Wealth In Islam - Sheikh Ahsan Hanif

Khutbah al-Jumu'ah — Opening

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ تَعَالَى نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَسْلِيمًا كَثِيرًا

أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى، وَخَيْرَ الْهُدَى هُدَى مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا، وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ، وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ، وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ.

The Dual Purpose of Revelation

Allah when He revealed the Quran and He sent to us our Prophet ﷺ, He sent them with a dual purpose. The first of them was to send them as bringers of good news and glad tidings. And the second purpose was to send them and bring them also as warners. As Allah mentions Himself in the Quran:

Indeed We sent you — meaning the Prophet ﷺ — indeed We sent you with the truth, meaning the Quran, as a giver of glad tidings and as a warner. And indeed there was never a nation who came before you except that We sent to it a warner.

And that is why we find that many a time the themes that are mentioned in the Quran, the topics that Allah concentrates upon in the Quran, they are mirrored and reflected in the Sunnah. The Prophet ﷺ would also speak about those issues and emphasize those points, often in more detail and with added extra information.

The Trial of Wealth

One such example that Allah repeats many a time in the Quran, and draws our attention to by mentioning stories, parables and examples, is the issue of wealth. Allah in Surah al-Kahf — the surah that we read every single Friday — He mentions a story and a parable concerning wealth:

And set forth for them the parable and the example of the two men, one of whom We gave to him two gardens. This is something which is mirrored and reflected in the Sunnah of our Prophet ﷺ. You find many countless ahadith speaking about wealth, speaking about money, speaking about wealth in all of its forms and charity and so on and so forth.

Ka'b ibn 'Iyad رضي الله عنه reported that our Prophet said ﷺ:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2336)

Indeed each and every single nation had a trial — meaning that every nation has many trials, but from those trials there are trials which are far more severe for them, far more difficult for them to face and overcome. Every single nation has a trial and the trial of my nation, it is in wealth.

Wealth is one of those things that we struggle with. We often don't understand its concept in Islam. Is it something which we should seek avidly? Is it something good to possess? Is it something noble? Or is it something that we should stay away from, ward off, keep at a distance from? What is the correct understanding in Islam? And to strike that balance between those two extremes, the Quran and the Sunnah repeat this theme many a time.

The Parable of the Two Men in Surah al-Kahf

Allah in Surah al-Kahf gives to us this parable of a man — a parable and an example — why? Because wealth affects people differently and different people possess different types of wealth. It is not a story that you take literally in the sense that only if you have the type of wealth that Allah mentioned in the Quran then it applies to you. And that is why Allah sometimes in the Quran mentions stories of prophets and nations who came before, because it is more applicable — those things will happen to us. And sometimes He mentions parables because Allah wants you to take from it the lesson, not be so focused necessarily on the details.

So Allah mentions the parable of these two men — two men who were close friends, companions. One of them was extremely wealthy:

We gave, Allah says, We gave to one of them two gardens — jannatayni — meaning farms, gardens that cultivate produce and vegetation. Not the gardens that we have at the rears of our properties. Gardens in which you grow things. We gave to one of them two gardens of grapes.

And this is the first lesson: that Allah does not consider wealth to be evil in and of itself, nor is wealth something which is noble in and of itself. Wealth is an object. It is from the provisions of Allah, it is from the blessings that Allah bestows upon us — just as He gives us health, He gives us family, He gives us many other things that we possess. But in the Quran these things are neutral. It is the way that you use them that determines whether they are a blessing for you or whether they are a punishment and a source of disgrace for you. It is often the way that we interact with them, not the object in and of itself.

And that is why Allah says: We gave to him. Allah gave to him wealth. If wealth was something which was impure, something which was evil, something which you should never seek, then it wouldn't be something which Allah would give to people. He wouldn't give it to the Muslims. He wouldn't give it to the companions like Abu Bakr and Umar and Uthman and Abdurrahman ibn Auf and many others. Wealth is an object that Allah gives, just as He gives many other things. So Allah gave to this one man wealth, and wealth is a test like many other things that Allah also gives to us. And that is why in the Quran Allah says:

Indeed your wealth and your children are a test for you. Allah gives us wealth, He gives us family. It is the way that we use those two things — how we rear them, how we nurture them, how we use them — that determines whether it is good for us or whether it is a source of evil for us.

The Blessings Bestowed Upon the Wealthy Man

Allah gave to one of these two men gardens. But not just any gardens — He says gardens of grapes, and grapes historically used to be the fruit of nobility, the fruit of royalty. It wasn't something which was cheap to buy and to purchase; it was something which was extremely expensive. So Allah denotes that He didn't just give to this man wealth, but He gave him from the greatest type of wealth.

