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 ‘radiyAllâhu ’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’.