How to Stay Humble When Allah Gives You Wealth | Surah Al Kahf

Wealth Is a Deception

Wealth is a deception. He gives it, he can seize it. It's not because of your intelligence, not because of my power, my skills, my privilege, my background. No, it comes from Allah.

In 2008, we saw the greatest financial crash, the greatest recession that we have seen in history, in written history. People for decades had been placing all of their money in savings accounts, in investment accounts, in ISAs, in ETFs, in stocks. And they had left their money there thinking, I trust this process, everything will be fine. And one day they'd wake up and their life savings suddenly doesn't exist. In the same process, we found out that a number of people who are on Wall Street in the US — the people who are the heads of financial institutions — were actually lying to people, stealing money from people, pyramid schemes, Ponzi schemes.

We realized how much of it was a lie. But for us to realize this, the whole thing had to crash. People had to lose millions. They had to lose their life savings.

The Four Deceptions of Surah Al-Kahf

We said that Surah Al-Kahf is about deception — four lies that we are told in this world and how to realize that we are being lied to. In this story, we are talking about the deception of money, of wealth. What happens when somebody becomes successful materially? When somebody gets a promotion or two, somebody gets a degree or two, somebody does well in business, somebody gets a large inheritance from their parents. What happens mentally? You start to feel entitled. You start to think, I get the credit for this. I contributed to this. My intelligence, my hard work.

And what starts to happen? You start to put more trust in savings accounts, in banks, in processes, in people. You start to trust them more. And Allah starts to get removed from the picture.

The Story of the Two Men and Their Gardens

The story of these two men — what is this story? One of these two men, Allah had granted a beautiful farm: two gardens of grapes, surrounded by palm trees, and a river in between them. A beautiful sight to the eye, a successful operation. He made a full profit. Now the thing is with agriculture, it's so dependent on the season, on the rain, on the soil, on the temperature. But this man somehow made a full killing, a huge profit.

The Disease of Entitlement

When you start to absorb this mindset — I have earned this, this is me, this is my success, my achievement — it's not obvious to you and it's not obvious to those around you. It comes out in conversation. You know that Range Rover that I have outside? I'm thinking of upgrading it this year. You just slip it in. You know those three houses next door? Yeah, I own all of them. You just slip it in conversation.

This is what happens with this man and his neighbor. He goes to his garden, he plucks the fruits, he goes to his neighbor — while chatting to him, like you normally chat to your friend. How's it going? What's new? Yeah, I just bought a Bugatti yesterday — and he just slips it in. You know, I've got more wealth than you and I've got more employees. He just slips it in like that in the conversation and then he goes back.

So now, without realizing, he started to boast to the people around him. And then he goes back to his garden. The mindset is so deeply entrenched inside him. He enters his garden without realizing he has a disease in his heart.

What's that disease? Some scholars say he didn't even say this out loud. He's thinking this as he walks into his garden, as he strolls between the trees, as he looks at the acres of land. He says, this is never going to finish. I'm going to pass this down to my kids, my grandkids.

People walk past their properties, they walk past their cars, they go and log in to see their savings account. They say, You know what? I did a good deal. I made a killing. I made some smart investments. I'm going to pass this to my kids. It doesn't cross your mind that in an instant the whole thing can disappear.

The Danger of Feeling Safe with Wealth

He says, I don't think this is going to vanish at any point in time. He starts to feel safe with his wealth. He starts to feel this thing is going nowhere. But that takes him to something more dangerous: I don't even think the Day of Judgment will come. And even if there was a Day of Judgment, even if I go to Allah, look how much wealth he gave me — surely he's going to look after me.

You start to think that the wealth you have, the blessings you have, the house you have, the clothes you have, the children you have — you start to think this is because Allah loves me, that's why he gave me these things. So I'm going to get a default access to Paradise.

The Neighbor's Answer: Remember Where You Came From

His neighbor stops him right there and asks him the hard question. How could you be ungrateful? Do you not remember that one day you were sand? This is the solution to all arrogance and pride and attachment to wealth and attachment to this world and love of the means of this world and its trinkets and decorations. Remember: one day we were sand, we were dust, we were clay, and everything else will turn back to dust. And then you became a small piece of flesh. And now you are a man. How did you come to be from nothing? Allah made you from nothing. He made your wealth from nothing. You are not everything — you are a speck. Remember this.

The Believer's Mindset

And then this man — the neighbor — says: but me, Allah is my master. Everything I do, I know it comes from him. I see something beautiful in my house, I say, he gave it to me. Not for a second do I think it belongs to me. I know he can take it away any moment. I will not make anyone equal to him.

