Stinginess

The Qur'an condemns stinginess. People who do not realize that God is the true owner of all property and possessions passionately cling to their material possessions, believing that these will be theirs forever or that their wealth will protect them. This belief is seriously mistaken, however, for whatever people possess ultimately belongs only to God, Who gives or removes wealth or poverty as He wills. As a result, the Qur'an disapproves of both vanity and despair. Believers are deeply thankful to God for what He has bestowed upon them and use these gifts in His cause. If they are poor, they remain patient due to their knowledge that some good will come of it.

Many unbelievers are stingy. They show off their wealth, but do not help the needy. They forget that God is perfect and above all needs, and that people need to earn His good pleasure by using their God-given gifts wisely. The Qur'an reveals the truth of this statement:

Here you are then: people who are called upon to spend in the Way of God and then some of you are tight-fisted! But whoever is tight-fisted is only tight-fisted to himself. God is Rich and you are poor. If you turn away, He will replace you with a people other than yourselves, and they will not be like you. (Qur'an, 47:38)

People who think that wealth and property are eternal are wrong. In fact, such things have no value in His presence: We never sent a warner into any city without the affluent people in it saying: "We reject what you have been sent with." They also said: "We have more wealth and children. We are not going to be punished." Say: "My Lord expands the provision of anyone He wills or restricts it. But the majority of humanity do not know it." It is not your wealth or your children that will bring you near to Us - only in the case of people who believe and act rightly; such people will have a double recompense for what they did. They will be safe from all harm in the High Halls of Paradise. (Qur'an, 34:34-37)

The Torah states: Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left, and you live alone in the land (Isaiah, 5:8). Judaism condemns hording possessions and greed.

The Bible proclaims that wealth can prevent people from practicing the religion's morality (Matthew, 19:23) and that You cannot serve both God and money (Luke, 16:13) (May God forbid this). It also relates the story of a rich but stupid man who horded possessions to ensure his security: ... The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself: "What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops." Then he said: "This is what I will do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to myself: 'You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.'" But God said to him: "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God. (Luke, 12:16-21)

Adapted from: "A Call for Unity" by: "Harun Yahya"