The following is (the
English version of) the translation into Turkish, (rendered by the late great
Islamic scholar and blessed Walî Hüseyn
Hilmî bin Sa’îd Iţýk of Istanbul ‘quddisa sirruh’,) of a chapter dealing with
Isrâf, which is harâm and sinful in the Islamic religion, and with its kinds, in the Arabic book entitled ‘Tarîqat-i- Muhammadiyya’ and written by Imâm Birgivî
‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’:
‘Tasawwuf means ‘to
purify the heart from bad habits and to fill it with good habits’. I have
conducted a research into bad habits and arrived to the conclusion that there
are sixty of them. The twenty-seventh of the sixty bad habits is ‘isrâf’ and
‘tebdhîr’. Tebdhîr means to scatter the seed all over the field. It also means
to dispense one’s property wastefully.
It is called ‘isrâf and ‘tebdhîr’ to dispense one’s
property to places not approved by Islam and ‘muruwwat’. ‘Muruwwat ’ means ‘the wish to be
useful and to do good’. ‘Futuwwat ’ has a more specific meaning; it means ‘not to do harm; to do
good; to cover things that may cause embarrashment to others; and to forgive
(others for their) harmgiving’. Isrâf that is not approved of by Islam is
harâm; and isrâf that is not approved of by ‘muruwwat’ is makrűh tanzîhî, [i.e.
slightly makrűh.]
We will deal with
‘Isrâf’ under five overlapping headings:
FIRST HEADING — Why isrâf is something
bad, and its harms: That isrâf is harâm is a hard fact. It is a kind of illness
in the heart. It is a bad habit. Our religion’s condemning parsimony and stinginess
more strongly than it does ‘isrâf’ does not show that ‘isrâf’ is not so bad as
parsimony. Stronger condemnation of parsimony is on account of fondness for
hoarding goods connate in the human nature. Likewise, although the scholars of
our religion state that urine is dirtier and more strongly harâm than wine, our
religion does not condemn urine as strongly as it does wine; and the punishment
called ‘hadd’, that is inflicted on wine-drinkers and which ordains that the
convicted be flogged, with eighty stripes for drinking wine, has not been
ordained (for guilts committed) with urine. For, men are generally fond of
drinking wine. As for drinking urine; it does not ever occur to anyone. The
Word of
Allâhu ta’âlâ which purports: “Do not waste! Allâhu ta’âlâ does
not like those who waste,” would suffice to show the wickedness of isrâf. An âyat-i-kerîma
in the Isrâ Sűra purports: “Do not commit tebdhîr! Those who commit tebdhîr are the devil’s
siblings.” The devil’s siblings are devils, too. There cannot be a name
worse than the name ‘devil’. There cannot be a stronger condemnation of isrâf.
As Allâhu
ta’âlâ says
not to give anything to people who waste their property, He calls them the
worst of names. An âyat-i-kerîma in the Nisâ Sűra purports: “Do not give your property
to dissolute, base people! As He condemns Pharaoh He declares, as is purported in the Qur’ân al-kerîm: “He was one of those who
committed isrâf.” He condemns the people of Sodom and Gomorrah as follows: “Rather, you are people
who commit isrâf!”
In a hadîth-i-sherîf
quoted in the two basic books of hadîth whose authenticity is known by
everybody, [i.e. in the hadîth books Bukhârî and Muslim,] our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ states: “Do not waste your
property!” In a hadîth-i-sherîf that Imâm Tirmizî ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ
’alaih’, (209 [824 A.D.], town of Tirmuz (Termez), to the south of Bukhâra and
on the south bank of Amu Daryâ (Oxus river) - 279 [892], Bogh,) quotes on the
authority of Abű Berza ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’, our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ states: “On the Day of Judgment,
no one will survive the accounting unless
they answer four questions: How they spent their life. How they
practised their knowledge. Where they earned their property from, and where
they spent it. Where they tired and exhausted their body.”
One of the indicators
of the fact that isrâf is something bad is interest’s (fâiz) being harâm. It is
a grave sin to give and/or take fâiz. The purpose of this interdiction is to
protect people’s property against loss. To show the offensive valuation that
the Islamic religion ataches to fâiz, it has been deemed useful to write a few
examples from the Turkish commentary to the booklet Bey’ wa Shirâ (Buying and Selling),
rendered by Hamza Efendi ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’:
“There are ten things that cause a person to die without îmân: 1- Not to learn the commandments and
prohibitions of Allâhu ta’âlâ; 2- Not to align one’s îmân with the tenets of îmân taught in the Madhhab of Ahl as-sunnat; 3- To be
fond of worldly property, position, and fame; 4- To be cruel to human beings, to animals, and to oneself; 5- Not to be thankful to Allâhu ta’âlâ and to people who cause one to attain blessings; 6- Not to fear
lest one should become an unbeliever; 7- Not to perform the five daily prayers
of namâz within their prescribed times; 8- To give and/or to take fâiz.
