Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Wealth & Sustenance

AI: Summary ©
The conversation discusses the challenges and interactions of money, including the lack of diversity and suffering, and the potential for suffering to bring "ever-lasting suffering." The speakers emphasize the importance of animals and managing one's wealth, avoiding harm to others and not giving out too much attention. The conversation also touches on the importance of knowing one's wealth and the value of their relationship.
AI: Summary ©
So then he provided this great example because
for them they could understand this.
See, living in Medina Munawwara, there was some,
it was better situation than Makkah.
Makkah was drier.
Medina Munawwara had your date trees and so
on.
That's why most of the dates that we
get there, they tend to be Medina dates
as opposed to Makkah dates, or then from
outside.
So, when spring comes, they understand this example
of all of this greenery that suddenly come
about.
So, you get these animals who are eating,
eating, eating, and then they are killed, حَبَطًا.
حَبَطًا means because of the stomach bloating, because
of a bloating of the stomach, and that
causing all of these diseases and everything, and
then it causes them to die.
Or يُلِم, or close to dying, makes them
close to dying.
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَالصَّلَاةُ
وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَىٰ سَيِّدِ الْمُرْسَلِينَ وَعَلَىٰ آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ
أَجْمَعِينَ أَمَّا بَعْدَ This next hadith puts a
lot of things in perspective.
It actually shows how we're supposed to deal
with wealth.
It actually shows you the good aspect and
the bad aspect.
It shows you where the pitfall is.
It answers a lot of questions.
If we listen to this next hadith very
carefully, it's going to answer inshaAllah many many
questions about how we're supposed to interact with
the world.
What Allah wants from us?
Allah has placed us here with all of
this wealth around us.
For some people wealth comes by easily.
For some people it doesn't come so easily.
For some people they have a lot, but
they just can't stop wanting more.
Nothing satisfies them.
Nothing satisfies them.
That's why some people say that if you're
looking for money, to borrow money from someone,
don't go to the person who has lots
of assets because their money is all called
for.
They've got five houses and they're getting rent
from five houses.
They're going to get enough money, their idea
is to buy a sixth house.
The guy who's going to probably give you
money to borrow possibly is a guy who
only has one house and he's satisfied.
So when he has some extra saving, he's
willing to help somebody with it.
Not to say that this is always going
to be the case like this.
There's obviously miserliness where somebody will have money.
In fact somebody's quoted as saying, if I'm
going to loan anybody money, I'll loan it
to myself.
So there's even statements like that from people
as well.
And mashaAllah there are people who I spoke
to, somebody he was mentioning.
He said, if somebody comes to me for
money, he said, even if I don't have
any, he's a big businessman, his money is
always in, he's always doing something or the
other.
But he said, if somebody comes to me,
I'll get him money.
If he's come to me with that, if
he's come to me with a certain hope,
that I'm, you know, a certain hope that
he's come to me.
Because you can't go to everybody, you can't
go begging on the street for everybody for
money, unless you're a beggar.
And that's your vocation.
You're only going to go to certain people
that you have some kind of hope in.
I will get five, ten thousand from somebody
else and give it to him.
So you get people like that as well,
alhamdulillah.
So, this is the way it is now.
Are we supposed to be in all of
this?
This is the question.
I just gave you all of these different
ideas and these different portrayals of people just
so that we can understand where we need
to be, what our interaction needs to be
with money.
Because everybody here, everybody has a different interaction
with money.
Some people are just naturally greedy.
Some people are naturally stingy.
So, they have a bit more challenge.
Some people are just naturally more open-hearted.
Some people are just naturally more generous.
So, everybody has different types of challenges.
But this hadith I thought really, really puts
in perspective.
It's related from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri
radhiAllahu anhu.
Related by Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim.
He says that, The Prophet ﷺ said, إِنَّ
مِمَّا أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا يَفْتَحُ عَلَيْكُمْ
وَمَا يُفْتَحُ عَلَيْكُمْ مِنْ زَهْرَةِ الدُّنْيَا وَزِينَتُهَا Among
those things that I fear for you after
me.
The Prophet ﷺ said, Among those things that
I have great fear about after I leave
and after I depart from this dunya is
that which will be opened up for you.
That which will be facilitated for you.
That which will become available for you of
زَهْرَةِ الدُّنْيَا وَزِينَتُهَا Of the freshness of this
world.
The vitality of this world.
The brightness of this world.
The ripeness of this world.
And its adornment.
The dunya will look fresh and ready to
pick for you.
It's going to be easy to get it
possibly.
Halal or haram.
The fruit is hanging off somebody's tree.
It's not your tree.
But it's so easy to get.
Nobody's gonna know.
Let me pick a fruit.
Something as simple as that.
So, the dunya, the world, worldly possessions, worldly
adornments and its brightness and its glimmer and
its glitter and all of that that's going
to be opened up in front of you,
this is what I have fear of.
I'm just going to translate the whole hadith
first.
And then we'll look at each individual portion
afterwards.
So then somebody said to him, somebody said
to Rasulullah ﷺ, فَقَالَ رَجُلٌ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهُ
Remember these were thinking people.
These were people who used to reflect over
things that were said.
So he said, يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهُ أَوَيَأْتِ الْخَيْرُ
بِالشَّرِّ Is good going to bring about evil?
Is the good that's going to come, meaning
generally you understand that if you're suffering and
then you get some money, you get means,
some prosperity, then that should be good.
But will that good bring with it evil?
Is good and evil concomitant?
Do they have to be together?
If one comes, does the other one have
to come with it?
That's a good question to ask and we're
really glad.
May Allah reward him for asking this question.
حَتَّىٰ ظَنَنَّ أَنَّهُ فَسَكَتَ The Prophet ﷺ became
silent.
The Prophet ﷺ became silent until we guessed,
we thought, أَنَّهُ يُنَزِّلْ عَلَيْهُ that he was
receiving a revelation.
Because he would become silent then, focused.
قَالَ فَمَسَحْ عَنْهُ الرَّحْضَةَ Eventually the Prophet ﷺ
wiped away the perspiration of the heat that
he had just experienced.