Allah gave to him gardens in which grape trees grow. وَحَفَفْنَاهُمَا بِنَخْلٍ — and then Allah says: and We surrounded his gardens by date palm trees, meaning that We gave him natural protection from the elements. He had date palm trees surrounding his gardens. وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمَا زَرْعًا — and between the two gardens there were many other types of vegetation.

Allah in the Quran often when He mentions something in the general form — zar'an, vegetation — doesn't specify what type, doesn't mention to you the different types of vegetables that were growing, doesn't mention the different types of produce that this man was cultivating. It was simply vegetation. The Quran when it mentions something in general form, it denotes that it is inclusive of many, many types. Allah doesn't go into detail because those details are not important to us. The vast majority of us sitting here don't have gardens, we don't have grapes, we don't have date palm trees — those are not important to us. It is the lesson that Allah wants us to take.

Both of those two gardens gave forth in full their produce and they never oppressed him in anything — meaning that he never had a bad season, a poor harvest, a time when things wouldn't grow, a time of drought and famine. He had Allah's blessings put on a plate for him. He had the best types of fruit, the best types of gardens and Allah made sure that his produce came each and every single year in full. Not only that, but Allah placed a river between his two gardens, so for water and irrigation he didn't have to rely upon the heavens for rain to come forth, nor did he have to go and travel to a well to take buckets or make irrigation fields within his farms and gardens. Allah gave to him a river.

So Allah gave to him everything that he could possibly want in terms of wealth. وَكَانَ لَهُ ثَمَرٌ — and that is why then Allah says: and he had fruit. Again in its general form — it doesn't mention that it was this type of fruit or that type of fruit. Allah already told us that it was from the best types of wealth. He had grapes but he had also many other types of fruit.

How Does Wealth Affect the Heart?

Here now comes the lesson. Allah gave to him all of this wealth, gave to him all of these blessings. This man didn't have to try hard, didn't have to work hard, didn't have to travel long distances — he had everything that Allah could possibly give to him, everything that he could possibly want. But what reaction would it cause in this man? This is what Allah draws our attention to. Does this wealth bring him closer to Allah? Or does this wealth take him further away from Allah?

And that is why the Prophet told us ﷺ in the hadith qudsi that Allah says:

(Referenced in various narrations; see Musnad Ahmad)

Indeed We sent down wealth so that the people would establish the prayer and they would give zakah. And then Allah mentions that mankind is someone that is not satisfied. People, from their human nature, are not satisfied:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6436; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1048)

The child of Adam is someone who if he is given a valley of gold then he would want a second, and if Allah gave to him two he would want three. And nothing will satisfy him except the dust of the ground — meaning death. That is human nature: that we covet wealth, we want more, we want to hoard it, we want to keep it, we want it in great amounts and quantities. But Allah is saying that We didn't send down wealth for you to hoard, but rather We sent it down so that you would use it in ways that please Allah — use it to establish the prayer, build your masajid, worship Allah, give zakah, help the poor and needy.

The Arrogance of the Wealthy Man

But this man — Allah gave to him wealth. What was his reaction?

He said to his companion, his friend, whilst they were having a conversation — this man is not a stranger to him, he is a close friend, a companion, but he is poor — he said to him: I have more wealth than you and I have more people. Because one of the things that wealth brings is employees and servants and people to help you manage that wealth, help him to manage his gardens. So he said: I have more money than you and more people than you as well.

And then Allah says: the man entered into his garden and he oppressed himself. Allah didn't oppress him — Allah gave him wealth, Allah gave to him provision, Allah gave to him whatever was decreed for this man — but the man would oppress himself, because he wouldn't use that wealth to come closer to Allah.

The Prophet told us ﷺ:

(Reported by Abu Nu'aym in Hilyat al-Awliya')

The child of Adam is someone that if they were to flee from their provision — from what Allah has ordained for them, from their rizq — if they were to flee from their provision the way that they flee from death, their provision would catch up to them just as death will surely catch up to them. Provision is something which will come to you. It is something that Allah has ordained for you, whether you have it in great quantities and amounts or whether you have it in very little amounts. But the question always is: how do you respond?

Those people who have been given much wealth — how do they respond? And those people who are poor, who Allah tests with a lack of wealth — they don't have money, they don't have the ability to buy and to enjoy the many trappings of the dunya like many other people — what do they do? How do they respond? This is also a test.

This man who entered into his garden — despite the blessings of Allah, Allah says he oppressed himself. How?

He said: I don't think that this will ever, ever go away from me. These blessings, this wealth — they will never diminish, they will never go, they will never leave me.

Why? Because he made the greatest mistake that people make when Allah gives them wealth — the mistake that Qarun made, the mistake that Pharaoh made in the Quran, the mistake that Abu Jahl and Abu Lahab made, and all of those other leaders of Quraysh. What was that mistake? They thought that Allah gave them wealth because He necessarily loves them. That Allah's wealth means that He loves me. Why would Allah give to me wealth and make me rich and powerful if Allah did not love me and He did not approve of me?

That is the greatest mistake. Whereas the Prophet told us ﷺ that the dunya — this world and everything that is contained within it — in the sight of Allah is equal to the wing of a mosquito. We think that wealth is something amazing, that Allah only gives it to those that He loves, but in the sight of Allah it is worthless. It is not something which Allah bases love and hate upon. So Allah gives to whomsoever He wills and He keeps it from whomsoever He wills.

And that is why the Prophet told us ﷺ that the vast majority of the people of Jannah will be the poor. If wealth was a sign of Allah's love then they would not be the majority — they would be the minority. But they are the majority. The poor are the ones who would usually follow the prophets and messengers. The people of Nuh said to Nuh: why should we believe in you when your followers are the lowly, the poor, the weak? They are the ones who follow you. The companions of the Prophet ﷺ — the majority of them were the weak and the poor, the slaves and so on and so forth. They were the people who initially followed the Prophet ﷺ.

This man too thought that Allah loves him — this will never ever diminish. And his arrogance and pride led him to such a state that it caused him to disbelieve in Allah:

I don't think that there will be such a thing as resurrection, and even if there was a resurrection and I return to Allah, then surely Allah would give me even more — He would give me even better. If this is how much Allah loves me in this life, that He gave me these gardens and this wealth and all of this property, surely Allah loves me so much more that if there were to be a resurrection, Allah would give me even more in the next life. I would have an even greater reward.

Wealth makes people think that they have a sense of entitlement — that Allah will forgive them, that Allah must shower His mercy upon them, that Allah must be good towards them. And that is why Qarun said: all of my wealth I have because of me — my knowledge, my efforts, my experience.

The Advice of the Poor Companion

So this man's friend said to him, advising him — this man is the opposite, he is being tried with the lack of wealth, with poverty, he is poor:

Do you disbelieve in the One who created you from dust, and then He made you into a drop of semen, and then He formed you and shaped you into a man? But rather He is Allah, my Lord, and I will never associate anyone in the worship of my Lord.

And then he said to him:

When you entered into your garden, instead of showing arrogance and pride, you would have praised Allah. You would have said مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ — all of this is from the favors of Allah, all of this is from the blessings of Allah. Allah gave me wealth because He wanted me to use that wealth; He gave me wealth because He wanted me to come closer to Him.

And all of us have wealth to varying degrees. All of us have money that we can give in charity, that we can spend in good ways — whether upon ourselves or our family. Allah doesn't take wealth away from you because He wants you to live a miserable life. Rather Allah gives you wealth so that you will use it in a way that pleases Him. As the Prophet said ﷺ in the hadith of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas رضي الله عنه:

(Sahih Ibn Hibban, Hadith 4032; also reported in Musnad Ahmad)

Four things denote happiness: a righteous spouse, a wide and spacious house, a good neighbor, and a good mode of transport. These are from the blessings that Allah has given to us, that Allah wants us to enjoy, that Allah wants us to have. But those blessings should cause us and bring us closer to Allah.

You should have said, when you went into your garden, مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ:

Even though you may see me as less than you in people and in wealth — you may think that I am below you because I don't have as much money, don't have as much people, as much children, as much employees — perhaps Allah will give to me something greater in return. Perhaps Allah will bless me in the next life with far more than you can have. Because the Prophet told us ﷺ that the reward of the least of the people of Jannah — the last person to ever enter into Jannah — will be everything in this world and ten times its like. That is the least reward of Jannah: everything in this world with its gold and silver and pearls and diamonds and gems and all of that that we spend so much time trying to acquire — and ten times its like. And that person will enter into Jannah feeling and thinking that there is no one better than them. That is the reward that Allah has guaranteed for the least of the people of levels in Jannah. Then what about everyone else?

