Bismillah.
Abū ‘Abdillāh (al-Sādiq) (a) said: The Messenger of Allah (s) has said, ‘Rajab is the month of istighfār (i.e. pleading for forgiveness from Allah) for my Ummah, (so) do a lot of istighfār in it for surely He is All-forgiving and All-merciful (Q, 6:54, 165), and Sha‘bān is my month. Say in Rajab many times: Astaghfirullāh (i.e., I plead for God’s forgiveness) and beseech Allah for the overlooking and the repentance of what has passed, and protection for the remainder of your lives. And in Sha‘bān recite a lot of salawāt (i.e. send blessings) on your Prophet. And he said: Indeed Sha‘bān is known as the Month of Intercession, for Your Messenger intercedes on behalf of one who says salawāt on him. (Hurr al-‘Āmilī, Tafsīl Wasā’il al-Shī‘ah, H. 13,986, – from Forty Hadith: Rajab and Sha‘bān, Academy for Learning Islam).
زُيِّنَ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا وَيَسْخَرُونَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا
Worldly life has been glamorized for the disbelievers and they ridicule the faithful.
(Sūrat al-Baqarah No. 2, Āyat 212)
According to some narrations, this verse was revealed when Abū Jahl bin Hishām and other polytheists of Makkah ridiculed the Prophet sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa-ālihi wasallam and the early believers. They flaunted their own wealth and power and asked why it was poor people like ‘Abdullah bin Mas‘ūd, ‘Ammār, Suhayb, Bilāl, and others who believed in Islam. If the Prophet (s) was right, they declared, he would have attracted the wealthy and powerful to his mission too.
The world attracts people to fulfill their whims and desires and makes them forget the true reality of life on earth. Those who have amassed much of the world are more likely to fall for its trap, since they are on the way to becoming hard-hearted and heedless. Their indulgence in what they have reduces the chances of them accepting the truth. Those who have less of the world and have not succumbed to its traps are more likely to have receptivity to the truth. This does not mean that all those who are wealthy and powerful will be heedless of the truth. But certainly, those who are attached to what they have will be from that group. Not only do such people not accept the truth, but they also mock those who do. This mockery and derogation could be because of the people’s poverty and lack of material status, or it could also be because of their acceptance of the truth.
‘Allāmah Tabātabā’ī in Tafsīr al-Mīzān says that such people use everything they can to reach their goals. Even religion is used as a means of gaining honor and status. Worldly people can be religious and implement false standards of materialism in their communities. They encourage their people to grant them recognition and privileges. They look down on those who are not interested in worldliness and have taken on a simple and spiritual life.
The allure and false security that the world provides triggers a form of poisoning of the soul. Imam Ali ‘alayhis-salām calls it sakarat al-ni’ma, meaning intoxication induced by comfort and affluence. He talks about the world in sermon No. 83 of Nahjul Balāghah: Its appearance is attractive, and its inside is destructive. It is a deception, a vanishing reflection and a bent pillar. When its despiser begins to like it and he who is not acquainted with it feels satisfied with it, then it raises and puts down its feet (in joy), entraps him in its trap, makes him the target of its arrows and puts round his neck the rope of death taking him to the narrow grave and fearful abode in order to show him his place of stay and the recompense of his acts. This goes on from generation to generation.
A question that is often asked is why the world has been glamorized for human beings. If God wanted us to achieve perfection through staying away from the world, why is it that love for the pleasures of this world is deep rooted in the human being and he must fight against it? The answer to this is simple. There would be no merit in staying away from something for which there was no internal inclination. When there is a struggle and challenge there can be a victory. Thus, true success of the human being lies in defeating the love for materialism and using what the world offers to gain the Hereafter.
We cannot sell humanity to the world. We should instead buy the hereafter through this world. May Almighty grant us the tawfīq to be from such a group.
Sources: Allāmah Muhammad Husayn Tabātabā’ī, Tafsīr al-Mīzān; Imam Ali (a), Nahjul Balāghah; http://tadabbor.org/