رَحَضَةَ Generally this is understood to be when
you have a lot of perspiration from fever.
When you have internal body temperature is very
high.
So then you get fever and it breaks
out.
So then he wiped that away from himself
and then he said, أَيْنَ السَّائِلُ Where is
this man who had asked this question?
Where is this questioner who asked this question?
As though he was praising him.
وَكَأَنَّهُ حَمِدَهُ He said it in a praiseworthy
sense.
What a good question.
Where is this person who asked this question?
فَقَالَ إِنَّهُ لَا يَأْتِلْ خَيْرُ بِالشَّرِّ No, the
goodness will not bring with it evil as
something that is necessary.
It doesn't entail, good does not entail evil.
All good does not entail and necessitate evil.
But then he provided a wonderful example.
He says, وَإِنَّ مِمَّا يَنبُطُ الرَّبِيعُ مَا يَقْتُلُ
حَبَطًا أَوْ يُلِمْ That among all of those
things that spring produces, among all of those
great crops, freshness, and among all the great
green and fruits and vegetables and all the
grass and everything else, the sustenance that spring
brings with it.
It has the ability, some of it has
the ability to kill.
Some of it has the ability to kill
or make somebody close to being dead.
So among all of that vitality, it has
the ability within it to kill somebody or
to at least make them close to death.
إِلَّا آقِلَةُ الْخَضِرُ Except the one who eats
just the greens, particular greens.
Except the ones who eats particular greens in
a particular amount.
حَتَّ مْتَدَّدْ خَاصِرَتَىٰ Until its sides become stretched
and filled with whatever is eaten.
اِسْتَقْبَلَتْ عَيْنَ الشَّمْسِ He then sits facing the
sun.
فَثَلَتَتْ وَبَالَتْ This animal, this is an example
of animals.
The first example was of the one who's
just going to eat and eat of all
of this sudden, after the drought, after the
winter, after there being no grass and nothing
to graze upon, suddenly get miles and miles
of grazing grounds.
So they just eat some animals, they'll just
eat, eat, eat and eventually they will die
from that or they'll become close to dying.
Whereas there's others who eat sparsely, carefully, until
when their sides are filled, they've eaten enough,
then they face the sun.
So they relax in the sun.
فَثَلَتَتْ وَبَالَتْ And then after that they do
their business, they defecate, they urinate.
ثُمَّ عَادَتْ فَأَكَلَتْ Then they come back and
they eat again.
وَإِنَّ هَذَا الْمَالُ وَإِنَّ هَذَا الْمَالُ خَذِرَةٌ حُلْوَةٌ
This wealth of the dunya and everything in
the dunya is wealth.
If you've got interest in it, it's wealth
for you.
All of that is extremely green and sweet.
It's extremely green and sweet.
فَمَنْ أَخَذَهُ بِحَقِّهِ فَمَنْ أَخَذَهُ بِحَقِّهِ Anybody who
takes it with its right.
وَوَضَعَهُ فِي حَقِّهِ And places it in its
rightful place.
فَنِعْمَ الْمَعُونَةُ هُوَ Then what a great instrument
it is.
معونة is anything that assists you in doing
something, in achieving something.
What a great assistance it is.
What great instrument it is.
What great apparatus it is.
What great means it is.
What a great tool it is.
You can take it as you want.
وَوَضَعَهُ فِي حَقِّهِ فَنِعْمَ الْمَعُونَةُ هُوَ وَمَنْ أَخَذَهُ
بِغَيْرِ حَقِّهِ But anybody who takes it without
its right.
كَانَ كَالَّذِي يَأْكُلُ وَلَا يَشْبَعُ Then he's like
the one who is a binge eater.
The one who eats and is never satiated.
He eats, thinks he's full, after five minutes
he's grazing again.
Comes back, goes back to the refrigerator again.
Sits down, goes back to the cupboard again.
Sits down, grabs a packet of chocolates.
He's never satiated.
وَيَكُونُوا شَهِيدًا عَلَيْهِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ Above all on
the day of judgment this same wealth will
become a witness against the person.
Now let's put this in perspective.
The general understanding here is that the Prophet
ﷺ is giving an example of all of
this great greenery for animals, when they haven't
had for droughts.
If you've seen all of this, the wildlife
and all of these things and after they
haven't had water, after they haven't had much
grazing, suddenly it all comes about.
The force of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's
barakat in nature suddenly brings about all of
this sustenance.
There's so much of it.
It's not like they have to even buy
it.
They just have to use their mouth and
energy.
For animals it's like that, isn't it?
So the example he's giving that especially the
person has to be careful.
The parallel here, especially the person has to
be careful who can get money more easily.
Some people have to struggle for it.
The one who doesn't have to struggle too
much for it, he's got a bigger fitna.
Because if he gets greedy, then he's going
to just get so much and so much
and he's more likely to cause a problem.
More likely to run into mischief.
More likely never to be satiated.
And more likely for that money to eventually
kill him one day.
So that's the same with the animal.
They eat, eat, eat, and they either die
from it or they get a disease or
whatever the case may be because their insides
can't take it any longer so then it
creates, because the worst vessel that you can
fill is your stomach as the Prophet ﷺ
said.
So that applies to animals as well.
Or your limb becomes close to dying.
But then there's the other one who eats
carefully.
Because maybe they don't have the same pasture
grounds as they do.
They don't have the same kind of rich,
very rich foods.
So then they have to take a bit
from here, they have to take a bit
from here, and then after that they're satisfied
because it's tough getting that food.
It's tough getting that food, it's not that
easy for them.
So they take it and then after that
they relax for a while facing the sun.
It says specifically the sun.
Because in here it's talking about a person
who takes from the world but then opens
himself opens himself up to the illumination from
the Qur'an and the Sunnah, from the
Sharia.
That is like the sun.
Opens him up to some guidance.
Maybe they've got a lot but then when
they listen, they listen to a fundraising talk.
And we have too many of those today.
I don't know if you can say too
many but every bayan is a fundraising talk
now.
People are tired of giving now, subhanAllah.
We still give a lot but every program
that you go to now, it's a fundraiser.
