What's True Wealth? Allah's Answer to the Prophet

How you doing?

[Silence]

I want to share with you all a verse of the Quran that I think 99% or maybe even a 100% of us are already familiar with. We already know this verse and maybe we can examine this verse and see how we can apply it to ourselves more deeply. Allah Subhanahu wa Tala said to the prophet sallall.aii Allah subhanahu wa tala is speaking to our prophet, our messenger and he is reminding him of the incredible blessings that he has placed upon him and given him. And one of the things that he mentions is that you were found by Allah or before receiving prophethood, before becoming a messenger, before receiving the Quran, you were poor and Allah made you wealthy. But the wording of the verse is more general than that. He says he found you is different than both of them mean poor. But means dependent and in constant need. That a person is a that means that he is dependent and he is in desperate need from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for whatever it is. Then he says, he didn't say made you rich or made you wealthy. He said, "And then made wealthy." You notice the difference in the wording? He didn't say made you wealthy. He said made wealthy. What does that mean? How do we understand that? Well, because if he would have said made you wealthy, that wealth would have been something specific to the prophet sallall.aii was it wouldn't have been something that he could pass on. Rather, he said made wealthy, meaning he made you wealthy and he made others wealthy through you. So he not only made you wealthy but he used you as a conduit to teach that wealth to others. And again that wealth is taught that wealth is something you can learn. The prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam. He explained to us what this verse means because when we examine his life before prophethood before the night of how was he financially was he not well off financially he had was his wife many children mashallah and he had a very strong a very strong trade and particularly the trade routes from Mecca to Am Mecca to what would later be known as Medina, he was very well off financially. But after the night of what started to happen to that physical wealth, it became more and more scarce, right? To the point that he and his companions had reached a position where they were tying stones to their stomachs to try to block out some of the pain. of the hunger that they were enduring. Is that not correct? That's a big difference, right? from being a well-off merchant of notoriety to having such famine that you are in a in a state of perpetual pain that you have to tie stones and rocks, slabs of stone onto your stomach in order to dull the pain just a little bit. So what is this speaking about? He was wealthy and he later became you know in a state of extreme poverty. Alhamdulillah it relieved itself at the very tail end of his life sallallahu alaihi wasallam. But he endured a time of extreme need. When the prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam passed away when he died. What is the physical wealth that he left behind? What were his financial situation when he passed away? Yes. Huh? Okay. He left behind. Very good. Which is his his his mule, right? And he also left behind what else? His armor. His armor and his sword. Sallallam. Look what he's leaving behind, right? His armor and his shield. His his his armor and his weapon that he used countless times for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then what was the other thing that he left behind? Anyone remember his his shield? His actual shield. Where was it? Yahoudi. He he he also had left his shield as collateral with a Jewish man that he took on we say on the books, right? For some grain for his wife's h homes. That's all he left behind physically. physical wealth, right? So what does that mean? You were in a state of poverty and you were then made wealthy. Was it physical wealth? If he had passed away before the message, before Islam, would he have had a lot more to to pass on? Yes. physical physical wealth, right? Gold and silver and property and but the prophets and messengers they are beyond and above those physical things that they leave behind. Our prophet tells us that he said the prophets when they pass away their inheritance is not left in the form of gold or silver. They do not leave a single gold or piece of silver behind as their inheritance for their heirs. Rather, what do they leave behind? Knowledge. And what is the meaning of Allah found you before the message in a state of desperate need and he then made you wealthy and made your followers wealthy through you.

