QUESTION:
Does Islam want you to sacrifice your wealth and wants?
Maqasid
as-Shariah:
1-Essential
Rights (الضروريات)
A-Life
B-Intellect
C-Property
D-Honour
E-Religion
2-Basic
Needs (الحاجيات)
-Anything needed to attain the above
-Without said need, life would be difficult
3-Comforts
(التحسينيات)
-Things needed to make all of the
above of better quality
Question:
What is Zuhd?
Answer:
The Dunya is
called the Dunya (دنا) because:
1-It is
lesser instatus (دنيئة) than the Akhirah
2-It is
physically lower (أدنى) than Jannah
Therefore,
what the author is mentioning here is that it makes no sense for a person to
sacrifice the Akhirah for the Dunya.
-Ibn Uthaymin
|
إِنَّمَا مَثَلُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا كَمَاء أَنزَلْنَاهُ
مِنَ السَّمَاء فَاخْتَلَطَ بِهِ نَبَاتُ الأَرْضِ مِمَّا يَأْكُلُ النَّاسُ
وَالأَنْعَامُ حَتَّىَ إِذَا أَخَذَتِ الأَرْضُ زُخْرُفَهَا وَازَّيَّنَتْ وَظَنَّ
أَهْلُهَا أَنَّهُمْ قَادِرُونَ عَلَيْهَا أَتَاهَا أَمْرُنَا لَيْلاً أَوْ
نَهَارًا فَجَعَلْنَاهَا حَصِيدًا كَأَن لَّمْ تَغْنَ بِالأَمْسِ كَذَلِكَ
نُفَصِّلُ الآيَاتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ
10:24
A parable so that a
person is not deceived by the purpose of the Dunya and his purpose within it.
-Ibn Uthaymin
|
وَاضْرِبْ لَهُم مَّثَلَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا كَمَاء أَنزَلْنَاهُ
مِنَ السَّمَاء فَاخْتَلَطَ بِهِ نَبَاتُ الأَرْضِ فَأَصْبَحَ هَشِيمًا تَذْرُوهُ
الرِّيَاحُ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ مُّقْتَدِرًا
الْمَالُ وَالْبَنُونَ زِينَةُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا
وَالْبَاقِيَاتُ الصَّالِحَاتُ خَيْرٌ عِندَ رَبِّكَ ثَوَابًا وَخَيْرٌ أَمَلا
18:45-46
The life of this world is like water:
1-It comes quickly
2-It overtakes a person
3-It kills off any good IF there is excessiveness
4-If it is mixed incorrectly, it will not be fertile
5-It’s hard to decipher between which water is good and which isn’t,
except through knowledge
6-The right amount of water teaches a person to have patience,
how to ration and being sufficed with what they have
-al-Qurtubi
|
اعْلَمُوا أَنَّمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا لَعِبٌ وَلَهْوٌ
وَزِينَةٌ وَتَفَاخُرٌ بَيْنَكُمْ وَتَكَاثُرٌ فِي الأَمْوَالِ وَالأَوْلادِ
كَمَثَلِ غَيْثٍ أَعْجَبَ الْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتُهُ ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ فَتَرَاهُ
مُصْفَرًّا ثُمَّ يَكُونُ حُطَامًا وَفِي الآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ
مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانٌ وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلاَّ مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ
57:20
Five things which make the Dunya useless:
1-Play
2-Time wasting
3-Infatuation with its beauties
4-Luxuries
5-Competition
-Ibn Uthaymin
|
All of these are
expanded in on the selection in the following Ayat…
زُيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ حُبُّ الشَّهَوَاتِ مِنَ النِّسَاء
وَالْبَنِينَ وَالْقَنَاطِيرِ الْمُقَنطَرَةِ مِنَ الذَّهَبِ وَالْفِضَّةِ
وَالْخَيْلِ الْمُسَوَّمَةِ وَالأَنْعَامِ وَالْحَرْثِ ذَلِكَ مَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ
الدُّنْيَا وَاللَّهُ عِندَهُ حُسْنُ الْمَآبِ
3:14
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّ وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقٌّ فَلا
تَغُرَّنَّكُمُ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا وَلا يَغُرَّنَّكُم بِاللَّهِ الْغَرُورُ
35:5
Surah
at-Takathur
وَمَا هَذِهِ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلاَّ لَهْوٌ وَلَعِبٌ وَإِنَّ
الدَّارَ الآخِرَةَ لَهِيَ الْحَيَوَانُ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ
29: 64
457- Messenger
of Allah (ﷺ) sent Abu 'Ubaidah bin Al-Jarrah (May Allah be pleased with
him) to Bahrain to collect (Jizyah). So he returned from Bahrain with wealth.
The Ansar got news of it and joined with the Prophet (ﷺ)
in the Fajr prayer. When the Prophet (ﷺ) concluded the prayer, they
stood in his way. When he saw them, he smiled and said, "I think you have
heard about the arrival of Abu 'Ubaidah with something from Bahrain". They
said, "Yes! O Messenger of Allah!". He (ﷺ)
said, "Rejoice and hope for that which will please you. By Allah, it is
not poverty that I fear for you, but I fear that this world will be opened up
with its wealth for you as it was opened to those before you; and you vie with
one another over it as they did and eventually it will ruin you as it ruined
them".
458-
"What I am concerned most is the flourishment and the beauty of this world
will be available to you".
459- "The
world is sweet and green (alluring); and verily, Allah is making you to succeed
each other, generations after generations in it in order to see how you act. So
beware of this world and beware of women".
The point in these three Ahadith isn’t to leave the Dunya, rather it
is to understand:
Zuhd: abandoning anything in the Dunya which will not benefit
his hereafter.
War’: abanonding anything in
the Dunya which will harm his hereafter.
|
460- "O
Allah, there is no true life but the life of the Hereafter".
461-
"Three (things) follow a dead person: Members of his family, his property
and his deeds. Two of them return; and one remains with him. The people and his
wealth return; his deeds remain with him".
462-
"Among the inmates of Hell, a person who had led the most luxurious life
in this world will be brought up on the Day of Resurrection and dipped in the
Fire and will be asked: 'O son of Adam! Did you ever experience any comfort?
Did you happen to get any luxury?' He will reply: 'By Allah, no, my Rubb.' And
then one of the people of Jannah who had experienced extreme misery in the life
of this world will be dipped in Jannah. Then he will be asked: 'O son of Adam!
Did you ever experience any misery? Did you ever encounter difficulty?' He will
say: "By Allah, no my Rubb, I neither experienced misery nor passed
through hardship".
463-
"This world (i.e., its pleasures and duration) in comparison with the
Hereafter is (similar to the amount of water) one gets when he puts his finger
in the sea. Let him then see what it returns with".
464- Messenger
of Allah (ﷺ) was passing through the bazaar with his Companions on his both
sides, when he saw a dead skinny lamb. He held its ear and said, "Who of
you would like to have it for a dirham". They replied, "We do not
like to get it for nothing, and what shall we do with it?". Then he (ﷺ)
asked, "Would you like to have it for nothing?". They replied,
"Had it been alive, it would have been defective because it is skinny; but
when dead it is of no use". Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)
said, "Truly, the world is more contemptible to Allah than this (the dead
lamb) is to you".
True pleasure is that of the Akhirah.
All that we benefit from soon becomes dirty or damaged and then
eventually will perish.
-Ibn Uthaymin
|
The encouragement to spend and giving…
465- Abu Dharr (May
allah be pleased with him) reported:
I was walking with the Prophet on the stony
ground in Al-Madinah in the afternoon when Uhud Mount came into sight.
