Extravagance in ethical discussions is regarded as a highly important topic. In Islam, extravagance is not only considered one of the major sins, but also a destructive calamity that deprives innocent people in various aspects of life.
What is Extravagance?
Raghib al-Isfahani writes: “Sarf means crossing the limit in any action committed by a person, although it is more commonly used for financial spending. At times, it refers to going beyond moderation in the amount of consumption, and at times it refers to the manner of giving wealth. Therefore, Sufyan has said that whatever is spent outside the obedience of God is extravagance, even if the amount is small and insignificant”.[1]
Based on Raghib’s explanation and on the abundant evidence found in the Quran and Hadith, extravagance refers to any act of exceeding limits and acting with excess. In all cases, it is an act that is forbidden, condemned, and a cause of God Almighty’s anger and displeasure. God says in Surat al-Araf: “Eat and drink, but do not be extravagant, for God does not love the extravagant”.[2]
Examples of Extravagance
According to the statements of linguists and Quranic commentators, the limits of extravagance are determined based on three criteria:
1. Sins and Forbidden Acts
Sins themselves are divine limits. Committing them, even without spending wealth, is extravagance. If such sins involve financial expenditure, then it becomes tabdhir, which is another sin.
For this reason, some linguists and commentators have interpreted extravagance as consuming unlawful wealth,[3] crossing from lawful to unlawful,[4] and spending wealth for sinful purposes.[5] Naraqi also quotes Allamah Hilli as saying that Muslim scholars unanimously agree that spending wealth on sin is extravagance and forbidden.[6]
2. Going Against Reason
This refers to cases in which sound reason judges that spending wealth is improper, for example, giving money to someone who does not deserve it, wasting wealth, or spending it on useless and inappropriate matters. Such behavior indicates mental inadequacy and weak judgment. Because of this, some linguists have defined sarf as negligence, ignorance, or error.[7]
Tabarsi, one of the great figures in Quranic exegesis, writes, in explaining the verse “Eat and drink but do not be extravagant”: any spending that intelligent people consider improper and that harms the spender is extravagance and forbidden.[8]
Based on this, reason plays a valid and important role in distinguishing legitimate spending from illegitimate spending, and crossing these boundaries is a form of extravagance.
3. Exceeding Social Norms
In some cases, social norms determine the limits of extravagance. For example, spending wealth for personal needs, for one’s spouse and children, or for others, each has a limit defined by the social norms of a community, depending on the economic conditions of the time and the financial and social status of each person.
Just as falling short of these limits is considered miserliness, and can even be forbidden if it results in neglecting obligatory rights, exceeding these limits is leaving moderation and joining the ranks of the extravagant.[9]
In this regard, Turayhi writes: “It has been said that extravagance means going beyond limits in using lawful things. Asbagh ibn Nubata narrates from the Amir Al-Muminim (AS) that an extravagant person has three signs: he eats what is not appropriate for him, he buys what is not appropriate for him, and he wears what is not appropriate for him. The meaning of the hadith is that he eats, buys, and wears what is above his social status”.[10]
Marhum Tabarsi also writes: “The purpose of forbidding extravagance is that you must not go beyond moderation in spending wealth”.[11] Likewise, Zamakhshari states in his exegesis: “Extravagance means exceeding limits in spending”.[12]
Extravagance in the Quran
In the Noble Quran, the word israf and its derivatives are repeatedly used. Verses such as:
a) “Give the relative his due, and the needy and the traveler, and do not be wasteful in spending. Indeed, the wasteful are brothers of the devils, and Satan is ever ungrateful to his Lord”.[13]
b) “Give its due on the day of harvest, and do not be extravagant. Truly, God does not love the extravagant”.[14]
c) “O children of Adam, wear your adornment to every mosque, and eat and drink but do not be extravagant. Truly, God does not love the extravagant”.[15]
Extravagance in Hadiths
Imam Sadiq (AS) said to a person who had visited him: “Fear God and do not be extravagant. Do not be harsh and severe either; follow the path of moderation. Indeed, tabdhir is a form of extravagance, and God has said: Do not engage in tabdhir”.[16]
Another hadith from Imam Sadiq (AS) states: “The prayers of four groups of people are not answered. One of them is the person who had wealth but wasted it, and then asks God to provide for him. God says: Did I not command you to be moderate in spending?”.[17]
In a letter written by Imam Askari (AS) to one of his followers, after giving him the good news of future prosperity, he advised: “Hold fast to moderation and balance, and beware of extravagance, for it is among the deeds of Satan”.[18]
Imam Sadiq (AS) also said: “God loves moderation and dislikes excess,even in throwing away the pit of a date, for it can be useful, or in wasting leftover drinking water”.[19]
Imam Ali (AS) says regarding extravagance: “Beyond the amount needed is extravagance”.[20]
He also said: “How far the extravagant person is from remedying the harm he causes and from what benefits his soul”.[21]
And he said: “The cause of poverty and hunger in society is extravagance”.[22]
Elsewhere, the Amir Al-Muminim (AS) states: “Abandon extravagance, for no one praises the generosity of an extravagant person, and if he becomes poor because of extravagance, he deserves no compassion”.[23]
Imam Sajjad (AS), in one part of the noble Dua Makarim al-Akhlaq, says: “O Lord, bless Muhammad and his family, and keep me away from committing extravagance, and protect my sustenance from being wasted”.[24]
Extravagance as a Disruptive Force in Economic and Social Affairs
Extravagance is a phenomenon that can lead a society toward ruin. The root of rebellion caused by wealth is that the wealthy person does not understand that the foundation of material life is the work and goods that people produce in order to sustain their own lives, or he understands but his desire for power prevents him from considering the interests of others. As a result, he uses wealth in ways that lead to nothing but disruption of social justice.