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9- To abhor Muslims who are attached to
their faith (Islam). To call them names such as ‘hidebounds’, etc; 10- To utter
indecent words, to write them, and/or to draw indecent pictures.”
Allâhu ta’âlâ has made fâiz harâm. At many places of the Qur’ân al-kerîm He makes vehement threats to those who take and/or pay fâiz.
The two hundred and seventy-fifth âyat-i-kerîma of Baqara Sűra purports: “Those who charge fâiz
will not rise from their graves except as riseth one whom the devil by his
touch hath driven to madness. ...” The following âyat-i-kerîma purports: “Allâhu
ta’âlâ will destroy all the property of those who pay and/or take fâiz. Not a trace of
them will be left behind. He will certainly increase the property of those who
pay zakât. ...” Forty kinds of fâiz, and their harms as well, are written in
the book Riyâd-un-nâsikhîn. Please see the
forty-fourth chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless Bliss for detailed
information on fâiz.
Harms of isrâf are as
follows: People who commit isrâf, (i.e. who waste,) are likened to the devil,
to Pharaoh, and to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah; Allâhu ta’âlâ loathes them and calls
them ‘dissolute people’; they will suffer torment in the Hereafter; and they
suffer inferiority, indigence, ruefulness in the world.
SECOND HEADING — The first reason wherefore isrâf is something bad is the high value that property has been invested
with. Property is a blessing given by Allâhu ta’âlâ. It is with property that (the felicity in) the Hereafter is earned. It is with property that worldly
and next-worldly peace and order are established. It is with property that thawâb for hajj and jihâd is earned. It is with property that the human body attains
health and energy. It is property that protects one from needing others’ support. It is with property alone that charities such as almsgiving, visiting
kinsfolk, and helping the poor are performed. Property, again, is the sole source of humanitarian services such as constructing mosques, schools, hospitals,
roads, fountains, bridges and the like, and training soldiers. Our religion declares: “The best ones of mankind are those who serve them in the most useful
manner.” To work and earn for the purpose of serving humanity brings more thawâb than performing acts of nâfila (supererogatory) worship. It is with property
that high positions in Paradise are attained. It is stated as follows in a hadîth-i-sherîf which Imâm Tirmizî quotes on the authority of Abű Kabsha-i-Ansârî
‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ‘anh’, (one of the Ansâr-i-kirâm: “Allâhu ta’âlâ gives property and knowledge to a slave of His. If this slave avoids harâms, pleases his relatives, knows the people
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who have rightful dues from his property and gives them their
rights, he will atain a high position in Paradise.” The following
hadîth-i-sherîf is quoted in the books entitled Bukhârî and Muslim on the authority of
’Abdullah ibni Mes’űd ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’: “If a person has attained either one of the (following) two things, it will be
suitable to envy him. Allâhu ta’âlâ has conferred Islamic teachings on a person. And that person always acts compatibly with his knowledge. Second, Allâhu has given a person plenty of
property. That person spends that property of his at places liked and approved of by
Allâhu ta’âlâ.” Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ said about ’Amr ibni ’Âs
‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’: “How beautifully beautiful property goes with
a beautiful person.” He invoked about Enes bin Mâlik ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’: “Yâ Rabbî (O
my Rabb, Allh)! give him plenty of property and many
children and bless him with barakat of these things!” Ka’b ‘radiy-Allâhu
’anh’ was about to dispense his entire property as alms, when the blessed Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi
wa sallam’ stated: “You had better reserve some of your property for yourself.” All these
hadîth-i-sherîfs are written in books of hadîth. In the Qur’ân al-kerîm Allâhu
ta’âlâ calls
property ‘something
with khayr’, and reminds His Habîb (Beloved One) ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa
sallam’ of the blessings He has given him as follows: “You were without any
property, and I have given you property so much as you will
not need anyone’s support.”
The great scholar
Sufyân Sawrî (or Sewrî), (95 [713 A.D.], Kűfa - 161 [778], Basra,) one of those
mujtahids who had their own Madhhabs, stated: “In this time of ours, property
is the weapon of its owner.” [In other words, it is by means of property that
one protects one’s life, one’s health, one’s faith, and one’s honour.] (Abű
Muhammad Madanî) Sa’îd bin Museyyib, (15 - 91 [710 A.D.], Medîna,) (one of the
greater ones of the Tâbi’în and also) one of the greatest seven scholars of
Medîna, (who have been called Fuqaha-i-seb’a,)[1] stated: “A person who does not earn property enough to pay his
debts, to protect his chastity and honour, and to leave a legacy behind him in
case he should die, is
---------------------------------
[1]
The other six scholars were Qâsim bin Muhammad bin Abî Bakr Siddîq,
(19 - 106 [725 A.D.], Qudeyd;) ’Urwa-t-abn-iz-Zubayr, (22 -94
[712];) Khwârija-t-abn-i-Zayd, (d. 99 [717], Medîna;) Abű Salama-t-abn-i-’Abd-ur-Rahmân
bin Awf, ’Ubaudullah ibni ’Utba. (d. 102 [721], Medîna;) Abű Ayyűb Suleyman,
(104 [722]) ‘radiy-Allâhu ‘anh’.
