Quran’s View on Good, Bad Desires

The Holy Quran, as the book which provides people with the best map for life, has recognized desires as a natural and accepted tendency.

Islam recommends people pay attention to sustainable desires that can lead to felicity in the Hereafter.

Verse 14 of Surah Al-Imran reads: “The love of desires, of women and sons and hoarded treasures of gold and silver and well-bred horses and cattle and tilth, is made to seem fair to men; this is the provision of the life of this world; and Allah is He with Whom is the good goal (of life).”

The verse noted that humans are adorned with the “love of desires”.

Many people may think that “desire” here refers to sexual desires, however, the concept is wider and points to the strong inclination of men to different material and spiritual issues.

Some of these desires have been symbolically named in this verse, including women and children, wealth, horses and cattle, and cultivated lands.

A deeper look into Quranic verses makes it clear that adornment is a relative concept; some of these adornments have permanent effects and add a spiritual value to people.

On the other hand, there are some inappropriate adornments that are usually material and temporary. These do not have any positive effect on improving the spiritual quality of life.

Accordingly, worshipping Allah has been described as a good lasting adornment.

Verse 32 of Surah Al-A’raf also points to some of these adornments: “Say: Who has prohibited the embellishment of Allah which He has brought forth for His servants and the good provisions? Say: These are for the believers in the life of this world, purely (theirs) on the resurrection day; thus do We make the communications clear for a people who know.”

According to this verse, Halal or legitimate worldly adornments are signs of God’s power and have been created for people.

The Noble Quran warns people of being attached to these worldly adornments, noting that such attachments could block people’s path to perfection and make them forget the Hereafter.

source: iqna