[Silence]

He said And so what wealth is he speaking about? What is Allah speaking about here? He was in desperate need of and Allah gave him wealth. Wealth that never decreased. It always increased with every passing day. And that was the wealth of knowledge. But more specifically, the wealth of contentment and belief in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Listen to this narration. The prophet sallall.aii Wasam said, he said true wealth is not the a collection of property, the attainment and hoarding of physical things. He said true wealth is wealth of the heart, wealth of the soul, wealth of the self, a wealth that can be in no way stripped of a person by anyone other than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Now, isn't that incredible? What is that wealth? We will end with this inshallah. I want you to think in your mind. Imagine the poorest person you can imagine. Maybe some of us were that person at one point or in our lives. You were able to get as very very poor, very very hungry. You had a full meal of the most meager food. Okay. the, you know, just anything to fill your belly. And imagine simultaneously the most wealthy person eating the finest steak, the finest caviar, the finest es cargo, whatever it is. They both finished their meal. This one ate the most meager meal. This one ate the most extravagant meal. Tell me the feeling of fullness that both of them have. Are they different from each other? Yeah. That feeling of being full. I'm full. I can't eat anymore. Is it different or is it the same?

[Arabic recitation]

We're not talking about the taste. I'm not talking about that. Taste comes and goes. That's feeling. That's an emotion. I'm talking about the feeling of being full. I have eaten a full meal. I am satisfied with this meal. Is it the same or is it different?

[Arabic recitation]

The experience of getting to that feeling might have been very different. Yes. The experience of the fine food and the refined taste and the best of chefs and the best of seasonings that exper experience when the food was passing over the tongue and the taste buds. Yes, that might have been very different. But at the end of the day they both had the same feeling before that meal and they both sat with the same feeling after. The prophet sallallah.aii was says in the narration of he said.

[Silence]

He said, "The human being's meal is a perfect microcosm, an analogy for all of the life of this world. No matter how much the person seasons that meal and salts that meal and refineses the taste of that meal, look at the final results when you look at the waste that comes out of a person after they've eaten. Can you tell this one had esargo and this one had steak and this guy over here, he just had potatoes and rice? Can you make that distinction? The prophet sallall.aii wasallam says don't look at the fancy stuff at the beginning. Look at what happens at the end. It all ends up where? In the sewage. It all ends up in the same place. That feeling of he has better than me is nothing but an illusion. When you were a child, did you not get very excited over certain things that came into your life? Maybe a toy that you obsessed over that today you wouldn't buy for two for for two pennies. You wouldn't even look at it today. It has no value to you today. Right? What changed? What changed? When you were a kid, you had that feeling of excitement. Let's take two children. One of them has a little doll made out of fluff and made out of a a an old potato sack and the other one gets the finest finest toy that the world has to offer. The feeling of excitement. Is it different between those two? It is exactly the same feeling. It's the same feeling. The only difference is what the experience or perspective. That's the only thing different. The only thing different is how you see it. That's the only thing different. So when you chase after these feelings, you chase after these material things, there's no difference between that and the child who was chasing after that toy. It is the same driving force and it is the same feeling of satisfaction upon obtaining. And this is why Allah tells us The life of this world is only, notice the wording, the life of this world is only a brief illusory enjoyment. It is brief and it in itself is an illusion of enjoyment. Let's say, imagine you have something that is you've been exciting. You you've been you've been pining over it for years and you finally get it. You get it. This today, tonight, right now, you got it. Whatever it is, a million dollars, a billion dollars, whatever you've been thinking about, wherever your dreams go, when you allow yourself to imagine, imagine that. And then you get it. and then you get a phone call with the worst news you could possibly get. Would you be excited about it anymore? Or you got that thing and then you were told, "Okay, enjoy it. You have one hour to live." Would you still have the same feeling? No. Why not? The thing is right there. You have it in front of you. And that that news that you got didn't change your immediate environment. So what happened? What changed? Your perspective changed. That's the only thing that changed. It was said that Fun when he had that dream about a child from Ben is that would end his reign and his kingship. It was said he never enjoyed a good night's sleep from that day on. Was said he never enjoyed a meal after that day. Well, what changed? Nothing changed. Only thing that changed was his perspective. And that is why our prophet tells us the the food that you eat, the meal that you prepare is an analogy of the life of this world. No matter how much you salt it and pepper it and cook it and perfect it and refine it, look to what it becomes. Look to what it ends up as. It ends up as a feeling of satisfaction and then it ends up in the sewer.

[Arabic recitation]