Hadith: By Allah, the world is less worthy to Allah than this is to you

عن جابر رضي الله عنه أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم مر بالسوق والناس كَنَفَتَيَهِ، فمر بِجَدْيٍ أَسَكَّ ميت، فتناوله فأخذ بأذنه، ثم قال: «أيكم يحب أن يكون هذا له بدرهم؟» فقالوا: ما نحب أنه لنا بشيء وما نصنع به؟ ثم قال: «أتحبون أنه لكم؟» قالوا: والله لو كان حيا ًكان عيباً، إنه أسك فكيف وهو ميت! فقال: «فو الله للدنيا أهون على الله من هذا عليكم».
[صحيح] - [رواه مسلم]

Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) passed through the market with people around him. He came across a dead goat with its ears cut off. He held it by (the remaining part of) one ear and said: "Who of you would like to have this for one dirham?" They said: "We do not like to have it for anything whatsoever. What shall we do with it?" Then he said: "Would you like to have it anyway?'' They said: "By Allah, had it been alive, it would be of little value because of its cut ears. How could it be worth anything when it is dead?" Thereupon he said: "By Allah, the world is less worthy to Allah than this is to you.''
[Authentic hadith] - [Narrated by Muslim]

Explanation

Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him) informs us that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) once passed through the market and came across a dead goat with cut ears, so he raised its head and asked whether anyone would like to take it for one dirham (an insignificant price at the time). The people refused to take it even for nothing. The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) further asked if anyone liked to have it, and they replied in the negative. Thereupon, he told them that the world is less worthy in Allah's sight than that dead goat in theirs. With this remark, the Prophet wanted to show his Companions and his Ummah after him that this world is more contemptible in Allah's sight than the cut-eared dead goat in the sight of sound-natured people. This world, in relation to the Hereafter, is worthless to Allah; it does not weigh the wing of a mosquito. Sahl ibn Sa‘d (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: ''If the world weighed, in the sight of Allah, a mosquito's wing, He wouldn't give a disbeliever a drink of water from it.'' He wished to urge his Companions and his Ummah after him to make the life of this world a means to fulfill divine requirements, and not to make it their ultimate objective and purpose as that would lead to their destruction.