No luxurious life
Our last advice is that you should not make Islam a shield for your luxurious
life (last here means last during this conversation). You should not be
so much after the women that today you see a beautiful woman and you marry
her and tomorrow you see another and you marry her. It will be nothing less
than enthroning the woman in the place of God. What religiousness demands
is that the man should always be in a condition of pain so that God is remembered
all the time. Had the companions of the Holy Prophet
(sallallaho alaihi
wa sallam) been running after the women and had they been engrossed
in them, they would not have been able to give their live in the battlefields
- Their condition was such that if a finger was cut they would address it
and say, 'you are only a finger; what does it matter if you have been cut.'
He who is engrossed in luxury day and night cannot think in the same
way as did the companions of the Holy Prophet (sallallaho alaihi wa
sallam). The Holy Prophet (sallallaho alaihi wa sallam) used
to keep standing in the prayers for such a long time that his feet would
swell. His companions, may God be pleased with them, said to him: God
has forgiven all your shortcomings, why do you exert yourself to that
extent and why do you cry so much during your prayers. The Holy Prophet
(sallallaho alaihi wa sallam) answered: Should I not be a grateful
servant of God the Almighty (i.e. the feeling of gratitude for God the
Almighty).
(Malfoozat vol. 7, pg. 69)