You know?
I don't know if that's subhanAllah, there has
to be some kind of intention has to
stay pure with this.
So, the person listens to these things and
mashaAllah then he he or she becomes careful
in their spending or maybe in their greed
or maybe you know the the attraction that
they have it diminishes slightly makes them a
bit more careful.
All of these kind of things.
So now let's look at this in a
bit more detail inshaAllah.
As the Prophet ﷺ said that the biggest
fitna that I fear the most major aspect
of fear that I have is that the
dunya will open up its vitality its freshness
and its riches and adornments to you.
Now the reason he's the wording in Arabic
that's used is zahrat al dunya wa zinatuha.
Zahra is generally to do with flowers.
It's generally to do with like freshness of
a flower.
And the reason is that how long does
the freshness of a flower remain?
How long do flowers remain?
You buy 10 pound bouquet of flowers, you
get in that romantic mood and you buy
some for your wife.
I'm talking to the men, right?
Because I don't want women buying their men
flowers.
They got other things that they can buy
them.
I mean they can buy flowers as well
if they want to but it's the men
that have to be told to buy flowers.
I mean mashaAllah it looks very nice but
after 5 days you're going to have to
buy some more.
Because flowers don't stay that long.
There are certain flowers but they're exceptional, right?
But generally flowers, they don't stay as long.
It looks very fresh in the beginning.
Look how they look and then you have
them for a while, you water them, they
look even better as they open up, right?
And then after that they start dying again.
This is the same thing with the dunya.
So the example he's giving, the parallel the
Prophet ﷺ is giving is perfect.
That this is the nature of the dunya.
This is how you'll take it, it'll give
you some satisfaction for a while and then
it'll all wither down again.
Then you have to do it all over
again.
Get some more flowers.
Buy it again.
Do your next Amazon order.
And then you get tired of it again.
And then you have to do it again.
You have to play it everyday.
That's what he's saying here.
سرعة فنائها So for the Sahaba, this was
that he, the Prophet ﷺ knew that this
was going to happen because areas were going
to be conquered and huge riches from Persia
and from Rome was going to be brought,
especially from Persia, was going to be brought.
So he was preparing their mind from then.
This was the Prophet ﷺ preparing them from
then and there.
And generally what happens is that when you
have a lot of wealth, you have to
manage it.
If you've got a lot of wealth you
have to manage it.
You're forced to manage it in this country.
You can't just leave it.
You're forced to manage it.
You have to make sure you use it,
you have the right tax planning.
Otherwise you'll lose it.
I mean, can you believe it?
Facebook only paid 4000 and something in taxes.
This massive corporation.
In England, paid only 4000 something taxes for
2014.
That's like the tax of anybody who's making
about 21,000 25,000 pounds a year.
They probably paid more taxes than them.
It's all planned.
It's all planned.
Right?
So you got a lot of money, you're
going to have to plan with it.
You have to look after it.
You have to make sure you check it.
And so on and so forth.
So, تشغولكم عن العلوم النافعة It will then
prevent you from going and studying something going
and really learning something of substance because you
just have to study everything to do with
money.
It calls to you to do better.
That's why they say that CEOs they read
several if not tens of new books every
year just to keep them on top of
their game.
They're not a CEO of a major corporation
for nothing.
There's a lot of books out there if
you go into like the management management sections
and business sections there are a lot of
good books that are written every year with
new ideas and new concepts and new ways
of doing these things.
And if you spend money behind this you'll
make a lot of money as well.
That's the way these things work.
You put some effort behind it.
So you have to go and get into
these things.
You have to be on the cutting edge
of these things because then there's a competition
that comes into play.
A number of things of that nature.
So then generally what happens is that then
you become arrogant.
Because all of these things create arrogance.
Which means now that your akhlaq go down
the drain sometimes.
Akhlaq, stoop to new lows.
You get self conceitedness arrogance, love of wealth,
love of position comes with that.
Then you want to maintain that position.
You don't want to go lower than that.
That position has to be there.
Then you have to have membership to all
of these different clubs because they all benefit
to you.
Because then you'll get the right contacts.
They can help you out in times of
needs.
Take people out to teas, take people out
to food, give expensive gifts.
It's a lot of management.
It's not, it doesn't come easily.
The easiest is for the person who inherits
it and then just you know, waste it.
For him it's easy.
Right?
So that's why all of these kind of
things will have and then a person is
not going to be concerned about death.
Person is not going to be concerned about
their deen.
This is generally what happens.
Doesn't always have to happen with everybody but
this is generally what happens.
So then the person said, Ya Rasulullah, does
good have to entail this evil?
Does this khair have to come with this
evil?
Meaning if we're going to have all of
this good, all of this extra wealth coming
in, does that mean we're going to have
to lessen our good deeds?
Our obedience is going to decrease?
That's his worry.
That's his worry.
The Prophet ﷺ became silent as though he
was thinking about something but then we realized
that we felt that it was, he was
being revealed to.
He was receiving a revelation.
Then he wiped away the perspiration afterwards and
then he asked, where is this person?
And he made it very clear that wealth
is not intrinsically evil.
Wealth doesn't have to bring evil together with
it.
Though it mostly does but that's what he
explained after.
It doesn't have to bring.
Because the haqiqat of wealth is khair, goodness
and sharr is evil.
These are opposites.
They can't come together.
Opposites don't come together.
But one can bring the other and suddenly
become evil.
So you can't have it as good and
bad at the same time.
It's either going to be good for you
or it's going to be bad for you.
That's what it is.
So then he provided this great example because
for them they could understand this.
See, living in Medina Munawwara there was better
situation than Makkah.
Makkah was drier.
Medina Munawwara had your date trees and so
on.
That's why most of the dates that we
get there, they tend to be Medina dates
as opposed to Makkah dates.
Or then from outside.
So when spring comes they understand this example
of all of this greenery that suddenly come
about.
So you get these animals who are eating,
eating, eating and then they are killed.
means because of the stomach bloating.
Because of a bloating of the stomach and
that causing all of these diseases and everything
and then it causes them to die.
