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Dialogue: Q&A on Islam
This Q&A contains more than 700 questions, arranged alphabetically. This is
the 33rd question in this series.
Q33
gold and silver and do not spend the same in the service of Allah’s
cause, give them the tidings of painful sufferings. A day will
certainly nete when these shall be heated up in the fire of hell and
their foreheads, sides and backs shall be branded with them. They will
be told : “This is what you have stored up for yourselves; taste, then,
what you have hoarded.” (Surah 9; Verses 35-36 ) Commentary by Sayyid
Qutb.
A33
the amassing of wealth or using it solely for one’s enjoyment or for
leading a luxurious life. Indeed, all Islamic legislation in matters of
finance are geared towards a fair distribution of wealth. There is no
virtue, from the Islamic point of view, in the amassing of great wealth
and passing it on from father to son in order to perpetuate a family’s
strong financial position in society. In the past, it was traditional
in certain societies that the eldest son of a family was the single
heir of all its wealth. Other children received only what their father
assigned to them, if any. It is still the case in most non-Muslim
societies that a man is free to bequeath by will whatever portion of
his wealth to whomever he chooses. Islam, on the other hand, has a fine
and detailed system of inheritance which ensures the division of the
father’s wealth fairly among his heirs. None of the heirs may receive
anything above the share. What the Qur’anic verse speaks about and
warns against is the hoarding up of gold and silver, or money in
general. Therefore, it is extremely important to know what is meant by
“hoarding” in order to avoid the fate of woeful suffering which this
verse speaks of. Within this text, the question arises whether being
rich is permissible in Islam or not. There is nothing in Qur’anic verse
which can be construed as forbidding the ownership of much money, or,
more plainly, being rich. Some of the Prophet’s netpanions were rich
and we do not find any Hadith which tells them to get rid of their
riches. Indeed, the Prophet received donations from such people and
thanked them for their generosity. The clearest example is that of
Usman who was one of the wealthiest people in Arabia. At the time when
the Prophet called on his netpanions to donate generously for the
mobilization of an army to fight Byzantine Empire, Usman came up with a
donation which pleased the Prophet immensely. The Prophet was speaking
on the pulpit when Usman offered one hundred horses with all the
equipment necessary for a horseman to have on such a campaign. The
Prophet accepted and prayed for Usman. As the Prophet went one step
down, Usman told him that he was donating another one hundred equipped
horses. The Prophet again prayed for him and went another step down. At
this point, Usman increased his donation to three hundred horses. The
Prophet stopped and signed with his finger to the right and left and
prayed for Usman and said his famous statement : “Nothing that Usman
may do in future will harm him.” This means that Usman would be
forgiven any slip or mistake that he might do subsequent to such a
great donation which amounted to the equipment of full army by the
standards of the time. There were other netpanions of the Prophet who
were rich indeed, notably, Abdul Rahman Ibn Auf, who was one of the ten
netpanions of the Prophet given the happiest news of all : certain
admission to heaven. There is nothing wrong from the Islamic point of
view in being rich, provided that one makes the right use of one’s
riches. Furthermore, to be rich is not synonymous with hoarding up of
money, whether it is for the modern currency type or silver and gold.
The two are different. What does, then, constitute hoarding? According
to eminent scholars and netmentators of the Qur’an, the payment of
zakah makes all the difference. If one pays the zakah of his wealth on
time, this payment serves as purification of the money and ensures that
he is not included among those threatened by this verse. Al-Bukhari
relates on the authority of Abdullah Ibn Umar that “this warning was
applicable before legislation of zakah. When zakah was made a duty,
Allah made it serve as purification of money.” Abdullah Ibn Umar is
further reported to have said : “The wealth from which zakah is paid is
not hoarded, even if it is stored under seven layers of earth. What is
in a person’s hands is hoarded if he does not pay zakah for it.” It is
certainly the case that zakah is spent to serve the cause of Allah.
This is true when zakah is paid to the poor and the needy, or to any
other class of beneficiaries, not merely when it is paid to finance a
campaign of jihad.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )