عَنْ أَبِي مُوسَى رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ: قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: «مَثَلُ الَّذِي يَذْكُرُ رَبَّهُ وَالَّذِي لاَ يَذْكُرُ رَبَّهُ، مَثَلُ الحَيِّ وَالمَيِّتِ»، ولفظ مسلم: «مَثَلُ الْبَيْتِ الَّذِي يُذْكَرُ اللهُ فِيهِ، وَالْبَيْتِ الَّذِي لَا يُذْكَرُ اللهُ فِيهِ، مَثَلُ الْحَيِّ وَالْمَيِّتِ».
The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) clarified the difference between the person who remembers Allah Almighty and the one who does not and how such a difference is like that between the living and the dead person in terms of benefit and good appearance.
The one who remembers his Lord is like the living person who is outwardly adorned by the light of life and inwardly adorned by the light of knowledge and who offers benefit, whereas the one who does not remember Allah is like the dead person who is outwardly idle and inwardly invalid and bears no benefit. Likewise, the house whose dwellers remember Allah is described as being living; otherwise, it is a dead house given its dwellers' heedlessness of remembering Allah.
Describing the house as being living or dead is meant to refer to its dwellers.
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