Or close to dying.
Makes them close to dying.
Because they have no sense in what they're
eating.
It's just a lot of it and they
think they need to eat or whatever the
case is.
So the goodness will bring about evil because
it can cause you to exaggerate.
It can cause you to go beyond the
limit.
That's what it's talking about.
So it's not evil but you'll take too
much of it.
When you take that as a parallel then
it's about taking from the haram number one.
A lot of haram sources will open up
for you.
Or it's going to you could take what
you may consider halal but then you're not
going to think about what it may do
to you.
Or if I take from this person it
may entail a payback afterwards.
All of these then or maybe by eating
too much it hardens your heart.
It hardens your heart.
And then again it leads to all of
this lowly akhlaq and character.
Because the person is never available for anybody.
The person doesn't want to speak to people
anymore.
He's got a new set of friends.
All of these are possibilities.
He suddenly joined the golf club.
Never played golf in his life.
Now he's joining the golf club.
He's going to spas now.
And then after that because they have big
ideas about where to spend their money.
They're never going to have money to give
anybody.
In fact they're not even going to have
enough money to pay back their credits.
They're going to make them wait.
Because their money is going to be tied
up somewhere else.
That's why the Prophet ﷺ said مَطْلُ الْغَنِيِّ
ظُلْمٌ A person who has the ability to
pay back a debt and he doesn't is
an adhalim.
So that's how all of this comes back
to being bad and becomes the cause for
bad but it doesn't have to be like
that.
إِلَّا آكِلَةُ الْخَضِيرَ Except the one that just
eats the fresh as it's available for them
within a certain measure it eats, relaxes until
its sides are full then it relaxes and
then after that it does its stuff.
It processes the wealth.
Essentially when you're talking about defecating, it's processed
that it's done something with the wealth.
It's used it in the right way to
get its energy now that it goes to
get some more.
So likewise, a person who has the wealth
he's done right with it, he's processed it
used it for himself, his dependents maybe others,
and then after that he's going to get
some more.
So it's not too much that he can't
deal with it.
It's enough that he can deal with it
and process it.
So process the wealth then he goes and
eats some more.
So the whole idea of this, when you
process it is that you're careful because you
will see the evils that akhlaaq that this
can bring so you stay away from that.
And you understand the good akhlaaq that has
to be imbibed, so you'll try to be
a bit more careful.
In fact, he'll use the wealth in the
right way so that he can become a
generous person, for example.
Because one of the concepts of sakhawat is
to be known as a generous person.
To be known as a generous person, as
a person who helps others to get their
du'as, that's a praiseworthy thing.
That is praiseworthy.
Not showing off but to get their du
'as.
People remember you as a generous, because you
know from experience that people remember generous people.
I mean, there's a very generous open hearted,
people like those kind of people.
Now, having said all of this, as the
Prophet ﷺ said, it is an instrument for
you to get good with if you want
to, who use in the right way.
But because it has this danger, fihi khatarun
azeem, because it has this great danger, that's
why يضر السالكين بحسب الأغلب because anybody who
is really seriously considering Allah ﷻ it generally
is harmful for such a person.
Because it has too many threats aligned with
it.
That's why اختار الله لأكثر الأنبياء والأولياء طريق
الفقر والفاقة That's why what Allah did for
the majority of the anbiya and his close
awliya He chose and selected the path of
poverty for them.
Just to keep them away from the fitna
of that.
Now look, you did have prophets like Sulaiman
ﷺ who had more than what anybody could
ever expect in this world.
And he said, هَبْلِ مُلْكَ لَا يَنْبَغِي لِأَهْدِ
مِنْ بَعْدِ Give me such a kingdom that
nobody else gets after me.
And that's why the Prophet ﷺ even kept
that took that into consideration when he was
about to get hold of a jinn a
shaytan.
And he says, No, I remembered what Sulaiman's
ﷺ du'a was and I didn't want
to.
Because Sulaiman had control over the jinn as
well.
And that's why if you've got two people,
right?
You've got a wealthy person who's thankful grateful
to Allah.
He's doing the right things.
You've got another person who is faqir and
who's patient.
Which one is superior?
So, according to pretty much all the Sufis
Sufi scholars and the majority of ulama in
general they say that the faqir as-sabir
is superior to the ghani as-shakir because
they have less liability in this world and
in the hereafter.
Less liability more attention because the other person,
the rich person is grateful to Allah for
fulfilling the rights of the world, getting lots
of reward that we may be spending in
the path of Allah but there's still a
lot that he can't do because he's so
involved with his wealth and has to be
involved with his wealth.
Because you have to manage your wealth.
So the whole point of all of this
is that keep it moderate don't go beyond
the limit don't go beyond the limit and
don't give in to your desires, your lowly
desires of just wanting more and that's the
whole point when you know you're full stop,
relax process you want good things?
No problem buy pairs of shoes use them,
give them away, get some more.
Don't have a hundred that you can't even
wear them anymore you've got 50 pairs of
shoes, you can't even wear them anymore the
way I look at it is that if
you've got anything in your wardrobe that you
haven't touched for one year or you can
say two years, get rid of it all
of us will find things that if you
it's difficult to part with it but the
guiding factor should be, have I been able
to have I used this or even thought
about using it?
Have I used this or even thought about
using this in the last year or two
years?
