The Parable of Two Opposing Wives
The human qalb (the heart) is limited; it is impossible to fit two completely opposing loves into it in an absolute sense at the same time. While the world represents fleeting pleasures, the hereafter expresses the abode of eternity. ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Geylānī (may Allah sanctify his secret) describes this conflict with a striking analogy: "The world and the hereafter are like two wives. If one is pleased with you, the other is offended." A person who devotes his heart entirely to worldly desires, to accumulating wealth, and to attaining status, unknowingly ruins his hereafter. Whoever makes the world his main goal will be deprived of the blessings of the hereafter forever.
The Blessing of Turning One's Intention to the Hereafter
Islamic ethics does not command one to completely withdraw from the world and become a burden to others, but rather to set priorities correctly (to rectify one’s intention). Geylānī Hazretleri states, "Accept the hereafter as your capital, and the world as its profit!" thus establishing a tremendous rule of spiritual commerce. When a person focuses his intention on the pleasure of Allah and the hereafter (investing his capital in the hereafter), Allah sends him the legitimate and beautiful blessings of the world as well (as profit). For "Allah gives the world also to the one who intends the hereafter. But He does not give the hereafter to the one who intends the world."
Investing in What is Permanent
A person who sacrifices his religion, morals, and hereafter in order to obtain worldly things is the most foolish merchant who has suffered the greatest loss. To resort to the unlawful in order to obtain a provision that is already decreed brings nothing but exhaustion and burden. The truly intelligent believer uses the time, health, and wealth at his disposal in the most productive way in this world, which is the field of the hereafter. "Your life is nearly a century... How many more lifetimes will you waste relying on them?" The servant who sees the world only as a means, a bridge to reach the hereafter, transfers his true capital to the abode of eternity and is saved from eternal bankruptcy.