ABSTRACT
TheQuran uses a potent vocabulary to spurn theworldly life calling it al-dunya¯ (the near or low one) when it is embraced at the expense of al-a¯khirah (the later or last one), the hereafter. Al-dunya¯ is easy to attain; low shades and fruits within close reach, in paradise and on earth, are described by an adjective derived from the same root (da¯nin; Q:55:54; da¯niyah at Q:6:99; 69:23; 76:14). Condemning a generation of Israelites who neglected the Torah, the Quran accuses them of ‘grasping the vanities of this lower world’ (ya’khuzu¯na ‘arad.a ha¯za¯ al-adna¯; Q:7:169; cf. adna¯ at Q:33:59) where al-adna¯, a comparative of al-dunya¯, intensifies the contempt. Sinners unwisely prefer this life to the next (Q:79:37-9).
