Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Islam and Greed: Islamic Sayings on Greed (What is Greed?)


Islamic Sayings on GreedGreed is the excess fondness of money and fortune. It is one of the bad manners that draw to various evils and sins. Greed is selfish excessive or uncontrolled desire for possession or pursuit of money, wealth, food, or other possessions, especially when this denies the same goods to others.

Amir al-Muminin (as) said: "Know with certainty that you cannot achieve your desire and cannot exceed your destined life. You are on the track of those before you. Therefore, be humble in seeking and moderate in earning because often seeking leads to deprivation. Every seeker of livelihood does not get it, nor is everyone who is moderate in seeking deprived."

Amir al-Muminin (as) said: "A greedy man will always find himself in the shackles of humility."

Amir al-Muminin (as) said: "Greed is the key to trouble and carries man to hardship. It causes him to commit sin."

Imam Hasan Mujtaba (as) said: "The annihilation of people lies in three things: Arrogance, Greed and Envy. Arrogance causes destruction of the religion and because of it Shaitan (Satan) was cursed, and Greed is the enemy of one's soul, and because of it Adam was expelled from Paradise, and Envy is the guide to wickedness, and because of it Qabil (Cain) killed Habil (Abel) - the two sons of Prophet Adam (as)."

Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (as) said: "In his love for the world, the greedy is like the silkworm: the more it wraps in its cocoon, the less it has of escaping from it, until it dies of grief."

Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) said: "If son of Adam were to possess two valleys of gold and silver, he would long for a third. Son of Adam, your stomach is but an ocean or a valley that cannot be filled in with anything except dust."

Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) said: "The destruction that the fondness of fortune leaves on a man is more effective than the deed of two ravenous wolves that attack a shepherd less herd, one from the front and the other from the back. The Muslim's honor, however, lies in his religiosity."

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