The Mindset Allah Wants You to Have to Become a Millionaire

Breaking Two Major Misconceptions

Think of how many hospitals you can build, how many schools you can build, how many things you can fund, how many scholars can be funded, how many public services you can improve if you had the wealth to do so — if as an ummah we had the collective wealth to do so — how many ways we could shape the narrative and shape society.

Before we talk about why we should build wealth as Muslims, we have to break two misconceptions.

Misconception #1: The Prophet ﷺ Was Poor

The first misconception is that the Prophet ﷺ was poor. Whoever says the Prophet ﷺ was poor, I challenge this person to bring me concrete evidence of this. The Prophet ﷺ was a noble man from a noble family and he was wealthy — but he lived a simple life. He chose to live a simple life.

It is not that he was poor, that he did not have the means, that he struggled. No, he chose to live a simple life even though he had access to wealth. The Prophet ﷺ owned land, he owned farmland. Part of this farmland was generating rent, income. Part of this farmland he had given as a waqf to generate income for the sake of Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ made investments, the Prophet ﷺ bought and sold, he traded, he entered into a partnership agreement with Khadija before Islam. He learned to trade under the mentorship of his uncle Abu Talib. So this is somebody who is an experienced trader who travels to Syria — to the Levant — to trade. He understood local cultures, prices, customs, and products. He had all of this understanding.

The moment he arrives in Medina, after building Masjid Quba, what is the first thing the Prophet ﷺ builds? One apartment for each of his wives. Property. He gave importance to these things.

This is the first misconception. For us to think the Prophet ﷺ was a poor, financially illiterate person — this is a lie against the Messenger ﷺ.

Misconception #2: Poverty Is Piety

The second misconception — which is a really important one, which is very popular, which we have to destroy — is that poverty is piety. If somebody is poor, that means mashaAllah this person is righteous and going to Jannah. It's not the case.

The Prophet ﷺ informs us that wealth is a test, absolutely. And he also informs us that the people who have less tend to be the people who are more conscious of Allah, because they have fewer material tests. They are able to focus on the worship of Allah and give less importance to these things. But that doesn't mean that if you take an average person who is poor and an average person who is rich, the poor person is 100% more righteous. Not necessarily.

From the ten people promised paradise, eight or nine of them were business people — traders, well-known traders who were wealthy. They were affluent. They were not poor.

So these are the two misconceptions: number one, that the Prophet ﷺ was poor; and number two, that poverty is piety.

The Prophet ﷺ said: "How amazing it is for wealth to be given to a righteous person." It's a virtue. It's not a naqs — not a deficiency. It is something virtuous. It's not just that we can say, "Oh, there's nothing wrong with you wanting to be wealthy." Rather, it is virtuous and recommended and rewardable for you to be wealthy. But you've got to go into it with the right intention.

Three Reasons Muslims Must Build Wealth

Reason #1: Wealth Is Influence

Why do we build wealth? There are three reasons — as individuals, but also for the sake of the Ummah.

When Allah talks about Dawood and Suleiman, does he talk about two poor prophets? No — two influential prophets. Two influential prophets to whom he has given wealth. To the extent that Suleiman ﷺ subdues an entire kingdom — the kingdom of Saba. How? Because of the wealth and power that Allah has given him. There is no other way if he does not have the jinn, the wind, the elements, and the wealth in his favor.

We look at contemporary examples: those who have wealth are able to dictate the narrative. They own the media outlets. They own political lobbying groups. Sugar companies in the United States of America have the most well-funded political lobby — they go and fight for laws passed in their favor. Sugar companies dictate the law of the country.

We learn from the life of the Prophet ﷺ. When the Prophet ﷺ was in Mecca, the Muslims had nothing — and Allah was teaching them the values of belief, faith, conduct, and patience. But when the Muslims moved to Medina, the Prophet ﷺ made many strategic financial decisions in order to build influence.

He was intimately familiar with the trade routes between Ethiopia and the Levant. In fact, it is one of these trade routes where he intercepts a caravan, which becomes the Battle of Badr. The Battle of Badr happens because the Meccans had sent a caravan to do business toward the Syrian region. The Prophet ﷺ knew this. He knew the trade routes. He knew the business styles. He knew where they go. And he tries to intercept the caravan. This is an economic war — not a physical war. He is very strategically choosing what to intercept. That turns out to become the Battle of Badr, the first full-fledged battle in the history of Islam.

