The Love of Wealth - Shaykh Muhammad Ali

The Love of Wealth — A Reminder for Our Times

We praise Him, ask for His help, and ask for His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him. And whosoever He misguides, none can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner.

The Opening Du'a

"O Allah, I ask You for steadfastness in the matter, and determination to do right, and I ask You to grant me gratitude for Your grace and the ability to worship You well, and I ask You for a pure heart, and I ask You for a truthful tongue, and I ask You for the best of what You know, and I seek refuge in You from the evil of what You know, and I seek Your forgiveness for what You know. Indeed, You are the Knower of the unseen."

My brothers and sisters in Islam, it is a great honor and privilege for me to stand before you today and deliver this khutbah. I have been away from this masjid for a while, and as I was coming and getting ready to come, I was thinking about what type of khutbah I was going to give, what topic I was going to talk about, how relevant the topic was going to be. And by the grace of Allah, I have chosen a topic which I feel that all of you will agree with me is a very relevant one.

The Hadith of Shaddad ibn Aws

What we are going to talk about today is a hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, a message that the Prophet ﷺ has given to all of us. The great companion Shaddad ibn Aws رضي الله عنه said: "I heard the Prophet ﷺ say..."

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 17124; also recorded by al-Tabarani — narrated by Shaddad ibn Aws رضي الله عنه)

The Prophet ﷺ advised us all and said: a time is going to come when people will try and accumulate as much wealth as they can. They will try and accumulate that gold, and also they will collect silver.

The Prophet ﷺ said: when people begin to do that — and we all agree today that society and humanity in all, we are all after gold and silver. Everyone is chasing after this. But the Prophet ﷺ gave us the secret. And he gave us something that we need to do.

He said: when you see people focused on money, when you see people running after wealth, when you see people craving wealth, when you see people working day and night in order just to gain money — you need to do something different. The Prophet ﷺ wants to give us an option. Unfortunately, as a society today, we think that we have no options. But the Prophet ﷺ is saying to us: a time is going to come when people will all run after money — but you have an option. You don't have to be like them. Do not be a conformist.

If all of us are asked today, why are you trying to get money? What's your answer going to be? A lot of us will say, well, I don't know — I just happen to be in this world and I saw everyone looking after money, and I'm running after money. That's it. We don't know why we're running after money.

The Prophet ﷺ said: when that time comes, I want to tell you the way out. I want to give you an option that is going to be better for you in this life and the hereafter. O Prophet of Allah, what's that option?

The Prophet ﷺ has said: فَاكْنِزُوا أَنْتُمْ هَؤُلَاءِ الْكَلِمَاتِ — when that time comes, you need to collect, you need to accumulate the following words.

And myself and all of you brothers, I want you to memorize this. I want you to memorize the du'a that I am about to say. If you didn't know this before, let me say this du'a.

The Seven Treasured Words of the Prophet ﷺ

The Prophet ﷺ has said: when people accumulate wealth and they run after wealth, this is what you should say:

First: اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ الثَّبَاتَ فِي الْأَمْرِ — You should say: O Allah, verily I ask of You for strength of perseverance, of obedience on the deen, and determination in practicing the deen and goodness.

Second: وَالْعَزِيمَةَ عَلَى الرُّشْدِ وَأَسْأَلُكَ شُكْرَ نِعْمَتِكَ — And I ask of You for the capability to be thankful for Your blessings. A lot of us today, we have something. Allah gave us plenty. But are we thankful? Do we praise Allah for this?

Third: Also the Prophet ﷺ went on to say: you need to ask Allah that He gives you the capability to thank Him for what He has given you, and also that He gives you the ability to worship Him properly.

Fourth: Also ask Allah to give you a heart which is clean and pure. A clean heart — that's what we need. Unfortunately, in society today, who has a clean heart? That's what the Prophet ﷺ said: ask Allah to give you a pure heart.

Fifth: And also ask Allah to give you وَاللِّسَانَ الصَّادِقَ — a tongue which is truthful. Who can say that they tell the truth all the time? A truthful tongue. A tongue that speaks the truth at all costs.

