In the Name of Allāh.

Indeed, the love of wealth, the desire for more, is a poison that seeps into the heart of man. It is a poison that blinds him from the Hereafter. He just wants to be rich; he cares not about reckoning. He cares not if the wealth is Ḥarām.

More so, the wish for a long life, an endless pursuit, is a shackle that binds him to this world. Who is he if not a mortal being, a traveler on the road to the Hereafter? Let’s not be blinded by the glitter of gold, deafened by the din of wealth, nor chained to the ephemeral pleasures of this world. Man faces tribulations but still doesn’t want to die.

Mahmud Ibn Labid reported: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Two things are hated by the son of Ādam. He hates death, although it is better for the believer than tribulation and he hates to have little wealth, although it means his reckoning will be easier.” [Musnad Aḥmad 23625]

In a corroborating Ḥadīth, Anas Ibn Mālik reported: Allāh’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “The son of Ādam (i.e. man) grows old and so also two (desires) grow old with him: Love for wealth, and wish for a long life.” [Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6421]

Dear brethren, let’s turn our gazes, our hearts, and our minds towards the Hereafter. Let us embrace the inevitable, let us shed our excesses and our worldly desires, and let us remember the rewards that await us in the Hereafter. Indeed, Allāh is the Most Merciful, the Most Generous, and His Bounty knows no bounds.

I beseech Allāh to forgive us for our excesses, grant us wisdom and humility, that we may shed the shackles of greed and vanity, and grant us a love for Him, a love for the Hereafter, and let our reckoning on the Day of Judgement be light and easy, for we know that the bounties of this world are fleeting and that the true reward lies in the Hereafter.

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