Wealth is influence. The Prophet ﷺ — why was he targeting this caravan? Because he knows that if he can affect their trade, he has influenced and weakened the people of Mecca. He understood this very well.

Reason #2: Wealth Gives Independence

The second reason to build wealth is that wealth gives Muslims independence — freedom from being needy, from being weak, from being dependent on others.

One day, one of the Prophet's companions came to him and asked: how much money should I give in charity from my inheritance? Should I give a half, a third, a quarter? The Prophet ﷺ said, give a third — maximum. A third is a lot. And then he said something very interesting:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1295; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1628)

"For you to leave your children wealthy is better than for you to leave them as dependents constantly asking people for money." Don't do that. Leave your children more wealthy than you are. This is the Prophet ﷺ teaching his companion: try to leave the next generation better off financially than your own generation. Why? So they are independent. They don't have to ask.

One of the most beautiful examples: the Prophet ﷺ asked one of his companions, "Ask me whatever you wish." This companion said:

"I ask you to make me your companion in paradise." The Prophet ﷺ said: "Okay, I can guarantee that for you — but on one condition. Never ask anybody for anything. Never depend on anyone for anything. Try to depend on yourself."

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1043)

This is something the Prophet ﷺ would actively encourage — not being needy, not being dependent on others, not being a faqir — but rather trying to stand on your own two feet, look after yourself, and ensure your children are better off than you.

In our day-to-day lives as Muslims, there are only two ways of making wealth: either you are employed or you are self-employed. When you are employed by somebody else, do you have full freedom? There are instances where your employer doesn't let you pray salah, tells you you can't go for Jumu'ah, questions why your prayer break was so long, tells you to interact in a certain way with the opposite gender or with a customer that you don't agree with — take on a client you don't agree with, set up a service for a product you don't agree with. But you are stuck. You are dependent. You have no choice.

This is why building wealth is important — it gives you the freedom to make choices without constraints.

One of the most beautiful examples in the Quran is Suleiman. When the Prophet Suleiman sends a letter to the Queen of Sheba — to Bilqis — inviting her to Islam, inviting her to submit to Allah, the one and only God, she tries to bribe him with gifts. She sends a huge amount of gifts to Suleiman. What is Suleiman's response?

"Are you trying to tempt me with money? What Allah gave me is better than what He gave you." Some scholars of Tafsir interpret this to mean: what Allah gave me from Islam and revelation is better than these gifts. But other scholars interpret it this way: Allah gave me more wealth than you. What you sent me is nothing — pennies. You think this is going to impress or sway me? I cannot be swayed by your wealth. I am superior to you in wealth. Don't get excited about these trinkets. I am not impressed.

Suleiman cannot be bought. You know how they say everybody has a price — he cannot be bought. Why? He has enough wealth to make him independent. Nobody can own him. This is such an important reason to build wealth.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1427; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1033)

"The upper hand is better than the lower hand" — the hand that gives is better than the hand that takes. Anybody taking a paycheck is taking. But whoever is self-employed is paying, is employing. There is one way to understand this hadith. Another way to understand it: we should be the ones who are spending, who are giving, who are employing, who are the patrons — rather than the ones who are always leeching off society.

How many Muslims live on job seekers' allowance, on universal credit? Those who live on these forms of allowance because of necessity — I am not talking about them. Those who, due to civil war, strife, being an orphan at an early age, struggle, amputated limbs, cancer, illness — these people, we are not talking about such people. I am talking about perfectly able-bodied people who have a brain and intelligence, who have time, but because the handouts from government are convenient, they continue to live on that, make some cash on the side, and continue to live off the state.

This breeds a lazy people. This breeds a weak people. This breeds a dependent people. What kind of a people are we that we are leeching off others? Forget all the arguments about permissibility and fatwas — what kind of a people are those who are living off handouts? I am again excusing all of those categories of people who, due to need, necessity, or life circumstance, are in such a situation. May Allah never allow us to be in such a situation. May Allah help those who are. I am only talking about those able-bodied, intelligent people who have free time and who, due to convenience, are living off such handouts.

As Muslims, we must be independent. We must be the ones funding the institutions, spending on society. We should be the ones saving the NHS. We should not be the ones lining up outside the NHS. We should be the ones saying: "The NHS building needs repair — collectively, as a Muslim community, we have enough wealthy people. We will fund the NHS for you, habibi." That is how we get izza — dignity. That is how we get strength as a civilization. That is how we get confidence. That is how we get influence. They say the man who owns the buck calls the shots. They say it on the street, but it has truth to it.