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a person without any khayr.” [In other
words, he is harmful both to himself and to his social environment.]
(Abu-l-faraj) Ibni Jawzî (or Jewzî) ‘rahimahullah’, (508 – 597 [1202 A.D.],
Baghdâd,) stated: “To earn property with good intentions is better than not
earning at all.”
There are many other narrations, as well, that dissuade from earning property. What those narrations
censure, however, is not the worldly property itself, but its harm and misuse. For instance, property that causes its owner to lead a life of excess, to forget
about Allâhu ta’âlâ, and/or which stalls their acts of worship, is harmful property. So is property that causes one to
become oblivious of death and of the events that one is to experience after death. Harms of this sort manifest themselves on many a person. Rarity of people who
have pulled through these harms is why the narrations containing negation have a majority. As is seen, property may be the source of two antonymous
developments. Khayr (goodness, usefulness, good), and sherr (evil, harm, harmfulness, vile). Because khayr causes goodness, it has been commended; and because
sherr causes evils, it has been censured.
It has been understood that property is a great blessing. To waste property, (i.e. isrâf,) means to
abhor a blessing conferred by Allâhu ta’âlâ, to disesteem a blessing, to spurn a blessing, and, in short, to be ungrateful, which is termed
‘kufrân-i-ni’mat’. And this, in its turn, is a grave offence that incurs an inimical retribution on the part of the Donator of the blessing, which means that
torturous reprisals are imminent. When a blessing is not appreciated and treated in due manner, it will desert you. When you show gratitude for it and treat it
in such a manner as it deserves, it will abide, and multiply, too. The seventh âyat-i-kerîma of Ibrâhîm Sűra purports: “If you pay gratitude,
I shall certainly increase the blessings I have given.”
THIRD HEADING — Kinds of isrâf: Isrâf
means to destroy one’s property, to make it useless, and to spend it doing
things that will not be useful, neither for one’s faith nor for worldly
businesses that are mubâh. To throw one’s property into the sea or into a well
or into other places where it will no longer be one’s property is to destroy
it. It also means to destroy it to turn it into an unusable state, to break it,
to cut it, to cause one’s fruit to decay by not gathering it, to cause one’s
crop to rot by not harvesting the field, not to keep one’s livestock at places
protective against cold and enemy, and not to feed and cover them so as to
prevent them from
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dying of cold or hot or hunger. It is obvious that these things
are isrâf.
It is stated as
follows in Hadîqa, in the chapter dealing with tragedies incurred by one’s
speech: “It is cruelty to destroy others’ property. It necessitates payment. It
is isrâf to destroy one’s own property. Also property or money spent for
committing a sin or sins or for having a sin or sins committed is an isrâf.”
There are also other
kinds of isrâf that are not known by everybody and which require tip-offs. For
instance, if the gruit gathered and the crop harvested are not kept under good
conditions, so that they decay of themselves or by absorbing moisture, or if
they are eaten by worms, maggots, mice, rats, ants and/or the like; all these
things are kinds of isrâf. In other oft-seen instances of isrâf victuals such
as bread, meat, meat-broth, cheese; fruits like dates, watermelons, onions;
desiccated fruit such as figs, raisins, wild apricots; cereals like wheat,
barley, lentils; and goods such as clothes, fabrics, and books are being wasted
as a result of similar negligence.
It is isrâf to pour
food remnants down the sink or to wash and clean the forks, spoons, dishes,
bowls used before wiping them with a piece of bread or with your fingers and
thereby eating the food remnants or to wash and clean your fingers before
licking the last of the food on them. It isrâf, also, to throw away the crumbs
of bread and other food that fell on the tablecloth or the meal-table, while
you might as well glean them. It will not be isrâf, however, to (gather the
remnants and) glean the crumbs and utilize them feeding pets such as cats and
dogs or livestock such as sheep and cows or birds, domestic fows, or ants.
Jâbir bin ’Abdullah ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’, (martyred in 74 [693 A.D.],)[1] is quoted to have
stated as follows, in the book (Sahîh-i-) Muslim: Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ stated: “Wipe your dishes, (after having eaten
the food in it,) with your finger; and then wipe your finger with your mouth.” At another occasion
the Best of Creation stated: “The devil keeps company with you throughout your daily
occupations. Even as you eat. If one of you drops a piece of food he is to put into his mouth, let him pick it up,
wipe the dust off, and eat it. Let him not leave that morsel to the
devil! And let him lick
---------------------------------
[1] This
blessed person, one of the Ashâb-i-kirâm (or the Sahâba), is believed to be at
Koca Mustafâ pasha, Istanbul, although it is written in books that he passed
away in the blessed city of Medîna.
