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.
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