Surah 29. Al-Ankabut, Ayah 65

Cf vii. 29, where I have slightly varied the English phrase according to the context. It was shown in the last verse that the life of this world is fleeting, and that the true life-that which matters-is the Life in the Hereafter. In contrast with this inner reality is now shown the shortsighted folly of man. Where he faces the physical dangers of the sea, which are but an incident in the phenomenal world, he actually and sincerely seeks the help of Allah; but when he is safely back on land, he forgets the Realities, plunges into the pleasures and vanities of fleeting phenomena, and his devotion, which should be given exclusively to Allah, is shared by idols and vanities of his own imagination.