considered that if I brought them near, consorted with them, maintained ties with them, and was kind to them, I would be disgraced and people would know my belief and my path. As for science, I was distracted from it and its pursuit by what I mentioned to you of the pleasure of drink, consorting with people, listening to singing, and looking at the faces of the fair ones."
He said to him: "O my son, you have employed that which perishes and is forgotten, and left that which is thésaurized and remains. You sold the hereafter for the world. If you were to contemplate the food you ate, the drink you drank, the singing you heard, and the intimacy you partook in, you would see the greatest ugliness and smell therefrom the foulest odor. It is as if you, O my son, have not read the Quran or related the traditions. It is as if you doubted the word of Allah the Almighty: «Whoever desires the life of this world and its adornment - We will fully repay them for their deeds therein, and they therein will not be deprived. Those are the ones for whom there is not in the Hereafter except the Fire. And lost is what they did therein, and worthless is what they used to do»1.
Or as if you have not related the saying of al-Sadiq — Exalted Glory —: 'Whose concern is the world and its adornment, a barrier is placed2 between him and that which Allah has prepared for His believing servants of rest and bliss. Whosoever stretches his eye toward the splendors of the affluent shall be detested in the Kingdom (al-Malakut). Whosoever is content with a modest sustenance, Allah shall grant him the Highest Paradise (al-Firdaws al-A'la) however He wills.'"
The youth said: "O my master, I contemplated the Book of Allah — Exalted Glory — and found it saying: «Say, "Who has forbidden the adornment of Allah which He has produced for His servants and the good things of provision?" Say, "They are for those who believe