I have been reading more about materialism – the belief that we are only material and do not have a spiritual (immaterial) side.
The Quran does address this in many ways.
Here’s the first:
وَإِنَّهُۥ لِحُبِّ ٱلْخَيْرِ لَشَدِيدٌ
“And indeed mankind intensely loves wealth.” [100:8]
In this verse, Allah criticizes those of mankind who love wealth so much that it distracts them from their true goal. What’s also interesting is that Allah uses the word khair to describe wealth. Khair means good!
A lot of Muslims think that wealth is somehow a bad thing or an impure thing. Wealth is not evil nor good. How we use wealth is what matters. It can be good and it can be evil.
Two of the pillars of Islam require a decent amount of wealth. Zakat (charity) and Hajj (pilgrimate) both require one to be wealthy enough to perform.
It is true that the more wealth you have the more opportunities you will have to spend it or earn it the wrong way but also in the right way. It is also true that the wealthy will be the last to enter paradise because they will have more to account for.
What do you think? Share your reflections below!
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Masha Allah
In the US, the more you have wealth the more you pay taxes and then they use that money to bomb Muslim people I feel like you’d be better off living on the street from a moral viewpoint less blood on your hands
I love this post thank you! It’s good to know and remind oneself that wealth is not a bad thing especially if part of your Qadr from Allah and therefore should be used for good e.g. zakat 🙂
Assalam u alaikum
Beautifully explained. For me i think our greatest wealth is our emaan. When you have the strongest Faith, More you have the courage to spend your money on others.
Materialism as a philosophy does not necessarily mean attachment to money. It’s the belief that nothing exists other than this material universe, hence the idea is similar to atheism, and assumes atheism. Of course the Quran presents many arguments showing the falsity of this position.
I think you are correct, but that is philosophical materialism.
Actually, there are many aspects to “materialism” and ways the term is used, it can also be used to refer to an attachment to material goods.
One thing I find interesting is that the baby boom era in the US coincided with people being less “materialistic” in the sense of valuing material goods less, and so this was observed to lead to an increase in childbirth.
Today we are seeing a fall in fertility rates across the globe, and a rise in the philosophical materialism (read: atheism) that you refer to.
It makes me wonder, is philosophical materialism and attachment-based materialism fundamentally linked?
The Prophet Alayhis Salam complained that near the end of times there would be a rise in Wahn (materialism?). He defined this as love of the world and hatred of death.
I think these ideas of philosophical materialism and attachment to material wealth are fundamentally linked.
When raising our children, we need to consider the impact of encouraging attachment to material wealth, as well as of course safeguarding them from the philosophical materialism.
Assalamalaikum , Allah says in Quran that wealth is a trial. One can attain the quality of Al Birr only when we spend the wealth (what we love most) in Allah’s cause. May Allah protect us from hoarding wealth. Ameen
Absolutely marvellous
Hazt Osman and hazt Abdul Rahman bin Awf are known to be very wealthy so it’s not bad to possess wealth……how do you spend it….how much one loves it…that has to be with in the guidelines of Deen…
Yes, the key is that they had wealth but were not attached to it. They even used their wealth to establish permanent awqaf that benefit Muslims and of course benefit them themselves in the Akhirah, long after their deaths.
Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu. Very true wealth is only a temporary happiness given by and also will be taken by Allah. The real happiness lies in helping others and being grateful for what we have.
One of my favorite subjects. I believe it is the deciding factor that shows the level of our Iman.
Wealth and children are but ornaments in this worldly life but lasting deeds are better if you only knew. Surat al Kahf.
Lasting deeds are deeds that will pay off for us in the next life, right? So, if we choose lasting deeds over weath (and children), it proves our belief in the Akhira and our desire to be in Jannah.
Of course, it’s not as easy as that…it’s often a balancing act but nevertheless, deeds are proof of our Iman.
And what’s more, it’s a conscious act with intentions:
Somebody in a commentary I’d once read put it interestingly:
Despite my love sleep, I get up to praise my Lord.
Despite my love of money, I spend it on charity.
Doing good deeds for the sake of Allah, SWT also means we have Taqwa and we all desire to be people of Taqwa.
Doing good deeds (e.g. giving of one’s wealth can also erase sins).
There is sooo much benefit in spending in the cause of Allah, swt than spending on worldly things. The former builds a house in eternity. The latter builds a house in the Dunya that one will sooner or later have to leave behind to join their eternal abode.
So which is it that we believe in more? Time is running out Allah reminds us in Surat Al Asr.
Children definitely are included, however the modern man seems to not even care about having children, such is his love of physical goods. For the pagan Arabs however, children like material goods, were a means of boasting. This is not so much the case today, although it perhaps is still there in a form.
The Prophet Alayhis Salam encouraged us to get married and have more children, although if one’s reads more closely, the benefit is in having righteous Muslim children, not just any children. Quantity and quality matter, but how you measure quality is important. But nevertheless, we should have children for the sake of Allah, not do the opposite and imagine goodness in ourselves for the sake of children.
But on the matter of the child, who do we value more, a child who went to the top universities, has a well paid job as a banker (riba), who doesn’t believe, or a child who is uneducated, sweeps the streets, but has fervent Iman?
I think many Muslims may verbally say the latter, but their actions betray them and show us they truly value the former.
A child is only beneficial to oneself ultimately (in the next world), if he or she believes, worships Allah and makes dua for you.
We need to impress on our children that their worldly endeavours will never make us consider them as failures. You get good grades, study, work, get promotions etc. to make the worldly life easier on yourself and to not be a burden on others. But beyond that they do not have worth except if they help you perform permanent good.
Faith and piety are the measures of success. The rich man is the faithful man with the best of deeds.
The one who has Allah has everything but the one who has forsaken Him has lost even himself.