The Blessing in Wealth and Its Loss Through Riba and Smoking

The Shaykh : Is there something among us in Islam called al-barakah (blessing)? Do you, of course, share with us in faith in this matter?

The questioner : Yes, a Muslim has it.

The Shaykh : Good. There is a hadith that says: Have you ever heard this statement? And if you have heard it, did you think about it and find it very reasonable? ?

The questioner : It is one of our beliefs. It is well known that the one who deals in riba (usury or interest) consumes his wealth and takes both the lawful and the unlawful.

The Shaykh : Good. So why do you come and answer my previous question by saying that these merchants, which one will have more customers and more profit? You said, without a doubt, the first merchant who sells on installment at the same price as cash has more; but he does not have liquidity like that one. However, you forgot that that liquidity came from riba (usury or interest) and that its outcome is diminishment. And this other liquidity, which is small in your view from the start, Allah the Exalted will place blessing in it. And this blessing is not something a created human being can know how it will be. But it is possible that some people give examples and narrate them as reality. And you, right now, it is sufficient for you that you mentioned that the end of some of those who deal in riba (usury or interest) was what? Poverty, in verification of the previous hadith . But we know, for example, from what we observe today, that wealth earned through unlawful means goes out through the same unlawful means. Take, for example, what shall I tell you? The most corrupt, most widespread, and most harmful to health and wealth is smoking, correct?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Good. Is this smoking not one of the ways that the blessing leaves wealth, because it harms oneself and one’s health?

The questioner : Without any benefit.

The Shaykh : And without any benefit. This is an example of what happens today and what we observe, besides drinking intoxicants and chasing fashions, and every day a different style of clothing, and so on. All these are the ways that realize that the outcome of riba (usury or interest) is diminishment. And the opposite is exactly the opposite. When the Muslim fears Allah the Exalted in his earnings, his dirham is worth hundreds of dirhams of riba (usury or interest). The problem of Muslims today is that they deal in their material transactions exactly like the disbelievers. And therefore, mercy has risen from the hearts of merchants, except for what is little and rare, so they have become like the Europeans in their attachment to material things and the distinction between the two prices between the two sales. This is one of the effects of this corruption. Otherwise, it would have been sufficient for the Muslim merchant to earn a small profit, in return for which customers would increase. And in conclusion, Allah the Exalted places blessing in his wealth. But this faith, we have now become the farthest from it, exactly like the disbelieving Europeans. Therefore, Muslims today are in need of awakening faith in their hearts.