5. The Abundance of Wealth

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “Wealth will be so abundant that a man will be handed 100 dinar (a small weight of gold) and they wouldn’t be satisfied.” Meaning, “What is this? This is nothing.” There will be so much wealth. This happened to a certain extent during the time of ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul-Aziz.

There are a few stories. One is that the state of Africa sent ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul-Aziz some money. ‘Umar said, “What is this? Why is the state of Africa sending me this money? This money – take it from the rich of that area and give it to the poor of that area.” In other words, the money did not go to the federal government. It goes to the local government, to be spent on the same area. They told him that they didn’t find any poor in that area. He said to send it back to that area and use it to pave roads or to free slaves. And also, during his time, the zakah of Yemen was sent. He said the same thing – to send it back. This was because Allah put blessing in their rizq.

This sign could also refer to the end of time. There were truly be an abundance of wealth all over the world. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “A time will come when a man will go out with zakah/sadaqah (gold) and nobody will want to take it.” (Muslim) There will be so much money and everyone will be content. This hadith tells us two things: the people will have enough money and they are not greedy. There are rich people who will still take sadaqah.

RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “The earth would vomit gold and silver. The murderer would come and say, ‘I used to murder for this.’ And the thief will come and say, ‘I used to steal for this.’ And the one who betrayed my family and cut his ties would say, ‘I betrayed and fought my family for this.’ And then nobody will take it.” Allahu ‘Alam, it might also be because they have suffered so much.

There is a hadith that the river of Euphrates will uncover a mountain of gold. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said that if you see it, leave it alone, because out of every 100 that go there, 99 will be killed.

This hadith, in Muslim, is a warning for us. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “I was given the keys of the treasures of the earth. I’m not concerned that you would be poor. I’m worried that you would compete on this world and that would destroy you.” If we compete on material gains of this world, that would destroy us. The poverty that is now is not because of a lack of resources. The problem is unfair distribution and oppression (not giving zakah and sadaqah). If you look at the world, the dependency is not on resources. It is the human being that is the greatest asset. Take a place like the Silicon Valley – it’s nothing but dirt, but it’s the richest place on the face of the earth. There’s no oil there, no gold and silver, not much agriculture. It is the human resources there. Unfortunately, we have a lot of resources in the Muslim world, but we don’t have the ability to make use of it. And Allah will not give us barakah unless we follow the terms of shari’ah in business law. A person could have money, but if it doesn’t have barakah, then there is no good in that money.