One year you still might not no, I
might use it and the next year comes
again just get rid of it, give it
to somebody let somebody else make use of
it so then the Prophet ﷺ said this
wealth I have to tell you, he's just
giving the nature, he said it's sweet and
it is fresh it just looks sparkling, it's
wonderful like a nice fruit a nice, really
nice fruit, you know for them this was
this was something really great, ice cream you
know whoever takes it with it's right puts
it in it's right then what a great
instrument it is, what a great tool it
is what a great facility it is that
Allah has given you that's why the Prophet
ﷺ said نعم المال صالح لرجل صالح how
great, how beautiful how useful is pure wealth
in the hands of a pious is pure,
righteously gained wealth in the hands of a
righteous person, he can do so much with
it whoever takes it without it's right then
he's going to be like the person who
eats and is never satisfied because that's the
way it is that is the way it
is وَيَكُونُ شَهِدًا عَلَيْهِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَ and above
all it's going to be a it's going
to be a proof and a testimony against
him on the day of judgment to prove
that this person had israf, that this person
was extravagant, that this person wasted his time,
this person wasted his wealth and all the
rest of it, that's why Imam Ghazali explains,
he says that مِثَالُ الْمَالِ مِثَالُ الْحَيَّةِ الَّتِى
فِيهَا تِرْيَاقٌ نَافِعٌ تِرْيَاقٌ نَاقِعٌ وَسَمٌ نَافِعٌ it's
like a snake because you have to capture
certain snakes to take, to make an antidote
for some poison so it has poison but
it also has antidote now, it depends on
who's dealing with this snake that's how one
or the other side of it will become
manifest if it's in the hand of some
wealthy guy who's stupid who doesn't know what
to do with it for the sake of
Allah then he's going to be poisoned by
this but the person who knows how to
deal with it and is careful with it,
then he's going to take the benefit out
of that, that's what it is خَاجَعُ بَيْدُ
اللَّهِ النَّكْشَبَنْدِ says that, إِنَّ الدُّنْيَا كَالْحَيَّةِ this
dunya is like a snake فَكُلُّ مَنْ يَعْرِفْ
رُقِيَتَهَا يَجُزُ لَوْ أَخْذَهَا anybody who knows the
ruqya, how to deal with this world, then
take it deal with it and anybody who
doesn't, leave it what is this ruqya?
give me the ruqya brother, what is this
ruqya?
أَنْ يَعْرِفْ مِنْ أَيْنَ يَأْخُذُهَا وَفِي أَيْنَ يَصْرِفُهَا
how to take it, from where you're going
to take it is halal, where to take
it from and where halal and the best
way to place it that's what it is,
so take it and place it in the
right places may Allah give us the tawfiq
now all the rest of the hadith today
they all kind of just emphasize this point
and inshallah they'll be in perspective now because
this has given us an understanding of how
to deal with the dunya now inshallah, the
next hadith is related also from Imam Bukhari
and Imam Muslim and Amr Ibn Auf رضي
الله عنه قال قال رسول الله صلى الله
عليه وسلم فَوَاللَّهِ لَلْفَقْرَ أَخْشَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ وَلَكِنْ أَخْشَىٰ
عَلَيْكُمْ أَن تُبْسَتَ عَلَيْكُمُ الدُّنْيَا كَمَا بُسِطَتْ عَلَىٰ
مَن كَانَ قَبْلَكُمْ فَتَنَافَسُوهَا كَمَا تَنَافَسُوهَا وَتُهْلِكُكُمْ كَمَا
أَهْلَكَتْهُمْ famous hadith the Prophet ﷺ said, by
Allah I don't fear poverty over you it's
not what I fear he's not trying to
say that you're never going to become poor
he's trying to say that if you do
become poor, I don't fear that of you
look, there are some poor people who turn
to kufr or at least for convenience purposes
they do that sometimes because the Prophet ﷺ
said كَادَ الْفَقْرُ أَن يَكُونَ كُفْرًا that sometimes
it does get to such a limit that
it does turn to kufr but for the
most part it doesn't look at the poor
people around the world in the Muslim countries
still, their faith is strong, that's how they
survive there's no other way for them to
survive some of them are misled some of
them do become misled but generally that's the
case but what I do fear over you
he says what I do fear over you
is that the dunya will open up itself
to you now this speaking to us because
subhanallah the world is open for us alhamdulillah
however you want to look at it it's
open up to us we live today like
as low middle class people we live today
though, we don't consider ourselves upper class, upper
class is a whole different class we live
the only upper class we may experience sometimes
is in a hotel sometimes if you want
to know what upper class is, it's a
whole different story unless there's somebody upper class
most of us lower middle class however our
type of food, clothing cloth all of these
things it matches the upper class of previous
generations because it's become so open manufacturing the
whole explosion of manufacturing and products, technology it's
brought high class products on a simple basis
every Tom, Dick and Harry can have a
car in this country pretty much like to
a certain degree mostly whereas that was something
very specific it's like today who can have
a plane, very few people tomorrow, people will
have flying vehicles do you understand, the way
the world as fast as it's moving everything's
available to you, it's just so easy to
have it, things you have to go to
the doctor for, you can get those things
to check you up at home there's just
so many things that require so less effort
to do these things so he says that
that's what I fear, that the dunya opens
up to you and then you start dealing
with it like ignorant fools so then it
destroys you just as it destroyed the people
before them فَتَنَافَسُهَا the word is so perfect,
he says فَتَنَافَسُهَا كَمَا تَنَافَسُهَا you will begin
to vie with each other just like they
did تَنَافَسُ comes from نَفِيس, نَفِيس means excellent
wondrous, refined you will go after the refined
things and aren't we doing that today?
who just goes in and buys something now
we read reviews now we find the best
thing, I mean we think it's an intellectual
approach, it's a more reasoned approach to do
these things, but subhanallah you have to spend
time doing that research you have to spend
time doing that research فَتَنَافَسُهَا كَمَا تَنَافَسُهَا somebody
came to me the other day I had
my other watch on, it's a 15 year
old citizen he said, that's a nice watch
he specifically came to look at it is
that a Rolex?
