Maḥabba al-Dunyā
Definition
Mahabbat al-dunya — love of the world — is identified by the Prophet ﷺ as 'the head of every error' and by al-Ghazali as the root from which the great majority of spiritual diseases spring. When the heart loves the world in the way it should love Allah — with primary loyalty, deepest attachment, and greatest fear of losing — it has effectively made the world its deity. Every compromise of integrity, every hour stolen from worship, every ethical violation in pursuit of worldly gain — traces ultimately to the heart that has placed the world at the centre of its love rather than at the periphery where it belongs.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
How the scholars use Maḥabba al-Dunyā.
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"What harm does the displeasure of creation cause if you seek My pleasure?" Allah the Exalted revealed to David, "You claim you love Me. If you love Me, remove the love of the world from your heart, for My love and the love of the world cannot coexist in a single heart. O David, diligently sever from it as one embraced among My beloved ones, mingle with the people of the world with cordiality and allow your religion to wear your demeanor, but entrust Me with its safeguarding rather than entrusting your religion to men."
— Imam al-Ghazali, Book 36: The Book of Love, Longing, Intimacy, and Contentment
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"In his heart lies loneliness, humiliation, sorrow, which tear at his heart, false hopes, and present torment. Yet these are masked by the intoxication of desires, passion, and love of the world and leadership, not to mention the intoxication of wine. The intoxication of these matters surpasses that of wine because the drunkard eventually sobers, whereas the intoxication with desires and the love of the world only ends when one joins the ranks of the dead."
— Ibn al-Qayyim, The Disease and The Cure
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"their stay in it. So God, Glorified is He, hastened to them something of the bliss of Paradise and its sweet repose: He made them intimate with Himself, turned their hearts toward Him, gathered them upon His love, made them long for meeting Him, favoured them with His nearness, and emptied their hearts of what fills the hearts of others — love of the world, the worry and sorrow at losing it, and the anguish of fearing its departure. So they found easy what those steeped in luxury find harsh, and they grew intimate with what the ignorant find desolate. They kept company with the world with their bodies, and with the Highest Assembly with their spirits."
— Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Fawāʾid — Points of Benefit, Volume Two
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