Reason #3: Without Wealth, You Cannot Build a Civilization

Islam is not something you just ritually worship — you just come and do some aerobics five times a day and go home. Islam is a complete way of life. It builds a complete civilization: from a judiciary to a legal system, to foreign relations, to a flourishing society, a flourishing economy, a flourishing health service. All of this is built by Islam as a complete way of life. You cannot build a system if you don't have wealth.

If we think for a moment about Dawood and Suleiman — they are the kings of an entire civilization, a flourishing society. And Allah says to Dawood: "I have made it easy for you. But what do I want you to do with it? I want you to make something useful for society. Make chain mail, make armor — do something good. Use it for good. I am watching you."

With Dawood and Suleiman, we frequently notice their attitude to wealth: they realize wealth is a test, but they are also ready to use it for the service of Allah. And this is what I mean by building wealth to build a civilization. Think of how many hospitals you can build, how many schools you can build, how many things you can fund, how many scholars can be funded, how many public services you can improve if you had the wealth to do so — if as an Ummah we had the collective wealth to do so — how many ways we could shape the narrative and shape society.

Dawood and Suleiman — they are controlling the wind and the jinn. They have huge armies of all types of species of animals. They have wealth beyond what you can imagine. And what are they doing? The biggest test is: use it for the sake of Allah, and don't get consumed by it.

Practical Steps to Build Wealth

Step #1: Avoid Get-Rich-Quick Schemes

The first principle I want everybody to remember is to avoid get-rich-quick schemes. Some brother — last week I saw him, miskeen — he dropped out of high school. This week he has a suit and a website saying, "I'll teach you to become rich." Ya habibi, please free us from this balawa. Why are you scoring own goals for the Muslim community?

There is no substitute for the development of hardcore skill sets. Learn something valuable — graphic design, plumbing, security, anything. But don't think you are going to do some crypto scheme tomorrow and become rich the day after. If it were this easy, all of us would be rich.

Do not fall for the get-rich-quick schemes. That includes: you are living a life of poverty, your parents own council homes, you wish you could have a bit of cash like those people across the road — someone comes and offers you a bag of drugs, you jump. Someone comes and offers you a spliff, you jump. Why? The urge to make something quick. But wealth is never built quick. Whatever is built quick goes quick.

That principle is really important. If we as Muslims want to build wealth for the long term — for generations, to fund an ummah, to fund universities, to fund hospitals — that wealth comes through the compounding of skills.

Khatib al-Baghdadi, a hadith scholar, understood this: build a skill, and through that skill you can add value. And where there is value, money will come — guaranteed. You may be poor for some years while you are building the skill, but the moment you are a master, money will come. Because people will need you. And where there is need, there is money. It is a simple thing, but it is really important to understand.

The sahaba, when they were trying to make money, made it in ways which truly added value to the lives of people — by trading goods that were needed by them, by providing services that were needed by them, by developing skills that people needed. They stepped up, and through the value they provided, Allah provided for them.

Focus on the skill. Be valuable. Develop. Work hard. Allah will grant you the opportunities. This is principle one. So everyone who asks me about dropshipping, Amazon FBA, crypto — from today, I'll just say go watch this lecture and take the principle. Those questions uncover a generation that is impatient, wanting to earn money in a quick way — in a way that evaporates tomorrow. Today crypto exists; the next day the whole coin doesn't exist. These speculative, quick, fluctuating markets — this is not for us. We should focus on building wealth in a way that sustains generations and builds an ummah.

Step #2: Master a Skill and Embrace Mentorship

For the last 1,800 years or so, the world was built on an agrarian, agriculture-based economy. Most of our grandparents and great-grandparents were farmers. My grandfather was a farmer — a sugarcane farmer in the south of India. The vast majority of money in the world was made through farming. Then we had the industrial revolution: manufacturing, production, factories, shift work. And now we have the digital revolution — artificial intelligence, automation, everything becoming digitized. Money, where is cash? Nobody uses cash anymore.

As Muslims, when the world is moving in a certain direction, rather than falling behind and becoming victims of it, we should be the ones at the forefront. Why? So we can influence the direction. We need to be at the forefront of these technological developments and innovations so we can influence how they look, what the algorithm looks like. Right now, the algorithm presents to you whatever your deepest, darkest shahawat are. It is impossible for you to scroll on your newsfeed without seeing something haram. They own the algorithm. When are we going to own the algorithm? When are we going to develop the algorithm? When are we going to be at the forefront? This is a call for all of us.

