PROPERTY FOR FELICITY (II)

Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ said about ’Amr ibni ’Âs ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’: “How beautifully beautiful property goes with a beautiful person.” He invoked about Enes bin Mâlik ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’: “Yâ Rabbî (O my Rabb, Allah)! give him plenty of property and many children and bless him with barakat of these things!” Ka’b ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ was about to dispense his entire property as alms, when the blessed Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ stated: “You had better reserve some of your property for yourself.” All these hadîth-i-sherîfs are written in books of hadîth. In the Qur’ân al-kerîm Allâhu ta’âlâ calls property ‘something with khayr’, and reminds His Habîb (Beloved One) ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ of the blessings He has given him as follows: “You were without any property, and I have given you property so much as you will not need anyone’s support.”

The great scholar Sufyân Sawrî (or Sewrî), (95 [713 A.D.], Kûfa – 161 [778], Basra,) one of those mujtahids who had their own Madhhabs, stated: “In this time of ours, property is the weapon of its owner.” [In other words, it is by means of property that one protects one’s life, one’s health, one’s faith, and one’s honour.] (Abû Muhammad Madanî) Sa’îd bin Museyyib, (15 – 91 [710 A.D.], Medîna,) (one of the greater ones of the Tâbi’în and also) one of the greatest seven scholars of Medîna, (who have been called Fuqaha-i-seb’a,)^[1] stated: “A person who does not earn property enough to pay his debts, to protect his chastity and honour, and to leave a legacy behind him in case he should die, is a person without any khayr.” [In other words, he is harmful both to himself and to his social environment.] (Abu-l-faraj) Ibni Jawzî (or Jewzî) ‘rahimahullah’, (508 – 597 [1202 A.D.], Baghdâd,) stated: “To earn property with good intentions is better than not earning at all.”

_{[1] The other six scholars were Qâsim bin Muhammad bin Abî Bakr Siddîq, (19 – 106 [725 A.D.], Qudeyd;) ’Urwa-t-abn-iz-Zubayr, (22 – 94 [712];) Khwârija-t-abn-i-Zayd, (d. 99 [717], Medîna;) Abû Salamat-abn-i-’Abd-ur-Rahmân bin ’Awf, ’Ubaudullah ibni ’Utba. (d. 102 [721], Medîna;) Abû Ayyûb Suleyman, (104 [722]) ‘radiy-Allâhu ‘anhum’.}