Different
Priorities
[3:14] Adorned
for the people are the worldly pleasures,
such as the women, having children,
piles upon piles of gold and
silver, trained horses, livestock,
and crops. These are the materials of this
world. A far better abode is reserved
at GOD.
Rearranging Our Priorities
[18:46]
Money and children
are the joys of this life, but
the righteous works provide an
eternal recompense from your Lord,
and a far better hope.
As stated in the above
verses, wealth is among the many vanities of
this world that God acknowledges the
human's natural passion for. At different
levels, and depending on our spirituality and
wisdom, wealth represents assurance of survival,
power, control, and a means of reaching out for
the impossible. This enhances our self
satisfaction and recognition - a psychological,
and a basic need within each one of us for as
long as we breathe on this earth. Another human
trait that ties up with our love for money is
our natural stinginess (17:100, 59:9).
As believers, it is always our duty to work with
our human weaknesses and try to modify
them somehow for the best interest of our
souls in order to achieve our goal of
redemption. The Most
Merciful, designed for us the ideal way to
overcome our stinginess, and to properly utilize
our wealth in order to eventually win our
souls. Throughout the Quran, God encourages the
believers to strive with their money in His
cause. In the sight of God, this represents one
of the highest qualities of righteousness as
well as one of the highest levels of testing for
the true believers. These two facts are very
well established in the Quran. In 2:177, God has
specified a distinct trait for the righteous
right after believing in God, the Last Day, the
angels and the Scripture. This trait is giving
money cheerfully to the relatives, the orphans,
the needy, the traveling alien, the beggars, and
to free the slaves. Such a trait is distinct
from and listed prior to giving our obligatory
charity. In 49:15, 9:44, 9:88 and 2:177, God
states that the readiness to spend our money in
His cause is an indication of our true belief:
Righteousness Defined
[2:177] Righteousness
is not turning your faces towards the east
or the west. Righteous are those who believe
in GOD, the Last Day, the angels, the
scripture, and the prophets; and
they give the money, cheerfully,
to the relatives, the orphans, the needy,
the traveling alien, the beggars, and to
free the slaves; and
they observe the Contact Prayers (Salat)
and give the obligatory charity (Zakat); and
they keep their word whenever they make a
promise; and they steadfastly persevere in
the face of persecution, hardship, and war.
These are the truthful; these are the
righteous.
[49:15] Mu'mens
(believers) are those who
believe in GOD and His messenger, then attain
the status of having no doubt whatsoever,
and strive with their money and their
lives in the cause of GOD.
These are the truthful ones.
[9:44] Those who
truly believe in GOD and the
Last Day do not ask your permission
to evade the opportunity to strive with their
money and their lives.
GOD is fully aware
of the righteous.
True Believers are Eager to Strive
[9:88] As for the
messenger and those who believed with him,
they eagerly strive with their money
and their lives. These have deserved all
the good things; they are the winners.
On the other hand giving
in to our human weakness of being stingy,
hoarding money, or illicitly gaining it is a
miserable fall for our souls (64:16, 3:180,
89:17, 2:188, 4:10, 11:85-86).
When God uses wealth as a
challenging test for the believers, He wants
to check out the way we handle this wealth. God
cites the history of Qaaroon and the wisdom of
his people to teach us a great lesson of dealing
with our wealth (28:76-82). Are we going to be
preoccupied, distracted and obsessed with it,
greedy and anxious for more, stingy to strive
with it? Are we going to use it as a source of
power to transgress or to corrupt the earth? Or
are we going to be appreciative while enjoying
such wealth, stay focused on God alone, and
continue to arrange our priorities and actions
in this life in the proper order dictated by
Him? The answer to these questions will
determine if our wealth has been handled as a
blessing to attain God's mercy or has become
a curse that will lead to eternal misery.
[64:15] Your
money and children are a
test, and GOD possesses a great
recompense.
[63:9] O you who believe,
do not be distracted by your money
and your children from remembering GOD. Those
who do this are the losers.
God's System Does Not Change
[9:69] Some of those
before you were stronger than you, and possessed
more money and children. They became
preoccupied with their material possessions.
Similarly, you have become preoccupied with your
material possessions, just like those before you
have become preoccupied. You have become
totally heedless, just as they were heedless.
Such are
the people who nullify their works, both in this
world and in the Hereafter; they are the losers.
[104:1] Woe to every
backbiter, slanderer.
[104:2] He
hoards money and counts it.
[104:3] As
if his money will make him immortal.
[74:11] Let Me deal
with one I created as an individual.
[74:12] I provided
him with lots of money.
[74:13] And children to behold.
[74:14] I made
everything easy for him. [74:15]
Yet, he is greedy for more.
[70:19] Indeed, the
human being is anxious. [70:20] If touched
by adversity, despondent.
[70:21] If
blessed by wealth, stingy.
[70:22] Except for the
worshipers.
[63:10] You
shall give from our provisions to you before
death comes to you, then you say,
"My Lord, if only You could delay this for a
short while! I would then be charitable and join
the righteous!"
[92:17] Avoiding
it will be the righteous.
[92:18] Who
gives from his money to charity.
