The property or wealth obtained
through forbidden (harâm) means will not be property of a
person. Using such illegally obtained property is forbidden. Collecting
permissible (halâl) property which is in excess of
one’s necessity is a disliked action (makrűh) in Islam. Not giving its “zakât” will cause punishment in the next world (âkhirat). Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sal-lam’
states in a hadîth-i-sherîf: “Curses be on those who enslave themselves to gold and silver!” A slave always tries to gain the favor of his master. Running
after worldly possessions is worse than trying to satisfy the appetites or
desires of the nafs. If running after possessions and money causes one to
forget about the commandments of Allâhu ta’âlâ, then it is called “love for the world.” The devil will take
possession of a heart wherein the dhikr (remembering and mentioning the Name of Allâhu ta’âlâ) does not take place. The most
sneaky trick the devil plays on a person is to encourage him to perform pious
deeds so that he will regard himself as a pious and good person. A person who
has fallen for such complacency has become a slave to himself. A hadîth-i-sherîf reads as follows: “In the past, all
followers ‘’ummats’ of prophets were tested with various instigations
‘fitnas’. Hoarding property and money is the kind of fitna with which my Ummat
(Muslims) will be tempted.” They will be pursuing
the riches of the world in such assiduity as to forget about the Hereafter.
Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu
’alaihi wa sal-lam’ states in a hadîth-i-sherîf:
“As Allâhu ta’âlâ created the human
race, He decreed their life spans, when they were going to die, and their
sustenances ‘rizqs’.” The sustenance of a person does not change,
does not increase or decrease and will not reach that person before or after
its time preordained. As human beings seek their sustenances, so do the
sustenances seek their owners. There are so many poor people who live more
happily than many a rich person. Allâhu ta’âlâ
sends sustenance from unexpected sources to those who fear Him and who embrace
the religion wholeheartedly. It is reported in a hadîth-i-qudsî that Allâhu ta’âlâ said, “Oh World! Be a slave to a person who
serves Me! Show difficulty to those who serve you!”
and Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sal-lam’
states
in a hadîth-i-sherîf: “Oh my Lord! Give
useful property to those who love me. Give many children and abundant property
to those who are inimical towards me.” A Jewish person passed
away and left two sons and a villa behind. The two sons could not reach an
agreement on how to divide the villa. They heard a voice coming through the
wall saying, “Do not become an enemy to each other because of me. I was a king.
I lived a long life. I stayed in the grave for a hundred and thirty years.
Later, they made pots out of the soil that was taken from my grave. They used
that pottery for forty years in houses. I was broken and thrown into streets.
Later, they used me to make bricks that were used for the construction of this
wall. Do not fight each other. You will become just like me.”
Hasan Chalabi ‘rahimahullâhu
ta’âlâ’ in the introduction of the book Mawâqif says:
Hadrat Hasan and Hadrat Husayn ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhumâ’ became ill. Hadrat Alî
and Hadrat Fatima and their servant girl ‘radiy-Allâhu ’alaihim ajma’în’ vowed
to fast for three days if they should become well again. When the blessed
children recovered, the three people set about a three days’ fast. They had
nothing to eat at the end of the first day of fasting. So they borrowed three
sâ’[1] of
barley from a Jew. Hadrat Fâtima ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhâ’ ground flour from one sâ’
of barley and baked five loaves of bread. A poor person came along and asked
for something to eat. Giving him all the bread they had, they went to bed,
hungry. They intended to fast again the next day. Hadrat Fâtima ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhâ’ baked five more loaves
of bread with the second sâ’ of barley. At the end of fasting, an orphan came
along. They gave the bread to him and slept hungry again. They again intended
to fast for the third day. She prepared five more loaves of bread from the last
quantity of barley. At the end of the day, a slave came along and asked for
food. They gave the bread to him. Allâhu ta’âlâ sent an âyat-i-kerîma through revelation to His Messenger
‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sal-lam’, praising them for their nazr and îsâr.[2] Keeping only the
necessary amount of sustenance (rizq)
---------------------------------
[1] 12.6 litres according to Hanafî
Madhhab. Please see the third chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless
Bliss for more detailed
information on this unit of volume.
[2] ‘Nazr’ means ‘vow’. ‘Îsâr’ means ‘giving something to your Muslim brother although you need it. Îsâr is applicable with goods of necessity, not with pious deeds or acts of worship. For instance, a person who possesses an amount of water sufficient only to clean himself has to use it himself instead of giving it to someone else. For detail on ‘nazr’, please see the fifth chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless Bliss.
[property and money] and distributing the rest is called ‘zuhd’.
[It is ’adâlat (justice) to give a person his due or to pay him the debt you owe
to him; it is ihsân (kindness) to pay him more than
his due; and it is îsâr to give all your rizq, i.e. all the property you need,
to someone else.]
A person who has “zuhd” is
called ‘zâhid.’ Two rak’ats of (a ritual prayer termed) namâz performed by an
Islamic scholar who is zâhid is more valuable than all the prayers of namâz
which a non-zâhid person performed throughout his life. Some of the Sahâba
‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum
ajma’în’ said to some of the Tâbi’în: “You perform more acts of worship than
did the Sahâba of the Messenger of Allah ‘sall-Allâhu
ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sal-lam’. Yet they were more blessed than
you are because they had more zuhd than you do.” Fondness for the world spawns
proneness towards forbidden (harâm) ways of satisfying the desires and flavours
of the nafs and earning the money necessary for getting at them. Fondness for
the world means pursuit of reveries, and worldly flavours incur more harms than
benefits. They are ephemeral, fleeting. To obtain them, however, is a very hard
job. Also among them are quite useless and frivolous activities called la’b and lahw.
