Part 10: Love of this World- Wealth: Heart Therapy

Read the Table of Contents of Heart Therapy

Read Part 9 (d): Signs of Riya and Curing Riya

Wealth: In and of itself, wealth is not something to be condemned. Rather, it is only a facilitator for the goodness or the evil that a person is capable. In fact, it is the person’s conduct pertaining to wealth that deserves blame. This includes extreme eagerness for it, attaining it unlawfully, spending it inappropriately, withholding it when it should be spent and showing it off proudly.

The reality is as Allah says: “Your wealth and children are but a test.” (8:28)

Yahya ibn mu’adh said: ‘Wealth is [like] a scorpion. If you are not good at averting its harm then do not take it because if it stings you, its poison will kill you.’ It was said to him, ‘How can we avert its harm?’ He replied, ‘By obtaining it lawfully and spending it legitimately.’

Wealth is merely a means whereby one might assist his worldly and/or his religious affairs. To this affect we have a statement from Sa’id ibn Musayyib, a tabi’i who said, ‘There is no goodness in a person who does not wish to accumulate wealth lawfully so that he may protect himself from [begging] people; keep good relations with his kith and kin; and give out its dues [by paying zakaat from it].’

The Prophet (SAW) said, “Two hungry wolves sent to some cattle are not as destructive [to the cattle] as a person’s extreme eagerness for wealth and status is to his religion.” [Al-Tirmidhi]

Wealth: Curse or Blessing?

If wealth is used lawfully, it can be considered praiseworthy. This is especially the case when one uses it to perform good deeds such as giving in charity, spending on family and even spending on oneself with the intention to facilitate worship. An example of the latter could be if a person bought a nice car to make it easy for him to travel to a distant masjid or gatherings of sacred knowledge, in this instance the person will be rewarded for his purchase of the car!

The Benefits of Wealth:

Wealth has religious as well as worldly benefits. The worldly benefits are well known. The religious ones are restricted to three forms:

1. Wealth that facilitates worship: This is what a person spends on himself in order to complete the acts of worship that are required of him, such as, jihad, Umrah and Hajj, etc, or on things that help him fulfil acts of worship such as shelter, food and drink, etc.

   The absence of sufficient wealth will compromise the ease with which he can worship.

2. Wealth spent on others: This is wealth that a person spends on others, and includes:
   

   • Charity
   • Hospitality
   • Safeguarding one’s honour (for example, by paying something to stop slandering him)
   • As wages for hiring others
3. Wealth utilized for public benefit: Wealth that produces a common benefit or safeguards a public interest such as constructing masaajid and bridges as well as eternal endowmen

The Harms

Wealth can be harmful in both the religious as well as the worldly sense, as for the religious ones then they are as follows:

• Wealth leading to Disobedience: This is wealth which leads a person to commit acts of disobedience against Allah (SWT). This is because wealth comes with an increased access to, and therefore ability to fall in, many more sins and trials as otherwise had there been no wealth.

  There are many sins that one cannot engage in except for wealth. Of them are gambling, experimenting in illegal substances, etc.

• Wealth spent on lawful pleasures that become addictive: This type of wealth is that which is spent in order to seek enjoyment thorough lawful pleasures, so the point that this ‘otherwise permissible’ purchase, pleasure, etc. Now becomes an addiction and one falls entirely within its control. This might include excessive shopping addictions, or wasting time and money on permissible entertainment, etc.
• Wealth distracting one from Allah’s remembrance: This is the most dangerous type of wealth, and one which distracts a person from the remembrance of Allah; this is a true evil as dhikr of Allah is the ‘essence of worship’. This could include wealth that is spent on things that occupy both the person and his time, regardless of whether the activity that is engaged is reprehensible and prohibited or permissible.

Important Note:

One should note that the affluent person and poor person are both subject to trials and tests in this world. This is why the scholars discuss who is more virtuous: the rich person who is grateful or the poor person who is patient.

The stronger opinion seems to be that each is praised or blamed according to how patient or grateful he is. Neither of the two types of person is better than the other. It is the quality of the patience and gratitude that is of consequence.

Read the next Part 10 (a): Fighting against one’s love of this world