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)
said, "O Abu Dharr!" I said, "O Messenger of Allah, here I am
responding to you". He said, "If I had as much gold as the weight of
Uhud, it would not please me to have a single dinar out of it with me after the
passage of three days, but I would hold back something for the repayment of a
debt. I would distribute it among the slaves of Allah like this and like this
and like this." And he (ﷺ) pointed in front of him, and on his right
side and on his left side. We then walked a little further and he (ﷺ)
said: "The rich would be poor on the Day of Resurrection, except he who
spent like this and like this and like this,". and he pointed as he did
the first time. "But such persons are few". Then he said, "Stay
where you are till I come back to you". He (the Prophet (ﷺ))
walked ahead a little further in the darkness of the night and disappeared from
my sight. I heard a loud voice. I said (to myself): "The Messenger of
Allah might have met (mishap or an enemy)". I wished I could go after him
but I remembered his commanding me to stay till he came back. So I waited for
him; and when he came, I made mention of what I had heard. He asked, "Did
you hear it?". I said, "Yes". Then he said, "It was Jibril
(Gabriel), who came to me and said: 'He who dies among your Ummah without
having associated anything with Allah (in worship) will enter Jannah.' I said:
'Even if he committed illicit sexual intercourse or steals?' He (Jibril) said:
'Even if he has committed illicit sexual intercourse or steals".
466-
"If I had gold equal to Mount Uhud (in weight), it would not please
me to pass three nights and I have a thing of it left with me, except what I
retain for repayment of a debt".
467-
"Look at those who are inferior to you and do not look at those who are
superior to you, for this will keep you from belittling Allah's Favour to
you."
468- "May
he be miserable, the worshipper of the dinar and dirham, and the worshipper of
the striped silk cloak. If he is given anything, he is satisfied; but if not,
he is unsatisfied".
How
important are these two in understanding wealth and how the world is becoming
more capitalistic?
|
469- Abu Hurairah (May
allah be pleased with him) reported:
I saw seventy of the people of the Suffah and
none of them had a cloak. They had either a lower garment or a blanket which
they suspended from their necks. Some (cloaks) reached halfway down to the legs
and some to the ankles; and the man would manage to keep it in his hand to
avoid exposing his private parts.
This is after the Companions had a lot of wealth presented to them but
all of it was spent on others.
|
470- "The
world is the believer's prison and the disbeliever's Jannah".
All of this
shows, those who have a lot now (and are attached to it) will have little on
the Day of Judgement.
-Ibn al-Uthaymin
|
Then we have narrations preparing us for the Akhirah…
471- 'Abdullah bin
'Umar (May allah be pleased with them) reported:
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)
took hold of my shoulders and said, "Be in the world like a stranger or a
wayfarer".
(An-Nawawi
said) What this means is that the Dunya can’t be turned to and it can’t be
taken as a place of residence. Don’t tell yourself that you are bound to stay
here or to try your best to take care of it.
Treat it as a
stranger would; he doesn’t intend to stay, he doesn’t busy himself in getting
to know it – all he wants is to leave at the earliest opportunity.
472- Sahl bin Sa'd
As-Sa'idi (May Allah be pleased with him) reported:
A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ)
and said, "O Messenger of Allah, guide me to such an action which, if I do
Allah will love me and the people will also love me." He (ﷺ)
said, "Have no desire for this world, Allah will love you; and have no
desire for what people possess, and the people will love you."
That’s what he said but how was he?
473- 'Umar bin
Al-Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him) spoke at length regarding the
worldly prosperity that people had achieved and said: "I saw that the
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) would pass his days in hunger and could not get even degraded dates
to fill his stomach".
How did he leave his family when he passed
away?
474- 'Aishah (May Allah be pleased with her)
reported:
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)
died when my house was void of any edible thing except for a small quantity of
barley I had on a shelf and from which I kept eating it for a long time. Then
when I measured what was left of it, it soon finished.
475- 'Amr bin Al-Harith
(May Allah be pleased with him) the brother of Juwairiyah (May Allah be pleased
with her), the Mother of believers) reported:
(When he died) Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)
left neither a dinar nor a dirham nor a male slave nor a female slave, nor
anything else except his white riding mule, his weapons and his land which he
had given in charity to wayfarers.
