Greed & Selfishness

Greed & Selfishness are two things which come together, it's never a case of having one attribute of these and not having the other, rather a matter of "with smoke comes fire." Greed is the fire of inner desires, let us say your inner most wants, if we think about the connection between fire and smoke then we realize that from the amount of smoke we see , we could determine the quantity of fire present. In a similar manner when you come across someone who never pays zakat, never thinks about the poor, gives sadaqah then it's simply because they are selfish , and selfishness is the product of avarice.

Those people who are greedy, are those people who will not think about the need of others , and this is because they won't have the heart to share, then be it either what they eat or what they or their children earn . The act of sharing or caring will not be present in their own personality nor their generation. Greed takes away ones ability to give zakhat /khairat or return what belongs to someone. Compulsory giving is amongst the five pillars of Islam, which are as follows: 1) declaration of faith 2) compulsory prayer 3) compulsory giving 4) fasting in the month of Ramadan 5) pilgrimage to Mecca.

Selfishness isn't the only product of greed , covetousness takes away humanity, and ones righteousness also, one does almost anything to obtain what they want, then be it through stealing or even murder. If it's a woman she will consider selling herself in the market, perhaps a woman would sell herself to buy shoes, clothes, handbag just to attend a party , wedding or Walima, in some cases certain women even stoop low to even eat food in restaurant, not for the sake of need but to fulfill false desires. Interestingly those desires are basically very petty, and have nothing to do with the hereafter, so basically greed takes away the entire concept of righteousness within either a man or woman.

Holders of greed fail in at least two of the pillars of Islam, 1)Compulsory giving and 2) Ramadan. Ramadan isn't just the month to fast , it's actually a month to realize the concept behind compulsory giving by keeping yourself in a fasting situation, a situation similar to those living in poverty. On the other hand Ramadan is then a month to improve your spiritual side, a month to reflect on ways to become a better muslim, if you hurted someone , then as a muslim it is your duty to apologize to that person in particular , and rectify your flaws , work on areas where you have wronged, it is then the doors of repentance open tauba. Repentance only starts of with acceptance. If you can't work in acceptance then there is no need to express a false declaration of faith, or going on a pilgrimage, a false visitation to the kabba would make no sense at all, the kabba was never made as a tourist attraction, but a Muslims attraction.
Greed takes away instinct , an overall ability to work on what's right for mankind thus laying the foundations for most sins done by man.

There is a beautiful a Hadith of a group of people who used to worship a tree, then once a a man living amongst these people decided to chop off the tree that people worshipped. The Shaitan comes in his way and says where are you going ? The man said I am going to chop off that tree , the Shaitan said "no you can't" , then the two had a fight, the Shaitan was defeated and said " I will put two dinars out side your house for the rest of your life if you don't chop off that tree, this means you don't have to work for the rest of your life"the man agreed . The Shaitan puts two dinar for a few days , then he stopped putting the amount. Then the man decided he will go and chop the tree , again the Shaitan came before him, and asked him where are you going ? he said to chop of that tree , they both had a fight, this time the man was defeated , the man asked the Shaitan, "how is it that I won the first time with you , and lost this time, ?" the Shaitan replied because the first time , you came for the sake of Allah, this time you fought with me for the two dinars. The value of man depends on what you value here, those who strive for worldly desire so much that they have forgotten their first motive will have no share in the hereafter.


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Written by me.