Be in this world as if you are a stranger or a traveler

A walk is, in a sense, the smallest sort of journey we can ever undertake. We’re used to thinking of travel as the ‘fun’ bit of life, but enjoyment isn’t the only reason why it can't do some very serious things for us. At its deepest level, travel can assist us with our psychological education. It can – when approached the right way – play a critical role in helping us to grow into better versions of our normal selves.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said,

"Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveller"

So what is the difference between a stranger and a traveler? A stranger resides in a country that isn't his, while a traveler passes through land. The meaning of the order is: do not take this world as your residence.

There are three types of people: a settler, a traveler, and an expatriate. The expatriate is a stranger.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Be in this world as if you were a stranger..." This means we should behave as if we're living in a place that isn't our home. A "traveler" is a wayfarer. And the settler, is the one we should not live like, because this world isn't our homeland.

After hearing this, it had a great impact on Ibn Umar. He then used to say,

"When evening comes, don't expect to live until the morning. And when you wake up in the morning, don't expect to live until the evening. Perform righteous deeds and don't delay them in the morning until later in the day. And take from your health to your sickness"

In this is an advice for us to not delay performing good deeds in the last part of the day until the morning. We don't know if we will live until the next day, so we must do good deeds and never desert them.

Act for your life as if you will live forever

Act for your life as if you will live forever. And work for your hereafter as if you will die tomorrow. The world is imbued with poignance and longing. We’ve got a steady, unfortunate tendency to focus exclusively on what’s bothering us. We brood; we circle endlessly round our worries. We get drawn deeper into the gloomy recesses of our own minds. We lose touch with the brighter, more important reason for why we exist. High ambitions are noble and important, but there can also come a point when they become the sources of terrible trouble and unnecessary panic, coupled with the fundamental belief of the modern world, which explains a lot of our anxiety around failure, is that we are what we earn.

And work for your hereafter as if you will die tomorrow

Ibn al-Qayyim said in his work Fawaaidul-Fawaaid, “Contentment is the paradise of this world.” The world can never bring us any true joy. Hence the advice to live our life relaxed without too much stress, and work for the Dunya as if we've got a tomorrow to finish the task.

And when it comes to any good deed, the advice is to pursue it as if we would die tomorrow. It’s not that our problems don’t matter. It’s rather that they dominate our minds in an unhelpful way which shift the focus from our true purpose in life. Our sense of life, and who we are, shrinks to the worldly dimensions. And this is the admonition which our Prophet (ﷺ) has given us, to live in this world like a traveler. To live a life free of worry, and to keep our mind focused on what we've been created for, as Allah says in the Quran in Surah Mulk, verse 2

الَّذِي خَلَقَ الْمَوْتَ وَالْحَيَاةَ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيُّكُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا ۚ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْغَفُورُ

Who has created death and life, that He may test you which of you is best in deed. And He is the All-Mighty, the Oft-Forgiving;

Blog: https://www.arriqaaq.com/post/heartsofteners-be-in-this-world-as-if-you-are-a-stranger-or-a-traveler

Source:

The chapter Riqaaq in Sahih Bukhari is a collection of ahaadeth that refine the heart. Sometimes the heart becomes hard due to disobedience and constant carelessness, and thus needs something to soften it. The scholars have called the things that soften the heart "riqaaq"

- Audio by Dr Saleh As Saleh on the explanation of this hadith

- Buy the book The Book of Riqaaq by Shaykh Uthaymeen [Free on kindle]

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