Understanding The Prophet's Life
From Issue: 870 [Read full issue]
Freedom or Destruction
"Everyone goes out in the morning and sells himself, either freeing or destroying himself." [Muslim]
This hadith is stating an important aspect of reality. Every day a human is faced with a new situation. Every morning he gets up, he is going to do something. Every day he is either going to obey Allah or he is going to disobey Allah. In essence, every day he is going to be setting himself free from the Hell-fire or leading himself to the Hell-fire and his own destruction. Every day of a person's life, he is either doing something that will set his soul free or he is doing something that will destroy himself. Even the person who sits and seemingly does absolutely nothing is, in reality, actually leading himself to some result.
Al-Qari explains this hadith by saying, "Everyone who abandons this world and gives preference to the Hereafter has purchased himself from his Lord for this world. Therefore, he sets himself free. Whoever abandons the Hereafter and gives preference to this world, then he is selling the Hereafter and is destroying himself."
Finally, the word that the Prophet (peace be upon him) used, fabayi, implies one who exchanges something for something else. In that case, it applies equally well to a seller or a buyer. This is a type of speech in Arabic where the Prophet (peace be upon him) could have meant both aspects: buying and selling. In other words, every morning the person goes out and either buys himself from Allah or he sells himself to Satan.
Compiled From:
"Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi" - Jamaal al-Din M. Zarabozo, p. 738