“Competing in gathering wealth – hidden norm of the
society”
In this era, a person’s status
is determined by quantity of materialism. The total money saved, the extravagant amount of
cars, the number of houses and the amount of phones all indicate towards the
status of a person to the general public. However, the Islamic advice that is
given is completely opposite. The Prophet (P.B.U.H) mention in a Hadith
narrated by Sayyiduna Ali (R.A) that “A little that suffices is better than
abundance that distracts” (Ibn Hibban).
It can be understood from this
Hadith, that gathering and always seeking to raise the quantity of wealth will
see a person distracted from the main objective of this life; striving for the pleasure of Allah. It is part of the
human nature to collect and compete in gathering wealth as the Prophet
(P.B.U.H) said “If son of Adam has one field, he will go for another”. (Muslim)
Similarly, in the Quran Surah Takathur which means ‘rivalry in amassing wealth’
is clearly named to warn readers of the Quran against the act of competing
wealth. Allah mentions, “Rivalry in amassing wealth has made you negligent,
until you have reached your grave”. This Quranic verse is directly linked to the
Hadith of Sayyiduna Ali (R.A) as the Prophet is mentioning abundance of wealth
leads to neglect fullness and negligent in fulfilling the commands of Allah.
Being content is quality
that is to be praised
Prophet (P.B.U.H) is giving
advice and praising the person who suffices with what they possess. To be
content with what is in a person’s possession is extremely difficult, this is
mainly because parents, spouse, friends and contemporary people will judge by
quantity, as much as, a person’s wedding is determined by the quantity he
possess. As the norm of the society is that a person who is to adopt the quality
of being content with the amount he possess, will cause inferiority and become
deemed as a failure. Although, there are many examples from the Prophet
(P.B.U.H) and companions (R.A) in this field.
During the Makkan era and before the spread of
Islam, the Prophet (P.B.U.H) was offered the luxuries of this world in order to
halt the spread of Islam, but the Prophet refused similarly, even during the
peaceful days in Madinah the Prophet (P.B.U.H) would be content with what they possessed.
The booty from wars would not tempt the Prophet (P.B.U.H) to invest and gather
more worldly possession. If people were to judge the Prophet (P.B.U.H) by the amount of wealth he
possessed, they would not have converted to Islam. Prophet’s status in the
community was not determined by quantity but by the quality of His life.
They were only content by having Allah as their lord and
Muhammad as their messenger. This is what made their Iman stronger and firmer
as the Prophet (P.B.U.H) mentions, “He who is content with Allah as Lord, Islam
as Din, and with Muhammad as Messenger has tasted the savour of Iman. (Muslim) Similarly,
every Allah test people by seeing whether they are contented with what they
possess, if they are then Allah is also content with them. As the Prophet mentions,
“When Allah loves people, He test them. Whoever is contented, then He is
content with them, whoever is discontented then He is discontented with them.”
(Tirmidhi)
Keeping the balance
It is also important to remember
the Prophet mentions the word ‘abundance’ when relating it to wealth wealth. This
indicates that saving a little amount wealth is permissible and is needed to
ensure the rights of wife and children are being fulfilled in the correct
manner according to the teachings of the Prophet. A person needs keep the
balance and needs to know when to stop gathering wealth even if society judges
a person according to quantity. As going down the route of amassing wealth will
never leave a person with content, but will rather distract them from their
main objective of life until they reach their abode when they will be realised
the wrong route was chosen.