This is all proof that everyone of us WILL be given a chance to take
something from the Dunya and the Prophet wasn’t any different.
|
476-Al-Khabbab bin
Al-Aratt (May Allah be pleased with him) reported:
We emigrated with Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)
seeking the pleasure of Allah and expecting our reward from Him. Some of us
died without enjoying anything of it. Among them was Mus'ab bin 'Umair (May
Allah be pleased with him), who was killed in the battle of Uhud, leaving only
a small coloured sheet of wool (which we used as his shroud). When we covered
his head with it, his feet were exposed, and when we covered his feet with it,
his head was uncovered. So the Prophet (ﷺ) told us to cover his head and to put some
Idhkhir (i.e., fragrant grass) over his feet. Others among us enjoy prosperity.
477-"Were
this world worth a wing of mosquito, He would not have given a drink of water
to an infidel."
478-"Verily!
The world is accursed and what it contains is accursed, except remembrance of
Allah and those who associate themselves with Allah; and a learned man, and a
learning person."
479-"Do
not crave for property lest you should be absorbed in the desire of worldly
life."
480-'Abdullah bin 'Amr bin Al-'as (May Allah be
pleased with them) reported:
We were repairing our thatchy hut when
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)
passed by and asked us, "What are you doing?" We said, "The
thatch had gone weak and we are repairing it." He (ﷺ)
said, "I see the sure thing (death) approaching sooner than this."
481-"Verily,
there is a Fitnah (trial) for every nation and the trial for my nation (or
Ummah) is wealth."
482-"There
is no right for the son of adam except in these (four) things: A house to live
in, a cloth to cover therewith his private parts, bread and water."
483-'Abdullah bin
Ash-Shikhkhir (May Allah be pleased with him) reported:
I came to the Prophet (ﷺ)
while he was reciting Surat At-Takathur 102. After reciting he (ﷺ)
said, "Son of adam says: 'My wealth, my wealth.' Do you own of your wealth
other than what you eat and consume, and what you wear and wear out, or what
you give in Sadaqah (charity) (to those who deserve it), and that what you will
have in stock for yourself."
The Prophet said that the world is going to perish and it isn’t
actually worth much, HOWEVER…
Two Rak’at before Fajr, a whip in Jannah etc. is better than the whole
Dunya and all it contains!
There’s a difference in:
-quality
-durability
-being deceived by the test
|
484-'Abdullah bin
Mughaffal (May Allah be pleased with him) reported:
A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ)
and said, "O Messenger of Allah! By Allah, I love you." He (ﷺ)
said, "Think about what you are saying." The man repeated thrice,
"I swear by Allah that I love you." He (Prophet (ﷺ))
said, "If you love me, you should be ready for acute poverty; because
poverty comes to those who love me, faster than a flood flowing towards its
destination."
485-"Two
hungry wolves sent in the midst of a flock of sheep are no more destructive to
them than a man's greed for wealth and fame is to his Deen."
486-'Abdullah bin
Mas'ud (May Allah be pleased with him) reported:
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)
slept on a straw mat and got up with the marks left by it on his body. Ibn
Mas'ud (May Allah be pleased with him) said, "O Messenger of Allah! Would
that you make us spread out a soft bedding for you." He (ﷺ)
replied, "What have I to do with the world? I am like a rider who had sat
under a tree for its shade, then went away and left it."
487-"The
poor will enter Jannah five hundred years before the rich."
488-"I
looked into Jannah and saw that most of its dwellers are the poor; and I looked
into Hell and saw that most of its inmates were women."
489-"I
stood at the gate of Jannah and saw that most of those who enter it were poor,
whereas the rich were held back; but those who were destined to go to Hell were
ordered to be sent there (immediately)."
490- "The most truthful statement a poet has ever
made is the saying of Labid: Everything besides Allah is vain."
Zuhd is connected to a person’s level of acceptance and submission.
The closer he is to the Prophet the less of the material he wants. The further
he is, the more he wants; and all of this can be seen in their interaction
with the Dunya/material possessions.
-Ibn Uthaymin
|
And Allah Knows best
No comments:
Post a Comment