Overcoming Extravagance....

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakathuh,

First and foremost, We all need to review ourselves about our lifestyle whether it is according to the sunnah???

We all are believers, we know what is according to the deen and what not.

We are Alhamdulillah aware of most things, but it so happens that we forget or ignore these things when there is a need of actual implementation and one such is extravagance which is not liked by ALLAH swt.

We have the knowledge of these but it so happens that we are been dominated by few weaknesses like shopping and other things which come in the category of extravagance and it is disliked by ALLAH swt.

When we are in market places we are been made to read this supplication 

Recite:

"There is none worthy of worship besides Allah. He is all by Himself. He has no partner. His is the Kingdom, to Him is all praise. He gives and takes life. He is all by Himself. He will not die. In His hands is all good and He has control (power) over all things".

It is stated in the hadith that if a person reads the above dua in the market place, Allah writes ten lakh rewards for him and forgives ten lakh sins and raises his status by ten lakh and a house is prepared for him in Jannah. (Tirmidhi, Ibn Maja) 

In market places it so happens that we misuse our time, our efforts, money and we loose much( it means we are missing the purpose somewhere which is a start towards many FITNAHS that one may enter into( World and its sparks which is temporary) ).

 

What ever we are looking for, it must be meeting the need if we are really trying to please the Rabb. Too much of anything will take us to the world and its Trials. 

Its not '1' person who is affected by this, this is the case with most of us.

Here the point is that we should fight with our weaknesses if we really want to please ALLAH swt, this will be a jihad for us, in'shaa ALLAH.

When we have accepted faith when eman has entered the heart and when we have admitted it, we have to start acting upon it and it is neccessary. So action is very important even to stop something, if not- it makes a way towards shaitan.

What we forget is- When we love ALLAH swt and move a step further, ALLAH swt comes to us running, it means ALLAH's help will be with us, he will make things easy for us and HIS help is a tremendous help and suppport he favours upon us which will be a success stone for us. But if we feel that we have a weakness and ignore it and get accustomed more and more into it then we have actually given up, we have allowed shaitan to play its game and made it successful. It means we are loosing, Which we can't afford.

World takes us far from ALLAH swt, so the sahabas would make world and it's luxuries far, so that they can be close to ALLAH swt. 

Also, best way is to review our deeds - how much is that we are spending, are we spending according to our need or more than our need???? 

our one time spending can be a month's expense to meet the basic needs of a family.

If we remind ourselves of this, if we can get this realization practically, then we can take part in helping more which is a sifaath of a mu'min and also a way to attain abundant rewards.

If this is not possible, atleast,  we can save this money for the real needs that goes on encountering in our lives.

Extravagance is actually a lack of restraint in spending money or using resources, for example why do we need to do much shopping, so much decorations in our houses, so much in every thing??? is this really the high peak need for one. It is that We are getting more into the world with the status perspective, not with a perspective of need, we should live a simple and a easy life which Allah has adviced for us.

It's the reality - that the " Real happiness is in simplicity and living the life with contentment".

But, we actually do things to have appreciation from the world and so we have these expenses. Simplicity is the real beauty in every case.

We started creating difficulties for ourselves thinking we are easing our lives and this is where we are lacking in.

"THE REAL HAPPINESS IS IN PLEASING ALLAH swt".

Allah swt meantions in the Qur'an:

“…eat of its fruit when it bears fruit, and pay the due of it on the day of its reaping, and do not act extravagantly; surely He does not love the extravagant.” (Surah Anaam 6:141)

We Muslims are ordered to abstain from extravagancy at multiple places in Quran:

 “…and do not squander wastefully, surely the squanderers are the followers of the shaitans and the Shaitan is ever ungrateful to his Lord.” (Surah Bani Israel 17:26-27) 

And at an other place, words go a little more strict, exhibiting that israaf is not among the minor sins ! “…the extravagant are the inmates of the fire.” (Surah Mu'min 40:43)

Now it's upon us, what is that we want to choose, thinking of bestest things here(of this world) and engaging in extravagance, is fire a best thing to experience for ever??? Do we want to be inmates of fire???

We should do the deeds that shows Love for the sake of Allah, and not for the sake of anything else in this life which is filled with greed, desires and interests. Only the true believers will be able to stand up to this and may ALLAH swt make us strong enough to live up to this, aameen.

Let us try to overcome our weaknesses and With ALLAH's help- Lot of Adhkar and determination can make us overcome our weaknesses.

More dhikr will show us the solutions, open the doors of understanding the deen and spending on to the best( charity) and to attain the real salvation.

May ALLAH swt guide us to the best of understanding and it's implementation, Aameen.

Shabana Ramadan,

RIPS-KIT,

Radiant Islamic Peace Submission-Knowledge Increases Thankfulness.