[‘Dharurat’ is something which
will save a person from death or from losing one of his organs or from extreme
pain. ‘Ihtiyâj’ is something which you need for your spiritual or physical
nourishment or for giving alms, for performing pious deeds, for making
pilgrimage (hajj), for obligatory alsmgiving (zakât), for performing (the sacrificial worship termed) (qurbân), and for paying your debts. ‘Zînat’ are things that are in excess
of ‘ihtiyâj’ and which you enjoy having. Using something which is in excess of
‘ihtiyâj’ for bragging or ostentation would be a forbidden act beyond the
limits of zînat. It is obligatory (fard) to earn as
much as ‘dharűrat.’ Earning as much as ‘ihtiyâj’ is sunnat. This is also called contentment (qanâ’at). Earning as much as “zînat” is optional (mubâh). Earning as much as to meet ‘ihtiyâj’ and ‘zînat’ is an act of
worship (’ibâdat) but we
should not violate the rules of Islam while earning these amounts.
Earning as much as to meet the “ihtiyâj” and “zînat” in a manner compatible
with the Sharî’at would be worshipping but going outside the Sharî’at in order
to earn wealth or property as much as “ihtiyâj” and “zînat” is forbidden. The
things that are obtained in this manner would be the things for the world (dunyâ). ‘Sharî’at” means the commands and prohibitions of Allâhu ta’âlâ.]
Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu
’alaihi wa sal-lam’ states in a hadîth-i-sherîf:
“Things
that are for the world ‘dunyâ’ are accursed. Things that are for Allâhu ta’âlâ and things that are
approved by Allâhu ta’âlâ are not accursed.”
Things that are for the world (dunyâ) have no value in the
sight of Allâhu ta’âlâ. The sustenance (rizq) that
is earned and used by observing the rules of the religion (Sharî’at)
will not be something for the world (dunyâ); rather, it is a
worldly blessing (ni’mat). The most valuable blessing among the
blessings of the world is a pious (sâliha) woman. A person having
belief (îmân) and obeying the rules of Islam is a pious (sâlih)
person. The pious woman protects her husband from committing prohibited actions
and helps him to perform worships and good deeds. A non-pious woman is harmful
and is one of the worldly things (dunyâ). A hadîth-i-sherîf reads: “Among the blessings of
the world, my women and fine perfume are made beloved to me.”
And again, it is stated in another hadîth-i-sherîf:
“If
things of the world had any value at all in the sight of Allâhu ta’âlâ, He would not give one
drop of water to the disbeliever.” He is giving worldly
things to disbelievers in abundance and thereby leading them to perdition. It
is stated in other hadîth-i-sherîfs: “The value of a
Believer in the sight of Allâhu ta’âlâ decreases in proportion to the worldly things
he owns,” and “When love of the world ‘dunyâ’ increases, its
damage to the next world ‘âkhirat’ also increases. When love for the next world
increases, the world’s damage to it decreases.”Hadrat
Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’ states that this
world and the next world are apart like the East and the West. A person who
approaches one gets away from the other one. In another hadîth-i-sherîf, Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu
’alaihi wa sal-lam’ states: “Running after worldly things is like walking on water. Is
it possible for the feet not to get wet? Things that are obstacles against
clinging to the commandments of Islam
are called world
‘dunyâ’.” And “If Allâhu ta’âlâ loves a person, He
makes him zâhid in the world and râghib in the Hereafter. He informs him of his
shortcomings.” And “Allâhu ta’âlâ loves one who is zâhid
in the world. People love the one who is zâhid in the things that other people
possess.” And “It is difficult for a seeker of worldly things
to attain his desires. It is easy for the seeker of the next world to attain
his desires.” And “Having excessive love for the world is the
leading fault.” It causes all kinds of errors and mistakes.
A person who runs after the world, starts to dive into doubtful things, then
into disliked actions (makrűhs), and then into prohibited actions (harâms),
and thereafter he may even dive into disbelief. The reason why the ancient
people (ummats)
did not believe in their prophets
‘alaihim-us-salawâtu wa-t-taslîmât’ was their excessive love for the world.
Love of the world is like wine. Once a person has drunk from it, he will sober
up only at the time of death. Műsâ (Moses) ‘alaihis-salâm’ was on his way to
the mount of Tűr, when he saw a person who was crying bitterly. He said to Allâhu ta’âlâ, “Oh my Lord! This slave of Thine is
crying much because of the fear of Thee.” Allâhu ta’âlâ
declared: “I shall not forgive him even if he sheds tears of blood as long as
he has excessive love for the world.” The following hadîth-i-sherîfs: “A person who earns worldly things
through permissible means shall answer for it in the next world. One who earns
things through prohibited means shall be punished.”
And “If Allâhu ta’âlâ does not love a slave
of His, He will make him spend his money on prohibited (harâm) things.”
Building a house for bragging and ostentation is of this nature. Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sal-lam’ states in
a hadîth-i-sherîf: “If a person constructs
a building with clean ‘halâl’ money, he will receive rewards ‘thawâbs’ as long
as other people derive benefit from that building.”
It is permissible to construct a high building for protection against and for
clean air. Constructing high buildings for bragging or for ostentation is
forbidden (harâm). Imâm al-a’zam Abű Hanîfa ‘rahimahullâhu
ta’âlâ’ says, “Islamic scholars and dignitaries should wear beautiful
attirements and live in stately buildings to protect themselves against
ignorant people’s detestations and to inspire grandeur and power into enemy
hearts.”