Worshiping Wealth, Status And Power | Surah Al-Muzzammil | Nouman Ali Khan

Understanding the Culture Before the Quran

If you have to understand the Quran, one of the ways to understand the Quran is to understand something about the culture before the Quran. Like what were these people like, right? And they really, really loved wealth and the way they showed wealth is by throwing huge parties, generosity. But the show of wealth showed that you know how powerful you are. And how many people have you killed was actually another show. How many swords do you have? This is the kind of thing that determined your status in that society. The people of نعمة (na'mah), they actually always define themselves by certain standards. When you belong to a certain class, then you don't want to give up that class. You're willing to move up, but you're never willing to move down. And Allah is now describing their motivation. They cannot afford to move down.

The Eleventh Ayah: Those Who Deny the Truth

We are now on the 11th ayah where Allah is going to talk about, instead of the pronoun, the noun. I'll give you a rough translation of the ayah first and then inshallah we'll dive into some details. Allah says:

"And leave Me and those who call this religion a lie, those who lie against this religion — المكذبين (al-mukadhibeen)."

And the words "leave me and them" means let me deal with them. A figurative expression would be "let me deal with them." Don't worry about them. Leave them to me. Leave the المكذبين (mukadhibeen) to me. And then the description of these المكذبين (mukadhibeen).

Understanding Mukadhibeen

Let me dive a little bit into the word المكذبين (mukadhibeen). It comes from the word كذب (kadhib), which is lie. And كاذب (kadhib) or مكذب (mukaddhib) is someone who calls someone a liar. If I'm a liar, I'm a كاذب (kadhib). If I call you a liar, I'm a مكذب (mukaddhib) of you. So that would be a مكذب (mukaddhib). And if I think you're a liar, also a مكذب (mukaddhib). And if I'm telling other people that you're a liar, also a مكذب (mukaddhib). So مكذب (mukaddhib) is three dimensions: I think you're a liar, I call you a liar, and I tell other people that you are a liar. All of that makes me a مكذب (mukaddhib).

So Allah says المكذبين (mukadhibeen) — the people who call the Messenger a liar, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the people who think the Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is a liar, and the people who are telling other people that the Messenger is a liar — the propaganda people, right?

The People of Luxury

And then He describes them one more description. He gives them one more adjective and that is أُو۟لِى ٱلنَّعْمَةِ (ulil na'mah) — the people that possess luxury, the people that possess excessive wealth. What is called in Arabic these days غنى فاحش (ghinan fahish), right? So just excessive wealth, unbelievable money. أُو۟لِى ٱلنَّعْمَةِ (ulil na'mah), people of الترف (at-taraf) they say in classical Arabic. They say الترف (at-taraf).

So now Allah is not talking about everybody. And the هم (hum), by the way — that هم (hum) that you have to be patient with one day, somebody brought to my attention (a brother brought to my attention, and it's a beautiful observation) — a lot of these هم (hum) will be Muslim. Many of them will be accepting Islam in a couple of decades, some of them even before then. These people might even include people like Umar bin al-Khattab, radiallahu anhu. We don't know. People like Hamza, we don't know. We don't know who's in this audience that is actually going to be the sahaba, because the sahabi came from within, from within these people, right?

So anyway, so أُو۟لِى ٱلنَّعْمَةِ (ulil na'mah). Now Allah is going particularly after very, very wealthy people that are starting this propaganda. Yesterday I spent a lot of energy telling you that the people that are at the top will do anything they can to protect their position. You remember that? And they consider the rest of the population stupid that will do their job for them.

Exposing the Source of Propaganda

This ayah was the inspiration behind that concept. Why? Because in the previous ayah, it's everybody talking. But in this ayah, Allah says: Now I'm going to expose who is creating this propaganda against you. Who's the source? Who's the source? المكذبين أُو۟لِى ٱلنَّعْمَةِ (mukadhibeen ulil na'mah) — the very, very wealthy that are propagating the lies against Islam.

