And when it became clear through these two parables and others that this world, which has led its people to [the sources of] destruction and has allowed them to enter the valleys of calamities, is quick to vanish and swift in departure, with the abundance of hardships and the continuity of troubles, from toil and fatigue, and fear and distress, like crops, whether it comes first in the utmost freshness and joy, its freshness and joy increase little by little, then it begins to decline and deteriorate until it ends in annihilation, it is deserving of that to be renounced and to turn away from it, and that no wise person should boast of it, let alone compete with others in it. Allah, the Exalted, said: 'Wealth and children are but adornment of the worldly life,' which, if a person were to live all its days, it would truly be fitting for the state of what is in it to be one of vanishing by turning away from it and despising it. And you know what effort is required to obtain them, and what they have after acquisition in terms of rapid decay, and yet they may be good if one acts in them in a way that pleases Allah, and they may be evil and hopes may be disappointed in them, and each of them may be a cause of the ruin of its owner and his distress, and the misery of his life and harm to him. 'And the lasting good deeds,' which are the pure good actions intended for the sake of Allah, the Exalted, which He encouraged us towards with His saying: 'So that We may test them which of them is best in deed.' [Al-Kahf: 7] And what follows: 'Better' means than the fleeting adornment. And when the most important thing for one who has acquired treasures for his sufficiency is one who preserves them for him for the time of his need, He said: 'With your Lord,' meaning the Majestic, the Giver of gifts, the All-Knowing of the outcomes, and better than wealth and children in this world and the Hereafter, 'a reward and better' than all of that, 'a hope' meaning in terms of what he hopes for in reward and what he hopes for in hope, because its reward is towards permanence, and its hope every moment is in realization and elevation and advancement, while the hope of wealth and children deceives most when they are most in need of them.