We call people smart for building wealth, status, a comfortable life. Ibn al-Qayyim (ุฑุญู
ู ุงููู) had a different test for intelligence, and most of what we admire fails it.
He posed a question:
ููู ูููู ุนุงูููุง ู
ู ุจุงุน ุงูุฌูุฉ ุจู
ุง ูููุง ุจุดููุฉ ุณุงุนุฉุ
"How can he be intelligent, the one who sells Paradise and all that is in it, for the desire of a single hour?"
Intelligence here is not sharpness of mind. It is accuracy of judgment. Knowing that no pleasure now is worth what it charges you forever.
And look at what we trade it for. A haram relationship. A haram income. Then we call that living.
The truly intelligent one refuses the bargain. He will not sell forever for an hour. That is why the Companions were the best of people; not by accident, but by a conscious decision they made, again and again.
Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Fawฤสพid