Perhaps Allah will punish you by destroying your gardens in two ways — either Allah will punish you from above, meaning that the rains will cease or you will have a type of rain that will destroy everything that you own, or the water of the earth that you so depend upon for your gardens to cultivate and nurture them — perhaps Allah will make them salty, perhaps Allah will devoid them of blessing and you will not be able to use them in any way of benefit.

The Destruction and Its Lesson

So that is what Allah did to this man. All that he owned was destroyed. This man who took everything for granted, thought that Allah will never take away from his wealth, thought that there was no Allah to begin with, thought that there would be no resurrection, and that Allah would surely give him more because Allah already loves him so much — everything that he owned was destroyed. That is all that Allah says. Doesn't go into detail, doesn't tell us how or when or why — simply tells us: everything was destroyed. Such was the destruction.

So then he began to be remorseful as to what he spent on that garden, and he said: woe to me, if only I had not associated anyone in the worship of Allah. And this man had no one who could help him before Allah. None of his wealth came to his aid. None of those people that he was boasting about — that I have so many people behind me working for me — none of them came to his aid.

Allah gives to us this parable to show us how people interact with wealth irrespective of how much they have. Some people have that wealth and they understand that it is a blessing of Allah, that it is a trust that Allah has given to them, and they know that however they spend it — whether for themselves, their families, or in any other way — Allah will hold them to account for it. And other people, when they receive that wealth, they think that it is something that they earned themselves, and because they have that sense of entitlement to that wealth they may spend it how they will, upon what they will, and they think Allah won't hold them to account. They spend it and they don't even remember whether they spent it in halal or haram.

So Allah finishes the story and He says: that is where you saw the true power of Allah. Allah is the One who holds to account, decides whether this person will be punished or whether he will be rewarded for what he did. And He is the One who gives far better in return, and He is the One who judges in a far better way as well.

Second Khutbah — Wealth: Seeking It and Using It Correctly

This story's mention in Surah al-Kahf — the surah that we're supposed to recite every single week, week in and week out — is because it is one of those major trials that we need to be constantly reminded of, that Allah constantly wants to draw our attention to.

Wealth is something that all of us need to exist. And it is not something in and of itself which is bad or impure, that you shouldn't seek. In fact Islam tells you to seek a living. And the Prophet ﷺ told us that to seek a living is far better than to beg and to be dependent upon others. So to seek a living that is halal — it is something which Allah has ordained upon you. And if you do it with the intention that Allah has commanded me to seek a halal living, then it is something which will give you much reward and it will bring you much blessing.

The problem is when we use that wealth in a way that Allah isn't pleased with, or we earn that wealth in a way that is haram. The Prophet ﷺ told us:

By Allah, it is not poverty that I fear for you. But it is that the world will open up its treasures upon you just as it opened its treasures for those who came before you. And that you will compete for it just as they used to compete for it. And that it will destroy you just as it destroyed them.

That is what the Prophet ﷺ feared — that we would become so attached to wealth that it would be our major goal and objective. That day in, day out, we would only want to earn money. By hook or by crook, halal or haram — that is our main goal in life. That is what the Prophet ﷺ feared for us.

The Example of the Wealthy Companions

But what we see also from his example is that there were companions who were extremely wealthy — in modern times, they would be millionaires. The likes of Abu Bakr, the likes of Umar, the likes of Uthman, the likes of Abdurrahman ibn Auf رضي الله عنهم and many others — that Allah gave to them the blessing of wealth. But that wealth never caused them to be arrogant. Never caused them to show ill feelings towards the poorer companions. That wealth brought them closer to Allah because they would spend it in the way of Allah. And that is why Allah says in the Quran:

You will never attain piety until you spend from that which you love. Allah gave you wealth as a test. What you spend and you earn for the sake of Allah — that is what you will see on the Day of Judgment. That is what Allah will hold for you. That is what will benefit you.

But don't be like this man who thought that he had wealth because Allah definitely loved him, and so he used that wealth to incur the wrath of Allah, His anger and His punishment.

Du'a — Closing Supplication

We ask Allah that He gives us blessing in everything that we own — in our wealth, in our provision, in our rizq. And that Allah safeguards us from all of these tests. And that Allah allows us to use these objects and these possessions and these blessings that He has bestowed upon us in a way that makes Him pleased with us, in a way that we will earn His pleasure and His reward.

We ask Allah that He safeguards us from all evil and all harm. And that Allah protects us and our families. And that Allah brings ease to our brothers and sisters across the world despite their suffering. We ask Allah that He safeguards us and our families from the traps of Shaytan.