I said, no it's not a Rolex it
looks like those big ugly Rolex, you know
the big round thick Rolex's he said, no
it's not a Rolex it's a nice citizen
so some people they get attracted to all
of these things, they see it everywhere they
see dunya they can just tell not saying
it's a bad thing it's just how you
deal with it if, to be honest I
mean, if you have your Honda, Ford, whichever
car you got, and somebody goes by in
a Bentley and he doesn't do anything for
you say alhamdulillah because if a Mercedes some
high level car, not normal Mercedes because everybody's
got a Mercedes BMW it's a big deal
about those, as I said it's middle class
if you see a kind of an upper
level car, and you think okay that's nice,
but you don't have a desire to have
it, you don't feel a not a pang
of jealousy then you're fine, but if every
time you see a car like that then
you feel, man, why don't I have that
why can't I have that see one of
those big chunky watches I have no idea
why people wear those I've got a friend
who's got one, and he got it as
a gift, tries to hide it all the
time but how can you hide one of
those big things that are bigger than your
palm bigger than your hands, like as big
as your palm you know those big tag
hoyers or whatever they're called right, so why
are you trying to hide it, if you
don't want it put it away, you know,
give it away wear something else give it
to a guy who's big, might suit him
right I mean fat, I don't mean big
anyway so if you don't have this kind
of feeling of desire jealousy, want need, greed,
alhamdulillah if you're satisfied with what Allah has
given you then thank Allah and if your
problem is that every time you see a
nice watch a nice pair of shoes, nice
jacket nice coat, nice kurta right, because that's
another I mean subhanallah, you go to Saudi
perfumes and jubbas Allahu Akbar, there's just an
explosion of, every second shop is a perfume
shop now, and all these different new jubba
companies, because you know, you have to spend
your money somewhere they say that, for example,
in the conservative Arab world they're just wearing
all black so what can you do to
show off in that?
if you're all covered in black as a
woman, what can you do to show off?
so, it's going to be then black embroidery
cloth, is going to be special this is
this is not Korean, this is Japanese, this
is the way they explain it, no no,
this is Korean cloth, and this is Japanese
cloth makes a difference, you know the whole
Sharqiyah story out there and so then it's
handbags the only thing they can show, handbags
rings, and maybe a watch, that's the only
thing they can show mobile phones, so that
this is human beings, they will show off
in anything they can show off in it's
the way it is, so if you don't
have that, ask Allah for contentment, where you
can see things going past and it doesn't
bother you at all you just do shukr
of what Allah has but if everything you
see, how miserable is your life how miserable
is your life, that every fifth car you
see, if you go to Kensington, it's murder
for you it's punishment oh you're bringing to
Kensington, I can't I can't deal with this
because every two seconds, you're going to be
like oh man, I wish I had that,
oh look at that look at that, I
don't have it, and you're going to feel
so depressed and so wrecked Subhanallah, what kind
of life is that ask Allah for relief
ask Allah for relief Allah help us, Allah
preserve us because we copy each other, that's
what it is, one guy gets something, everybody
else gets it, it's for that reason it's
all copying and status symbol if it's just
for personal satisfaction it's a different story sometimes
hopefully by the end of this, we should
have a good understanding of how to deal
with the world if we've listened carefully, and
if we've understood carefully, Allah give us that
understanding okay so that is what the Prophet
ﷺ said it will eventually destroy you just
like it destroyed them, the way it's going
to destroy you is because you're either going
to fall into mischief because of that, fall
into haram because of that start using your
money in haram to get haram, to achieve
haram or to get money in a haram
way in haram ways to do all of
these things, that's why he says that generally
speaking, anything above miqdaar al kifayah the amount
that suffices the amount that suffices you for
your needs and your family's needs anything beyond
that anything beyond that is what you have
to be careful about, because what suffices you,
it's called for, it's already accounted for, you
need it you spent it, it's what's beyond
that that it gets, the fitna comes into
more, because you don't know what to do
with it that is what causes dughyan tyranny
because it's extra that's where the musti is
the mischief, obviously there's some people who spend
money on their haram pursuits and make their
family suffer at home you get cases like
this they have to make do on basic
clothing for the kids because he is entertaining
outside something else the next hadith is from
Bukhari Muslim Abu Huraira radiallahu anhu reports this
one, and the Rasul of Allah ﷺ Allahumma
ja'al rizqa aali Muhammadin quta wa fi
riwayatin kafafa on the face of it, this
seems something different to what it really means,
inshallah if you've understood it carefully, Abu Huraira
radiallahu anhu said that Rasul of Allah ﷺ
made this dua, this was his dua, O
Allah make the sustenance of the family of
Muhammad to be qutan or kafafa qutan means
enough to suffice them so qut means that
gives you enough energy to do your obedience
and it gives you enough to survive by
that's his dua when he says aali Muhammad
although literally that refers to blood descendants, but
as the ulema mention, it doesn't have to
only it refers to anybody who's on his
path that is his special dua as a
favor for those people, so that they have
enough and they don't have that extra part
that leads to dughyan, so then they avoid
the fitnah, he's not saying give them just
a small amount that they have to struggle
to get by, he didn't say that he
says kafafan, kafafan means enough, sufficient when you
first look at this, it means he's saying
give them just a bit it doesn't mean
a bit, it means enough that they're content
and suffice with, right because for every person
sufficiency is at a different level and I
think you'll understand this from what I mentioned
about the hajj and the people in our
tent and their feeling of compassion for the
people living on the streets that would not
suffice them, they'd run their hajj wouldn't have
been done if they were on the streets,
as I mentioned in the heat, without any
food scrambling for things, they would be their
hajj would have been, this was sufficient but
going and then having the satellite TVs in
Mina, that's definitely beyond sufficiency that's beyond sufficiency
so I was just reading there was a
small post online that I came across on
a travel website he's saying I went to
Iran I was going to stay there for
5 days because I've heard it's got some
really nice places Pesopolis and Shiraz and all
these different places, but I left in 2
days because the internet was very bad so
everybody else is then telling him what's the
problem with you, you don't need internet down
there, there's so much nice things to see
down there, you don't need internet what kind
of crazy guy is that, you have to
have internet everywhere otherwise you'll leave the country,
you know unless you're in a major deal
or something and you need to be on
there, then you shouldn't have gone there at
that time if you knew anyway, do you
understand?
so this is our life now, some people
are so addicted to something that they've lost
sight of natural beauty or architecture or external
beauty, the beauty is just in surfing the
web there's a hadith that's related by Ibn
Majah from Amr ibn Ghaylan al-Thaqafi Tabarani
related from Muaz ibn Jabal as well ...
