Wealth and Poverty are both a Test and Honor or Disgrace for the Servant
Ayahs Covered
Common Words
Other Scholars on These Ayahs
And as for man the disbeliever whenever his Lord tests him and honours him with wealth and other things and is gracious to him he says ‘My Lord has honoured me’.
But when he tests him and restricts his provision for him he says ‘My Lord has humiliated me’.
No indeed! — a disavowal of this notion in other words honour is not about wealth nor is there any humiliation in poverty rather it has to do with obedience and disobedience respectively; but the disb...
and they do not urge neither themselves nor others the feeding of the needy;
and they devour inheritance turāth means mīrāth greedily lamman that is to say voraciously when they appropriate lammuhum the women’s and the young ones’ share of the inheritance together with their o...
and they love wealth with abounding love that is to say greatly and so they do not expend any of it a variant reading in the case of all four verbs has the second person plural.
Related Hadiths
"Whoever suffers from destitution and he beseeches the people for it, his destitution shall not end. And whoever suffers from destitution and he beseeches Allah for it, Allah will send provisions to h...
“Indeed, Allah, is Hayy, Generous, when a man raises his hands to Him, He feels too shy to return them to him empty and rejected.”
"Indeed the best of my friends to me is the one of meager conditions, whose share is in Salat, worshipping his Lord well and obeying him (even) in private. He is obscure among the people such that the...
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If one who is afflicted with poverty refers it to me, his poverty will not be brought to an end; but if one refers it to Allah, He will soon give him sufficiency, either by a spe...
This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Yahya b. Sa'id with the same chain of transmitters (but with a slight variation of words and these are)" Whenever a man becomes poor."
“The heart of an old man is young in the love of two things: Love of life and much wealth.”
That the Prophet (ﷺ) said: "Verily, Allah has honored me over the (other) Prophets" - or he said: "My nation over the nations, and He has made the spoils of war lawful for us."
"When Allah loves a slave, He prevents him from the world, just as one of you prevents his sick from water." Another chain reports a similar narration.
“The believer should not humiliate himself.” They said: “How could he humiliate himself?” He said: “By taking on a trial that he cannot deal with.”
By Him in Whose Hand is my life and Ibn 'Abbad also said: By One in Whose hand is the life of Abu Huraira, Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) could not afford to provide adequate food to his family which could (fi...
Ibn Kathir Commentary
Related Tafsir
Wealth and Poverty are both a Test and Honor or Disgrace for the Servant
Allah refutes man in his belief that if Allah gives Him abundant provisions to test him with it, it is out of His honor for him. But this is not the case, rather it is a trial and a test, as Allah says,
أَيَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّمَا نُمِدُّهُمْ بِهِ مِن مَّالٍ وَبَنِينَ - نُسَارِعُ لَهُمْ فِى الْخَيْرَتِ بَل لاَّ يَشْعُرُونَ
(Do they think that in wealth and children with which We enlarge them. We hasten unto them with good things. Nay, but they perceive not.) (23:55-56) Likewise, from another angle, if Allah tests him and tries him by curtailing his sustenance, he believes that is because Allah is humiliating him. As Allah says,
كَلاَّ
(But no!) meaning, the matter is not as he claims, neither in this nor in that. For indeed Allah gives wealth to those whom He loves as well as those whom He does not love. Likewise, He withholds sustenance from those whom He loves and those whom He does not love. The point is that Allah should be obeyed in either circumstance. If one is wealthy, he should thank Allah for that, and if he is poor, he should exercise patience.
From the Evil that the Servant does regarding Wealth
Allah said,
بَل لاَّ تُكْرِمُونَ الْيَتِيمَ-
(But you treat not the orphans with kindness and generosity!) This contains the command to honor him (the orphan). Abu Dawud recorded from Sahl bin Sa`id that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,
«أَنَا وَكَافِلُ الْيَتِيمِ كَهَاتَيْنِ فِي الْجَنَّة»
(The guardian of the orphan and I will be like these two in Paradise.) And he put his two fingers together - the middle finger and the index finger.
وَلاَ تَحَاضُّونَ عَلَى طَعَامِ الْمِسْكِينِ-
(And urge not one another on the feeding of the Miskin!) meaning, they do not command that the poor and the needy be treated with kindness, nor do they encourage each other to do so.
وَتَأْكُلُونَ التُّرَاثَ
(And you devour the Turath) meaning, the inheritance.
أَكْلاً لَّمّاً
(devouring with greed.) meaning, however they can get it, whether lawful or forbidden.
وَتُحِبُّونَ الْمَالَ حُبّاً جَمّاً
(And you love wealth with love Jamma.) meaning, in abundance. This increases some of them in their wickedness.