Khutbah: Extravagance and Wastefulness

All praises and thanks are due to Allāh, the one who has favoured us with the favour of Islam, the greatest of all favours. The one exalted above change, demise, decline and non-existence. The one who grants favours with grace, the one who judges with justice, the one attributed with generosity. I praise Him—Exalted is He—and thank Him over all His favours. And I testify that there is no god except Allāh, the Lord of the Tablet and the Pen. And I testify that Muḥammad is His slave and messenger, the one sent to the Arabs and non-Arabs. O Allah, send blessings and peace upon Your slave and messenger Muḥammad, and upon his family and companions, who have achieved the most excellent of guidance and nobility!

O Attendees of this Blessed Friday Gathering! I first and foremost advise you to fear Allāh, your Lord, and remain conscious of Him at all times and places. Obey His Commands and beware of His Prohibitions, without going to extremes. Indeed, Islam is a religion of moderation, and hence we should take the moderate path, the path between the two extremes, both in our religious and worldly affairs.

O Believers! Allāh—the All-Wise, the All-Knowing—says in His Book:

وَلَا تُبَذِّرْ تَبْذِيرًا ۝ إِنَّ الْمُبَذِّرِينَ كَانُوا إِخْوَانَ الشَّيَاطِينِ ۖ وَكَانَ الشَّيْطَانُ لِرَبِّهِ كَفُورًا

"...and do not spend wastefully. Indeed, the wasteful are brothers of the devils, and ever has Shayṭān been to his Lord ungrateful." (Qur’ān 17:26-27)

And Allāh says:

وَلَا تُسْرِفُوا ۚ إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُسْرِفِينَ

"And do not be extravagant. Indeed, He (Allāh) does not love the extravagant." (Qur’ān 7:31)

As we can see from this ayah, as well as from the many other āyāt and aḥādīth in the Islamic Tradition, we should not be wasteful and excessive when it comes to spending our money. We should only spend according to our needs and not waste that which Allāh has provided us with.

We live in a world today which promotes and champions the idea of going beyond what we need. We are encouraged to aim for lives of luxury; lives of luxury are glorified, esp. by the media and popular culture, as the standard to which we should aim. We are encouraged to buy the latest and greatest gadgets, wear the coolest fashions, purchase the most expensive brands, imitate and obsess over the most popular people, hold the grandest events, live the most luxurious lives... We are being pushed the idea that a life of luxury and splendour, of extravagance and grandeur, is the ideal life. But ask yourself: This materialistic world view, is this the way we should view this world and our existence? Or is this a one-eyed, Dajjalic view of this world and our existence?

Remember, O intelligent beings, that this dunyā is not all there is to life. This dunyā that we live in is temporary. Our lives here are temporary. It will all end one day. Now, you might ask, "If this world really is temporary, then shouldn't we be living life to the max, enjoying ourselves as much as we can before we die?" Well, I remind you of the statement of Prophet `Īsā (`alayh al-salām): "This world is a bridge; use it to cross over, not to build over."

Remember, O slaves of Allāh, that this life will be followed by an Afterlife. Our purpose in this life is to plant the seeds for the Afterlife, where we shall see the results of our planting. If we planted our seeds well, we will find the results of that in the Afterlife as being delight upon delight, luxury upon luxury, enjoyment upon enjoyment, in shā’ Allāh. An Afterlife that is everlasting and does not end.

So think about it, O honourable believers: would you prefer the limited enjoyments of this temporary, perishing world, or the limitless enjoyments of the never-ending Hereafter? By Allāh, the enjoyments of this world are nothing compared to the enjoyments of Jannah. They don't even deserve to be called enjoyments. If anything, the greatest enjoyments this world has to offer are in fact like a prison compared to even the least of what Jannah has to offer. So indeed, whoever still prefers what this life has to offer over what the next life has to offer is nothing but a fool.

And what is worse—and this is something we see all too often—is when people are extravagant in committing acts of obedience. E.g. holding large, grand events where Allāh is being disobeyed. Not only are they disobeying their Master and Sustainer, but they are being extravagant in doing so!  Subḥān Allāh! Allāh blesses them with health and wealth, but what do they use that for? To disobey Him! What a pathetic attitude! How grateful and thankful these people are!

Having said all that, there's two things I would like to clarify:

1. The message here is not that you have to live a miserable life to attain the success of the Hereafter. You may enjoy yourself and have pleasure in this world—this is a natural human desire. Allāh says:

قُلْ مَنْ حَرَّمَ زِينَةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي أَخْرَجَ لِعِبَادِهِ وَالطَّيِّبَاتِ مِنَ الرِّزْقِ

"Say, 'Who has forbidden the adornment of Allāh which He has produced for His servants and the good [lawful] things of provision?'" (Qur’ān 7:32)

However, it should not reach a point where you are excessive and extravagant in doing so; you should not make enjoyment your purpose in life. The true enjoyment is in the Hereafter and in working for it.

2. The same way Allāh prohibits extravagance, he also prohibits stinginess (bukhl). One of the descriptions the Qur’ān makes of the slaves of ar-Raḥmān is:

وَالَّذِينَ إِذَا أَنفَقُوا لَمْ يُسْرِفُوا وَلَمْ يَقْتُرُوا وَكَانَ بَيْنَ ذَٰلِكَ قَوَامًا

"And [they are] those who, when they spend, are not extravagant nor stingy, but are ever, between that, [justly] moderate." (Qur’ān 25:67)

So do not be extravagant and wasteful, which by the way becomes worse when you're actually spending in the path of Shayṭān, and do not be stingy, esp. when it comes to spending in the path of Allāh.

Hence, I urge you, O believers in Allāh and the Last Day—a Day which will not come to an end—, to think carefully about your stance towards this world. This world is a bridge to the Hereafter. Are you going to build over it or cross over it to the other side?

I end with the following āyāt from Sūrat Fāṭir:

يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِنَّ وَعْدَ ٱللَّهِ حَقٌّ ۖ فَلَا تَغُرَّنَّكُمُ ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَا ۖ وَلَا يَغُرَّنَّكُم بِٱللَّهِ ٱلْغَرُورُ ۝ إِنَّ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنَ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ فَٱتَّخِذُوهُ عَدُوًّا ۚ إِنَّمَا يَدْعُوا۟ حِزْبَهُۥ لِيَكُونُوا۟ مِنْ أَصْحَٰبِ ٱلسَّعِيرِ

"O mankind, indeed the Promise of Allāh (i.e. the resurrection and the judgement of deeds) is true, so do not let the worldly life deceive you and do not be deceived about Allāh by the Deceiver (i.e. Shayṭān). Indeed, Shayṭān is an enemy to you, so take him as an enemy. He only invites his party to be among the companions of the Blaze." (Qur’ān 35:5-6)