Greed & Miserliness

My dear brothers and sisters, Rasoolullah (ﷺ), in one amongst the very many treasures of his eloquence (ﷺ) and of his wisdom that Allah (subahaanahu wa ta'ala) bestowed upon him, told us...Three features or characteristics are destructive, that is to the life of an individual and nay to the life of a society. In other words, if any of these features are part of our characteristics, then, it is on the way of destruction that we are headed, self destruction, before destruction of others. (The Prophet) ﷺ says, describing one among those three: 1. What does 'shuh' mean? 'Shuh' is the inner state, inside of you or inside of me that is characterized by keeping, by holding, by not sharing, by preferring to own and to keep rather than to give. That state of the inner self. And then when it is obeyed, it becomes 'bukhl'. When that inner state called 'shuh', as I described is obeyed externally, it becomes greed or miserliness at the external level. And thus Rasoolullah (ﷺ) says, He qualified that 'shuh' with 'mutaah', a 'shuh' that is obeyed. Why did he qualify this ﷺ, because as human beings, many times, or sometimes indeed, we are challenged by inner feelings of greed, but that inner feeling of greed, either we externalize it, or we restrain it. Restraining it is an act of righteousness, is an act of maturity, is an act of wisdom, is an act of consciousness of Allah (subahaanahu wa ta'ala), is an act of fear from Allah ('azza wa jal), is an act of love for Allah ('azza wa jal), is an act of consciousness of what awaits me. But when I let it lose, when I express it, when I externalize it, that is what becomes destructive...says Allah ('azza wa jal), what means, 'Whosoever is shielded, and protected, and guarded from his or her own 'shuh', such indeed will attain felicity, such indeed will attain happiness.'

Rasoolullah (ﷺ) used to teach us also a du'a, 'Ya Allah! Protect me from the 'shuh' of my inner self.' One companion, I...believe, maybe, I forgot his name, maybe it was Abdullah ibn Umar (radiyAllahu anhu) during hajj season, as he was performing tawaaf (circumambulation) around the Ka'abah, and we know of the high recommended dhikr while we perform tawaaf around the Ka'abah, and he used to incessantly say, 'Ya Allah! Protect me from the 'shuh' of my inner self - Ya Allah! Protect me from the 'shuh' of my inner self - Ya Allah! Protect me from the 'shuh' of my inner self - Ya Allah! Protect me from the 'shuh' of my inner self' and when inquired from him, 'why did you keep only that du'a, why not other ad'iya?' Then he said (radiyAllahu anhu) because he was focused on that dua, he said, 'When Allah ('azza wa jal) protects me from the 'shuh' of my nafs, then everything else will be fine after that. And Allah says...'And If' clause, 'If Allah ('azza wa jal) shields me from the 'shuh' of myself, therefore I will attain felicity' and thus he insisted on that du'a (radiyAllahu anhu).