Beautified for people is the love of that which they desire - of women and sons, heaped-up sums of gold and silver, fine branded horses, and cattle and tilled land. That is the enjoyment of worldly life, but Allaah has with Him the best return. [3:14]
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We need to keep in mind that Allaah addresses us and informs us of what "human nature" is like. These are some things people in general desire, and unfortunatey, for many it is a goal. As for the believer, he/she knows that these are wonderful things but they are minor and in the big picture, they are quite meaningless.
As a woman we don’t need the other things to beautify us because by the grace of Allah we are made beautiful. Yes we may adorn ourselves with ‘gold and silver’, as most women continue to, myself included, but that will only add to the natural beautiful we are given. So this is why, I also realise, womenfolk generally love to take extra care to care for themselves. Perhaps for our men’s attention, but perhaps too, for our own. Thus, “Beautified for people is the love of that which they desire”. As I always ask of my Creator, let me see beauty everywhere I go, let me see beauty in me and my loved ones. May the beauty that we desire take us closer to and not further from Allah.
But if I return to the first part of the verse which is “Beautified for people is the love of that which they desire”, I am left with a question, what is that I most desire?
This verse on surface appears to address men more than women, especially the list of “desire[d]”thin gs: “of women and sons, heaped-up sums of gold and silver, fine branded horses, and cattle and tilled land”. History informs us that these are the patriarchal ‘assets’ which was the state of affairs of the times of Rasullah. In many ways, many patriarchal cultures since, even those of 19th century Victorian England or 20th / 21st century Indian Muslims in Malaysia continue to pride. Anything wrong with that? By Allah’s words, not. These are things human generally “desire”.
CATTLE and TILLED LAND: Real estate, mortgages. Cannot have enough income, have multiple jobs and no time and energy to raise the kids.
The reason I was trying to list these examples is perhaps we can think about how we can pass these tests
WOMEN: Not lowering the gaze, being distracted from the real priorities in life.
SONS: If we take this in the generic sense meaning children, then some people are tested by not having children, others by having challenges in upbringing of children. If we consider the literal meaning of sons, it could be the obsession some people have of preferring sons over daughters.
GOLD and SILVER: Sometimes we desire wealth so much we may even try and seek it through haraam means; sometimes we may envy those who have more than us; sometimes we may be stingy because we hoard what we have in fear of a "rainy day"; sometimes we fall prey to the mentality of the environment, feeling the need to take mortgages, interest bearing transactions, etc.; sometimes we may help people and then remind them how generous we were and demand they reciprocate by giving us some special treatment.
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