And I'll just give you an example of how the previous people used to be. A tribe chief — a chief of a tribe who lived at the time of Hajjaj ibn Yusuf. This is the first century of Hijrah. He was the chief of his tribe. He was known for being truthful. And Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, he was upset with two children that belong to this chief, and he wanted to kill them. And Hajjaj said: today I have an opportunity to make this man tell a lie. And Hajjaj said to the tribe of that man: I'm going to show you that your leader is going to lie today. He said: I want to see him right now.

And who was Hajjaj? He was a general that used to kill for fun. He killed some of the Tabi'in. He did not hesitate to kill people. He's the one who killed Sa'id ibn Jubayr — one of the greatest of the Tabi'in. He would kill very easily. So he said: I'm going to make this old man lie today.

So he brought him and he said: where are your sons? And look at the man who never told a lie — the truthful man. The old man came and stood in front of Hajjaj. And Hajjaj said to him: where are your two sons? And he knew that if he told him where his sons were, he would definitely kill them. And look what the truthful father said.

He said: if you want to know where my two sons are, let me tell you right now — both of them are at home right now. And he was telling the truth. Hajjaj was so impressed with him. He said: since you have told the truth, I have forgiven your sons. Look at what truth can do. That's why the Prophet has said: ask Allah to give you a tongue that tells the truth at all times. Don't lie. Tell the truth.

Sixth: And also ask Allah to give you the khair that Allah knows. There are so many good things that we don't know, but Allah knows them.

Seventh: And also say to Allah:

There are so many bad things that we don't know — only Allah knows. So you say to Allah: O Allah, I seek refuge in You from all the bad things that I don't even know. And also you ask Allah:

O Allah, I ask You to forgive me for all the things that You know — I don't even know. Sometimes we are sinning and we don't even know. But Allah knows that.

Why Is Our Du'a Not Being Accepted?

My brothers and sisters in Islam, you might say right now: our brother Muhammad Ali, جزاك الله خيرًا for telling us this beautiful du'a. We want to thank you for that. But unfortunately, we make du'a to Allah all the time. We try to make du'a, but none of our du'a has been accepted. What's going on?

Shall I tell you what's going on? You will find out. Ibrahim ibn Adham — a great, virtuous man from the time of the Tabi'in. Ibrahim ibn Adham, once he was in Iraq, specifically in the city of Basra. And the people of that city, when they saw this great man, they said to him: O Ibrahim ibn Adham, يا أبا إسحاق:

Allah has said in the Quran: make du'a to Me and I will accept it — send your du'a and I will answer them. But we make du'a all the time, and none of our du'a has been accepted. What is going on?

And SubhanAllah, let us listen to the answer that Ibrahim ibn Adham has given. Not a year ago, not 10 years ago, not a century ago, not 500 years ago — no, over a thousand and three hundred years ago. Look at the answer that Ibrahim ibn Adham has given, and let us see ourselves today — how we agree with him or disagree with him.

The Ten Reasons Our Hearts Have Died

SubhanAllah, Ibrahim ibn Adham has said:

(Narrated from Ibrahim ibn Adham, recorded in Hilyat al-Awliya' by Abu Nu'aym al-Asbahani)

He said: the reason Allah doesn't answer your du'a — let me tell you — it is for ten reasons. Because your hearts have gone dead, for ten reasons. And he told us one after the other:

Number one:

He said: you have come to know Allah, you know who Allah is, but you do not fulfill His rights. Isn't that true? We know Allah, but we don't do what He tells us to do.

Number two:

He said: you recite the Qur'an day and night, but none of you practices the Qur'an.

Number three:

You claim to love the Prophet ﷺ, but you never follow his sunnah. How true is it?

Number four:

You said that shaitan is your enemy, but you always agree with him. How is that possible? He said: always you say shaitan is our enemy, we hate Iblis — but you always agree with him, you follow his ways.

Number five:

You always say that we love Jannah, we crave for Jannah, we all want to go to Jannah — but you don't really act as if you want to go to Jannah. Isn't that true?

Number six:

You always say that you are fearful of hellfire, that you are scared of hell — but you never run away from hellfire. Rather, you are running towards hellfire. Isn't that what we do day and night?

Number seven:

You say that death is inevitable, it will definitely come — but you are not ready to die. You don't prepare yourself for death.

