Qur’anic Injunctions In Respect Of Wealth And Riches (2/3)

5. It declared the trade as permissible and declared the usury totally forbidden:

“Allah has allowed trade and has forbidden usury.” [Surah Al-Baqarah: 275]

It is so because the usury makes the wealth of the community collected into the hands of a few individuals. The community, upon the whole, gets pauperized and plundered; whereas the few individuals, in their individual capacity (even if they have their groups, companies and corporates formed), become Qaruns. A little bit of wealth owned by the capitalists and the rich by which they start their usury business gets all the wealth of the entire community, city or the country sucked to it just as the legendary (Arabian Nights) magnet mountain sucked the bolts and buckles of the ships and boats getting within its magnetic field to it leaving their planks and passengers to be drowned.

They (the usurers) have their (other people’s) means of livelihood, their time and energy captured and controlled by them and keep generating money from money without any exertion of labour and any justifiable exchange. And, thus, their money keeps inflating lying stagnant at one place instead of remaining in circulation and distribution.

6. Extravagance in one’s own wealth, howsoever large an amount it might be, is proclaimed as prohibited. It enjoins:

“Eat and drink, and be not extravagant; surely He does not approve of the extravagants.” [Surah Al-A’raf: 31]

 “And give you to the kinsman his due, and also to the needy and wayfarer; and squander not in squandering. Truly the squanderers are the brethren of the devils, and the Devil is ever ungrateful to his Lord.” [Surah Al-Isra’: 26-27]

“And those who when they expend are neither extravagant nor stingy; and it is a medium in between.” [Surah Al-Furqan: 67]

“Let not your hand be chained to your neck, nor stretch it forth to its extremity, lest you sit down reproached, impoverished.” [Surah Al-Isra’: 29]

Some things have permanently been banned for man. And these are such as are generally not possible without extravagance and which become, naturally and inevitably, cause of impingement of others’ rights, carelessness, atrocity and ruthlessness, disorder and disruption in the community and the society and the rise in crime.

Such as: Wine and common intoxicants, gambling, adultery, all sorts of debauchery and obscenity, eating and drinking in silver and gold utensils, silken garments and all sorts of ornaments, exclusively, for men, making images and sculpture …etc., have all been declared prohibited. There are certain things which have not been viewed with approbation; such as: music, too much of fastidiousness and variety in food and clothes, fondness for, and vying each other, in unnecessary constructions, leading life of too much luxury and comfort. It has, thus, kept a large chunk of wealth and riches protected against getting squandered in useless and generally harmful activities, in pursuit of personal, ephemeral and bootless pastimes and pleasures; and can, thus, be utilized in activities of collective welfare and interests or even individual personal necessities. Even if apparently and juristically no impingement of anyone’s rights occurs and the money that is must for fulfillment of these pursuits is not acquired by means of any injustice and atrocity or embezzlement and perfidy, the fulfillment of these pursuits is, in any case, not void of injustice to someone, negligence of collective weal and callousness. For, every individual’s share in the wealth and riches, happens to be on per capita basis. And an individual’s share cannot afford (particularly when other individuals are deprived of even a morsel to satisfy their hunger and a piece of cloth to clad their body) the luxury of having means of fulfilling one’s personal pastimes and pleasures. And, thus, every unnecessary pastime and every extravagance is, in fact, necessarily concomitant, broadly speaking, with some injustice or other. Some Arab savant has this maxim to his credit: ‘I have seen no extravagance that is not concomitant with some injustice.’

7. The Qur’an has, in a very subtle and discrete way, forbidden, having simultaneously issued injunctions to pay the relatives, paupers and wayfarers their dues, being extravagant. For, both the two things cannot be combined. For, whoever would make unnecessary expenditure on one’s own self or his family and dependents would not be able to make necessary expenditure on other rightful claimants.

“And give you to the kinsman his due, and also to the needy and wayfarer; and squander not in squandering. Truly the squanderers are the brethren of the devils, and the Devil is ever ungrateful to his Lord.” [Surah Al-Isra’: 26-27]

8. Accumulating wealth and expending nothing out of it in Allah’s cause has very sternly been warned against:

“And those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend them in the way of Allah, announce you to them an afflictive torment.” [Surah At-Taubah: 34]

Thus, the holy Qur’an does not view keeping the money hoarded, buried underground or stacked in iron safes, with approbation. By scanning the Holy Qur’an and Hadeeth and studying the life of the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) one can learn that accumulating money is a matter of secondary nature in Islam, for which merely a sort of permissibility may, perhaps, be derived, and that, too, with this rider that whatever dues get levied thereupon (like the Zakat) must be timely settled.

9. Expending in the way of Allah, in deeds of compassion and sympathy, practicing altruism and being charitable have been very profusely and emphatically induced upon:

“O you who believe! Spend out of the good things you have earned and of what We have produced for you from the earth.” [Surah Al-Baqarah: 267]

“And the likeness of those who spend their riches in the way of Allah is as the likeness of a grain that grows seven ears and in each ear one hundred grains; and Allah multiplies unto whom He will. And Allah is Bountiful, Knowing.” [Surah Al-Baqarah: 261]

“And they feed, for love of Him, with food the destitute, the orphan and the captive. Saying: ‘We feed you only for the sake of Allah; we desire not from you any recompense or thanks…’” [Surah Al-Insan: 8-9]

“…preferring them above themselves even though there was want among them.” [Surah Al-Hashr: 9]

(Continued)