The Two Words That Change Everything

My friend, why — when you entered your garden — why didn't you say these two special words? If we have this mindset, it will change the way we see our wealth. When you look at what you have, the first thing you should say is:

This word — مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ — we use it so often but we don't understand the depth of what it means. If Allah did not will it, I would have nothing today. I could have all the skills, all the intelligence, all the degrees, all the business partners, but I would have zero. Like the people on Wall Street in 2008 — $100 billion disappeared overnight. Where did it go? Nobody knows. Overnight. They had everything and suddenly they had nothing. That's how it can happen.

My Lord is the one who gave it to me. The second phrase — لَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ — there is no power, nothing can happen unless Allah wants it to happen. And look, he says to him: I have less money than you, less people than you, but I am grateful to Allah. That is the secret. It's not about having more. It's about being content with what you have.

The Hidden Shirk We Don't Recognize

The interesting thing in this passage is that this man is accused of shirk — making equals to Allah. And in the end of the story, he says, why did I make equals to Allah? Now, did this man worship idols? The vast majority of historians say no, he was not worshiping idols. Then how is he committing shirk? How is he making equals to Allah? This is the type of shirk that many of us commit and we don't realize it.

When we start to think that the machines and the means and the people and the processes are doing things — not Allah. When you put your clothes in the washing machine and you think that's cleaned my clothes — no, Allah cleaned them. Allah is the ultimate will. If he willed it, you could have put your clothes in there, put the soap in there, the powder in there, and nothing would have happened.

When you lock your door and you think your security system protects your house and you start walking feeling safe — no, Allah protects your house. That security system can fail tomorrow. When you drop your kids at school and you walk away thinking, my kids will be okay, the teachers will teach them — no, Allah gives them knowledge. And if no teacher could give them anything, Allah is the doer. Everything else is just a means.

When you get your paycheck at the end of the month, you think your boss paid you — no, Allah paid you. He sent it through your boss. Everybody in this world is a postman. Allah is sending the letter. They are just carrying the message. When we start to put more trust in things, this is called shirk — we have made them equal to Allah.

When an earthquake happens, what does the BBC say? What does the news say? Nature got angry. What is nature? Nature is treated as some kind of god alongside Allah. The sea is angry because of global warming, because of pollution, so the sea made a tsunami. What — the sea is some kind of demigod? No. These are all the creation of Allah. They are subservient to him.

The Destruction of the Garden

And so this man learns his lesson the hard way. His neighbor, his good friend, is telling him: why didn't you say لَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ — there is no power, nothing can happen unless Allah wants it to happen.

And then what happens? He enters his garden and Allah destroys his garden completely. He finds his garden is destroyed. He grits his hands together in regret over all the investments he made in this place.

And he says:

Why did I put my trust and feel safe in the process, in the nature, in the plants, in my employees? Why didn't I say this all came from Allah? Look what happened. In one moment it disappeared. One moment it's all gone.

Nobody could help him in this moment. There is no refund on his lost property. Nobody's going to give him back his money, his wealth. His garden is never coming back unless Allah gives it back to him. Nobody can help if Allah turns away. And nor can he do anything to revive it. The game is over.

The True Walaya — Allah Is the Ultimate Doer

Today he realized something. Allah has the walaya — he looks after everything. Not me, not my manager, not my supervisor, not my security guard. Allah is the ultimate doer. His reward is better, and it is better to put my hopes in him, not in anybody else.

Don't Learn It the Hard Way

Today Sahibul Jannatain — the man with two gardens — learned this lesson that we should all learn. We should not learn it the hard way. We should not learn it the day we find our child has been hit by a car, that Allah protected our children — not me and you. The day we lose our savings, that's not the day we should learn that all of this belonged to Allah, that it came from him and he can take it in an instant.

When a mother has a miscarriage after nine months and loses her infant — this little baby, she looked into his eyes, this cute little child, and suddenly he passes away — that shouldn't be the day she realizes Allah gave it to me and he can take it away. Allah is the ultimate doer.

Conclusion: Which Man Will You Be?

Wealth is a deception. He gives it, he can seize it. It's not because of your intelligence, not because of my power, my skills, my privilege, my background. No, it comes from Allah. All of these things can lead to no wealth, and none of these things can lead to lots of wealth. But it is a test by which he sees, and he watches us, and he exposes us for who we really are.

There were two men and each of them had gardens, each of them had farms in the story. But which one will we be? Will we be the one with the destroyed garden who thought and left everything to it? Or will we be the man who had less, but was content, but was grateful — and Allah will give him a much bigger garden in the afterlife?