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his finger at the end of the meal! For, it is not known what part
of a meal secretes its barakat.” The book Muslim, again, quotes Enes bin Mâlik ‘radiy-Allâhu
’anh’ as having stated: “Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ would wipe
three of his blessed fingers with his blessed mouth at the end of a meal.” Not
only will licking one’s fingers and picking up the dropped pieces of food and
eating them protect one against being guilty of isrâf. By doing so one will rid
oneself of arrogance and ostentation, attain barakat, and especially, be
honoured with having adapted oneself to the Master of Prophets ‘alaihimussalâm’ and
having obeyed his command, in addition to making use of what one has and
causing the coming blessings to proliferate. It is isrâf, also, to spill things
like beans, rice and chickpeas as you wash them, and not to pick up the seeds
and grains that you have spilled. Not to wear things like clothes, turbans,
socks, stockings properly, to wear and tear them fast, to use too much soap as
you do the washing, to keep lamps, candles, [electric lights, public utility
gas] on needlessly; all these things are isrâf.
It is isrâf to let
yourself cheated by selling or renting out your property for a price below its
market value or by buying or renting something for a price above its market
value. It will not be isrâf if a desperate need called ‘darűrat’ has compelled
you to enter into the interaction in question or if it has been intended for
charity or almsgiving. It is isrâf to exceed the limit that the Islamic system
of rules has set with respect to amount and kind as you prepare a shroud for
for a corpse. As you make an ablution or a ghusl, it is isrâf to use more water
than the ‘sunnat’ amount. ’Ahmad bin Hanbal ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ‘alaih’
narrates on the authority of ’Abdullah ibni ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ‘anh’, (14
years before the Hegira - 73 [692 A.D.], Mekka:) Sa’d (bin Abî Waqqâs)
‘radiy-allâhu ’anh’, (d. 55 [675 A.D.], Medîna-i-munawwara,) was making an
ablution, when Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ saw him. “Yâ Sâ’d! Why are you
wasting the water,” remonstrated the blessed Messenger. When the latter wanted to
know whether there would be isrâf also as one makes an ablution, he stated, “It is isrâf to spend too much water making an ablution even
if you are using the water from a big river.”
It is isrâf also to go
on eating after being satiated. Only, it will not be isrâf for the owner of the
food to go on eating lest his guest should feel embarrassed or for a person who
intends to fast the following day to eat much (at the time of sahűr).
It is isrâf to eat a
second meal in a day before becoming hungry.
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Ahmad Abű Bakr Beyhekî ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’, (384 [994 A.D.],
Beyhek, Nishâpűr – 458 [1066], the same place,) narrates from ’Âisha
‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhâ’: I was having my second meal of the day, when Rasűlullah
‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ saw me and said: “Yâ ’Âisha! Is satisfying
your stomach only sweeter to you than any other occupation? Eating twice a day
is from isrâf, too. Allâhu ta’âlâ does not like spendthrifts!”
Muhammad bin Mustafâ
Hâdimî ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’ explains this issue as follows: “Rasűlullah
‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ made that statement because he knew that ’Âisha
‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhâ’ was not hungry as she was having the second meal.
Normally, an interdiction would not have run counter to the widely known rule
that for the performance of kaffârat the poor must be fed twice a day.” (Please
see the sixth chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless Bliss for ‘kaffârat’.)
It is isrâf, also, to
eat whatever you like. As scholars such as Ibni Mâja (Abű ’Abdullah Muhammad
bin Yezîd), (209 [824 A.D.], Qazvin, Iran – 273 [886],) Imâm Beyhekî, and
’Abdullah ibni Abi-d-dunyâ, (208 [823 A.D.] – 281 [894],) ‘rahimahumullah’
narrate on the authority of Enes bin Mâlik ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ in their books,
Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ‘alaihi wa sallam’ stated: “It is from isrâf to eat
whatever you like.” To say that it is isrâf to eat twice a day or to eat whatever
you like means to eat after being satiated and before digestion has been
completed and you are hungry again. For, to eat a second meal in a day will in
effect mean, especially when days are short and for people who do not work, to
eat without being fully hungry. And to eat whatever you like at a meal table
will mean to eat after being satiated. Furthermore, since it is not stated
outright that it is isrâf in the two hadîth-i-sherîfs quoted, they may have
been intended as similes whereby it is likened to isrâf, which is harâm.
Needless over-variety
of food on a meal table is isrâf. However, it is written in the book entitled Khulâsa, as well as in other
books, that it will not be isrâf if it is done for purposes such as eating a
little of various kinds of different food when you are tired of one kind of
food and thereby mustering energy for acts of worship [such as fasting, working
for earning by way of halâl and helping your Muslim brothers] or having a guest
or guests at your table. The citation given from books is not intended to say
that it is only for the aforesaid purposes that variety can be added to the
food on a meal table. That it is permissible to add variety also for the mere
purpose of flavour and pleasure, unless the food is wasted and so
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far as it is not done with a wicked intention, is shown by the
thirty-first âyat-i-kerîma of A’râf Sűra and ninetieth âyat-i-kerîma of Mâida
Sűra. [These âyat-i-kerîmas are quoted and their meanings are explained in the
second chapter.] It was on the basis of these two âyat-i-kerîmas that the
blessed scholars of our religion have stated that it is permissible to enjoy
eating all sorts of fruit and informed us that Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi
wa sallam’ ate various kinds of fruit. The hadîth-i-sherîf that reads, “Eat what you like, and
wear what you like! It is isrâf and arrogance that will misguide a person,” and which was uttered
for ’Abdullah ibni ’Abbâs ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’, (three years before the Hegira,
Mekka - 68 [687 A.D.], Tâif,) is quoted in the book entitled Sahîh-i-Bukhârî. It is isrâf to eat
the well-baked part or the inner part of bread and dump its outer cover, i.e.