After our khutbah today, we have a janazah. A janazah for whom? Someone just like us. A brother called Abdullah — he was a worshipper in this very masjid. Part of the congregation. A regular attendee of the masjid. He helped out the people, learned the Qur'an — and he just died. Unexpectedly. And the Prophet ﷺ told us a time is going to come when death will happen very frequently — and people will die, just like that, without any illness, without any accident, you will just die. SubhanAllah. Isn't it something that's happening now, that we see all the time?

Number eight:

This is another reason, he said, why Allah doesn't accept your du'a. He said: you have busied yourself, you have preoccupied yourself with the shortcomings of other people, and you have forgotten your own problems. How true is it? We are always busy with the faults of other people. We always criticize others. Don't speak to this person. Don't go to this place. This person is evil. That person is evil. How good are you? Are you an angel? It's a question that we need to ask ourselves. He said: you have become busy with the faults of other people, and you have forgotten your own faults.

Number nine:

He said: you are eating from the blessings of Allah. Look how big I am. Day and night I am eating from the blessings of Allah. But am I grateful to Allah? You are not thankful to Allah. You don't show your gratitude to Allah. You're not grateful. And we're not. And I'm number one.

Number ten:

SubhanAllah. Very intellectual. Look at the intelligence. He said: you take your people and you go to the graveyard, to the cemetery to bury them — but you don't take any lessons from that. You don't take any heed from it.

He spoke to us, SubhanAllah, in a way that we can all understand. Is there anyone that doesn't understand those reasons? How many did you give a tick? I gave all ten a tick. I am suffering from all of them. I don't know how many you are suffering from. This is who we are. SubhanAllah.

Because of the janazah, ikhwani, I am going to shorten the khutbah. But I want you to remember those things — those ten things.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

Second Khutbah

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ عَلَى إِحْسَانِهِ، وَالشُّكْرُ لَهُ عَلَى تَوْفِيقِهِ وَامْتِنَانِهِ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَأَصْحَابِهِ وَمَنْ تَبِعَهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ، أَمَّا بَعْدُ

My brothers and sisters in Islam, the second part of our khutbah today — I want to bring to your attention that each part of that hadith, each part of the du'a that the Prophet gave us as an option when people run after money, each one is worth a whole day of lecture, a whole lecture — a whole day, not even half a day. You would need days and volumes of books to write about just اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ الثَّبَاتَ فِي الْأَمْرِ — that statement alone would need a whole day.

And each, SubhanAllah — like the Prophet ﷺ has said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2977; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 523)

The Prophet ﷺ was given very few words that are so short but they carry a lot of meanings — جَوَامِعُ الْكَلِمِ. That's what the Prophet was given. So the statements that he made were very short but they carry a heavy meaning. I'm not able to go through all of them.

The Example of Prophet Sulayman

But just as an example — SubhanAllah — when the Prophet ﷺ has said فَاكْنِزُوا — try to accumulate, try to crave and go after the following important things. I'll just give you an example.

Sulayman ibn Dawud, that great Prophet of Allah عليه السلام — once he was traveling. And we know Prophet Sulayman عليه السلام had a great kingdom. Not only the people used to work for him — even the jinn used to work for him. And one day he was traveling, and a man saw him who was quite poor. He saw him and said: look at what Allah has given to Sulayman. What a beautiful kingdom. Look at the greatness of his kingdom.

And look at what Sulayman عليه السلام did. He came to the man and said to him:

He said: just to say سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ once is better than the whole kingdom of Sulayman. Just to say subhanAllah once. How often do we say subhanAllah? What did the Prophet ﷺ say:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6682; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2694)

How often do we say these powerful words? Sulayman عليه السلام — look how he understood the deen. He said: just to say subhanAllah once is better than everything I have. All the houses we have, all the cars that we have, everything that we have — it is not even worth one subhanAllah. One alhamdulillah. It's not worth it.

Do you know why? Sulayman عليه السلام said that because:

He said: because the subhanAllah will remain forever, for eternity. But the kingdom of Sulayman will disappear. And that's exactly what has happened. Where is Sulayman today? Where is his kingdom? But the word subhanAllah that the person said at his time — it will remain forever. That is the beauty of our religion, ikhwani. We have options.

