The verse indicates the fact that the life of this world...

The verse indicates the fact that the life of this world (that is the attachment of the soul to the body) busies man with himself to the point where he forgets others. The cause of this is the fact that the world deceives the soul in such a way that it makes him think that he is the body or one with the body. After being deceived in such manner, it is only natural that he becomes disconnected from the other world and forgets all of the greatness and beauty that was in the world of command.

In this way, his life passes in sport and vanities. He turns to everything with imaginary and fanciful goals. When he reaches those illusionary goals, he finds nothing. Allah (awj) says that: “Those who disbelieve, their actions are like a mirage in a desert. The thirsty person believes it to be water.

When he reaches it, he does not find anything there except Allah.” [^4] The person who believes in the primacy of material beings turns all of his attention to sensible things and he is totally unaware of the hidden aspect of things. Such a person wastes his life in eating, drinking and play.

According to the words of the Noble Qur`an, they only know the apparent aspect of the world and they are unaware of the next world.[^5] But the person who looks at the hidden aspect of things takes their apparent aspect as only a sign for the hidden. He considers the apparent to be a shell for the kernel that is the hidden. In no circumstance will he sacrifice the kernel for the shell. As the Commander of the Faithful, ‘Ali b.

Abi Talib (ع) has said, “The friends of Allah are the ones who look at the hidden nature of the world, while the ordinary people look at the apparent; they are concerned with the future while the people are concerned with transient things.”[^6] Those who seek the world surmise that freedom means having all their worldly wishes granted and having unlimited use of riches.

They are not aware of the fact that in reality, if we give in to the commands of our carnal soul, we become ever more bound by the shackles of our material body. This is because the carnal soul is that aspect of the human soul that pays more attention to bodily desires and hopes to remain forever in the world. In reality freedom means to be free from the snares of this world and our lower desires. This is the freedom that religion seeks to achieve.

According to religion it is possible for someone to be the king of the world but because he is entrapped by his base desires, he is not free.