It was a quiet morning at the hospital; I was a bit early on my first day of work so I walked around trying to find something beneficial to read. Hmm, the magazine stalls here were not quite like the usual, they were much more soothing to the eyes; ‘Which?’ magazine, ‘New Scientist’, ‘Nature’, ‘Nursing’ – I picked out the first two and sat down to read. I was intrigued by the 4-page special they had on ‘Beating the Scams Trap’. The extent that some people go to in order to gain extra money through lying, deceiving, covering-up is quite sickening. I just couldn’t get my head around why anyone could be so hardworking and enthusiastic in doing such vile and evil things to others (trust me, scammers are hard-working people!).

Qadarallah, a few days later I found myself in the middle of a horrible scam… so much for trying to help my little brother with his educational courses! I guess there’s always a precursor to events in our lives – at least, now I know why the ‘Scams’ article was the 1st one I read in the whole magazine 🙂 Ironically, I even took the ‘How likely are you to be a scam victim’ quiz and came out with the result “You’re totally savvy” haha, well. I almost fell to a (brilliant) scammer and almost lost thousands of pounds.

Believe it or not, I actually wasn’t too concerned about the money… The worst thing was that the person the company sent us to discuss the transaction and work with for the next few months, was another Muslim.  Usually, we have a default of trust because we assume they’ll abide by honourary characteristics such as truthfulness, honesty, integrity, fear of injustice etc. But sometimes, that default requires an inspection from us. Half-way through, he must’ve sensed my caution as he said, ‘You don’t trust me?!’ Well, actually no, I didn’t… Yes, even if you are another Muslim who insists on ‘authenticity’. To cut a long story short, he was finally caught out and I cancelled the transaction agreement but was really dismayed over the next few days about how widespread covetousness and greed were in this Ummah.

Why have we strayed from our glorious path? Why can’t we wish for our brothers and sisters what we’d like for ourselves? Why do we have so much طمع (covetousness, desire) and place so much into our worldy lives such that it eats up our faith without us realising? No doubt, money is a huge issue in this world; friends are ready to sell you out for a petty gain, thus breaking the rights of brotherhood, businesses ready to indulge in haram income, so long as it’s an ‘income’, countries ready to tread over the neck of others as they make their walks along ‘Capitalist Avenue’,  – a really sad state of affairs.

Oh no, am I ranting? 😀

Ok, I’ll save you guys the earache and end my rant with a few gems I picked out today from a book that I haven’t picked up for a year (actually, this was the original post before I digressed, oops)…

This world is a scam which has fooled many.

Abu al-Darda’ addressed the people of Damascus saying, ‘Won’t you have some shame? You build that which you do not live in, you hope for which you cannot achieve and you gather that which you will not eat. Indeed, those who came before you built strong buildings, they gathered up much and they had long hopes. So their buildings became graves, their wealth an illusion and their gatherings perished.’

A wise man once said, ‘The mother of all sins lies in 3 things: Jealousy, Covetousness and Arrogance. As for arrogance, its origin lies in Iblis when he proved arrogant and refused to prostrate and thus he was cursed. As for covetousness, then it originally came from Adam (`alayhisalam) when it was said to him, ‘All of Paradise is permissible for you except this tree’ but covetousness carried him to eat from it until he fell from Paradise. And jealousy has its origins in Qabil, the son of Adam when he killed his brother Habil (because the sacrifice was accepted from Habil and not Qabil), thus he became a disbeliever and his place will be in Hellfire forever.’

Imam al-Samarqandi said, ‘A believer is in need of 6 characteristics:

1. Knowledge which guides him to the Hereafter.
2. A friend who helps him maintain obedience to Allah, the Most High, and prevents him from disobeying Him.
3. Knowing his enemies and being cautious of them.
4. Insight which he uses to contemplate over the Verses of Allah, and over the passing nights and days.
5. Being kind to the creation so that they do not argue with him on the Day of Judgment.
6. Preparation for death before it arrives so that he is not exposed on the Day of Judgment.

The Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) said, ‘Does every one of you want to enter Paradise?’ They said, ‘Yes! May Allah sacrifice us for you, O Messenger of Allah!’ He said, ‘Sever your long hopes and be shy of Allah as He truly deserves.’ They said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, we are all shy of Allah.’ He said, ‘That is not shyness. Rather, shyness of Allah Ta’ala is to remember the graves and its trials, to preserve the chest and what it gathers, and to preserve the head and what it contains.’ [Sahih al-Jami’]

And it is also reported in a sound narration (Sahih al-Jami’) that the Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) said, ‘Rectification in the first part of this nation was in Zuhd (detachment from the excesses of this world) and Yaqin (certainty), and the destruction of the last part of this nation will be in greed and long hopes.’

Translated from ‘Tanbih al-Ghafilin’ by Imam al-Samarqandi (pg. 156-160)