this is the dua of Rasulullah ﷺ and
he explains who this dua is about so
it's all self sufficient he says, oh Allah
the one who has brought faith with me
who's considered me truthful, who's believed in me
and who knows that whatever I have brought
is the truth from you then lessen his
wealth and his children and make beloved to
him meeting you and hurry up his life
span or his decree and the one who
doesn't believe in me doesn't confirm what I
have and does not know that what I
have brought is the truth from you give
him lots of wealth lots of awlads and
give him a long life and before you
jump to any conclusions with this because good
people can have a lot of children can
have a lot of wealth as well, there
have been many mashayikh of the past many
great imams of the past with lots of
money we know that so I think the
point is that this is from a different
perspective if you read this with this other
hadith in mind which is a small amount
that suffices you is superior to the abundance
which causes you to become tyrannical so that
is what he is praying against because most
of us are in between the two most
of us are in between the two but
subhanallah when I think of this, I think
of certain people that I know I rate
them to be awliya inshallah in my you
can say amateur opinion but at the end
of the day the Prophet ﷺ did say
that you are you are witnesses on the
day of judgement for people so if that
has any meaning then they are subhanallah they
are some of the happiest people in your
life in their lives that you see they
don't have that much but if you eat
at their house their food is tasty but
simple I can think of at least two
people right now their house is decent simple
but comfortable and the food is tasty without
being extravagant they are satisfied their children behave
their children are obedient and they are very
satisfied people and it's their kana'a because
they are mashaAllah religious but not religious hypocritical
not religious bad akhlaaq meaning a lot of
salah but bad akhlaaq mashaAllah akhlaaq ibadah all
in good tune balanced satisfied with Allah and
mashaAllah Allah gives them satisfaction doesn't give them
a lot but in what he gives them
there is a lot of satisfaction so in
the narration it says a small amount that
you give shukr for is superior to an
abundance that is beyond your control you don't
know how to deal with it that's why
I have to mention he says clearly having
sufficient this differs it fluctuates depending on who
and where everybody is going to have a
different sufficiency so that's why you can't unless
somebody is extravagant you can't really say that
he is wasting his money or unless if
he's got a lifestyle like that he comes
from a place like that it's very difficult
to assume these things about people la ilaha
illallah la ilaha illallah the next hadith is
this next hadith is from Imam Muslim and
it explains what we just said the
one who is successful is the one who
brought faith who is Muslim he's been given
enough sustenance to suffice his needs and his
family's needs and Allah has made him contented
with what he has given him it's exactly
what we've been saying every day he's Muslim,
he's got enough to get by and Allah
has given him satisfaction every new thing that
goes by it doesn't matter he doesn't have
to run after it he doesn't follow everybody
on the streets if they get a facelift
of their house he doesn't have to do
the same thing do you understand?
that's exactly what I told you I can
think of a few people like this this
hadith is related by Muslim that's why there's
a hadith from Abu Dharr r.a قَدْ
أَفْلَحَ مَنْ أَخْلَصَ قَلْبَهُ لِلْإِيمَانِ قَلْبُهُ لِلْإِيمَانِ وَقَلْبَهُ
لِلْإِيمَانِ Falah has been attained Falah is not
just any ordinary success it's a success after
which there's no failure after which there's no
defeat so this is talking about the real
success in the hereafter the person who has
got Falah is the one who has made
his heart specifically for Iman he's got the
Ikhlas of Iman in his heart وَجَعَلَ قَلْبَهُ
or you can say that Allah has given
him a heart that is full of Ikhlas
جَعَلَ قَلْبَهُ سَلِيمًا his heart is sound وَلِسَانَهُ
صَادِقًا his tongue is truthful وَنَفْسَهُ مُطْمَئِنًا and
his nafs is satisfied his ego is satisfied
وَخَلِيقَتَهُ مُسْتَقِيمًا and his Akhlaq are balanced وَأُذُنُهُ
مُسْتَمِعًا and his ears are well aware and
listening to the right things وَعَيْنُهُ نَاظِرًا and
his eye is heeds takes heed from lessons
it looks, it looks in the right direction
what a beautiful hadith the next hadith is
I'm just going to read through the next
few because they're self explanatory in light of
what we've already looked at here Abu Hurairah
said that Rasulullah said يَقُولُ الْعَبْدُ مَالِي مَالِي
يَقُولُ الْعَبْدُ مَالِي مَالِي a servant, any person
this is my wealth my wealth وَإِنَّ مَالَهُ
مِمَّالِهِ ثَلَاثًا whereas really from among his wealth
there's only three things that are his out
of all of our wealth the only thing
that is really ours are three things, what?
number one مَا أَكَلَ فَأَفْنَى whatever you spent
on food and eaten disposed of that's been
yours, it's made you it's helped you energize
you, whatever it did for you أَوْ لَبِسَ
فَأَبْلَى and anything not that you're wearing but
that you've worn and worn out is done
because anything that you're still wearing and it's
still there, it's gonna go somewhere else so
anything you have worn and you've worn out
أَوْ أَعْطَى فَقْتَنَى أَوْ أَعْطَى فَقْتَنَى or something
you've given and then after that you have
you can say invested it protected it put
it as a treasure that's essentially what it
means that's what you've given for the sake
of Allah and you've invested those are the
three things anything else that you've got lots
of it but you haven't used it in
any of these ways فَهُوَ ذَاهِبٌ وَتَارِكُ لِلنَّاسِ
then it's all gonna go away and he's
gonna leave it for others because when you
die, you're gonna leave it for others so
really what's yours so think about what to
do وَعَنَ أَنَسِمْ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ كَانَ
رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ يَتْبَعُ الْمَيِّتَ ثَلَاثَةٌ same thing
رسول الله ﷺ said that three things accompany
the مَيِّت at his death procession to the
قبرستان فَيَرْجِعُوا إِثْنَانُ وَيَبْقَى مَعَهُ وَاحِدُ two things
come back one stays with him into the
grave, so there's only one thing that stays
with you يَتْبَعُهُ أَهْلُهُ وَمَالُهُ وَعَمَلُهُ his family
his wealth and his deeds they're the three
things that go فَيَرْجِعُ أَهْلُ وَمَالُهُ his family
and his wealth come back how does his
wealth go when his wealth is prepared for
his hopefully he's paid for his shroud, gafan
and in those days it used to be
his servants and his slaves used to go
you know, who's paid for all of that
so anyway, your wealth goes along with you
maybe your car goes along to the graveyard
it'll take him in your car or whatever
it is right?
