[PDF]The Muslim's Trial with Money

THE MUSLIM’S TRIAL

WITH MONEY



' J 9 Osman Nuri Topba$



IjUII ERKAM

^11 PUBLICATIONS






















Istanbul: 2017/ 1438 H


© Erkam Publications - Istanbul: 2017 / 1438 H


THE MUSLIM’S TRIAL WITH MONEY


Osman Nuri Topba$


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Muslumanm Para ile Imtiham
Osman Nuri Topba§

Erdin^ Atasever
Rasim §akiroglu
978-605-302-313-5


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THE MUSLIM’S TRIAL
WITH MONEY


Osman Nuri TOPBA$












Foreword


An eternal thanks and praise to Allah 'jp- who cre¬
ated His helpless servants out of nothing, provided for
them and placed them on the land of Divine trial we
call earth, to see which one of them will do good.

An endless salute to our greatest teacher, guide
and example in this world of trial, Prophet Muhammed
Mustafa M, as well as his family and companions.

It needs to be remembered that as much as Is¬
lam is a system of beliefs, it is also a law of life. It con¬
tains every code of practice we need. That is because
it comes with a legal system, a set of standards and a
perfect worldview that thoroughly regulate life to its
smallest detail.

Islam is a divine cast that shapes a person’s faith
and practice. But it also moulds his morals and social
interactions, especially when it comes to ensuring that
justice is upheld and the rights of others are observed.

A Muslim who therefore allows Islam to enter his
heart and soul, and feels the faith energise his every
cell, becomes a person of depth, sensitivity and bal¬
ance who tries to walk straight on the Divine path. He
has values, principles and direction. He keeps his bal¬
ance even when walking against the wind. The thought




•^a****^ The Muslim’s Trial with Money


of embracing the cold and callous commercial ways
of capitalism does not even cross his mind. Capital¬
ism urges him to recognise no other standard than his
own self-interests. And that goes against everything he
stands for.


What marks Islam out is the line it draws be¬
tween halal and haram; between making an honest liv¬
ing and a dishonest one. It also stresses human traits
such as mercy, responsibility, decency and reliability.
One would think that those traits would show most
clearly in commercial life. Yet, ambitions for the world
often trample worries for the eternity. And once that
approach takes root, Islamic values are pushed aside
and forgotten over time. People who fail to live the way
they believe start to believe in the way they live. That is
where the real danger lies.

A person who does wrong while recognizing it
as wrong, is a sinner. But if he becomes desensitized
enough to begin to try and justify his wrong action, he
becomes a disbeliever. He falls out of bounds of the Is¬
lamic faith and throws his eternity into jeopardy. And
that, without any doubt, is a disaster.



Today, global culture and capitalism have invaded
spiritual values; and the damage they have inflicted
goes without saying. The internet and television have
seduced souls and turned the youth into legions of ro-





Foreword


bots numbed by advertisements, obsessed with fashion
and wrapped around the little finger of mass culture.

It would be fair to say that today the media has
assumed the role of the military. It uses money as a
weapon to finance its daily incursions into homes.
And its global campaign has helped impose a materi¬
alistic worldview on people in return for their spiritual
wellbeing and inner peace. It has turned society into a
haphazard bunch of individuals seeking their own in¬
terests. Beliefs are destroyed, morals and virtues lost.
It has transformed the compassionate man into a new
robotic new type and thrown shards of glass on the
roads that would lead him back to spiritual peace and
happiness.

The Quran says the devil will lay claim on man’s
wealth and children. The devil’s role is to pervert and
corrupt. He does that to man’s sons and daughters by
enflaming their desires and pampering their egos un¬
til they are completely led astray. And he claims man’s
wealth by tricking him to exchange the right for the
wrong or deluding him to the point where he can no
longer can tell the difference.

In our age, this corruption has become an epidem¬
ic. To stay sane and healthy, Muslims need to clutch on
to their spiritual values more than ever.




Dear valued reader,





•^a****^ The Muslim’s Trial with Money


The Altinoluk magazine ran a two-part inter¬
view in June-July 2012 titled, “On the Muslims Trial
with Money”. And following persistent requests, it was
decided it would be useful to publish a more detailed
interview as a separate book. We now present that
book to you. It aims to warn against the most common
mistakes made in today’s commercial life and advise a
right way out.

