I do not think that this will ever perish, and I do not think the Hour will ever come; and if I am returned to my Lord, I will surely find something better than this as a resting place").^[2] Look at how much self-glorification, how much intoxication in himself, how much sense of personal triumph; all of him was swollen and puffed up, full, proud and deluded, filling himself until he saw himself as filling the earth and the heavens, and even as one who has a right over Allah until the Day of Resurrection: and if I am returned to my Lord, my standing is too great for me to be among the rest of the people, so I will surely find something better than this as a resting place. Glory be to Allah, the All-Powerful! Imagine to what extent he sees himself as a person of standing in this world and in the Hereafter, and sees that he deserves bliss in this one and in the one that follows it.

Then you see the other one say to him, as though saying to him: Easy now: ﴿وَلَوْلَا إِذْ دَخَلْتَ جَنَّتَكَ قُلْتَ مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ إِن تَرَنِ أَنَا أَقَلَّ مِنكَ مَالًا وَوَلَدًا﴾ ("If only, when you entered your garden, you had said: What Allah wills! There is no power except with Allah. If you see me as less than you in wealth and children"). There is one who looks downward, and one who looks upward; there is one who exerts his effort for himself, and one who exerts his effort in obedience to his Lord. And the difference between them is that the first is suppressed within himself, wounded within it, while the other has a face radiant with joy to the extent that it reaches the heaven to which he looks up; that one who seeks his reward for his work with Allah has an inner self expanded as far as the heaven, so where would he contract? And when would he feel constrained? He never feels constrained, except in the moment when he senses that people are not responding to the good he is upon: ﴿فَلَعَلَّكَ بَاخِعٌ نَّفْسَكَ عَلَىٰ آثَارِهِمْ إِن لَّمْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِهَٰذَا الْحَدِيثِ أَسَفًا﴾ ("Perhaps you would kill yourself with grief over their footsteps, if they do not believe in this message").^[3]

Yūnus, Peace Be Upon Him

The point in this is that Yūnus, upon our Prophet and upon him be prayers and peace, in whose sūrah the parable also occurs, reached in his call the point where he despaired of the people and left them and departed, but the Lord of the Worlds returned him once again and he remained among them until his people all believed. We always speak about the proportion and ratio of Muslims with every prophet, and the highest proportion achieved among followers was with Yūnus: ﴿فَآمَنُوا فَمَتَّعْنَاهُمْ إِلَىٰ حِينٍ﴾ ("So they believed, and We let them enjoy life for a time").^[4] Imagine that he returned to his people and all the people believed, although a little earlier he had despaired of them and thought that there was no benefit and no use in his being among them. It is as though the Lord of the Worlds, glory and exaltation be to Him, is telling us that guidance is not by your methods or your abilities, but is by Allah, blessed and exalted.

I have a very important question by way of follow-up to this: how do we see that the proportion who followed Yūnus is greater than the other proportions? We are speaking about proportion and ratio, not number; I am not speaking about how many millions, but about the percentage. So you ask: and how could that not be the case with Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdillāh ﷺ? And the answer comes to you: if everyone around Muḥammad ﷺ had believed, none of us could bear to look at the face of a disbeliever, and there would have been no place for da'wah. And the matter of everyone believing is just that a page is closed and the one after it will be opened; has the page of the Prophet ﷺ been closed up to now? No. And will it be closed until the Day of Resurrection? Impossible; it will not be closed until the Trumpet is blown and all people are dead in their graves, the first blast, and then after that people are gathered to the Day of Resurrection. Have we understood the equation?

So What Is the Worth of This World?

And our point in this discourse is that Allah, blessed and exalted, helps us to re-evaluate worldly life with all that is in it: what is its worth? ﴿وَاضْرِبْ لَهُم مَّثَلَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا كَمَاءٍ أَنزَلْنَاهُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ﴾ ("And present to them the parable of the life of this world: it is like water that We sent down from the sky"). The example given here makes the servant look to the sky, watching the water coming down from it. From the first moment the rain comes down from the sky until it comes down to the earth, what do you own of it? What do you think? Do you remember how in the old days they would take very large vessels and put them on the roof, and in the streets, to catch the rainwater? But open your hand: did you gain anything of the rainwater by your own power, or nothing at all? So what can you gain by your own power and your own self? Nothing.

Then where does the rainwater go? When it comes down to the earth it makes a plant grow or a fruit bear, or it hides in the depths of the earth, or it flows down until it is in a running river or a lake. So who held it so that it remained there? And who drove it to its places? And how did this water act after that? And what did it turn into when one day it turns into a morsel of bread that you eat, and it enters your belly, and you store up strength in your body and your well-being by it? Who turns the courses of the universe?

And wealth is the same: it is not yours, it is not your property, you cannot command it and you have no power to bear its tax. We understand this. Rather, the wealth I have is a trust that Allah has deposited with me until I deliver it to someone else. Whoever thought that he owns has been disappointed in his thought; and whoever possessed and felt his power over what he possesses has failed in estimating his powers, and has thought ill of Allah, glory and exaltation be to Him.

An Opportunity to Assess Yourself

When Allah gives us examples like these, He gives you the opportunity to assess yourself; for you are dearer and more precious and more fruitful than this world and what is in it. So save yourself and flee from it, for perhaps Allah, Mighty and Majestic, will grant us acceptance before Him. ﴿فَمَن كَانَ يَرْجُو لِقَاءَ رَبِّهِ فَلْيَعْمَلْ عَمَلًا صَالِحًا وَلَا يُشْرِكْ بِعِبَادَةِ رَبِّهِ أَحَدًا﴾ ("So whoever hopes for the meeting with his Lord, let him do righteous work and not associate anyone in the worship of his Lord");^[5] not with wealth, nor with status, nor with position.

I ask Allah, glory and exaltation be to Him, to take us by our forelocks to Him, and to arrange for us the affair of our religion and the affair of our worldly life, and to guide us on our way to the places of our guidance, and to decree our salvation before Him. I ask Allah, the Most High, the All-Powerful, not to leave in our souls any trace of showing off or associating partners with Him, and to make us truthful in our claim to faith, and to heal the sicknesses of our hearts as He heals the sicknesses of our bodies. O Allah, grant well-being to our minds, and do not try us with thinking ill of You nor with regard to what You have promised, O Lord of the Worlds.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The verse quoted is from Sūrat al-Kahf (45), and the parable occurs in similar form in Sūrat Yūnus (24): ﴿إِنَّمَا مَثَلُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا كَمَاءٍ أَنزَلْنَاهُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ فَاخْتَلَطَ بِهِ نَبَاتُ الْأَرْضِ﴾. The speaker confined himself to the opening of the parable in both places. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Kahf, verses 35 and 36; what is quoted after it is from verse 39. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Kahf, verse 6. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Ṣāffāt, verse 148, concerning the people of Yūnus, peace be upon him; see also Sūrat Yūnus, verse 98. The speaker mentioned only the part quoted. The comparison between the proportions of followers is the speaker's own estimate. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Kahf, verse 110. The speaker said that it is the end of the sūrah.