"...and do not spend wastefully. Indeed, the wasteful are brothers of the devils, and ever has Satan been to his Lord ungrateful." Al-Isra' (17) verse 27
He pointed out that Allah calls those who are wasteful, the brothers of the Devil. Not followers, but brothers. What a severe simile this is?? A follower would usually await orders from his leader before acting, but a brother is different. A brother acts of his own will, helping his brother without being told, helping him to achieve his goal. And such is the waster. He actively assists syaitan to achieve his goal of causing corruption upon the earth, and in himself which would lead him into the Fire. Is that not all Syaitan wants? To drag as many of us with him into the Fire?? wal'iyazubillah.
And the verse goes on to say that Syaitan, is 'kafoor'. This word is in the intensive form of the word 'kafir' which means ungrateful in this context. And so syaiton is not just ungrateful, but extremely ungrateful. Thus is the waster, for they are brothers who share the same principles, the same 'virtues' and also the same end. And what is the end of those who are ungrateful? A severe punishment as per the ayah below which I have discussed in more detail in a previous post:
"And [remember] when your Lord proclaimed, 'If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor]; but if you are ungrateful, indeed, My punishment is severe.' " Ibrahim (14) verse 7
The ustaz then quoted a hadith, which I have chosen as the title of this post because of its profundity:
Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Al-`Aas (May Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet passed one day by Sa`d ibn Abi Waqas (May Allah be pleased with him) while he was performing wudu' (ritual cleaning of body parts in preparation for prayer). The prophet asked Sa`d, "Why is this wastage?" Sa`d replied "Is there wastage in wudu also?" The Prophet said, "Yes, even if you are at a flowing river." (Ahmad and authenticated Ahmad Shakir)
I've heard this hadith many times, but today I gave it some thought and realized how profound these words are. First we need to realize the context of this hadith. A companion was making wudhu', probably with a jar of some sort, for they didn't have taps at the time. The companion would probably have already been thrifty with the water because they lived in the desert and understood the importance of preserving water which was very scarce. And yet, the prophet advised him not to waste water. And it is those words at the end of the hadith that are most profound, that wastage can occur even if we were making wudhu at a flowing river. Subhanallah! We might ask, how is it even possible to waste water just by taking wudhu at a flowing river?? Well, the prophet was teaching us a very important lesson, that we should take from the bounties of nature that Allah has bestowed upon us, only what we need even and especially in matters as important as worship. He was teaching us to be modest in our consumption, to care for the environment, and to be cognizant of the fact that we share the world with the rest of creation who are also in need of precious resources like water.
In this consumerist age, when the wealth of richest 85 people equals 3.5 billion of the poorest, when we leave the tap running while we brush our teeth, when we spend extravagantly on expensive clothing, when we cut down trees and flatten mountains to build mansions, when we spend thousands of dollars on lavish weddings to compete with others and end up in bad debts which break up relationships faster than they were made, when we burn fuel to power our grand malls at the expense of the destruction to the environment, we are more than ever in need of advice like this. Not least to remind us that the bounties and resources that Allah has given us are not to be taken for granted. We need to reduce/stop wastage, only take what we need, live a mutualistic relationship with nature so balance is maintained, not only for own our benefit, but also the rest of creation.
May Allah make us of those who are grateful, of those who consume modestly, and may He protect us from being the brothers of Syaitan.
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