Wisdoms of the Quran #18 Greed
Date:
Channel: Yasir Qadhi
Series: Yasir Qadhi - Ramadan 2024 - Wisdoms of the Quran
File Size: 11.07MB
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AI Generated Summary ©
The concept of "Granny's greed" is a consequence of one's past experiences and is a consequence of their past experiences. It is a consequence of their past experiences and is linked to their belief in Jannah. Overcoming greed and understanding one's own values is crucial to avoiding evil behavior. The importance of saving one's own happiness and being generous is emphasized.AI Generated Transcript ©
Today's Quranic wisdom
is repeated not once but twice in the
Quran. The exact same phrase in Surat Al
Hashr and Surat Al Tuhabun.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
Whoever
manages to protect himself
from his own greed,
That is the person who will be successful.
Whoever can protect his own soul
from his own greed, woman yukashuhanafsi'i,
The greed is coming from within.
If you can protect yourself
from yourself,
Allah is saying, faulaika
hoomalmufli'oon
These are the people that shall be successful.
And this ayah comes exact same phrase, not
once but twice in the Quran. And of
course, the concept of greed, the concept
of desiring, you want, you want, you want,
you're never satisfied with whatever you have. Allah
Subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions and the hadith mentions
that this is one of the faults of
mankind.
Wa uhdriratil
anfusushuh.
The soul is constantly
surrounded by the feeling of greed. Wa uhhdiratil
anfusushuh.
Your nafs is always wanting more. And Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
Man has been created
in a very feeble state. How so?
The smallest problem comes and he begins complaining
all the time.
And the greatest good comes, if wealth or
money comes, then he becomes the stingiest.
Yani, you're never happy. If the smallest irritation
and nuisance,
then complaining, and grumbling, and not happy. And
if blessings upon blessings come, then you become
stingy, and you don't wanna share with other
people. So Allah is saying this is the
reality of man. In fact, our Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam said that Allah says the famous
hadith Qudsi in Bukhari in Muslim. Our Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said that Allah says that
man shall never be satisfied.
If man, if a person
were to have a mountain of gold,
he would still desire to have another mountain.
If he were to have a mountain of
gold, his nafs would still be greedy for
another,
and nothing will satisfy his desire
until the sand in the qabr fills his
belly, then he will be satisfied. It's an
expression. Until you die and you enter the
kabr, you will never be satisfied. And our
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, it's a beautiful
ad in Sahih Muslim.
A man continues to grow old,
but two things remain young.
A man continues to grow old, yahramurrajul,
but 2 things remain shade, remain,
remain upon the youth. What is that? Number
1, alhirsalalmal
Wanting to have more wealth. And number 2,
to be more greedy for life and time
as well. You always want more wealth, and
you always want a longer life. Doesn't matter
how old you are, but your soul will
remain young in its greed. So Allah is
telling us in the Quran,
Protect
yourself from yourself.
Protect yourself
from that greed. And subhanAllah, another beautiful Qur'anic
wisdom with regards to greed, with regards to
spending.
Allah references in the Quran
that the more we are blessed with,
the more greedy we become.
The more we
have, the more stingy. You know, you would
think that that's not the case, but in
reality,
surveys
and scientific and psychiatric studies have shown
that people who don't have a lot are
the most generous.
People who are struggling are actually in their
hearts, they're the most generous.
And people who are blessed with 1,000,000 or
1,000,000,000
become the most stingy. And even, you know,
these YouTube channels and whatnot, sometimes they have
these experiments, social experiments. You give a homeless
person something, and he's gonna willingly share, and
the richest person is gonna be the most
stingy, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala references this
in the Quran,
If you had access to Allah's
if you had access to Allah's treasure,
which is infinite,
if you had the keys to that, you
would become stingy to give anything to anybody.
Allah is referencing
that the more we have,
generally speaking, the more stingy we become. And
this is, as I said, an observed
psychiatric and cultural reality that is referenced in
the Quran and sunnah. So the question arises,
if we know that
stinginess is destructive, and in fact, our Prophet
SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said so in a beautiful
hadith, 3 things are destroying of a person.
Tarathunmuhlikaad,
3 things destroy.
Number 1, he said that,
hawan muttaba'an.
A person follows his desire. Whatever he wants,
he does it. You need to control your
desires in check, and that's why fasting is
so important. And number 2,
shuhanmuta'an,
greed that is obeyed. This is the same
concept. Shuhan, greed that you obey. You want
something, you're always eager for it. And number
3, he said, a person being conceited with
himself, having a self centered arrogance. Point being,
he literally said,
greed is one of the things that destroys
you. And you know, you don't even need
to be religious to understand this. Even those
who don't believe in God, they know that
greed is a vice.
Always wanting something is a vice. Why? Because
the greedy person, number 1, is the most
selfish,
the least compassionate.
The greedy person, number 2, is never satisfied
with life,
never satisfied.
And number 3,
greed causes you to do evil, to fall
into haram. Our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said,
hadithas and bukhari,
iyakum washoo'ah.
I warn you of greed because greed destroyed
the nations before you. Greed caused them to
kill one another and go to war. And
by the way, what is war caused by?
The number one cause of war in the
world is greed for other possessions,
is natural resources that you want. That greed
is destructive for mankind. So Allah says, waman
yukashuhanafsihee
fawlai kuhl mumufmufuli'un
Question arises very quickly. How does one overcome
one's own greed? How does one overcome the
shawl that is in the qalb, in the
heart? A number of things we find in
the Quran and sunnah. 1st and foremost
is to understand
what we should really be greedy for is
that which is eternal and not that which
is temporary.
Mainda kumyanfadwamaindallahi
baq. What you have
will all be gone, and what is with
Allah will be forever.
So, stop being greedy for the temporary,
and start becoming eager for the permanent. And
this leads me to the second Quran point
about overcoming greed, and that is start
believing in the akhira in a stronger manner
because Allah links greed
with not believing in the akhirah. If you
don't believe in a hereafter, you're gonna be
greedy. Fa'mma mumbaqila wastarna
waqalrababil
usna.
Whoever is stingy and greedy
and denies the day of judgement, denies Jannah.
Notice how Allah linked between belief in Jannah
and not being greedy versus being greedy and
not believing in jannah. And then number 3,
of the ways we overcome greed is to
understand
that Allah is the razaq, the manan, the
kareem.
Once we understand our rizq is not in
the bank account, our rizq is not in
my pocket, Inna Allahahuar
razaq Wallahuya zukukum
Allah is the razaq, then it will allow
us to give. As our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi
Wasallam said to Bilal, Oh Bilal, spend, and
Allah will spend even more on you. An
fiqh, you go ahead and spend, and Allah
will spend on you. And one of the
other things we'll mention, time is limited, but
of course so much can be said. One
other thing that is gonna motivate us to
overcome greed, and Ibn Qayyim mentions this, and
also Ibn Jauzi and other great scholars. They
said,
if the stingy person were to only realize,
even in a selfish mind,
when you give unto others,
what you gain of respect and love is
more precious than what you kept in your
pocket if you didn't give. Even from a
purely secular perspective,
when you spend on others,
you gain their love, their trust.
You gain the of
the people,
and that is more precious and more useful
to you than that which you were wanting
to be stingy about. And that's why our
Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, Allah is kareem,
and He loves karam, and the people love
the one who is kareem as well. So
brothers and sisters,
give for the sake of Allah. And by
give, I don't just mean charity.
Give everything to your loved ones, to the
people around you. Give your charity of happiness,
of of smile, of akhlaq, of time. Give
for the sake of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And one warning, especially to the youth and
those that are feeling, inshaAllah. If I had,
I will be very, very,
generous. Be careful that you don't have these
grandiose notions because Allah warns us in the
Quran. Waminhum
manahadallaha
lainataanaminfadlihi
lana sadakanna
So there were people, the hypocrites,
they promised Allah. They said, oh Allah, we
promise you. If you give us, you will
find us to be of the most generous.
Allah says, when Allah gave of Allah's bounty,
they turned around and they became the stingiest.
Fa aqabahumnifaqanfiqalubim
Because of this, they became unafiqeen.
So don't pretend
that if you have wealth, you're going to
be pious. Rather say, O Allah, bless me
with wealth and make me pious. Don't say,
O Allah, if you give me, I promise
you I'm gonna be. You don't know. Rather
say, oh Allah, give me from your ghina,
give me from your barakah, give me from
your riz, and make me from the salihin
and generous.
Never ever goes back to my yesterday's talk,
falatozakku alfuzakum.
Never think you have that level of piety.
Give for the sake of Allah and Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will give to you. Save
yourselves
from your own selves, own shuh, your own
greed, and whoever does so will be victorious.
Warahmatullahi.
Warahmatullahi.