ibn Shuʿba, who reported that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, “used to forbid gossip, excessive questioning, and wasting wealth.”

Allah Most High has said in His Book:

“Do not give the weak-minded your property, which Allah has made a means of sustenance for you.”

Many of the Companions and Successors, may Allah be pleased with them, said that this refers to such cases as appointing a financially irresponsible person as one’s agent: a man hands his wealth over to his financially irresponsible son or wife, so that they provide for him and he becomes subject to their authority.

Others said that it refers to handing a financially irresponsible person his own wealth, for Allah has forbidden handing his wealth over to him unless sound judgment has been observed in him.

The verse encompasses both cases: Allah has forbidden allowing a financially irresponsible person to manage wealth, whether for himself or for someone else as an agent or guardian. Spending wealth on what brings no religious or worldly benefit is among the gravest forms of financial irresponsibility and is therefore forbidden by the revealed Law.

Once this is understood, it is clear that the founder of an endowment does not derive worldly benefit from it as he does from what he pays in a sale, a lease, or marriage. Nor does it benefit him religiously unless he spends it in Allah’s cause. Allah’s cause consists in obedience to Him and His Messenger. Allah rewards His servants only for what they spend on things He loves; as for what He does not love, there is no reward for spending on it. And the expenditure of