And beware of avarice—that obsessive craving for wealth—for it destroyed the peoples who came before you. Greed for money—may Allah protect us—drives a person to seek wealth by any means, lawful or unlawful. Indeed, the Prophet ﷺ said, “It drove them,” meaning those before us, “to shed one another’s blood and to violate what Allah had made inviolable.” When a miser sees no path to his desire except through bloodshed, he will spill blood, exactly as we witness among the greedy: they waylay Muslim travelers, kill them, seize their belongings and their camels. They likewise assault people inside the towns, murder them, tear down the sanctity of their homes, and seize their property by force and intimidation.

Thus the Prophet ﷺ warned us against two dangers: wrongdoing (ẓulm) and avarice (shuhḥ). Wrongdoing is to aggress against others; avarice is to covet what is with them. Both are forbidden. Allah the Exalted says, “Whoever is protected from the greed of his own soul—it is they who are successful” (59:9). The verse shows that whoever is not shielded from his soul’s greed will never prosper. The truly successful are those whom Allah protects from the miserliness of their souls. We ask Allah to safeguard us and you from wrongdoing and to shield us from the greed and evil of our own souls.

204 – On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “You will surely return the rights to their owners on the Day of Resurrection, until even the hornless sheep will receive retribution from the horned one.” Reported by Muslim.