Knowing our natural
eagerness to hoard money and our mentality of
loving to earn it, God almighty cited for us the
most educational examples/allegories based on
the concept of trade in order to teach us how to
stay focused on the righteous track while
dealing with and enjoying His provisions. Other
examples (the first group) just to illustrate
and distinguish cheap imitations in trading:
- Trading away
the truth and our obligations means
choosing to stray at the expense of
our guidance. This is a cheap trade:
[3:77] As for
those who trade away
GOD's covenant, and their
obligations, for a cheap
price, they
receive no share in the Hereafter.
GOD will not speak to them, nor look
at them, on the Day of Resurrection,
nor will He purify them. They have
incurred a painful retribution.
[3:187] GOD
took a covenant from those who
received the scripture: "You shall
proclaim it to the people, and never
conceal it." But they
disregarded it behind their backs,
and traded it away for a cheap
price. What a miserable trade.
[2:16] It is they
who bought the straying,
at the expense of
guidance.
Such trade never prospers, nor do
they receive any guidance.
[2:86] It is they
who bought this lowly life
at the expense
of the Hereafter.
Consequently, the retribution is never
commuted for them, nor can they be
helped.
[2:41] You shall
believe in what I have revealed herein,
confirming what you have; do not be the
first to reject it. Do not
trade away My revelations for a cheap
price, and observe Me.
[2:174]
Those who conceal GOD's revelations in
the scripture, in
exchange for a cheap material gain,
eat but fire into their bellies.
GOD will not speak to them on the Day of
Resurrection, nor will He purify them.
They have incurred a painful
retribution.
- The following are just a few of these
examples to reflect on how we can use
our money in to achieve the real eternal
wealth through certain profitable
transactions with God almighty!
Believing in God
and striving in His cause with our money
and lives is a prosperous trade and the
best investment:
The Best Deal
[61:10] O you
who believe, let Me inform you of a trade
that will save you from painful retribution.
[61:11]
Believe in GOD and His messenger and strive
in the cause of GOD with your money and your
lives. This is the best
deal for you, if you only knew.
[61:12] In return,
He forgives your sins, and admits you into
gardens with flowing streams, with beautiful
mansions in the gardens of Eden. This is the
greatest triumph.
[61:13]
Additionally, you get something you
truly love: support from GOD and guaranteed
victory. Give good news to the believers.
The Most Profitable Investment
[9:111] GOD
has bought from the believers
their lives and their money
in exchange for
Paradise. Thus, they
fight in the cause of GOD, willing to kill
and get killed. Such is His truthful pledge
in the Torah, the Gospel, and the Quran -
and who fulfills His pledge better than GOD?
You shall rejoice in making such
an exchange. This is the
greatest triumph.
[2:244] You
shall fight in the cause of GOD, and know
that GOD is Hearer, Knower.
[2:245] Who would
lend GOD a
loan of righteousness,
to have it repaid to them
multiplied manifold? GOD is the
One who provides and withholds, and to Him
you will be returned.
Special Honor
[57:10] Why
do you not spend in the cause of GOD, when
GOD possesses all wealth in the heavens and
the earth? Distinguished from the rest are
those among you who spend before the victory
and strive. They attain a greater rank than
those who spend after the victory and
strive. For each, GOD promises
salvation. GOD is Cognizant of everything
you do.
[57:11]
Who would like to
loan GOD a loan of
righteousness, to have it multiplied for him
manifold, and end up with a generous
recompense?
[57:12] The day will
come when you see the believing men and
women with their lights radiating ahead of
them and to their right. Good news is yours
that, on that day, you will have gardens
with flowing streams. You will abide therein
forever. This is the great
triumph.
Charity
[2:265] The
example of those who give their
money seeking GOD's pleasure, out of sincere
conviction, is that of a garden on
high fertile soil; when heavy rain
falls, it gives twice as much crop. If heavy
rain is not available, a drizzle will suffice.
GOD is Seer of everything you do.
[57:18] Surely,
the charitable men and women,
have loaned GOD a loan of goodness.
They will receive their reward
multiplied manifold; they have
deserved a generous recompense.
[9:103] Take
from their money a charity to purify them and
sanctify them. And encourage them,
for your encouragement reassures them. GOD is
Hearer, Omniscient.
[7:42] As
for those who believe and lead a righteous
life - we never burden any soul
beyond its means - these will be the
dwellers of Paradise. They abide in it
forever.
[7:43] We will remove
all jealousy from their hearts. Rivers will
flow beneath them, and they will say, "GOD
be praised for guiding us. We could not
possibly be guided, if it were not that GOD
has guided us. The messengers of our Lord
did bring the truth." They will be called:
"This is your Paradise. You have
inherited it, in return for
your works."
The Real Wealth
[28:80] As for those
who were blessed with knowledge,
they said, "Woe to you, GOD's
recompense is far better for those who
believe and lead a righteous life."
None attains this except the
steadfast.
[35:29] Surely,
those who recite the book of
GOD, observe the Contact
Prayers (Salat), and
from our provisions to them they spend -
secretly and publicly - are
engaged in an investment that never loses.
Peaceful Friday, salaam
and God bless you.
