Not renunciation — orientation.
Narrated by Ibn ʿUmar (ابن عمر)
كُنْ فِي الدُّنْيَا كَأَنَّكَ غَرِيبٌ أَوْ عَابِرُ سَبِيلٍ
"Be in this world as though you were a stranger, or a traveller passing through."
The 40th hadith of al-Nawawi's collection. Ibn ʿUmar, narrating it, would add: "When you reach evening, do not expect to see the morning. When you reach morning, do not expect to see the evening. Take from your health before your sickness, and from your life before your death." The hadith is not telling the Muslim to renounce the world — it is telling him not to mistake this stop for the destination.
Passages that draw on this hadith
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"The breadth of the world that the servant encounters in death to the world's expanse is like the world's size to the womb, but even wider and grander. So compare the hereafter to the present world. Your creation and resurrection are nothing but like that of a single soul, and the second"
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"world unknown to any soul. Satan calls people to the kingdom of this world, knowing that the kingdom of the hereafter will be missed by it, as the world and the hereafter are rivals. He knows that the world will not remain steady for him either, and even if it did, he would"
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"in this world, which is why he attributed it to this world. However, in this book, we only address the blameworthy aspects of the world, so we say this is not part of the blameworthy world. The second section, which stands in opposition to the former at the other extreme, comprises"
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"with their world away from religion. Jesus, peace be upon him, said, O seeker of the world, abandoning the world is more righteous. Our prophet, peace be upon him, said, After me there will come to you a world that will"
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"Lord. This refers to the leader and ruler, as there is an order between the world of the command and the world of creation, with the world of the command ruling over the world of creation. This essence, if refined, leads to the refinement of the entire body."
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"solidifying their love for it, and growing attached to the world. Meanwhile, the one deprived and in need diverts their heart from the world, viewing it as a prison they wish to escape. Therefore, if two people leave this world, and one is more attached to it, their condition is more"
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"Allah the Exalted said, They are satisfied with the life of this world and feel safe within it. And He said, The life of this world is but amusement and diversion compared to the hereafter. And He said, Know that the life of this world is but amusement and diversion and adornment"
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"This world, the dunya, is the nearest of the two abodes and must be traversed to reach the highest abode. Thus, one must take provisions from this world, as the body is the vessel to reach it. The body is preserved by attracting what is compatible, like food, and repelling what"