The Quran states: “How many cities We destroyed because their comfortable lifestyle made them arrogant”.[25]
Conclusion
Extravagance is addressed in many Quranic verses, relating to beliefs, ethics, exceeding divine limits, committing sins, and economic behavior. Numerous hadiths also warn against extravagance, even in its smallest forms.
Its consequences include poverty, God’s displeasure, loss, harm, and departing from what is good. Extravagance can also disrupt society and ultimately lead to its downfall, as the Noble Quran warns.
Notes
[1] . Raghib al-Isfahani, Al-Mufradat, p.230 (root s-r-f).
[2] . Al-Araf:31.
[3] . Turayhi, Majma al-Bahrayn, root s-r-f.
[4] . Tabarsi, Majma al-Bayan, vol.4, p.244, under verse 31 of Surat al-Araf.
[5] . Muqaddas Ardabili, Zubdat al-Bayan fi Ahkam al-Quran, p.409.
[6] . Naraqi, Awaid al-Ayyam, p.625.
[7] . Jawhari, Al-Sihah, vol.4, p.1373 (root s-r-f); Ibn Faris, Mujam Maqayis al-Lugha, vol.3, p.153 (root s-r-f).
[8] . Tabarsi, Majma al-Bayan, vol.4, p.245, under verse 31 of Surat al-Araf.
[9] . Musavi Kashmiri, A Study on Extravagance.
[10] . Turayhi, Majma al-Bahrayn, root s-r-f.
[11] . Tabarsi, Majma al-Bayan, vol.4, p.244, under verse 31 of Surat al-Araf.
[12] . Zamakhshari, Al-Kashshaf, vol.3, p.292.
[13] . Al-Isra:26–27.
[14] . Al-Anam:141.
[15] . Al-Araf:31.
[16] . Hurr al-Amili, Wasail al-Shia, vol. 9, p. 46.
[17] . Hurr al-Amili, Wasail al-Shia, vol.7, p.124 (Chapter 50 of the sections on supplication, hadith …) and vol. 21, p. 556 (Chapter 27 of the sections on expenditures, hadith 4).
[18] . Qummi, Safinat al-Bihar, vol.4, p.133.
[19] . Hurr al-Amili, Wasail al-Shia, vol.21, p.551 (Chapter 25 of the sections on expenditures, hadith 2).
[20] . Tamimi Amadi, Ghurar al-Hikam, hadith 8117.
[21] . Tamimi Amadi, Ghurar al-Hikam, hadith 8132.
[22] . Tamimi Amadi, Ghurar al-Hikam, hadith 8128.
[23] . Tamimi Amadi, Ghurar al-Hikam, hadith 8125.
[24] . Imam Zayn al-Abidin (AS), Sahifa Sajjadiyya, Supplication 20, p.100.
[25] . Al-Qasas:58.
References
- The Holy Quran.
- Amidi, Abd al-Wahid ibn Muhammad. Ghurar al-Hikam wa Durar al-Kalim. Selected traditions and translation by Mohsen Musavi. Qom: Dar al-Hadith, 1383 SH.
- Hurr al-Amili, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan. Wasail al-Shia ila Tahsil Masail al-Sharia. Qom: Al al-Bayt (AS) Institute, 1409 AH.
- Ibn Faris, Abu al-Husayn Ahmad. Mujam Maqayis al-Lugha. Qom: Publications of the Islamic Propagation Office affiliated with the Seminary, 1404 AH.
- Imam Zayn al-Abidan (AS). Sahifa Sajjadiyya. Translators: Gharuyan, Mohsen, and Ebrahimifar, Abd al-Jawad. Qom: Nashr al-Hadi, 1378 SH.
- Jawhari, Abu Nasr Ismail ibn Hammad al-Jawhari al-Farabi (d. 393 AH). Al-Sihah: Taj al-Lugha wa Sihah al-Arabiyya. Edited by Ahmad Abd al-Ghafur Ata. Beirut: Dar al-Ilm li-l-Malayin, 1407 AH.
- Muqaddas Ardabili, Ahmad ibn Muhammad. Zubdat al-Bayan fi Ahkam al-Quran. Tehran: Al-Maktaba al-Murtadawiyya li-Ihya al-Athar al-Jafariyya, 1368 SH.
- Musavi Kashmiri, Sayyid Mahdi. A Study on Extravagance. Qom: Bustan-e Kitab, 1391 SH.
- Naraqi, Ahmad ibn Muhammad Mahdi. Awaid al-Ayyam fi Bayan Qawaid al-Ahkam. Qom: Bustan-e Kitab (Islamic Propagation Office of the Seminary of Qom), 1375 SH.
- Qumm, Abbas. Safinat al-Bihar wa Madinat al-Hikam wa al-Athar, with the texts compared to Bihar al-Anwar. Qom: Osveh Publications, 1374 SH.
- Raghib al-Isfahani, Husayn ibn Muhammad ibn Mufaddal. Al-Mufradat fi Gharib al-Quran. Daftar Nashr al-Kitab, 1404 AH.
- Tabarsi, Fadl ibn Hasan. Majma al-Bayan fi Tafsir al-Quran. Beirut: Al-Alami Foundation for Publications, 1995 CE.
- Turayhi, Fakhr al-Din. Majma al-Bahrayn. Tehran: Bathat Publications, 1408 AH.
- Zamakhshari, Mahmud ibn Umar. Al-Kashshaf an Haqaiq Ghawamid al-Tanzil. Beirut: Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi, 1407 AH.
Source of the article | Adapted from:
Esfandiari, Abedin, Applied Ethics with Emphasis on Nahj al-Balagha, Qom, Qassim Publications, 1395 SH.
