Why the Prophet Wept Over Wealth
The Distraction of Worldly Wealth: Commentary on Surah At-Takathur from Sahih Muslim
Summary
This lecture from Sahih Muslim discusses a hadith narrated by Abdullah ibn Mas'ud about the Prophet Muhammad reciting Surah At-Takathur (Chapter 102) during prayer. The speaker explains how the Prophet wept deeply while reciting verses about how the competition for worldly wealth and accumulation distracts people from remembering death. The Prophet emphasized that humans are preoccupied with possessing more wealth and possessions, constantly saying "my money, my property, mine." The discourse focuses on the transient nature of worldly possessions and what truly belongs to a person in the eternal sense.
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Muslim Abul Hussein Muslim Muslim.
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For.
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Mary. at im Muslim Abdul Hussein Muslim, the great scholar of hadith and the author of the authentic compilation known as Sah Muslim. He narrates a narration on the authority of one of the companions. His name was Abdullahn and he was one of the servants of the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam. He mentioned that he came once to see the prophet sallall.aii wasallam while he was in salah. So he came he found him in salah and he was reciting the verses Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says to the human being that collecting and the race for the dunya and the race for collecting and the race for accumulating wealth and other things of the dunya. The accumulation. Allah literally says, what is the accumulating? Accumulating has distracted you all until you wake up and find yourselves visiting the graveyard. Meaning a person is so obsessed with collecting, so obsessed with obtaining, so obsessed with accumulating wealth, accumulating power, accumulating notoriety, accumulating and the person becomes so obsessed with this that it's almost as if they are in a stuper. They are asleep. And the average human being remains in this sleep until he visits the cemetery. Visits the cemetery because that's not our final place. That's just one of our steps on our way to Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala. Allah tells us you will come to stand before Allah one stage after another. And so one of those stages is the cemetery. A person only really wakes up when he finds himself 6 feet under. The prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam was reciting these verses and crying so deeply trying to restrain himself that his breath was wheezing a boiling kettle. Abdullah described it wheezing a boiling kettle. And afterwards the prophet sallall.aii wasallam commented on these verses. He said the human being, the son of Adam, he is constantly fretting. He's constantly saying, saying with his actions, saying with his behavior, saying with the things he chooses to be upset about, saying with the things that occupy his mind, my money, my money, my property, my things, mine, mine, mine. And the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam says commenting on this and oh son of Adam do you really really get to keep any of your money except that which you eat and physically becomes a part of you that which you put into your body and it goes away or that which you put on your body and you wear it out clothing or that which you give for the sake of Allah and it is there for you when you meet Allah on the day of judgment. Three things he mentions. The only thing that we really keep of our wealth, everything that you have that I have, everything is given to us on lend. It's it's being borrowed. We're borrowing it. The only thing we get to keep really is that which we physically put into our bodies or that which we wear on our bodies until we wear it out or that which we give for the sake of Allah in the way of Allah for the path of Allah and we get to keep it on the day of judgment. Everything else goes back in the box a board game. Just a board game. everything else. After we fight and we yell and we throw the dice and we pray and we after all of that and the winner is declared and the loser conceds, we fold up the board game and we put it right back into the box. That's it. It goes right back into the earth to be used by the people that come after us. All that money you fought over, all that property, all those things you fredded over. Well, guess what? When you die, when I die, when we pass away and we go to visit the cemetery from the underside of the earth, someone else gets all that money for free. They don't have to work for it. They get it for free. They didn't shed a tear. They didn't persspire a drop of sweat, but they get it all for free. Is that fair? Person may say that's not fair. Nobody, no one compelled you to play that game. The only thing that is yours is what is a part of your body or what is physically on your body or that which you give to Allah to find on the day of judgment. only those three. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant us the insight to recognize the truth when we hear it. We ask Allah to grant us the courage to adhere to that truth in spite of the consequences. We ask Allah the nobility of dying for and upon that truth and the honor of being resurrected with his people. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to teach us of the Quran what we are ignorant of. We ask him subhanahu wa ta'ala to benefit us from that which he has taught us. And we ask him to remind us of the Quran what we have been made to forget.