You drunken and confused lot! You who take delight and indulge in rivalry for wealth, children and the pleasures of this life, from which you are sure to depart! You who are absorbed with what you have, unaware of what comes afterwards! You who will leave the object of this rivalry, and what you seek pride in, and go to a narrow hole where there is no rivalry or pride! Wake up and look around, all of you! For indeed, “you are preoccupied by greed for more and more, until you go down to your graves.” – Sayyid Qutb: In the Shade of the Quran
Takathur, or Piling Up. In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. The mutual rivalry for piling up (the good things of this world) diverts you (from the more serious things), Until ye visit the graves. But nay, ye soon shall know (the reality). Again, ye soon shall know! Nay, were ye to know with certainty of mind, (ye would beware!) Ye shall certainly see Hellfire! Again, ye shall see it with certainty of sight! Then, shall ye be questioned that Day about joy (ye indulged in!) (Quran 102:1-8).
In this Sura people have been warned of the evil consequences of worshipping worldly possessions which leads them to greed and avariciousness an increases their propensity to acquire more and more of worldly wealth, material benefits and pleasures, position and power, till their death, and in vying with one another , bragging and boasting about their acquisitions. This one pursuit has so occupied them that they are left with no time or opportunity for pursuing the higher things in life.
They mortgage their soul on the altar of acquisitiveness. After warning the people of its evil end the Quran says: “These blessings which you are amassing and enjoying thoughtlessly, are not mere blessings but are also a means of your trial. For each one of these blessings and comforts you will surely be called to account in the Hereafter.”
In his Tafsir of the above Sura, Sayyid Qutb, the ‘Martyr’ says of the first two Ayah that the passion for piling up more and more has made the people heedless of God, of the Hereafter, of the moral bounds and moral responsibilities, of the rights of others and of their own obligations to render those rights.
They are only after raising the standard of living and do not bother even if the standard of humanity is falling. They want to acquire more and more wealth no matter how and by what means it is acquired. They desire to have more and more means of comfort and physical enjoyment and, overwhelmed by this greed, they have become wholly insensitive as to the ultimate end of this way of living. They are engaged in a race with others to acquire more and more of power, more and more of forces, more and more of weapons, and they have no idea that all these are means of filling God’s earth with tyranny and wickedness and of destroying humanity itself.
We are under the delusion that the abundance of the worldly goods and surpassing others in it, is real progress and success, whereas the opposite is the case. Soon you will know its evil end and you will realize that it was a stupendous error in which you remained involved throughout your life.
In several Hadiths it has been reported from the Holy Prophet (SAW) that the believers and the disbelievers, both will have to account for the blessings granted by Allah. However, the people who did not show ingratitude but spent their lives as grateful servants of Allah, will come out successful from the accountability, and those who proved thankless to Allah for His blessings and committed ingratitude by word or by deed, or by both; will emerge as failures.
The Holy Prophet (SAW) said: “By Him in Whose hand is my life: this is of the blessings about which you will be questioned on the Resurrection Day: the cool shade, the cool dates, the cool water.”
These Ahadith make it explicit that not only the disbelievers but the righteous believers too will be questioned. As for the blessings which Allah has bestowed on man, they are unlimited and countless. There are many blessings of which man is not even conscious.
The Qur’an says:
And He giveth you all that ye ask for. But if ye count the favors of Allah, never will ye be able to number them. Verily, man is given up to injustice and ingratitude.(Quran 14: 34).
Countless of them are the blessings which Allah has granted directly to man, and a large number of these are the blessings which man is granted through his own skill and endeavor.
About the blessings that accrue to man in consequence of his own labor and skill, he will have to render an account as to how he acquired them and in what ways he expended them. The man who claimed to possess 25 buildings and plots in choice parts of Lagos and Abuja will have questions to answer on the Day of Qiyamah, as will the banker who built an estate of over 753 buildings.
In respect of the blessings directly bestowed by Allah, he will have to give an account as to how he used them. And in respect of all the blessings, on the whole, he will have to tell whether he had acknowledged that those blessings had been granted by Allah and whether he had expressed gratitude for them to Allah with his heart, and by word and deed, or whether he thought he had received all that accidentally, or as’ a gift from many gods, or whether he held the belief that although those were the blessings of One God, in their bestowal many other beings also had a part, and for that very reason he had taken them as his gods and worshiped and thanked them as such.
That mutual increase in wealth diverts man is commented on by the Prophet (SAW) in the Hadith in which he said: (If the Son of Adam had a valley of gold, he would desire another like it…).
Imam Ahmad recorded from `Abdullah bin Ash-Shikhkhir that he said, “I came to the Messenger of Allah (SAW) while he was saying: The Son of Adam says, “My wealth, my wealth.” But do you get anything (of benefit) from your wealth except for that which you ate and you finished it, or that which you clothed yourself with and you wore it out, or that which you gave as charity and you have spent it)” Muslim, At-Tirmidhi.
Imam Ahmad recorded from Anas that the Prophet (SAW) said: ‘The Son of Adam becomes old with senility, but yet two things remain with him: greed and hope.’ Al-Bukhari and Muslim.
Then, shall ye be questioned that Day about joy (ye indulged in!). (Quran 102:8)
Meaning, on the Day of Resurrection, you all will be questioned concerning your gratitude towards the favors that Allah blessed you with, such as health, safety, sustenance and other things. You will be asked if you return His favors by being thankful to Him and worshipping Him.
Then, on that day (shall ye be questioned that Day about joy) you will be asked whether you gave thanks for all the bounties you enjoyed, of food, drink, clothing, etc’.
Bukhari, At-Tirmizi, An-Nasa’i and Ibn Majah narrated on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: “There are two blessings of which many people are deceived (i.e. about which they wrong or deceive themselves): Health and leisure time.” That is, they are slack, or negligent in giving thanks for them, neither making full use of them nor fulfilling their obligations in regard to them.”
It is reported from Abu Hurairah that the Prophet (SAW) said: “Allah will say (on the Day of Judgement): ‘O, son of Adam! I made you to ride on horseback and on the camel and I gave you wives and made you to rule and to sit upon thrones, and what thanks do you give for all that?’
This Surah reminds one of the story of the miserly and stingy rich man in Yusuf Olatunji’s ballad Oba Oluwa loni dede. After death, the rich man gets to heaven and meets his maker and God asks him ‘what have you brought for me’. The rich man was embarrassed and he replied, opening his palms ‘Lord, I have brought nothing. See my empty palms’. We come with nothing and will go with nothing.
O Allah we thank thee for all You have blessed us with. We recognize that it is not by our power but by Your Grace.
Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend.
