Greed (hirs)

In the Sheikh's account, greed is the craving for money and the world. He gives the image of one who drinks sea water and grows thirstier, and holds that wishes never end (his view). ¹

He lists needs a person seeks that never end, such as work, marriage, a house and a car, each followed by another (his view). ²

The Sheikh says a person keeps drinking sea water until he is swollen with dropsy and dies, and the drinking only makes him thirstier. ¹

He criticises preoccupation with billions, saying a large number buys nothing great and that a billion does not buy a loaf of bread (his view, needs_source). ³ He gives the example of a student who flies every day to a university in a neighbouring country, which he presents as excess (needs_source). ⁴

The speaker cites a hadith about people who become slaves of the dinar and the dirham, and a Qur'an passage about God's chosen servants; he says the believer serves God alone ⁵. He cites a verse about one who takes his own desire as his god, and says people follow their desires ⁶. He suggests that a believer should test whether a desire is the Prophet ﷺ's way, for example when he wants to sleep rather than pray at night ⁷. He cites a verse that whoever fears the Standing before God and restrains the self from desire, paradise is his refuge ⁸.

He says scholars list four signs of contentment: anger restrained by forbearance, poverty restrained by patience, wealth restrained by gratitude, and deeds restrained by sincerity ⁹. He says envy is refusing God's allotment: the believer admires what others have and asks God for the same, while the hypocrite envies ¹⁰. He says the soul desires revenge, transgression and the taking of rights, and that the eighth demand is the angel of death taking the soul ¹¹.

He says scholars called the world a loan to be returned, like a borrowed book, and that God lends us lives, wealth and health ¹². He cites a hadith on what remains of a person's wealth: what he eats, wears or gives in charity ¹³. He cites a verse that God bought from believers their selves and wealth in exchange for paradise, and says this is a serious question of ownership ¹⁴.

He says wealth is lent and returned, passes between people, and that those who respect a person only for his money are not respecting him ¹⁵. He cites a hadith that the best of people is the best to his family, and says gratitude for children, a wife, wealth and work brings more ¹⁶. He says that health and wealth must be spent in what pleases God, and that one will be asked where wealth came from and how it was spent ¹⁷. He says money gained wrongly must be purified by returning it or giving it away, and the penitent is a new page with God ¹⁸.

He says the third lesson of Hatim concerns people who gather wealth by any means, lawful or unlawful ¹⁹. He says people with rank should use it to help others, since the best people are those most useful to others ²⁰. He says the fourth axis is spending wealth on the poor, which is their due and set by a known measure (the last clause is unclear in the recording) ²¹.

He says Qarun claimed his wealth came from his own knowledge when Moses asked for zakat, and that this forgetting of God's favour led to his ruin ²². He describes a rich youth and a poor youth boasting of their fathers, and says such pride is foolish ²³. He quotes a saying attributed to a companion, whose name is unclear in the recording, that people incline to the wealthy, and that a person who loses wealth loses respect, which shows that respect was for wealth (needs_source: the saying is not sourced in the recording) ²⁴. He criticises people who tell stories of their wealthy grandfathers and grieve over losing it, and says they should not dwell on the past ²⁵. He recounts Umar's supplication that he not be held to account in the grave for wealth his heirs enjoy, and says an unjust will punishes its writer (needs_source: the supplication is not sourced in the recording) ²⁶.

He tells that Ibn Umm Maktum was blind and poor, yet God rebuked the Prophet on his behalf, and says a poor man in money can be rich in spirit (garbled: part of the passage is unclear in the recording) ²⁷. He says one life is worth more than wealth: wealth exists for the human, not the human for wealth, and asking help when necessary is lawful ²⁸. He says a person is never satisfied by the world; the greedy drink more and thirst more, like seawater, and blessing comes from God, so one should spend on others ²⁹.