4.The Rich and the Extravagant

In a hadith by at-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah and Al-Haakim, there was a man sitting with RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. This man was burping, burping, burping. RasulAllah sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, “Keep your burping away from us! The ones who fill their stomachs most in dunya will suffer hunger the most on the day of judgment.”

In another hadith narrated by Bukhaari and Muslim: [...] He (Abu Dharr) said: So I walked along with him [RasulAllah] for some time and he sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said: “The wealthy persons would have little (reward) on the Day of Resurrection, except upon whom Allah conferred goodness (wealth). He [the one with the wealth] dispensed it to his right, left, in front of him and at his back (just as the wind diffuses fragrance) and did good with it (riches).” [Muslim B.5, #2175]

Another hadith, which compliments this one, “The ones with the most are the ones who are the lowest on the day of judgment, except the ones who spend it here and there and they receive it by halaal means.” So the way these people [the exceptions] earn the money is hallal, and the way they spend it is in righteousness.

Money in itself does not carry a tag that says it is evil. In fact, Allah subhaana wa ta’aala called money in Qur’an khayra/khayr, which means good. Allah actually gave it good titles – khayr and zeena (the adornment of this life). It only becomes bad when it is used in a wrong way. It is a tool that can be used for good or evil, just like any other rizq Allah gives you (for example, knowledge and health). We need to keep it mind that money continuously needs to be purified, and that is by spending it.

We know that many of the prominent sahabah were very wealthy. ‘Uthmaan ibn ‘Affaan was one of the wealthiest of the Muslims. ‘AbdurRahman ibn ‘Awf might have been the wealthiest of the Muslims; he was one of the ten given the glad tidings of jannah while still in this dunya. ‘Umar and Abu Bakr were also pretty well off. All of them knew how to use that money. Also, amongst the prophets, Dawud [David] and Sulaymaan [Solomon] were very wealthy.