If contentment is lost, poverty is born.

If contentment is lost, poverty is born.

Islam makes a person not just a collector but an understander. The Sharia has taught us that true wealth is not the abundance of wealth but contentment of the heart, gratitude, and being content with Allah's distribution. In the Holy Quran, we have been repeatedly warned of the consequences of ingratitude and given the glad tidings of the increase of blessings upon gratitude. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) clearly stated that richness is the richness of the heart, and poverty is not just the emptiness of the hand but the emptiness of the heart. Our previous generations, our elders, and seniors not only knew this truth but lived it. Their lives were a practical example of patience, contentment, and gratitude despite limited resources. In today's era, facilities have increased, but peace has departed from hearts because we have forgotten the difference between need and desire. The following article presents this forgotten truth to you through a common but profound dialogue.

Once someone asked an old man: Why is there so much poverty these days?

The elder replied with great composure, "In my opinion, there is not as much poverty today as people are making noise about. What we call poverty today is actually the non-fulfillment of desires." Then he spoke and, recalling the old days, said, "We have seen those days of poverty when we didn't have money to coat the slate in school, so we used to write by applying mud. We didn't have a pen; we didn't have money to buy one; we used to use pebbles. The school clothes we bought were the same ones we wore on Eid. If we bought clothes for a wedding, we would buy them in school colors so that they could be used for the wedding and also as a school dress. If clothes tore, we would sew them repeatedly and wear them. If shoes tore, we would get them stitched repeatedly. The shoes were also made of plastic or Bata, which were hard to wear and injured the feet."

If a guest came to the house, we would borrow ghee from a neighbor, salt from another, and chili from another. Today, by the grace of Allah, every house has months' worth of supplies. Not just a guest, but arrangements for an entire wedding party can be made. Today, school children have two or three uniforms. If they have to go to a wedding, they have separate clothes and shoes for Mehndi, Barat, and Walima. The young man who is crying about poverty today has a mobile phone worth thirty thousand, clothes worth thousands, and good sandals in his pocket.

Poverty was when there was no oil to light the lamp in the house. We would spend the whole night without a bed. Sometimes, my mother would give me a piece of cloth and say, "Son, cover yourself with this." We would ask, "How will you sleep?" She would say, "I will sit by the fire; I won't feel cold," and even imagining that intense cold at that time makes me shiver. Son, it's not poverty at that time but the non-fulfillment of desires.

What do you know, son? Listen, the limit was reached when the bread was baked, but there were no vegetables. There was one onion; my mother would divide it among all the siblings and eat saltless bread herself while sitting by the stove, and with every bite, she would say Alhamdulillah, SubhanAllah, MashaAllah.

The elder sighed and said, "Son, the truth is that in today's era, there is poverty of desires. If someone cannot afford three pairs of clothes on Eid or at a wedding, they consider themselves poor. We have become ungrateful; that is why blessings have been lifted. Remember, when a person becomes a slave to desires, life becomes a burden on them. By abandoning simplicity, they put the collar of troubles around their own necks. I have heard from my elders that even kings who fulfill their desires eventually become beggars. In our time, there was less prosperity, but hearts were rich; people didn't even know about envy, malice, and hatred."

The elder said the last thing, "Son, listen to the last thing; I am telling you my seventy years of experience. The peace, comfort, and joy with which a poor person eats, the grandeur with which a poor person sleeps, the strength that Allah has given to a laborer, son, even the rich do not have a fraction of it. Those houses are the ones that are at peace in which the knowledge of religion is present; otherwise, worldly people, even after being wealthy and affluent today, are always victims of inferiority complex, and their peace, their dignity, their honors pass through the walls of a few poor houses, and often the rich eat illegitimately, and the poor eat very clean sustenance. There is no doubt, son, that wealth is valuable at this time; wealth should be there, but always stay safe from such wealth, which wealth injures your peace, your dignity, your honor."

From all these things, it becomes clear that true poverty is not the lack of wealth but the restlessness of the heart and the excess of desires. Previous generations had learned to live with less; that is why there was peace in their homes, gratitude in their hearts, and blessings in their lives. Despite the facilities today, we are not satisfied because we have abandoned contentment and made desires the standard of living, and it is also understood that ingratitude snatches away blessings, and gratitude shows a lot even in a little. When a person starts considering their need as a desire and their desire as a right, they feel deprived even while living among blessings. All these things bear witness to the fact that if we adopt simplicity, gratitude, and contentment again, not only can our personal lives be improved, but the entire society can return to peace and blessings.

May Allah Almighty grant us lawful sustenance, protect us from diseases like envy, malice, hatred, and backbiting, and grant us the spirit of contentment within us. Ameen, Ya Rabb Al-Alameen, by the grace of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).