The Willpower — Al-'Azimah

My brothers and sisters in Islam, one of the things that the Prophet ﷺ has mentioned is that Allah gives us الْعَزِيمَةَ عَلَى الرُّشْدِ — Allah gives us the willpower. This is very important. This is something that we lack. Many of us know what the khair is, but we don't have the willpower to do it. Every single day we say we want to change for the better, but we don't make that decision. That decision is far-fetched. It's very hard. There's no willpower. There's no عَزِيمَة. And we need to ask Allah to give us that power.

And SubhanAllah, I'm just going to give you an example today of someone whom Allah has blessed with a great willpower — Umar ibn Abdul Aziz. Who is Umar ibn Abdul Aziz? The great Ameer al-Mu'mineen who led the ummah for two years. He was not Ameer al-Mu'mineen for 20 years like some of the rulers. He was only Ameer al-Mu'mineen for two years. Only two years. And look at what happened in those two years.

Umar ibn Abdul Aziz became the leader of the Muslims in the year 99 Hijrah up to 101 Hijrah. Who did he come after? He came after Sulayman ibn Abdul Malik. And look what happened. As soon as Umar ibn Abdul Aziz became the leader, the first night he was busy preparing the burial of the ameer who had passed away. And in the morning, after the burial had finished, he was very tired. And he wanted to go home after he had finished the burial.

As he went home just to relax until dhuhr time — to sleep for a while and wake up after dhuhr and start his work as the Ameer of the Believers — his own son Abdul Malik said to his father: "O dad, where are you going?" He said: "I'm going home." He said: "What are you going to do at home?" He said: "I'm going to sleep." He said: "How can you go to sleep when Allah has placed on your shoulders the responsibility of the ummah?" He said: "I'm going to take a rest until dhuhr time, and after that I'm going to give everyone their rights and transform how the government is run, how the state was run. I'm going to transform the whole thing."

And then look what happened. Umar ibn Abdul Aziz's own son Abdul Malik said to him: "O daddy, who told you that you're going to live until dhuhr time? Who told you that? And not only that — even if you live until dhuhr, who said that you will still have the same intention that you have right now?" SubhanAllah.

And Umar ibn Abdul Aziz ran straight away. After his son said that to him, the willpower took over. He went to the masjid and made the adhan, called all the people together, and gave everything back to the people. Because before, there was corruption. But he gave everything back. He said: this is for the Muslims.

And look at what happened — something that the Prophet ﷺ had promised. Adiy ibn Hatim — the Prophet ﷺ said to him: a time is going to come when a Muslim will want to give sadaqah to people, and everyone is going to say to him: I don't need your sadaqah. Do you know when that time happened? The time of Umar ibn Abdul Aziz. During those two years, people used to take money from their houses to give to the poor — but no one was poor. Everyone said: I have enough. I don't need any money. Don't give me anything.

How did it happen? MashaAllah. Umar ibn Abdul Aziz had that willpower. Straight away he did his duty.

A Warning from Imam Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali

My brothers and sisters in Islam, I'm just going to conclude by reminding myself and you of something that the great Imam Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali has said. Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali was talking about the 'azimah and the willpower — and this is what we need today, my brothers.

All of us need this. Look at the masjid — how full it is right now. People are standing. Everyone, mashaAllah, came for one reason. Everyone came for Jumu'ah. Everyone wants to have his iman renewed. Everyone wants to have his iman increased. Everyone wants, mashaAllah, to leave the masjid with something.

But look at what the great Imam Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali has said:

(Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, Lata'if al-Ma'arif)

Look at what he said. He said: O you — whenever you come to the circles of remembrance of Allah, like right now, Shaytan is waiting outside. Shaytan is saying, right now, waiting for all of us — as soon as this salah finishes today and the khutbah — if you go back out of the masjid and you are exactly in the same state as you were in the moment that you walked in — if you leave the same man as you came in — Shaytan is going to welcome you and give you a hug and say: "You're the man." He's going to be so happy and delighted, because your state hasn't changed even though you have listened to the reminder, even though you prayed the salah.

But he said: if you are a changed person by the time you leave the masjid, Shaytan is going to be upset — and who is going to be happy with you? Allah. He said:

If you leave the masjid exactly as you were before you walked in, Shaytan is going to be very delighted and Allah is going to be upset.

But we have the choice right now. All of us, we have the choice. We need to make that decision right now. Each and every one of us needs to say: I want to leave this masjid as a better person than I was the moment I walked in. How can you show that? Take practical steps right now.