They are threatened by the existence of Islam. If Islam was just another religion like any other religion, who cares? We've got 57 idols. We can make room for one more. Or you want to believe in all the idols or you want to believe in none of them? No problem with us. But the problem with the faith of Islam in Mecca is that it challenges the status quo. It challenges the power structure. And that's why the people that have نعمة (na'mah), they're being described with that. This is the reason that they are المكذبين (mukadhibeen). This is what makes them المكذبين (mukadhibeen).

And there's another thing: I told you they don't like to get their hands dirty. They don't like to be exposed. So what did Allah do? Allah did not expose the public by using the pronoun, but He exposed the people who hate being exposed by calling them by a description: المكذبين أُو۟لِى ٱلنَّعْمَةِ (al-mukadhibeen ulil na'mah). And anybody living in Mecca who heard أُو۟لِى ٱلنَّعْمَةِ (ulil na'mah), they would know that's like 20 people. We know those guys. We know who they are.

So this is the way in which the Quran is very specifically targeting that group of people. Interestingly, the Quran goes after the financial elite. It goes after the social elite, and it also goes after the intellectual elite. The intellectual elites in the Quran, for example, were the rabbis — the people that were knowledgeable in the scripture of the Jews — and also the people that were knowledgeable in the scripture of the Christians. The Quran does not actually engage in an aggressive debate or aggressive discourse with average Christians. It engages with the priest class, and the same thing that it does with the rabbi class. The people that are religiously educated — it talks to them.

So the Quran will engage in debate with the rabbi class, the priest class, and again, the financial elite class. These are the classes that the Quran actually attacks directly. We think, for example, when you read ayat about the Christians or the Christian faith, that Allah is talking to the average Christian. He's not. He was talking to ministers, priests, telling them: هَاتُوا۟ بُرْهَٰنَكُمْ (hatu burhanakum) — "Bring your proof."

Allah's Threat to the Wealthy Elite

So in this ayah we're going from not exposing the general public or necessarily criticizing the general public, to very threatening language from Allah: ذَرْنِي وَٱلْمُكَذِّبِينَ (dharni wal-mukadhibeen). In fact, the threat suggests even something else. It's as if Allah is saying: These people, they think that they can get away with it because they have all this kind of money. I will go after their money. The One who gave, the One who's saying this, will take away their نعمة (na'mah). This is a kind of threat from Allah. Let me deal with them. Let me deal with them.

Understanding Class Society

The other side of this that we have to understand is class society. And so I'm going to spend a little bit of time explaining that to you, inshallah.

Modern Examples of Class Distinction

To give you a concept of that in nowadays language: A car is just a car. It's got a steering wheel. It's got four wheels. It's got an engine. It's got a seat belt. It's got these same components every car does, and it gets you from point A to point B. And if you're in a city like this one, you will operate within the same streets, within the same street speed limits, right? You'll park in the same way in the same places and all of it. But cars are different classes. There's a Kia, there's a Fiat, and there's a Ferrari, and there's a Porsche, and there's a Mercedes, and there's a Maybach, and there's an M5, and there's a Hyundai. Classes — the different cars are different classes.

Even though practically they're all cars, and yes, one of them can go a lot faster than the other, but the speed limit's the same speed limit. And you're all stuck in the same traffic. So when are you gonna... anyway, right?

But depending on the kind of car you have might be a pretty good indication of what status you have in society. You could see a Ferrari parked outside of a hotel and you know somebody who's a big deal is here. Somebody got money — from drug dealer, or should I say diamonds, anyway.

And the same thing with watches. The purpose of a watch is to tell time. But then there are Patek Philippe and there's Rolex and there's G-Shock, there's also Tissot, there's also the Chinese watches or whatever. They're all telling time, but depending on what somebody's wearing, it's an indication of their class.

Human beings, no matter how much they say "there's democracy, we're all equal, we're all the same," we figure out a way of creating class society somewhere or the other. Certain neighborhoods are a certain class, certain cars are a certain class. Clothes are clothes, right? There's even class in a purse — a lady's purse is a purse. It's a cow that died for you to hold your things. You have all these things inside a purse, and the only thing you cannot find in the purse is the thing you're looking for.

