Al-A'la (The Most High): (17) "And the Hereafter is better and more enduring."

The completion of this statement is that everything which is better and more enduring is preferable (āthar). Therefore, it must follow that the Hereafter is preferable to the worldly life. Yet, they preferred the worldly life.

We stated that the Hereafter is better for several reasons:

1. First: The Hereafter encompasses both physical and spiritual happiness, whereas the worldly life does not. Thus, the Hereafter is better than the world.
2. Second: The pleasures of the worldly life are mixed with pains, but the Hereafter is not like that.
3. Third: The worldly life is transient (perishable), while the Hereafter is permanent (abiding). The permanent is better than the transient.

Then He said:

! 7 < { Indeed, this is in the former Scriptures, } > 7 !

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