We hope that Allah Ht will produce the effects
we desire from this book and turn them into a chain
of blessings that will continue until the final hour. We
wish for Allah Hi- to make each and every one of us
pass the trial with money with flying colours and grant
our hearts the foresight, wisdom and maturity to turn
our fleeting earnings in this world into an investment
for everlasting joy.


Amin... 1


Osman Nuri Topba§
September, 2012
Uskudar


1. I would like to thank M. Akif Giinay for helping prepare this
book and pray that his efforts become an endless means of charity
for him.

-







A Conversation with Osman Nuri Topba§ on

The Muslim’s Trial with Money


Altinoluk: Recently, there has been a lot of talk
in Turkey about Muslims’ changing relationship with
money. Many believe political power has come with an
indulgence in the luxuries of capitalism, a change in
consumer ethics, a move away from the principles of
earning and spending; and has normalised engaging
in interest, bank loans, subcontracting and so forth.

Some say, ‘Principles never stand a chance
against money and it only takes a few cents to put all
values to bed’.

But there are also others looking at themselves in
the mirror and asking, ‘Where are we headed?’ That
reaction has led some of them down the path of what
is now called the Muslim Left.

As a person who many people, especially the re¬
ligious, open up to with their problems, is there any¬
thing you would like to underline about where today’s
Muslims might be getting it wrong with their approach
to money?

Osman Nuri Topba$: Two things affect mans
character the most: the people he loves and the money
he makes.




The Muslim’s Trial with Money


We need to keep a close eye on the people who oc¬
cupy a special place in our hearts.
It is often the people you love that
lead you to up the path of good or
down the path of bad.

We also need to be wary of
the money inside our pockets. We
need to make sure our earnings are
clean.

The nature of the people we
love and the money we make is
what moulds our hearts, as well as
our actions.

Money has a secret: it goes
back to where it comes from. Clean money heads for
good, while dirty cash becomes capital for evil.

Money’s fate determines a persons own. People
like to believe they hold sway over their money and
can spend it on whatever they wish. But money really
ends up where it deserves, depending on how it was
made. And it drags the person with it. ft is money that
calls the shots, not the person who has it.

Money is like a snake. It comes out of the same
hole it goes into. The dirty cash in the wallet finds a
way to corrupt one’s actions. Worse still, it slithers in¬
side and poisons the heart.




Our Prophet Muham¬
mad ‘‘M says:

“The world is sweet
and has an alluring
view. But Allah gives
it to you only to see
how you will behave.
So beware!” (Muslim,
Dhikr, 99)









The Muslim’s Trial with Money


It is therefore crucial where
money comes from and how it is
spent. If we want to find spiritual
and material peace, we have to
make a clean living.

There’s a nice story about this.

Bahlul Dana one day asks Ca¬
liph Harun Rashid for a job. And
the caliph gives him the duty of in¬
specting the marketplace.

Bahlul quickly gets down
to work. First, he walks inside a
bakery and weighs a few loaves of
bread on the scale. It turns out they
all weigh less than they should. He
asks the baker, “Are you happy with
life. Can you get by? Can you put
bread on the table?”



“Shame on those who
give less than due!
When they take a
measure from people,
they take in full. But
if they give by mea¬
sure or by weight,
they cheat. Don’t they
think that they will
be resurrected...for a
tremendous day? The
day when mankind
will stand before the
Lord of the Worlds.”
(al Mutaffifm, 1-6)



The baker shrugs his shoulders. He has nothing in
life that he is happy about.

Bahlul says nothing and walks out. He goes to an¬
other bakery and again weighs a few loaves of bread.
But this time, they all weigh more than they should.
Bahlul asks the baker the same questions. The baker
responds with a warm smile.







•^a****^ The Muslim’s Trial with Money


Bahlul then heads straight to Harun Rashid and
asks him for a different job.

“What! You’ve had enough already?” the caliph
retorts.


“Hardly”, Bahlul responds. “But it appears that the
market already has an inspector. He has come in before
me to weigh each loaf and every conscience. And he
already has people paying their dues.”




Abulqadir

says:


Gaylani


“Eating what is haram
kills the heart, while
eating what is halal
revives it. There are
morsels that occupy
you with the world;
and there are morsels
that engage you with
the hereafter. A halal
morsel makes you seek
your Lord.”


m?


So, the first condition of ma¬
terial and spiritual comfort is to
make an honest living. Clean or
halal food inspires, and increases
spiritual energy. But food that has
been put on the table through illicit
-haram- or doubtful means makes
one lazy, forgetful and blocks sen¬
sibility. It casts a curtain on the
heart.

It is for that reason that Ali
Ramitani once recounted the
Prophet’s M wisdom, “Deeds of
worship are ten parts. Nine of them
have to do with desiring an honest
living. The rest of the deeds make
up just one part”, 2 before adding:


2. Daylami, Musnadu 'l- Firdaws, III, 107/4062








The Muslim’s Trial with Money


“A person who does not consume what is halal
cannot find the power within himself to obey God. He
always tends to rebel and listen to the whines of his
ego. But a person who consumes what is halal cannot
find the power within him to rebel.” 3

In other words, what makes a person righteous is
an honest earning.

It was for that reason that Sufyan-i Sawri told
a man who asked him about the benefits of offering
prayer at a mosque on the first row, to “...worry about
where you stand in your earnings, then stand to pray
wherever you wish!” And on another occasion, he
said:


A persons piety is only as mucn as tne put
his earnings.”

But regrettably, todays capitalist mentality has


eroded spiritual values so much
that even the religious have em¬
braced practices that have no place
in Islam. Many people, who have
offered pilgrimage and in fact pray
regularly, tell themselves that they
have got to earn more to spend in
the way of the good. But this is a
blunder of the blindest kind. They


©2


“Allah likes to see His
servants tired from
chasing an honest
earning.” (Suyuti, Ja-
mius-Saghir , I, 65)



3. Rasail-i Sitta-i Zaruriyyah, Delhi 1308, p. 14








•^a****^ The Muslim’s Trial with Money


are really living in a mishmash of
right and wrong without even be¬
ing aware.

To accept the wrong as right
is far worse than to actually do it.
It comes with the risk of dragging
a person outside of Islam. The real
danger of trying to justify un-Is-
lamic practices is that it takes the
person beyond wrong action, to
wrong belief.

Others who make dubious
earnings try to console themselves
by saying that capitalism has to¬
day’s commercial life by the throat
and there is no other way than to
play the game of trade by its rules.
But Islam does not force anyone to do trade to make
a living. This is more a case of people allowing their
greed to make excuses for un-Islamic dealings.


Rumi says:

“Inspiration left me at
dawn and I straight¬
away knew that a few
doubtful morsels had
entered my body.
Knowledge and wis¬
dom are born out of
clean food. So are love
and compassion. If a
morsel causes igno¬
rance, know that it is
doubtful, or worse.”




An honest dollar is better than a suspicious thou¬
sand. Dirty money corrupts the heart whereas a clean
dollar expands it. It holds out a ladder towards spiri¬
tual heights and sets the scene for material comfort.



It is always the case that people who fail to live
the way they believe, start to believe in the way they
live. This usually begins when they reluctantly engage







The Muslim’s Trial with Money


in an un-Islamic transaction, thinking it is necessary.
But in time, they slowly begin to justify it. That is when
it starts to eat away at their faith.

Worse still, a dishonest money can in fact totally
destroy faith. It is therefore vital for people in business
to make sure their earnings are clean right from the
beginning.








The Mentality of “This is the Way
Things are Done”


Explicit advertisements, hiring females to attract
customers with their charm rather than their skills, are
just a couple of the worst mistakes of todays commer¬
cial life. Because greed overshadows the worries of the
afterlife, the ego blinds one to the immorality of it all
and instead offers excuses like ‘in this day and age, this
is the way things are done’. Often, it also comes with
the excuse that they are doing it only so they can earn
more and to give more in charity. But they are brazenly
overstepping the fine line between right and wrong
and ultimately, fooling themselves.

Capitalism is where corporate investments trans¬
form societies for the worse. And since it is a system
that inflates the ego, not only does it have no room for
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