The Reminder of the Janazah

And one of the things we have here today — we are praying janazah. This is enough of a reminder for all of us. I didn't need to give all this long khutbah. Because we have a janazah right now. That should be enough. We are going to visit the grave right now. That should be enough.

Uthman ibn Affan used to cry and weep whenever he saw the grave. And people used to say to him: why do you always cry whenever you see the grave? And he said: because this is the beginning of the akhirah. The grave is where the akhirah starts from. He said: this is the first house of akhirah. That's the beginning. He said: that's why I cry.

Who's crying right now? None of us. None of us. Astaghfirullah. Astaghfirullah. Astaghfirullah. If the heart is dead, there's no way. No cry will ever come. If the heart is gone — khalas. What can you do? SubhanAllah.

Call to Action — Change Starts Now

Brothers and sisters, right now we have the chance to change for the better. Say: I'm going to leave this masjid and make a contract with Allah and make Allah happy rather than making Iblis happy. He's waiting outside. All of us — you know what is wrong with you. I know what is wrong with me. You've listened to the ten things that Ibrahim ibn Adham mentioned. You know your faults and you ticked them all. Today, before you leave the masjid, say: I am a changed man. Don't go to sleep.

The same thing that Umar ibn Abdul Aziz did — he didn't go to sleep that day. He started doing his job as the leader of the believers from the very moment he took responsibility. So let us take that responsibility from here right now.

And inshallah, brothers, we have an opportunity to exercise that. Shaytan always advises us and says to us: there's poverty around the corner. We haven't seen any poverty, ikhwan.

Shaytan always reminds us of faqr and poverty. He tells us: there's poverty — don't give a penny. SubhanAllah.

And I just want to remind you in the last few minutes, brothers. We know what's happening to our brothers and sisters of Islam all around the world — those who are suffering, the true suffering. Those who haven't got anything to eat. Those who haven't got anything to drink. Those who do not have houses to sleep in.

All of us today — we woke up. We slept last night feeling safe. We woke up feeling safe. We sent our children to school and they were healthy. And all of us are sitting in this masjid feeling safety and security, and we're all feeling happy. But some Muslims, some human beings, our brothers in humanity around the world — how is their situation right now? As I speak, how many people have died since the beginning of this khutbah? Out of food. They didn't have something to eat. They didn't have something to drink.

And alhamdulillah, in this very masjid, we have a team of brothers who have put responsibility on themselves — the task force of Greenlight Masjid Jiyala. They stood up and said: we want to help our brothers and sisters who are suffering in Syria. And inshallah, they have done well last year, and they want to do even better this year by the will of Allah.

When we help them — inshallah, starting from today, ikhwani — as you are leaving the masjid, outside there is a specific place. Give something for the sake of Allah in order to support those brothers. And if I just give you an example: if you give only £280 — only £280 — you are going to provide 6,000 meals. Just for £280. Less than £300.

Each one of us — if you take your phone out from your pocket, how much does your phone cost? Maybe £500, £600. Just imagine if you give £200 or £300 for the sake of Allah and you are able to help 6,000 people eat something. 6,000 meals. Just as an example. SubhanAllah.

And inshallah, all of us brothers, we need to change our ways. We need to wake up from the deep sleep that we are in. We need to wake up. Because we are living at a time, and we are part of a society, that tells us that we need to buy things that we don't need with the money that we don't have. Did you understand that statement? We are part of a society that tells us that we need to buy things that we don't need with money that we do not have. But the small amount of money that we have — we can give it for the sake of Allah, and that will stay there forever inshallah, and we will be rewarded greatly for this.

And inshallah, brothers, I will conclude with this. I know that I made the khutbah a bit longer than I wanted to. But please forgive me. It's for all of us. And as I said, I made it as short as I could. And inshallah, Allah will forgive us all. Allahumma ameen.

Closing Du'a

Brothers and sisters in Islam, Allah and His angels send blessings upon the Prophet. O you who have believed, send blessings upon him and accept his peace. And we are going to begin our du'a today with the du'a that the Prophet ﷺ has given us. And inshallah, we hope that Allah will accept this du'a from us.

Brothers and sisters, we will be praying the janazah prayer straight after the Jumu'ah prayer. So please hold back your sunnah prayers inshallah.

Salah — Surah al-Fatihah and Recitation