The urge to accumulate wealth

Almighty Allah has revealed that there are certain things that may bind people passionately to this world and warned they will be tested through them. One such thing is the love of possessions.

Having possessions, or accumulating wealth, is not incompatible with moral teachings of Islam; it’s very much within the rights of Muslims to do so.

The danger however is, as the Qur’an clearly warns, that a person tends to hoard all those goods and possessions that in fact belong to Allah, thus failing to help the needy and becoming attached to the worldly life by accumulating more and more wealth.

This obsession for possessions turns into a sickness. Those who fail to live by the prescribed moral values develop a desire to grow their assets and wealth. 

They fail to spend their assets on Allah’s path, amassing possessions and being parsimonious with money and are deprived of a great religious obligation and of the mercy of Almighty Allah, Who warns us: “… give of that to which He has made you successors. Those of you who have faith and give will have an immense reward.” (Qur’an, 57:7)

Such people compare themselves with the richer ones instead of looking upon the poorer ones. 

This makes them greedier and puts them into a race to become more and more rich, which is a grave mistake. 
There is an important point here that needs to be borne in mind.




Someone who amasses many assets and appears to own a great many possessions actually possesses things entrusted to him by Almighty Allah, because Allah is the sole Lord of all the goods and assets in the universe, and He gives as much of this to whoever He so wishes, and for as long as He so wishes. 



The example of this cited in the Qur’an is Qarun. His wealth is revealed in the verse “…We gave him treasures, the keys alone to which were a heavy weight for a party of strong men...” (Qur’an, 28:76) But because he grew proud and was mean, “We caused the earth to swallow up both him and his house. There was no group to come to his aid, besides Allah, and he was not someone who is helped.” (Qur’an, 28:81) 




Even if people do amass possessions, the time they can enjoy them in this world is limited to just a few decades. 



Believers who know that Allah is the True Lord of all wealth are also aware that possessions bring only short-lived benefits and advantages in this world and are of little value compared to the eternal life of the Hereafter. 



The finest example of this is that of the Prophet Sulaiman (peace be upon him).

Possessing enormous wealth and assets, his words in the Qur’an, “… ‘Indeed, I gave preference to the love of good because of the remembrance of my Lord’.” (Qur’an, 38:32) made it clear why he sought that wealth, which he used to communicate the word on Allah’s path.


Since they choose the life of the Hereafter, which Allah reveals will last forever, over the brief life of this world, it is they who are truly wealthy.


Adnan Oktar's piece on Arab News:

2015-12-25 19:56:34
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