Business Development = Spiritual Development?
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Assalamu Alaikum Dear Reader,
tl;dr The consequences of engaging with what Allah has prohibited are sometimes severe and immediate but sometimes delayed. Make a sincere intention to leave the prohibited.
We might ask ourselves why our businesses struggle when we should be set-up for success, or why we watch our relationships crumble. Our first impulse is to look technical reasons - delays, blockers, budget etc - but rarely do we look for the spiritual ones.
I know someone who bought a house on a mortgage. He attributed a failed marriage to that. Another brother opened a restaurant and sold alcohol. Same story. Another brother was involved in business with Riba (usury) and thus spent a great deal of energy wrestling with the spiritual consequences. I could continue on and on about the pattern of someone who upon engaging in prohibited things in business is dealing with the spiritual consequences. These consequences often manifest materially.
Note: In simple terms, riba is trading 'like for like'. I give you $5 today, you give me $6 tomorrow with the additional $1 generated purely because of that exchange of money with no other exchange of goods or services.
When speaking about riba, Allah says:
فَإِن لَّمْ تَفْعَلُوا۟ فَأْذَنُوا۟ بِحَرْبٍۢ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ
If you do not [leave Riba], then beware of a war with Allah and His Messenger -The Cow (2:279).
What's this war? It's trials, tribulations, internal restlessness, loss of blessings in one's sustenance. Suffering, challenges in family life, relationships, health. Allah's mercy for Muslims is that they face their punishments in this life rather than the next. His infinite love for us is that He purifies us through the tribulations in this life so we don't have to face it in the next. The same could be said for selling alcohol, pork, and gambling. Allah has commanded us to avoid all of them.
The question then becomes: how do we know if an experience is a punishment or a test? The answer lies in whether the experience serves to draw us nearer to our Creator or acts as a veil between us. If you remember Allah more and draw nearer to Him through increased adherence to the Prophetic Sunnah, it is a refining tribulation. However, if you remember Allah less and find your adherence to the Sunnah slipping, it is a punishment.
I use the term "experience" because worldly gifts can become punishments in disguise if they end up exclusively turning you from away Allah. You could, for example, marry someone you believe is better than "sliced bread." But if, in the process, you forget Allah - if this person's existence begins to occupy every spare room in your head that you evict your commitment to good manners, prayer, fasting, and charity, effectively trading your devotion for a love interest, then that material gift is a punishment.
The takeaway: ask yourselves where you may be engaged with riba, and make a sincere intention to remove it from your life. Just an intention. Do the same with alcohol or pork. Make a sincere intention, turn your heart towards Allah and commit yourself to just the thought of removing it from you life, but don't get distracted with the resulting material benefits (read: money). Our neighbours might have great material success as they swim in riba, sell alcohol, or live at the race-track, but it's all a distraction from our purpose:
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ ٱلْجِنَّ وَٱلْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
I did not create jinn and humans except to worship Me - The Winnowing Winds (51:56)
With Peace,
Junaid
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