What did al-Ghazali say about wealth?

"We will now discuss the reality of poverty and asceticism, their levels, classifications, conditions, and rulings. We will address poverty in one segment of the book and asceticism in another, beginning with poverty by saying: The First Part of the Book: On Poverty This includes explaining the reality of poverty, the general virtue of poverty, the specific virtue of the poor, the virtue of the poor over the rich, the etiquette of the poor in their poverty, their etiquette in accepting gifts, the prohibition of begging without necessity, the extent of wealth that prohibits begging, and the conditions of beggars."

"This is the meaning of poverty in an absolute sense, but we do not intend to explain absolute poverty; rather, the poverty of wealth in particular. Otherwise, the servant's poverty in relation to his needs is limitless because his needs are limitless. Among the needs of a person is what they attain through wealth. Let's explore this further. When someone lacks wealth, they are considered poor in relation to what they need."

"thus it would be better for them to die hungry than to have what they desperately need. This is a detailed explanation of wealth and poverty. Consideration remains for a poor individual eager and greedy for wealth, with no other concern, and a wealthy individual less eager to preserve wealth whose distress over losing wealth is less than the poor person's distress over poverty."

"If the soul is poor, its poverty will affect the heart, disturbing its wealth. Thus, the wealth of the soul completes and perfects the wealth of the heart. The heart's wealth originates from the wealth of the soul. From the heart, wealth reaches the soul, and from the soul, poverty, harm, and hardship reach the heart. Now, the شَيْخ defined the wealth of the soul with three things: First, its steadfastness on what is desired, which is the Truth, the Exalted."

"Poverty has a beginning and an end, an outward and an inward aspect. Its beginning is humility, and its end is honor. Outwardly, it is lack, and inwardly, it is wealth. As one man said to another: "Poverty and humiliation?" He replied: "No, rather poverty and honor." He then asked: "Poverty and wealth?" He replied: "No, rather poverty and a throne," and both were correct."

"God's right. But for the disobedient person of wealth, it will be on his back. And whenever he is thrown off, his wealth will say, Woe to you, why did you not fulfill God's right? This continues until he invokes woe and destruction upon himself. poverty, and criticizing wealth, ultimately returns to the condemnation of wealth. Therefore, we will not extend on it. Likewise, everything noted condemning the world also involves condemnation of wealth by default, since wealth is one of the greatest facets of the world. Now, we will specifically mention what was reported regarding wealth. The Prophet, peace be upon"

"the likes of which neither the first nor the last generations heard, befall a servant regarding his wealth at his death. All is taken from him, and he is questioned about all of it. A clarification of praising wealth and reconciling it with blame. Know that Allah, exalted is He, has referred to wealth as khair or good in multiple places in His noble book. For instance, He says, If he leaves behind khairan, meaning wealth, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said, How excellent is righteous wealth for a righteous man. All that has been mentioned regarding the reward of charity and pilgrimage praises wealth, as these acts"

"death most often? This narration is found in Ibn Majah from the hadith of Ibn Umar. A hadith states, Blessed is the good wealth for the righteous man. It was recorded by Ahmad and al-Tabarani from the hadith of Amr ibn al-As. Another hadith states, Poverty nearly amounts to disbelief, recorded by Abu Muslim al-Laythi and al-Bayhaqi. This indicates praise for wealth. To reconcile both the blame and praise concerning wealth, one must understand the wisdom, objective, harms, and dangers of wealth. Wealth is good in one aspect and evil in another. It is praiseworthy in its goodness and blameworthy in its wickedness,"

"The most burdensome things for people are fear, anxiety, illness, and poverty, with anxiety being the most painful for the soul, due to the loss of the beloved and the anticipation of harm, followed by illness, then fear, and then poverty. The proof of it is that a man hastens into poverty in order to drive off fear by means of it, giving away the whole of his wealth so as to be safe; and he hastens into fear and poverty together in order to drive off by them the pain of illness, so that a man will hazard everything in seeking health and spend his wealth upon it when he dreads death — and when he is certain of it,"

"and your private parts reach the utmost of blame altogether. When the saying of Al-Mutalamis reached Hatim al-Tayy, he reacted strongly. A little wealth can be improved and remain, while much wealth does not remain in corruption. And preserving wealth is better than its demise, and oppression in the land without sustenance. Hatim al-Tayy responded, may Allah cut off his tongue. He led people to miserliness. Why did he not say, generosity does not waste wealth before its demise, nor does stinginess in the wealth of the miser increase. So do not seek wealth with a constrained livelihood, for every tomorrow brings"