But depends on it — they're all, those cows were all fed the same grass. They all, you know, but some of those cows, after they were slaughtered and their skin was turned into leather and turned into a bag, you put a couple of C's on it and put a golden C — that's not the Chanel bag now, it's a Louis Vuitton bag. Now this is worth more than your house, right? More than your six-month paycheck, etc., right? Why? Because human beings have this desire to illustrate a certain class. Right? They want to associate themselves with these things, and these things bring a certain kind of prestige. These things — this is the stuff of نعمة (na'mah).

نعمة (Na'mah) means high luxury. Don't confuse نعمة (na'mah) with نِعْمَة (ni'mah) with a kasrah. نِعْمَة (Ni'mah) is something else. نعمة (Na'mah) is something else. نعمة (Na'mah) is high luxury.

The Psychology of Class

Allah is describing people that are used to living in high luxury. And people that live in high luxury, they spend on things that you don't really need to spend on. A purse is just a purse, but then there's a purse that's 10,000 euros, right? It's still gonna carry the same stuff. It's still made of the same cow. But now you're gonna spend that. Why? Because you are people of what? نعمة (Na'mah). You're gonna get a certain kind of thing because you belong in certain — and once you're in that class, to make sure everybody remembers that you belong in that class, and to keep up with other people in that class, you better keep up with the trends of whatever these people are purchasing.

And we do this not just the super elite. We have this obsession of class society throughout societies, throughout different cultures. Even in a school, in a kid's school where there's uniform — you can't even buy different clothes, they're all buying the same clothes — some kid has the shiniest shoes, and he's the elite. He's the Qarun of that class.

I've recently found out hijabis have some hijab lines that are like elite hijabs, and they drop and there's like a 48-hour "get it or you're gonna miss out." And if you get it, you're like, "Oh look, you know what? I got three of them. Got three." Nobody else will know that this is the elite hijab line except within the hijab line — there is a hierarchy of the elite hijabis and the peasant hijabis and the farmer hijabis, etc.

What I'm trying to get at, jokes aside, is that when you belong to a certain class, then you don't want to give up that class. You're willing to move up, but you're never willing to move down. And Allah is now describing their motivation: They cannot afford to move down. This is why they're calling this religion a lie. Because if they accept this religion, then everyone's equal. Then nothing makes them special except their deeds.

Then the kind of car you drive doesn't make you a superior person. The brand of clothes don't make you superior. The kind of wealth doesn't make you superior. Your akhlaq makes you superior. Your faith makes you superior. Your connection to God makes you superior.

The Spiritual Hierarchy vs. Material Hierarchy

And by the way, there's a contrast, there's a hierarchy. In the beginning you saw the elite status is قُمِ ٱلَّيْلَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا (qumil layla illa qaleela), and less than that is نِصْفَهُۥٓ (nisfahu), then أَوِ ٱنقُصْ (aw inqus), then أَوْ زِدْ عَلَيْهِ (aw zid alayh). There's this — there's a new hierarchy. But that hierarchy is secret. If somebody's praying all night or half the night or not at all, we don't know because it's secret. It's at night. So the only one who knows that hierarchy is who? Allah.

Allah removed — first of all, He created a spiritual hierarchy as opposed to a material hierarchy, and then He made that spiritual hierarchy a secret so we're not concerned with who's where. We're not concerned. We're just concerned with ourselves. That's it. That's all we're thinking about.

And Allah is now highlighting on the other side: There are people who live their entire lives making sure they are seen in a certain rank, and they cannot be taken below that rank. This is the psychology of تكذيب (takdeeb).

Why the Message of Islam Is Rejected

Why would the message of Islam be rejected by anyone to this day — not just in Mecca, to this day? Why will anyone reject the message of Islam? One of the reasons will be: Maybe accepting one teaching of Islam or one part of Islam — whatever part they have a problem with — takes something away from their rank. It takes something away from their position. Then they lose that.

The Rabbi in Medina

If a rabbi in Medina accepted Islam, before he accepted Islam, he had every Saturday — you know, after the Sabbath was over, the community used to come and listen to his khutbahs. They used to get their fatwas from him. They used to call him the scholar. They used to respect him. All of a sudden he becomes Muslim. His own community abandons him. And when he becomes Muslim, he's not a scholar anymore. He's the newest Muslim, so he's the least knowledgeable, not the most knowledgeable. Immediately he loses all of his rank. Immediately. Not an easy thing to accept.

The Elite of Mecca

If an elite from Mecca who's used to being treated like everybody comes and serves him when he walks in, everybody stands up when he walks, people don't make eye contact, you know, people come and show their respects — he's gonna accept Islam and Bilal is senior to him? Bilal has more respect than he does, radiallahu anhu, right? How's he gonna accept that?

I can't. You want me to be considered equal to this person? This is what you want? I can't have it.

This is the same reason — even within Islam, even though we are Muslim as a civilization — many of our behaviors are based on class society. Many of our cultural practices are based on class society. And even when we are confronted with the teachings of Islam that go against that, we are not willing to accept those teachings because we are too obsessed with being أُو۟لِى ٱلنَّعْمَةِ (ulun na'mah). That is the class in which we belong. We don't want to come down from that. So we will reject that aspect of Islam or even call those people liars or whatever else. "That's your Islam. That's not my Islam. My Islam is different."

This is a psychology of تكذيب (takdeeb). And if they want to, they want to protect their corruption.

Loyalty to Status vs. Loyalty to Truth

And by the way, the same things that happened in the Jewish religion and the Christian religion will happen in the Muslim — and has happened — in the Muslim religion, in Islam. And what is that? There were different groups that were created, and each group saw themselves as superior. And instead of being loyal to the truth, they wanted to be loyal to their status.

And if they accept, for example — there's one group that has their Shaykh and another group has their Shaykh, right? Each group is trying to demonstrate their superiority — whose Shaykh is Shaykh, right? So even if you're one of the top students of Shaykh A, but one of the things that Shaykh B said is correct and your Shaykh's evidences are weaker on this one thing, you're gonna have a hard time accepting that. Because if you give them a point, then your rank comes down. So your loyalty is no longer to the truth. Your loyalty is to your rank. You're no longer students of truth. You're studying to elevate in a certain place in society.

That's the wild thing about the Quraysh, that it's not just about the Quraysh. This is the sickness of humanity that's going to permeate all — in Muslim society, outside of Muslim society, in the Christian religion, this happened. In the Jewish religion, this happened. In Islam, this has happened between Islam and non-Muslims. This has happened, of course.

The Elite as Role Models

The elites are the prime example that they don't want to give up their qualities. And then that's the opposite worldview, right? What's the most admirable quality? نعمة (Na'mah) becomes like the thing to want. I want to be like that. I want to have that. I want to get away with things. He'll help me. He'll show me the way. Those are the values to aspire towards. So all the نعمة (na'mah) aren't just on the نعمة (na'mah). They're also role models — role models for the sheep, right? They will lose that status.

What Islam Offers vs. What the Elite Value

Because when you — what is Islam offering? What's so great about the Prophet's life to them? The fact that he's an orphan. The fact that he doesn't have any governance in Mecca. Even though he comes from a noble family, he's not well off. In fact, his wife is doing most of the finances, alayhi salatu wassalam. The fact that all of his followers belong in very different classes, right? Like, why would I — you know, these are الأراذل (al-aradhil), the Quran calls them the riffraff, the street people of society whose opinions don't matter. Why are these the followers of the Prophet?

What's so impressive about him in politics? Who wins elections? The person who has the most campaign contributions. The one who has the most wealthy people behind them, isn't it? Who has the most finances?

This is an entirely revolutionary structure in which value is not coming from anything material. Value is not coming from نعمة (na'mah). Value is coming from نِعْمَة (ni'mah). These people have نعمة (na'mah). Rasool sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has what? نِعْمَة (Ni'mah).

"The path of those whom You have bestowed favor upon."

This is the نِعْمَة (ni'mah). Allah has given the نِعْمَة (ni'mah) to the believers, the فضل (fadl) to the believers of Islam itself. So this is actually the direct contrast between their value system and our value system, right?

The Quran's View on Wealth

What's also even more amazing about our religion is the Quran is not against wealth. The Quran is not against money. The Quran is against the improper use of money. It's against the hoarding of money, as I was telling you before.