It is really important: just as Allah made iron soft for Dawood and told him to use it to make useful things for the sake of the ummah — computer chips are also made from iron, ya mashayikh. Allah granted the ease for Dawood to mold iron into useful chains of mail. We should also use these things, develop these skills, just as Allah asked and commanded Dawood and Suleiman: "O Dawood, use what I have given you, and use it for My sake."

We live in a world now where we have the death of expertise. Everyone thinks you can just make a nice landing page with false advertisement and now you are an expert. Be a master at something. Master a skill, and the money will come.

And the second important point: the importance of mentorship and apprenticeship. The Prophet ﷺ — when he did business, did he just do it by himself? Who taught him business? His uncle, Abu Talib. The Prophet ﷺ as a young man in his late teens would go with his uncle to trade in Syria. Who is he watching? His uncle. How he buys, how he sells, how he interacts, how he treats the customer, how he treats the guest, how he negotiates. This is a science learned through transmission — through isnad. He learns these skills and continues to practice them.

Musa ﷺ thought he knew everything. Where does Allah send him? To Khidr. "Go learn from this man. You need a mentor. You are an apprentice." Apprenticeship is part of mastery. You cannot become a master at something unless you had a sheikh — a master, a teacher, a sensei, whatever you want to call it. You have to learn from somebody else before you can master it. Without that apprenticeship, without that mentor, without that senior one taking your hand and showing you how it is done, you will struggle.

So find a skill that you enjoy. Master the skill — whether you have to learn online, offline, through apprenticeship, teacher, sheikh, or books. You need to have the hunger to realize that you cannot add value to the ummah unless you have skills to give to the ummah.

Step #3: Build Toward Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship

We must have a long-term plan. In the short term, you are employed and you pay your bills. But the real upside in wealth-building comes from self-employment, from doing business. The Prophet ﷺ informs us in many ahadith about the barakah — the blessing — involved in doing tijara, in doing business.

Not everybody is made to be self-employed, to be a trader, to be a businessman, to be an entrepreneur. Not everybody. But Abu Bakr was, and Uthman was, and Umar was, and Ali was, and Abdur Rahman ibn Awf was, and so many of the other companions. The vast majority of them were entrepreneurs.

What is the most important skill for an entrepreneur? The greatest difference between an employee and an entrepreneur is the ability to take risks. If you cannot take risks and jump at opportunities, you will never be an entrepreneur. But the risk-taking of the sahaba was grounded in aqeedah, in iman. Because they were sure about their rizq, they took the risk. I will say it again: when you are sure about your rizq, you will take the risk. If you need the certainty of a paycheck, you will never be able to take the risk.

These people — the sahaba — would leave their house in the morning with no profit, nothing, no money, no idea what was going to come at the end of the day. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2344; also recorded in Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4164)

"If you trusted Allah as the birds trust Allah, He would provide for you as He provides for the birds — they leave in the morning with their stomachs empty and return in the evening with their stomachs full."

The Prophet ﷺ also said, in the Hadith of al-Miqdam ibn Ma'di Karib:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2072)

"The best food a person can eat is the food he eats from the earnings of his own hands." The food you eat from the money made with your own hard work, with the blisters on your hands. It requires hard work. And we have to be ready to put in the work.

So today, given the world we live in and the obsession with the paycheck and the payslip, we have a lot of people who are too lazy, not risk-takers, and not thinking beyond their payslip for the sake of the ummah. And this is a call to all of them: try and build wealth for the sake of Allah.

Step #4: Plan From Day One — With the Right Intention

That means that from the very beginning, part of your income must go for sadaqah, part of your income must go for awqaf, part of your income goes for your expenses — but don't forget to save part of your income to build something for the long term for the ummah.

Think about this from day one, when you develop your strategy, when you get your first income. Ask yourself: What am I going to build? What am I going to build for the sake of Allah? Ask Allah for it on day one. Allah will make it a reality for you if you make the intention clear from the very beginning.

Step #5: Be a Leader in the Times, Not a Follower

Last but not least, we have to not just keep up with the times — we have to be the leaders in the times. The world is going through a complete technological transformation from start to end. No profession will remain the same. No person's job will remain the same. We should be pushing ourselves to be at the forefront of developing, pushing, and using these technologies — so that we can influence the narrative, use them positively, avoid the dark patterns, own the algorithms, and more than anything, so we can build wealth for the ummah.