The blessing of wealth
All praise is due to Allah, The Giver of Blessings. We praise him for the
bliss of faith, health and money He has bestowed upon us. We also exalt
Him for empowering us to engage in the good work and earn Halal
(permissible) livelihood.
I bear witness that there is no deity except Allah. He, The Self Exalted,
has no Associate. I also bear witness that Muhammad (pbuh) is the
Messenger of Allah and His Servant. I pray to Allah, The Most Gracious,
to grant His blessings upon our Guide Muhammad (pbuh), his kin and
kith, all those who will follow them in righteousness until the Day of
Judgment.
O Servants of Allah! I urge you and myself to be ever God-conscious and
to construct our lives in the shadow of divine obedience, for Allah, The
Almighty says, "O you who have believed, fear Allah. And let every
soul look to what it has put forth for tomorrow - and fear Allah.
Indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what you do." (Al Hashr:18).
Dear Believers,
Wealth is one of the blessings from Allah that we cannot do without.
Verily it is the backbone of life and has had a major role in building
civilisations. It is also a centre of interest for people and is much liked by
them.
Allah, the Most Gracious is He, says, “And you love wealth with
immense love.” (Al Fajr:20). It is not surprising then that the love for
money is innate and comes naturally. Allah the Almighty says, “And
indeed he is, in love of wealth, intense.” (Al Adiyat:8). It is a grace from
Allah to us that we have to better use it and reflect on its immense
value. We should remember as well that the money we have is the
wealth of Allah, The All Rich, The Independent, and that we are but a
successor entrusted by Him to look after it as a deposit. Allah the
Almighty says “ For those who have believed among you and spent,
there will be a great reward.” (Al Hadid:7); “and give them from the
wealth of Allah which He has given you.” (Al Nur:30).
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Thus people have to seek means to make money legally and spend it
wisely, for our Master (pbuh) said, “Truly the beneficial wealth is for
the
good
people.”
For
this
to
happen,
Allah, The Most Exalted, asks us to acquire money and enjoy the good
permissible things. He The Almighty says, “Wealth and children are
[but] adornment of the worldly life.” (Al Kahf:46); “Say, "Who has
forbidden the adornment of Allah which He has produced for His
servants.” (Al Aaraf:32). On the same matter, Muhammad (pbuh) said,
“Those whom Allah has favored with a bounty, then Allah likes to see
the effect of His bounty on His creation.”
Truly wealth is a blessing to its owner. But those who lack it or have only
a little of it should not delve into thinking that Allah has preferred the
wealthier over them. Allah, The Most Exalted, has a great wisdom in this
regard, for He says, “And if Allah had extended [excessively] provision
for His servants, they would have committed tyranny throughout the
earth. But He sends [it] down in an amount which He wills. Indeed He
is, of His servants, Acquainted and Seeing.” (Al Shura:27).
As a matter of fact, one of the Divine laws in this world is that Allah has
made his servants unequal in terms of their livelihoods, only for the
benefit of His creation. Our Guide Muhammad (pbuh) said, “ Indeed,
Allah will protect his faithful servant from the world when He loves
him as you protect your patients from food and drink for their health.”
Less wealth is not a sign that Allah is displeased with His servant, nor is it
a deprivation per se. Allah The Almighty may narrow the scope of
livelihood for His servant, only to offer him even wider opportunities
to come closer to his Creator. One way to do this is by keeping oneself
busy with Allah’s remembrance and being sincerely obedient to his will.
That will make the individual wealthier, looking upon what has been
withheld from him truly a good lot. Allah, The Most Gracious, may
provide an individual with both: wealth and strong faith and this is a
generous giving from Allah the Almighty. That is the bounty of Allah,
which He gives to whom He wills.
Allah, The Most High, says, “And as for man, when his Lord tries him
and [thus] is generous to him and favors him, he says, "My Lord has
honored me.” But when He tries him and restricts his provision, he
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says, "My Lord has humiliated me. No!" (Al Fajr:15-16). This suggests
that not everybody for whom Allah has preordained abundant wealth is
in fact honoured by Him. Nor is he disgraced he who sees Allah’s
sustenance restricted for him.
The true honour is when Allah grants him sincere obedience, Divine love
and knowledge. The humiliation is in fact when Allah deprives him of
these blessings. After all, the poor and the rich can be gauged in status
only against one and unique standard: piety, for Allah, the Bestower,
says “Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most
righteous of you.” (Al Hujurat:13).
