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English_Biography_Shefa_of_Prophet_Muhammad, page : 60
A wealthy person is often regarded with respect by common people. They see him satisfying his needs and attaining his goals through his wealth. It is not a virtue in itself.
When a person has wealth and spends it satisfying his own needs and has the intention to help those who come to him, then the use of his wealth makes him noble, excellent and praiseworthy, and he his held in the hearts of people as being good. This being the case, then it is a virtue for him in the eyes of the people of this world.
When a person uses his wealth for pious affairs and spends it in charity seeking Allah and the Everlasting Life, then it is at all times a virtue in the eyes of everyone.
As for the person who chooses to withhold his wealth, regardless whether it is meager or abundant, misuses it and is anxious to amass more, then his wealth has become a cause for his imperfection, it has become worthless rather than a virtue. When this is the case his wealth does not take him to a level of safety, rather it is the opposite, it is a vice and he is thrown into the abyss of miserliness and meanness.
Wealth can be a praiseworthy virtue, however, it does not lie in the actual amount of wealth, rather it lies in its proper use. If a person who has amassed a lot of wealth but uses it improperly he is not in the true sense affluent or a wealthy person, and therefore cannot be called praiseworthy. In fact he is deemed by scholars as being impoverished, as he does not realize any of his goals because he does not have control over them. He is like a officer in charge of someone’s wealth but he himself has no wealth, it is as if he owned nothing.
Let us take a close look at the way in which Prophet Muhammad dealt with wealth. When one reads the story of his life, it is apparent that he was given the treasures of the world as well as the keys to lands.
Before the Prophet’s advent, the spoils of war had been unlawful to other noble prophets and their followers, but to him and his followers Allah made the spoils lawful. He opened the Hijaz, Yemen, all of Arabia as well as the areas bordering Syria and Iraq. He was brought a fifth of the spoils of war, the poll-tax as well as the obligatory charity, and kings gave him gifts. However, he neither kept the wealth for himself nor did he keep single coin for himself, he spent it all in the way of Allah, he was generous, enriched people and strengthened Muslims through its use.
The Prophet also said, "I do not feel happy if a gold dinar remains with me overnight, unless it is a dinar I have set aside to repay
When a person has wealth and spends it satisfying his own needs and has the intention to help those who come to him, then the use of his wealth makes him noble, excellent and praiseworthy, and he his held in the hearts of people as being good. This being the case, then it is a virtue for him in the eyes of the people of this world.
When a person uses his wealth for pious affairs and spends it in charity seeking Allah and the Everlasting Life, then it is at all times a virtue in the eyes of everyone.
As for the person who chooses to withhold his wealth, regardless whether it is meager or abundant, misuses it and is anxious to amass more, then his wealth has become a cause for his imperfection, it has become worthless rather than a virtue. When this is the case his wealth does not take him to a level of safety, rather it is the opposite, it is a vice and he is thrown into the abyss of miserliness and meanness.
Wealth can be a praiseworthy virtue, however, it does not lie in the actual amount of wealth, rather it lies in its proper use. If a person who has amassed a lot of wealth but uses it improperly he is not in the true sense affluent or a wealthy person, and therefore cannot be called praiseworthy. In fact he is deemed by scholars as being impoverished, as he does not realize any of his goals because he does not have control over them. He is like a officer in charge of someone’s wealth but he himself has no wealth, it is as if he owned nothing.
Let us take a close look at the way in which Prophet Muhammad dealt with wealth. When one reads the story of his life, it is apparent that he was given the treasures of the world as well as the keys to lands.
Before the Prophet’s advent, the spoils of war had been unlawful to other noble prophets and their followers, but to him and his followers Allah made the spoils lawful. He opened the Hijaz, Yemen, all of Arabia as well as the areas bordering Syria and Iraq. He was brought a fifth of the spoils of war, the poll-tax as well as the obligatory charity, and kings gave him gifts. However, he neither kept the wealth for himself nor did he keep single coin for himself, he spent it all in the way of Allah, he was generous, enriched people and strengthened Muslims through its use.
The Prophet also said, "I do not feel happy if a gold dinar remains with me overnight, unless it is a dinar I have set aside to repay