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Wealth and the Rejection of Truth

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An interesting observation that comes to notice as one studies the Qur\’an, is that the stories of the Prophets of Allah (peace be upon them) and the details of their Da\’wah endeavors toward their recipient nations are repeated in excerpts throughout the Qur\’an.

Some chapters or Surahs might contain details of some events in the Prophets\’ (peace be upon them) lives, while other descriptions and dialogue between them and the people of their nation whom they called toward monotheism, are found in other chapters.

One common factor that I have noticed about the Prophets\’ (peace be upon them) Da\’wah is that, most of the time, it is centered around first calling the elite, rich and powerful people of society toward the monotheistic message of Allah.

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Why target the affluent and powerful people of society first in Da\’wah?

“Al-Mala” is a word used often in the Qur\’an to refer to the affluent and powerful nobles, rulers and chieftains who were approached directly by Allah\’s messengers with invitation toward the Haqq. In Arabic, the root of this word, “ma-la-a”, means “to fill to the brim or to reach the maximum limit of something”. In other words, Mala refers to the richest people of the nation.

“Al Mutrafeen” is another word used in the Qur\’an to describe the well-off recipients of the Prophets\’ (peace be upon them) message. The root of this Arabic word, “ta-ra-fa”, means “to live a pleasant, plentiful, luxurious and easy life”.

In any era, it was mostly these affluent people, the society\’s “elite”, who would be the foremost in not just receiving, but also rejecting, the Prophets\’ (peace be upon them) invitation toward Haqq.

Wealth yields economic power and authority in the land:

The wealthy people of any nation set its social trends in motion, have a say in communal decision-making, and initiate and catalyze paradigm shifts in thinking. Notice the rich and famous adopting a certain ritual, habit or lifestyle, and the poor and illiterate will eventually follow suit and try to ape their actions.

That is the primary reason why Allah\’s Prophets (peace be upon them) approached the affluent, powerful people first in Da\’wah, because they knew that if the leaders accept the invitation, it would not be long before the entire tribe or nation did the same.

Wealthy people move around in cliques:

It is a fact that the wealthy of any society, even if they are few in number, know each other through professional and familial connections. Be it land ownership, royalty, kingship, noble lineage, or political power that makes them influential, it is a fact that convincing even one key figure in a nation to revert to Islam can result in a major “ripple effect” viz. convincing one person becomes a stepping stone for even more key figures of authority to become Muslim.

So why did most of the wealthy recipients reject Allah\’s message?

The question that arises then, is that why did most of the powerful and elite recipients of Allah\’s message, such as Pharaoh, Haman, Qaroon and the able-bodied, prosperous nation of \’Aad, reject the message brought by Allah\’s Prophets (peace be upon them)?

There are several reasons for this rejection, which become apparent via the dialogue between them and the Prophets that is quoted throughout the Qur\’an. The particular verse below makes it clear why the wealthy rejected the message of Allah\’s Prophets (peace be upon them):

“And when Our Clear Verses are recited to them, those who disbelieve (the rich and strong among the pagans of Quraish who live a life of luxury) say to those who believe (the weak, poor companions of Prophet Muhammad who have a hard life): “Which of the two groups (i.e. believers or disbelievers) is best in (point of) position and as regards station (place of council for consultation).” (Qur\’an: 19:73)

Their powerful position in society as compared to the more vulnerable, economically weaker one of the Prophets (peace be upon them) would delude them into thinking that their beliefs, creed and religious rituals were correct and didn\’t need to be changed.

Wealth and power, in other words, became the “yardstick” by which they judged the truthfulness of a person\’s message.

Next, since neediness and poverty makes a person more humble toward other human beings and more inclined toward turning to Allah, it was mostly the poor people of any nation who would be the first to accept Prophets\’ (peace be upon them) invitation toward monotheism.

This became an issue of prestige or honor for the chiefs and leaders when the message was presented to them:

The chiefs who the disbelieved among his people said: “We see you but a man like ourselves, nor do we see any follow you but the meanest among us and they (too) followed you without thinking. And we do not see in you any merit above us, in fact we think you are liars.” (Qur\’an 11:27)

They said: “Shall we believe in you, when the meanest (of the people) follow you?” (Qur\’an: 26:111)

Thus it becomes obvious that the trial of being very rich is that wealthy people tend to consider only affluence and the social status of another as the primary determining factor in establishing that person\’s truthfulness or authenticity.

They do not look at what someone is saying; rather, only at what he owns, how much power and influence he commands in society, and what kind of people he hangs out with, in order to accept or reject his message or invitation. Any sincere person who fails to come up to their superficial, measurable standards of wealth and social prestige is promptly rejected and further, is accused of being a liar!

Thus, the Qur\’an teaches us that wealth, power and social prestige – blessings that almost everyone desires in life – can become a Fitnah or trial of faith if it starts to stand in the way of a person\’s embracing Islam completely and acting upon the Deen of Allah. When a person has wealth, he starts to think with certainty that he must be on the right path and that Allah is pleased with him. Moreover, wealth can make a person look down upon and deride those righteous people who are sincere to Allah\’s cause but who belong to a lower socioeconomic class.

If you are a wealthy person, or are very desirous of acquiring more worldly assets, tangible status symbols, power and influence in society, ask yourself some critical questions: do I refuse to socially mingle with people who are poor? Do I arrogantly rebuke people who try to correct me, or who point out my mistakes, just because I am convinced that I am on the right path that leads to success in the Hereafter, since Allah has blessed me with much wealth in this world? Do I mock religious people because of their humble appearance and/or their belonging to a lower social class?

While we should pray to Allah to grant us His blessings in both worlds, we should also seek refuge with Him from the trials and tests associated with these blessings.

Source: Saudi Gazette

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Sadaf Farooqi is a postgraduate in Computer Science who has done the Taleem Al-Quran Course from Al-Huda International, Institute of Islamic Education for Women, in Karachi, Pakistan. 11 years on, she is now a homeschooling parent of three children, a blogger, published author and freelance writer. She has written articles regularly for Hiba Magazine, SISTERS Magazine and Saudi Gazette. Sadaf shares her life experiences and insights on her award-winning blog, Sadaf's Space, and intermittently teaches subjects such as Fiqh of Zakah, Aqeedah, Arabic Grammar, and Science of Hadith part-time at a local branch of Al-Huda. She has recently become a published author of a book titled 'Traversing the Highs and Lows of Muslim Marriage'. For most part, her Jihad bil Qalam involves juggling work around persistent power breakdowns and preventing six chubby little hands from her computer! Even though it may not seem so, most of her time is spent not in doing all this, but in what she loves most - reading.

8 Comments

8 Comments

  1. Z4ydi

    July 19, 2011 at 8:00 AM

    A great article – May Allah SWT reward you.
    Those who possess the blessings of social status, power, wealth, intellect are often exposed to the disease of PRIDE which destroys them both in this world and the hereafter.
    When we look at Noh Alayh Salam’s son who disbelieved in his father’s message and his pride made him judge the situation through his limited intellect and thought that even if the storm and flood were to encamps everything in its path it will not reach me here on the top of a high mountain and it was the very pride that failed him, the same goes for Fir’on who knew the power of his lord, his greatness and might but yet his pride held him back from showing obedience. It was pride that destroyed Iblees and the people of ‘Ad.
    May Allah SWT protect us from this disease, cleanse our hearths and make us realise our weakness and His might.

  2. Caner

    July 19, 2011 at 9:57 AM

    I am not aware that the Quran suggests or commands that the notables (al-mala’) of a society be ‘targeted’ first by the prophets. Rather, they were the most vociferous in their rejection and opposition. They are major players in the stories because they are major players in the society. Let’s not forget that the first followers of our Prophet (sas) were not the mala’.

    I don’t find much in the stories of Noah, Moses, or the other prophets to show me that they tried to use the elites as a way of leveraging their message to the masses. In fact, we read in the surah “He frowned” that the Prophet was chided for putting off the blind man while trying to speak to the so-called important people.

    The role of the notables (mala) in the stories of the prophets is indeed interesting, but not for the reasons offered in this article.

    • Not saying

      July 20, 2011 at 10:45 PM

      I think you are right. They preached to everybody, that is apparent. That they targeted the rich for that specific reason? Allah knows best.

  3. kaminari

    July 19, 2011 at 4:03 PM

    nice written; good points, understandable still; it misses the importance for the muslim community to become financially independant ; the article is still somethng that benefits , that helps to not be blinded by fals desires ; however it can leave a taste of wealth is bad, being poor is good ; which isnt meant by the author ; the article is more about control and understanding the value of wealth for a muslim, which is important for him because he has to help his family and the poor ;

    keep up the good work

  4. MuslimNoise

    July 20, 2011 at 6:11 PM

    Jazakallah khair. Wealth can used for immense benefit, but can also destroy those who have it. It’s interesting how nations were destroyed because the majority followed the minority elite who had money, also the poor are always first to accept the truth because the wealthy feared they have much to lose.

    Another point, I don’t know how the site owners will choose to name the new advice section of MM but I just wanted to say that “Naseeha Matters” wouldn’t be a nice choice even if it wins in the poll :) “What’s the Matter?” is a lot better.

    • Not saying

      July 20, 2011 at 10:49 PM

      Naseeha matters is terrible…..Ask MM is way more inviting. Or even better, MM Q&A.

  5. Muslimahss

    July 21, 2011 at 7:19 AM

    JazakAllah khair.
    Its an interesting article. This reminds me of the lecs by sh Muhammed Al Shareef.. i think it was perished nations where in he gave info abt ‘Mala’

  6. abu bakr bin joseph

    July 21, 2011 at 8:39 AM

    alhumdulila,its true & lively article.a lesson for all to ponder.

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