the principle that every Muslim must adopt. As for partisan attachment to any matter without guidance from Allah, this belongs to the practices of pre-Islamic ignorance.

“And who is more astray than one who follows his own desires without guidance from Allah?”

There is no doubt that the term “poverty,” as used in the Quran and Sunnah and in the words of the Companions, the Successors and their followers, did not mean the path to Allah itself, doing what He commanded, refraining from what He forbade, praiseworthy character, or anything of that kind. Rather, poverty meant the opposite of wealth. The “poor” are those whom Allah mentions in His words:

“Alms are only for the poor and the needy”;

“For the poor who have been restricted in Allah’s cause”;

and:

“For the poor emigrants who were expelled from their homes and deprived of their wealth.”

The “wealthy” person is one who may not lawfully receive zakat, or one who is obliged to pay it, or someone defined in similar terms. However, because poverty was likely to entail asceticism, whether voluntary or involuntary—for lack of means can itself be a safeguard—later generations frequently came to associate poverty with asceticism. Yet asceticism may coexist with either wealth or poverty. Among the prophets and the earliest forerunners were many who practised asceticism despite their wealth.

The asceticism prescribed by the revealed law consists in giving up whatever brings no benefit in the Hereafter. As for anything a servant uses to help him obey Allah, abandoning it is not part of prescribed asceticism.