be meant as asking for money.

As for the first type—persistently asking questions about knowledge—this is disliked only when the questioner’s purpose is to overburden the one being asked, to cause him hardship, and to bring on weariness and boredom. If, however, he truly seeks knowledge, he is neither prohibited nor censured. ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him) was known for the abundance of his questions. He was once asked, “How did you attain your knowledge?” He answered, “With a tongue that asked constantly, a heart that understood, and a body that never tired.”

But if the questioner’s intention is to trouble the scholar, harass him, induce tedium, or lie in wait for his slips in order to disparage him, then that is what is reprehensible.

The second type—asking for money—: constant begging can place a person among the stingy and the greedy. Therefore one may not ask for wealth except in genuine need, or when he knows that the person being asked will feel honored by the request—such as a very close friend whose help will please him. In that situation there is no harm; otherwise, one should not ask except in dire necessity.

As for wasting wealth, it is to spend it in a way that brings no religious or worldly benefit. That, too, is squandering, for Allah the Exalted says, “Do not entrust to the feeble-minded your property which Allah has made a means of support for you” (Q 4:5). Wealth is a pillar of people’s lives; through it their religious and worldly interests are upheld. When a person spends it elsewhere, he is wasting it—worse still is to spend it on something forbidden, thereby committing two violations: