Examples in the Qur'an of admonishment about the luxuries of this life are these: "Here is a similitude; how rain and the growth which it brings forth delight [the hearts of] the tillers; soon it withers; you will see it grow yellow; then it becomes dry and crumbles away."(57:20) "Do you see not that Allâh sends down rain from the sky, and leads it through springs in the earth? Then He causes it to grow, therewith, produce of various colours.

(39:21) "We did indeed offer the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains; but they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof; but man undertook it, he was indeed unjust and foolish!"(33:72) "Had We sent down this Qur'an on a mountain, verily, you would have seen it humble itself and cleave asunder for fear of Allâh. Such are the similitudes We propound to men that they may reflect."(59:21) "Then what is amiss with them that they turn away from all admonition * As though they were terrified asses * Fleeing from a lion?"(74:49-51) "The parable of those who spend their substance in the way of Allâh is that of a grain of corn: it grows seven ears, and each ears has a hundred grains." (2:261) "... is the parable of a garden, high and fertile; heavy rainfalls on it. .."(2:265)

An example of showing how hypocrisy and harmful acts nullify good works: "Does any of you wish that he should have a garden with date palms and vines and streams flowing underneath, and all kinds of fruit, while he is stricken with old age, and his children are not strong [enough to look after themselves] — that it should be caught in a whirlwind, and with fire therein, and be burnt up?"(2:266) "The parable of those who reject their Lord is that their works are as ashes on which the wind blows furiously on a tempestuous day: no power have they over aught that they have earned; that is the straying far, far [from the goal J."(14:18)

Some examples from the categories of speech; [examples of] the station of description (maqâm al-wasf): "Moreover, He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been [as] smoke; he said to it and to the earth: Come you together, willingly or unwillingly. They said: We do come [together] in willing obedience."(41:11) "Then the word went forth: O earth! swallow up your water, and O sky! withhold [your rain]! And the water abated, and the matter was ended. The ark rested on Mount Judi, and the word went forth: Away with those who do wrong!" (11:44) "See you not how Allâh sets forth a parable?- A goodly tree, whose root is firmly fixed, and its branches [reach] to the heavens - * It brings forth its fruit at all times, by the leave of its Lord."( 14:24-5) "And the parable of an evil word is that of any evil tree: it is torn up by the root from the surface of the earth; it has no stability."(14:26) A verse:

And the night flowing, the stars showering onto the Milky Way

Like a garden, its flaring blossoms extinguished in the river ,¹

Consider this: all these allegorical verses are of different levels, degrees, forms, and styles. Each contains subtle truths. If you take a silver flagon, decorate it with molten gold and stud it with gems, then electrify it making it shine and sparkle, you will behold in it many levels of beauty and varieties of adornment. Similarly, in all these verses, allusions and indications extend [by means of] the allegorical comparisons from their main aims to the [above-mentioned] stations, as though the underlying aim rolls along all these levels gathering tints and a share from each, making the words comprehensive summaries [of the Qur'an], or epitomes even.

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1 By Ibn al-Nabih al-Misrî (d. 619 H.) in praise of the Ayyubids.