its crust. It will not be isrâf if the remains are eaten by someone else or by
an animal.
It is isrâf to put
more than necessary bread on the table and not to remove the remaining slices
so that they will be eaten next time. In other words, it is isrâf to dump the
slices of bread that have not been eaten or to put too much bread (on the meal table)
for purposes such as boasting, ostentation, and fame.
Eating delicious food,
wearing valuable, new clothes, consturcting tall buildings, and many another
worldly satisfaction that the Owner of this religion has not made harâm, are
not isrâf as long as these blessings have been acquired by way of halâl and
they are not intended for arrogance and boasting. They will be tanzîhî
[lightly] makrűh when they are more than needed. What would become people whose
goal is the Hereafter is to be contented with the necessary amount and dispense
the rest as alms.
FOURTH HEADING — There is isrâf in thanksgiving, too. Imâm Mujâhid ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’, (24 - 104 [723 A.D.],
as he was making sajda in namâz, in Mekka,) states: “It will never be isrâf if a person spends gold at places commanded by
Allâhu ta’âlâ, be it as big as a mountain. It will be isrâf, on the other hand, to spend one dirham [approximately 5
grams] of silver or a handful of wheat at a harâm place.” Khâtim-i-Tâî is reputed for his generosity. When he was warned that his giving so much would be waste
of propert which in turn would not have any khayr in it, he replied, “Property given for khayr (charity, goodness) will not have been wasted!” It has been wrong
of some people to conclude from the statements made by Mujâhid and Khâtim that there will not be isrâf in almsgiving. This we will try to explain as follows:
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Jenâb-i-Haqq praises Believers in an
âyat-i-kerîma that purports the blessed meaning: “They give alms from the
rizq We have given them,” in Mu’minűn Sűra. It is noted in the tafsîrs written by great
scholars such as Qâdî Beydâwî and Zemahsherî and Fakhr-ud-dîn Râzî, as well as
in many other books of tafsîr, that the word ‘rizq’ as used in the quoted
âyat-i-kerîma means ‘some of the rizq’ or ‘a part of the rizq’. Accordingly,
the âyat-i-kerîma means, “As you give alms, avoid isrâf, which is harâm!”
According to all Islamic scholars, the word ‘alms’ there means ‘spending one’s
property for khayr, for purposes commanded by Islam’. The hundred and
forty-first âyat-i-kerîma of An’âm Sűra purports: “ When you harvest a crop
give the poor their dues; but waste not by
excess; for Allâhu ta’âlâ loveth not the wasters.”
That means, “Do not
commit isrâf as you give alms.” As a matter of fact, one day Thâbit bin Qays ‘radiy-Allâhu
’anh’, (one of the Ansâr-i-kirâm, gathered all the dates on seven hundred trees
and dispensed the entire fruit as alms, retaining nothing for his household. It
was thereupon that the aforequoted âyat-i-kerîma was revealed. The commandment,
in short, was: “Do not give all (that you have)!” Abd-ur-Razzâq relates on the authority
’Abd-ul-Melîk bin ’Abd-ul-’Azîz Qoureishî wa Amawî ibni Jureyj ‘rahmatullâhi
ta’âlâ ’alaih’, (80 - 149 [766 A.D.], Mekka:) Mu’âdh bin Jebel (or Jabal)
‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ had a date tree. He gathered the dates and dispensed all of
them as alms. Nothing was left for himself. Presently the âyat-i-kerîma that
purported, “But waste not,” was revealed. It was declared in the twenty-ninth âyat-i-kerîma
of Nisâ Sűra: “O My Habîb (Beloved One)! Do not dispense your property to
such extent as there will be none left for yourself.” Jâbir bin ’Abdullah
bin Mes’űd states: “One day a boy came to our Master the Messenger of Allah
‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ and listed a set of useful things, saying that
his mother said she needed those things. When Rasűlallah replied that at the
moment he did not have any of the things listed, the boy said, ‘give me your
shirt, then.’ Thereupon the Best of Creation took off his shirt and gave it to
the boy. The blessed Messenger of Allâh was without a shirt on now. When Bilâl
Habeshî performed the (call to prayer termed) azân, the jamâ’at, (i.e. the
Muslims who perform or who are to perform the [public prayer termed] namâz in jamâ’at,)[1] waited for the arrival
of Rasűlullah as usual; yet he did not join
---------------------------------
[1] Please see the twentieth chapter of the
fourth fascicle of Endless Bliss for ‘namâz in jamâ’at’.
