The word ءاثر is translated as preferred but at its root, it means the remains or remnants
of something.33 This came to be used in the meaning of preferring or choosing something because of its lasting qualities. You choose it because you think it will remain and persevere.
These people chose the worldly, lowly life because they thought their pleasures would remain. They can keep chasing pleasures and make them their entire goal in life, without any regard for the fact that it will all end one day. This goes back to the word متاع which had the meaning of something being temporal inside it.
And preferred the lowly life of the world
Commentary covering verses 36–38
The word ءاثر is translated as preferred but at its root, it means the remains or remnants
of something.33 This came to be used in the meaning of preferring or choosing something because of its lasting qualities. You choose it because you think it will remain and persevere.
These people chose the worldly, lowly life because they thought their pleasures would remain. They can keep chasing pleasures and make them their entire goal in life, without any regard for the fact that it will all end one day. This goes back to the word متاع which had the meaning of something being temporal inside it.
33 Al-Muʿjam al-Ishtiqāqī al-Muʾaṣṣal li-Alfāẓ al-Qurʾān al-Karīm, vol. 1, p. 237