Dear Muslims,
The bounties last by showing gratitude to Allah, Who bestows his
blessings upon them, for He says, “If you are grateful, I will surely
increase you [in favor]." (Ibrahim:7). To be thankful to Allah, The
Bountiful, for the bliss of wealth, we should be sincerely indebted to
Him for the blessings He has provided us with and increase our praise to
Him. Our Master (pbuh) said, "If anyone says in the morning, 'O Allah,
whatever blessing comes to me or any of Your creation in the morning
is from You alone with no partner; praise is Yours and thanks is to You'
has fulfilled the thankfulness due for the day. If he says the like of that
in the evening, he has fulfilled the thankfulness due for the night. "
Another way to thank Allah, The Most Generous, for blessings in wealth
is to spend money in the way it pleases Him and brings about prosperity
and happiness. Beneficial areas of spending vary from sponsoring one’s
family, educating children, helping them marry, assisting the community
in building mosques and hospitals, caring of widows and orphans, paying
for students, among others.
May Allah help us earn a Halal livelihood and spend it the way it pleases
Him, and help us all to obey Him and those He ordained upon us to
obey, as the Almighty says: "O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey
the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you." (AnNisa:59).
May Allah bless you and me with the ability to implement the Holy
Quran and the Sunna of His Messenger Muhammad (pbuh). I say this
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and pray to Allah, the Almighty, to grant us forgiveness. Supplicate to
Allah for forgiveness for He is the Most Forgiving and the Most Merciful.
Second sermon
Praise be to Allah. I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah, the
only God who has no partner, and I bear witness that our Master
Muhammad is His servant and messenger. May the peace and the
blessings of Allah be upon our master Muhammad, his family, his
companions and all those who will follow them in righteousness till the
Day of Judgment.
Dear Believers,
Please know that reckless spending causes loss of wealth, unnecessarily
throwing a person and his family under the yoke of borrowing and debt.
The sound alternative should be a rational use of money and a good
management of one’s livelihood. These two qualities indeed reflect
some of our Prophet’s praised merits and echo his hadith: “moderation
is the twenty-fifth part of prophethood.”
May the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon our master
Muhammad (pbuh), his family, and all his companions. May Allah be
pleased with the Rightly Guided Caliphs and all those who will follow
them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.
O Allah, we seek Your guidance to elevate our piety, and make us selfsufficient. We beseech Your help to empower us with wisdom and adorn
our demeanour with tolerance and full devotion to You, The All
Beneficent. O Allah, we also seek refuge in You to perpetuate Your
blessings upon us, and make us independent through Your bounty of
everyone except Yourself. O Allah, enrich us with the need of You and
do not impoverish us with the lack of perception of the need of You.
We supplicate to You, the Almighty, to accept our Duaa, grant us
repentance unto You and guide us to fulfill actions to earn Your mercy,
forgiveness and spells. We also beseech You to confer on us safety from
every sin, and booty of all righteousness, and to win paradise and
deliverance from the Fire.
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O Allah, we implore You at this instant not to let a sin unforgiven, a
distress unrelieved, an illness unhealed or a handicapped without relief,
a dead without mercy or a debt unsettled. Our Lord! Grant us good in
this world and good in the life to come and keep us safe from the
torment of the Fire.
May Allah grant our leader HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and
his Deputy, HH Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, success and
provide strength and support to his brothers, Their Highness the Rulers
of the Emirates, and his trustworthy Crown Prince HH Sheikh
Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
O Allah, forgive all of the Muslims, men and women, living and dead,
and make blessings follow us and them. May Allah have mercy on
Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Maktoum and all their brothers, the late UAE
Sheikhs. O Lord, forgive and show mercy, You are the Ever Merciful and
there is no strength nor power save with Allah, the High, the Great.
O Allah, send upon us helpful, wholesome and healthy rain. O Allah, give
us rain and do not make us among the despondent. O Allah, relieve us,
O Allah, relieve us, O Allah, relieve us. Give us from the blessings of the
sky and grow for us from the blessings of the earth, You are the Ever
Providing.
We pray to Allah, the most gracious, to continue blessing the UAE and
all Muslim countries with safety and security.
O Servants of Allah, Remember Allah and He will Remember You. Be
grateful for His benevolence He will increase His blessings to you. Allah,
the Most High, says, "and establish regular Prayer: for Prayer restrains
from shameful and unjust deeds; and remembrance of Allah is the
greatest (thing in life) without doubt. And Allah knows the (deeds) that
ye do." (Al Ankaboot:45).
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