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them. Anxious, a few of them went to his home to see if there
was something wrong. Then they knew that he could not come because he did not a
shirt to wear. Thereupon the âyat-i-kerîma (quoted above) was revealed.” In a
hadîth-i-sherîf quoted on the authority of Abű Hureyra ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ in
(the celebrated books of hadîth entitled) Bukhârî and Muslim, Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ states: “Alms
with khayr is that which is given by one who is not in need.” On the other hand, in
an episode related on the authority of Abű Hureyra ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ by Imâm
Beghâwî, One day someone came to our Master Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa
sallam’ and said, “I have a gold coin. How should I
spend
it?” “Spend
it buying your needs, replied the blessed Prophet. When the man said, “I have another gold
coin,” “Spend
it buying what your child needs,” was the blessed answer. “I
have
another gold coin.” “Spend it for the needs of your family.” “I have
one more gold coin.” “Spend it for the needs of your servant.” When the man said
again that he had yet another gold coin, The Beloved one of Allâhu ta’âlâ stated: “You know better where
you will use it.” In another hadîth-i-sherîf, quoted on the authority of Jâbir
bin ’Abdullah ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’, in the book entitled Muslim, Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu
’alaihi wa sallam’ states: “With your money, buy your own needs first. Spend the excess, if
any, buying the needs of your household. If you still have money left, support
your kinsfolk!” The book entitled Bukhârî quotes Rasűlullah as having stated: “Alms given as you and
your household are in need or as you are in debt will not be accepted.
Repayment of a debt is more important than giving alms or manumitting a slave
or giving a present. Do not cause someone to be wasted by giving it as alms (of your own)!” In the book entitled Tenbîh-ul-ghâfilîn, written by the Fiqh
scholar Abul-leys Samarqandî ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’, Ibrâhîm bin Ad-ham
‘rahimahullah’ to have stated: “Unless a debtor repays his debt, he should not
eat food containing fat and/or vinegar.” Ibni Hajar-i-Asqalânî quotes Ibni
Battâl ‘rahimahullah’ as having stated: “It is not permissible for a person in
debt to give alms and (thereby) to not pay his debt. All scholars are unanimous
in this.” Suleymân bin Ahmad Taberânî ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’, (260,
Taberiyya, Damascus - 360 [971 A.D.], the same place,) and many another scholar
state: “According to most scholars, as long as a person is healthy physically
and mentally and does not owe a debt to anybody and is patient enough to do
without property, supposing he is unmarried, and his household also joins him
in his patience,
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supposing he is married; it is permissible for him to dispense
his entire property as alms. If any one of these conditions is missing, then it
will be makrűh for him to give alms. In fact, his alms will not be accepted,
according to some scholars.” So did ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’ say.
As is understood from
these narrations, even almsgiving may entail isrâf. If a person does not have
property in excess of the amount of his debt or does not have property in
excess of the amount sufficient to meet the needs of his family although his
family consists of people not patient enough to do without property, or if he
himself is in need although he is a person not patient enough to do without
property, then it will be isrâf for him to give alms.
FIFTH HEADING — There are three
medications for isrâf:
1-
Medication by way of knowledge is to know
its harms, which we have explained, and to ponder over them.
2-
Medication by work and strouggle is to
endeavour not to dispense your property and to tell someone you know about your
weakness and request them to help you by checking your expenses, warning you
upon seeing your isrâf, and using force to prevent you when necessary.
3-
To extirpate the causes of isrâf. There
are six causes of isrâf:
The first cause is
sefâhet (dissipation, foolish squandering). This is the most usual reason for
many a person’s indulging into isrâf. Sefâhet is the thirty-first of the
(spiritual) heart diseases. Sefâhet is mental weakness and poorness of wisdom.
It is called rekâket (mental incoherence) as well as sefâhet. Its antonym is
rushd, which means mental perfection and competence, powerfulness of wisdom,
right judgment. After the âyat-i-kerîma which purports, “Do not give your
property to sefîh (dissolute, prodigal) people,” Allâhu ta’âlâ adds His commandment, as is purported: “If you observe rushd on
their conduct, then deliver their property to them!” Many people are sefîh
by creation. From time to time this weakness becomes even worse for some
reasons. Sometimes people come by easy property without having to work, without
the sweat of their brow. Bad friends beguile them into dispensing it and, in
order to lay hands on their property, they make them believe that it will not
be manly and valorous behaviour to save it or to try to economize it. Thus they
cause isrâf. It is for this reason that we have been commanded to avoid bad
company. There are many wealthy families whose children are
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likewise accustomed to isrâf and end up in a life of
prodigality. Another incentive to sefâhet is too much respect, flattery, and
overlaudatory remarks that a person receives from people around him. It is by
this way that children of high-ranking, rich, and intellectual people are
generally swept and fall into sefâhet.
The second cause is
not to know isrâf or a few of its kinds. In that case one will not identify
isrâf and will think it is generosity. Property given unnecesarily and to
forbidden and harmful places will be looked on as generosity.
The third cause is exhibitionism and showiness.
The fourth cause is laxity and sloth.
The fifth cause is bashfulness and inhibition.
The sixth cause is not
to spare one’s faith, not to be mindful of Islam.
Let us state the
medications for these six causes:
First one: It is
difficult to provide a medication for sefâhet by creation. Therefore, Islam has
prohibited to give them property; that is, it has not given them permission to
use their property at will. A sefîh person who wastes his property must be
separated. To separate a person, nevertheless, means to take away his right as
a human being and treat him like an animal, nay, like a lifeless being. If he
is a person who will admit a medication, he must be separated from bad company
and it must be seen to that he be befriended by discreet and experienced
people. He must be made to hear about the disasters caused by isrâf and forced
to desist from dispensing property, by any means including castigation and
infliction of pain.
Second one is to teach
medication for ignorance.
Third one: Riyâ
(exhibitionism, showiness) is the ninth of the heart diseases, which we have
explained at length. [Our book Ethics of Islam provides detailed information on the subject.]
The fourth medication
is intended for laxity and sloth, which is the thirty-second of the heart
diseases. Suffice it to quote the thirty-ninth âyat-i-kerîma of Wa-n-najmi Sűra
for the realization of the infamy that this disease causes; the âyat-i-kerîma
purports: “...
man can have nothing but what he strives for.” That Rasűlullah
‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ entrusted himself to Allâhu ta’âlâ and invoked, “Yâ Rabbî! Protect me
against kesel (languor, slackness)!” is narrated on the authority of (our blessed mother) ’Âisha
‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhâ’ and Enes bin Mâlik (bin Nadr) ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ in (the
celebrated books of hadîth entitled) Bukhârî
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and Muslim. Medicination for sloth to be on
speaking terms with diligent people, to keep away from lazy and slack people,
and to meditate over the fact that one ought to be feel embarrassed in the
presence of
Allâhu ta’âlâ and that sloth will incur vehement torment. One should always be seeing sâlih (pious) Muslims who know their faith, Islam well and all whose
behaviour is concordant with their knowledge, and shy away from sinners who merely pay lip-service to Muslims’ brotherhood rather than observing the commands
and prohibitions of Allâhu ta’âlâ, and from ignorant people who have not learned the teachings written in the books of the Ahl as-Sunnat.
Isrâf is a very bad
habit. It is an arrant sample of abhorrence. It is a dangerous disease that
interminably darkens the heart and gnaws away at it. It is extremely difficult
to treat and cure. Before this maladjustment sets in and entirely covers the
heart, all sorts of medication should be had recourse to and all measures of
struggle should be carried on for the elimination and extirpation of it. Allâhu ta’âlâ should be invoked and
begged for help to get rid of it. Allâhu ta’âlâ will make all hardships easy for a person who works. He is the
sole helper and savior to take refuge with and to trust oneself to. This is the
end of the passage about isrâf, which we have borrowed (and translated into
English) from Tarîqat-i-Muhammadiyya, by Imâm Birgivî ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’.
Qustion: Is it isrâf to smoke
tobacco?
Answer: ‘Isrâf’ means to
give your property to a harâm place, regardless of whether you do so for
yourself or for someone else. It is ‘isrâf’, no matter the amount given; and a
grave sin, too. Expenditures on alcoholic beverages, on gambling, and on games,
are of this sort. If it were harâm to smoke, any amount of money spent buying
cigarettes would be isrâf. It is mubâh, not harâm, to smoke a little. There are
two ways of spending your money or property for things that are halâl and
mubâh.
First: It is isrâf to spend
more than necessary for your physical needs such as food and drink, for
establishing a home, and for buying whatever appeals to your nature. Likewise,
when you want to eat or drink something, it will be isrâf to go on eating or
drinking it after you become satiated. That this excess is a venial sin is
written in Radd-ul-muhtâr, at the end of its chapter dealing with the wâjibs of namâz.
Imâm Rabbânî Ahmad Fârűqî Serhendî ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’ (971 [1563
A.D.], Serhend, India - 1034 [1624], the same place,) states as follows in the
fifty-second letter
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of the third volume of his blessed book entitled Maktűbât: “Human and animal
body is made of four basic components; [earthen substances, water, air, and
heat.] Each of these different, nay, antonymous components has its own special
needs and requirements. On account of the heat component inherent in their
body, [because heat is a source of energy,] human beings and animals like
themselves and take pride in themselves. Forces of lust and wrath, as well as
other vices, originate from these four components.”
