Success and Wealth

We think money will buy us everything – power, love, influence, recognition, peace, joy, happiness and so on. Money cannot necessarily buy these things. We think success is in wealth. We often say that he or she is ‘successful’ meaning that they are wealthy. If someone does well in business, they are considered successful. Hence, we equate wealth with success and success with wealth.

We think success lies in gaining wealth. Allāh سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ‎ says success lies in giving away wealth.

We think success is acquiring wealth. Allāh سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ‎ says success is in distributing wealth.

We believe success is in gathering, collecting and hoarding wealth. Allāh سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ‎ says success is in giving away that wealth. That is why Allāh سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ‎ says in a verse of Sūrat Ar-Rūm:

“So give the relative his due and the poor and the traveller.[Sūrat Ar-Rūm 30:38]

Remember, this is over and above zakāh.  Zakāh is obligatory but Allāh سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ‎ has told us that zakāh is the bare minimum that you should give. Over and above zakāh, you should give as much wealth as possible. To whom? To all kinds of categories of people as in this verse.

[This short except is based on the talk ‘True Success’ which was delivered by Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq on Friday 3rd March 2017]

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