The secret to abundance and plentitude seen in a society living by the morals values of the Qur’an By Harun Yahya The feeling of love towards earthly materials, the desire to hoard money and possessions is a grave trickery of the satan. Forgetting the existence of the Hereafter, those who are consumed in this ambition would become selfish and harden their hearts. Consumed in the apprehension of being a man of property, they think nothing of humane values, love and respect. They can sacrifice their friends, even their own relatives for the sake of their own material interests. Because the majority of them do not act in belief of the Hereafter, they become alienated from the morality God approves. As they pursue senseless competition and harbor great ambition for material possessions, the majority of them loses their moral values and start looking at the world with a materialistic approach. They start finding the cruel, materialistic frame of mind reasonable and start believing that selfishness, unjust competition and ruthless ambitions are “the facts of the life in this world.” They start believing that they need to live by a similarly ruthless character in order to be strong and remain standing. That drags them into developing a heartless character and moving away from the morality of the Qur’an. In truth, the spreading of this materialistic, worldly morality lies in the root of this endless persecution, of this poverty experienced amidst great plentitude and of people’s cruelty towards one another that we see going on in the world today. God informs us in many verses of the Qur’an that He created material possessions solely as transient enjoyments, but that living according to the good pleasure of God is what counts in the Sight of God: Wealth and sons are the embellishment of the life of this world. But, in your Lord´s Sight, right actions which are lasting bring a better reward and are a better basis for hope. (Surat Al-Kahf; 46) Watching over the weak, the needy and the poor would not be possible in a society that lives with the cruelty of this materialistic, capitalist worldview by ignoring this fact. On the contrary, the poor would become even poorer, and the weak would become even weaker; their unjust treatment would increase even further. This is referred to in the Qur’an as a common feature of those societies that do not accept the morality of religion: Have you seen him who denies the religion? He is the one who harshly rebuffs the orphan and does not urge the feeding of the poor. (Surat AlMa’un; 1-3) Humane acts like watching out for the needs of others, feeling compassion and mercy, watching over one another and showing sympathy would be considered as very strange in materialistic societies, because they regard human beings as merely corporeal beings. The persecution of those in need, their living in need, poverty and hunger would have no meaning for those people who have been brought up in this twisted morality. These people feel no conscientious responsibility towards those in need even though they enjoy great wealth and vast opportunities. This is the moral corruption that the
Darwinist and materialist mentality, based on the conception that the strong oppress the weak, drags the significant majority of these societies into. Actually, it should not be forgotten that God could take away all the blessings bestowed upon one, simply by creating economic instability at any moment He wishes. As a matter of fact, the life of Karun, that has been given as an example in the Qur’an, can be a good example to show how great wealth could be lost with a natural disaster. "Karun was one of the people of Moses, but he lorded it over them. We gave him treasures, the keys alone to which were a heavy weight for a party of strong men." (Surat Al-Qasas; 76) This verse refers to the wealth of Karun; however when he gloated because of this wealth, God says, “We caused the earth to swallow up both him and his house. There was no group to come to his aid, besides God, and he was not someone who is helped.” (Surat AlQasas; 81) So God tells us that the real owner of all the possessions and properties that Karun thought he owned was God, and that God could take away that wealth whenever He wishes. Those who ignore these reminders from God, attach more importance to the material values in the life of this world than is due, and remain estranged to the good pleasure of God as they avoid to think about the closeness of death will lose a lot of things in their lives, both in this world and in the Hereafter. God commands generosity, benevolence, supporting those in need, and protecting and watching over the poor. According to the Qur’an, Muslims are responsible for looking after those in need and feeding the impoverished. Furthermore, they are responsible for not only protecting and watching over them financially, but also of talking to them in a conciliatory manner that is in compliance with the Qur’an. That is because letting an environment that would leave them obliged is not compliant with the morality of Muslims. Consequently, when the morality of the Qur’an is experienced, not only are the needs of the poor met, but they are also treated with the respect and compassion they deserve; however, love, understanding and benevolence are perceived almost as some manner of unnecessary naivety in materialist and capitalist societies. People are encouraged to think about their own interests instead of being benevolent and to suppress the poor even harder instead of looking out for those in need. Indeed, a Muslim is charged with thinking about the needs of others before his own. For that reason when the morality of the Qur’an is experienced, it would not be possible for some people to remain poor while others are rich. Muslims who spend all they have for the good pleasure of God would distribute the goods they have to those in need and ensure that they too live in easy circumstances. The morality of Muslims demands that we look after the rights of the poor and the orphans primarily even though they themselves may be in need. And what is more, in the Qur’an our Lord commands; “Those of you possessing affluence and ample wealth should not make oaths that they will not give to their relatives and the very poor.” (Surat An-Nur; 22) Therefore, devout Muslims never disregard the rights of those in need and the rights of the orphans upon the possessions and means they have. They take great pains to meet the material needs of the needy as much as they can, and to treat them with kind words in a polite and considerate manner at all times.
Good morality is the secret behind the plentitude and affluence that would manifest in societies that live by Qur'anic morality. We should not forget that the implications Muslims are faced with in this world are not affiliated with visible physical causes. Distributing goods to those in need and spending for the good pleasure of God without hoarding, keeping clear of interest and unlawful gains would bring great plentitude and affluence to Muslims. The writer has authored more than 300 books translated in 73 languages on politics, religion and science. He may be followed at @Harun_Yahya and www.harunyahya.com.