It is these needs and
requirements that appeal to the human and animal nature and which their nature
desires, and which we call sevq-i-tâbi’î [natural instinct]. A reasonable
person will exploit these insticts in a way ordered and permitted by Islam, and
thereby her or she will not be sinful. And people who do not follow their
reason will follow their nafs and exceed the limit of mubâhs. Thereby they will
be sinful. For, the human nafs is a force that pushes the instincts outwards so
as to cause them to overflow the area of mubâhs and which hankers after things
other than mubâhs. The human sense organs and the somatic nerves are under the
command of a force named ‘heart’. And the ‘soul’ is the force that keeps the
four basic components making up the body and the forces termed ‘nafs’ and
‘heart’ together, and operates them. The nafs in disbelievers and in sinning
Muslims has run amok, and their heart and soul have darkened. These three
forces have, so to speak, become allies, all three doing the commandments of
the nafs. When a person adapts himself to Islam, the three forces are torn
asunder, his heart and soul gain strength, the nafs weakens, and the heart and
soul disengage themselves from the oppression and bidding of the nafs and begin
to get purified, both of them doing all their deeds for the grace of Allâhu ta’âlâ and for the sake of
goodness.
Since animals do not
have a heart or a soul or a nafs, they merely act out of instinct. When they
become hungry, for instance, they eat what they find until they become
satiated. Human beings, by contrast, act at the behest of their heart. If a
person’s heart follows his nafs, he will not be satiated with what he finds. He
will be looking for things that are harâm. He will go on eating after being
satiated. For instance, when the weather is hot man’s nature wants something
cool; if a person’s heart follows his reason, he will make a choice among a
wide variety of soft beverages such as sweet fruit drinks, lemonades, sweetened
carbonated drinks, and many another, and take as much of it as necessary. If he
disignores
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his reason and follows his nafs, he will want more than
necessary amounts of mubâhs; he will even stray onto beverages that are harâm.
As a matter of fact, he (Hadrat Imâm Rabbânî) states as follows in the
twenty-seventh letter of the third volume: “Some of man’s wants emanate from
his nature. No one can be free from these wants as long as the body is alive.
For instance, as heat becomes intense, man’s nature wants to take something
cool. In cold weather something hot will be wanted. It is not sinful to satisfy
wants of this sort; nor does it mean to follow one’s nafs. For, indispensable
wants of our nature are mubâh. They [are called ‘necessities’. It is an act of
sunnat to utilize necessities as much as you need. For, these natural wants]
are outside of the desires of the nafs al-ammâra. The nafs wants more than
necessary amounts of mubâhs, the doubtful ones, and harâms. It will not be
satisfied with the indispensable amounts of mubâhs.” He states in the
eighty-sixth letter of the third volume: “Riyâzat means to pare down the usage
of mubâhs and to utilize only indispensable amounts of them.”
As is seen, it is not
isrâf to spend property on mubâhs that are needed. Nor is it sinful. Once a
person has been accustomed to smoking, his nature wants tobacco as strongly as
he wants bread. It will not isrâf for that person to smoke it as much as he
needs. As it is necessary for a poor person to earn money for the living of his
household, likewise it is necessary for him to meet his own need of tobacco. To
say, “Won’t it be isrâf for him to dock the money he is to spend for the
support of his family and buy himself cigarettes?” concerning a person
accustomed to smoking, would be no dissimilar to saying, “Won’t it be isrâf for
him to buy bread so that he may eat until he becomes satiated?” In fact, it will
not be isrâf for such a person to buy cigarettes for himself, whereas it would
be isrâf for him to consume beverages such as coke and lemonade instead of
merely drinking water.
There one more point
we would like to add: It is farz to work hard enough to earn at a subsistance
level for one’s household. And it is sunnat to work more, so as to meet their
needs. These facts are explained in the twenty-sixth chapter. People mostly
maintain a standard of living higher than poverty that woud compel them to dock
the money to be spent at the subsistence level. A person who is so poor as he
will have to dock his (and his family’s) subsistence is sinful, not because he
smokes tobacco, but because he has been to lazy to work sufficiently at least
to keep a bare pittance at bay.
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It would not be something justifiable for
a person not accustomed to smoking to buy cigarettes by saving from the money
to be spent for subsistence, as it would not be wise of him to drink beverages
instead of water, since tobacco, (as well as beverages,) does not appeal to his
nature. But poverty so grinding results from indolence. It is harâm not to work
and to live in abject poverty, thereby depriving oneself and one’s family of
their indispensable needs and subsistence. And it is makrűh to deprive them of
their needs, (that are dispensable.)
Second: When a person does
not use his property for his physical needs, it will be isrâf to spend even a
small amount of it for something not right and not necessary. Examples of this
is to burn one’s property in fire and to dump it into the sea. It will be isrâf
also to give more than necessary amount of it, even to the right places. [For
instance, it will be isrâf to give your family and children more than their
needs. Needs are determined by Islam and modified in accordance with the
standards applied in the country being lived in.] As is seen, it is necessary
to learn about the places where one is to spend one’s property as well as about
people who have rightful dues from one’s property.
It is not isrâf to pay
others’ rights from one’s property. One has to pay those rights as soonest one
can. ‘Zakât’ is the most important of those rights.
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