but then all of that comes back, it
becomes then سُبْحَانَ اللَّهُ I gave a talk
about inheritance two weeks ago in one masjid,
so this guy comes to me, he goes
you missed one thing, I said what?
he said you should have told people that
at least bury your deceased before you start
fighting over his inheritance I said I didn't
know about that one so maybe next time
I can cover it he said there's a
guy who had a council house in Camden
and now you know Camden prices are mashallah
more than Hackney prices right?
so it's worth million or more before they
even buried him they're arguing about this much
is mine I paid this much mortgage, I
paid this, I paid that I must get
this much before he's buried, so the poor
guy felt and only his deeds will go
with him, Bukhari Muslim related this to me
next hadith is related by Bukhari same thing,
bit more graphic, Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud says
Rasulullah ﷺ said اَيُّكُمْ مَالُ وَارِثِهِ اَحَبُّ اِلَيْهِ
مِمَّالِهِ tell me which one of you that
his inheritors wealth is more beloved to him
than his own wealth such a thought provoking
question tell us whose inheritance of his inheritors
is more beloved to him than his own
wealth يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ مَا مِنَّا أَحَدْ إِلَّا
مَالُهُ أَحَبُّ اِلَيْهِ مَّالِ وَارِثِهِ Ya Rasulullah how
can that be our own wealth is more
beloved to us than the wealth of our
inheritors so then the Prophet ﷺ explained فَإِنَّ
مَالَهُ مَا قَدَّمَ وَمَالَ وَارِثِهِ مَا أَخَّرَ that
then you must understand that your wealth is
only that which you've sent forward and the
wealth of your inheritors is that which you've
left behind so you don't spend it in
the way above then it's not your wealth
وَعَن مُطَرِّفِ عَنْ أَبِيهِ رضي الله عنه قَالَ
أَتَيْتُ النَّبِيَ صلى الله عليه وسلم ويقرأَ الْهَاكُمُ
التَّكَاثُرُ مطرف relates from his father he says
that مطرف ابن عبد الله الشخير that was
his name عبد الله ابن الشخير he says
once I came to the Prophet ﷺ the
Prophet ﷺ was reciting الْهَاكُمُ التَّكَاثُرُ الْهَاكُ التَّكَاثُرُ
تَكَاثُرُ means to vie with each other for
more that has caused you to become distracted
it has taken you away from your real
purpose in your life he was reciting that
and then he remarked as a تفسير يَقُولُ
ابْنُ آدَمْ مَالِي مَالِي the servant the son
of Adam says this is my wealth this
is my wealth this is my wealth I've
got this much you know when we take
our accounts I've got this much here I've
got this much here he still owes me
this much he still owes me this much
right you get the satisfaction when you know
you know because sometimes you only got this
much in your bank account but somebody owes
you or somebody or this you're gonna get
your next paycheck it makes you happy this
is mine this is mine this is mine
so he says that's how the ابْنُ آدمْ
does his calculation وَهَلْ لَكَ يَبْنَ آدَمْ إِلَّا
مَا أَكَلْتَ فَأَثْنَيْتَ وَلَبِسْتَ فَأَبْلَيْتَ وَتَصَدَّقْتَ فَأَمْضَيْتَ او
ابْنُ آدمْ is yours do you have any
more than what you have already consumed and
disposed of that you've worn and worn you've
worn and worn out right and that which
you've given sadaqa and you've sent forth you've
given sadaqa and that is what you passed
through Imam Muslim relates that and the final
hadith for today Abu Huraira relates this and
he really hits the mark after all of
this it hits the mark out of all
of this may Allah bless this author who
put the order of this hadith in this
way that it's so cohesive to understand the
words of the Prophet ﷺ he's kind of
woven them in this beautiful necklace to provide
the right kind of adornment in sha Allah
if Allah can help us with this Abu
Huraira relates that Rasulullah ﷺ said ليس الغنى
عن كثرة العرض ولكن الغنى عن النفس Bukhari
Muslim both relate this Prophet ﷺ said true
richness true richness when you think you've got
that's why you call richness I feel satisfied
that I have enriched myself away from others
I don't need them I just I've got
enough true is not from having lots of
possessions lots of merchandise lots of wealth and
كثرة العرض ولكن الغنى عن النفس the only
thing that is true richness is the richness
of the heart that's what I was saying
before if you can have things go by
you and it doesn't cause you to waver
then you're on the path to to have
غنى Allah give us الغنى Allah give us
الغنى very important this is called as kind
of an independence from these things it's a
self enrichment which is very very important so
الغنى الحقيقي هو قناعة النفس بما أعطاه المولى
how do you define غنى?
غنى is for the نفس to be contented
with what his lord has given him satisfied
satisfied والتجنب عن الحرس to abstain from being
greedy and avarice of الدنيا فمن كان قلبه
حريصا على جمع المال فهو فقير في حقيقة
الحال ونتيجة المآل because anybody who is anybody
who finds his heart to be greedy for
collecting money for gathering wealth then he is
a فقير because in Arabic the word فقير
means in need so the real فقير is
the one who has a lot but needs
more to satisfy himself so he is a
فقير he is not rich rich is the
person who is satisfied but the person who
needs more and more and more he is
فقير that's why Arabic words have a lot
of intrinsic meaning that if you just focus
on them they'll give you عبرة they'll teach
you a lesson that's the beauty of the
Arabic language سبحان الله so Allah سبحانه و
تعالى give us contentment satisfaction and oh Allah
grant us عافية in what you have given
us allow us to turn our mind and
not to be jealous of what others have
not to be envious of what others have
not to be greedy and not to make
ourselves depressed because of what other people have
oh Allah give us what is good for
us and oh Allah grant us satisfaction with
it and the ability to be thankful to
you oh Allah make the reckoning easy for
us on the day of judgement and the
reckoning easy in this world and oh Allah
protect us from disgrace both in this world
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