CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER TEN THE FAMILY ECONOMY

Every family must take care of its own finances. In this world there is no delight like earning one’s provision through honest work. There is a need to settle two questions connected with provision: 1) provision is from God, and He is the One who is able to deliver His servants’ provision even without any means. But since the world stands on causality, a person’s taking hold of the means of provision is considered obedience to and respect for the rules that the Exalted Truth has set in the world. A person turns to the means while deeply feeling that his provision has been decreed for him. If his provision is wide, great results come from few means. If his provision is narrow, a person gains nothing however much he runs and hurries day and night. Never covet free bread from anyone. This is a very shameful state. Never take what belongs to another by a haram way. This belief about provision teaches a person the following: first of all, do not make your heart bleed with worry over provision. Believe and do not doubt that your provision will reach you from everywhere. Secondly, do not throw yourself into fire and embers, onto the blade of Ali’s sword, saying you will earn your provision. Act within the bounds of your ability. According to sayings handed down from the old folk, spend at most eight hours of your day on work to earn your provision. Devote the rest to your family, to knowledge and to worship. The most blessed part of the day is the dawn. Prepare for worship an hour before sunrise, then worship, then occupy yourself with recitation of the Quran and dhikr, and finish the most important work in these hours. You will have enough strength and energy. If possible, one should sleep from 10:00 to 11:00. Then one again occupies oneself with the necessary work. It is advisable to sleep at the same set hours every day and to work at set hours. In our hands is the smartphone, described as the eye of the Dajjal. If we could rein in that thing, the world would be a rose garden. If only we used this wretched thing every day from 08.00 to 20.00 in the evening and then disconnected from it! We mainly mean the web (the internet). Eight hours. That’s it. Not even one hour should be added. Not even one minute. But in those eight hours one should work wholeheartedly. Then everything will be fine, God willing. So we have learned about working hours and provision. Now, the second foundation of wisely managing the family’s finances depends on counsel. This means that the family members have one purse. As long as one cauldron boils in the family, let there be one purse. Everyone should hand over the money they earn to the father.

There are things called large and small expenses. The mother may also manage the small expenses, but the father must decide the large expenses. If the family is young, husband and wife should sit down and raise the question: what do we need most in life? Once it is clear that food, clothes and household hardware are sufficient, they should agree not to buy anything superfluous. It is wise for a person to restrain himself from buying new rags while staring, mouth watering, at how beautifully the mannequins in the city shops are dressed, and from all sorts of street food and eateries. In this way one should begin saving money and act carefully, according to a plan, with the common savings. Just as a small hole can spill out the grain inside a large sack, one must take small expenses very seriously and must not allow unnecessary small expenses. A lamp left burning unnecessarily, water left running, an appliance broken through carelessness, torn fabric, potatoes peeled thickly, more oil than needed put into the cauldron, spilled dry tea, food that is left over and goes sour, bread that goes stale and is thrown away, toothpaste not used to the end — all this is called waste, and these deeds are the foundation of poverty. Whoever treats them carelessly, his name is fool. He is ignorant. In the family the woman has many wishes and desires. The gold and expensive clothes of another woman walking in the street sting her. For this reason a wise wife, obeying her husband, is not deceived by such whispers of Satan and the ego. She saves and economizes the money. If the woman does not save money, there will be no baraka in the household. Before spending money on something, one must find a clear answer to the question: is it needed? The foundation of baraka is purity. Keeping the house pure opens the door to baraka and prosperity. So we have talked about saving and economizing money; keep the saved and gathered money in a strongbox (a safe). It is best that the husband, as head of the family, reveals the secret of how much money there is to no one. And let the wife strive hard not to join the ranks of the fools who boast of wealth. A person who feels superior because his money has increased, whichever sex he belongs to, deserves no other description than fool. What should money be spent on? 1. We need money to acquire knowledge. For knowledge is taken from books — you buy books; you learn from a teacher, and of course, even if the teacher does not ask, a conscientious person considers it his duty to pay him. The utterly wretched and unscrupulous think they will get knowledge for free. 2. If you have no home, it is the right thing to direct money toward buying a home, or more precisely, a house with a courtyard. In fact, there is no better place for a person to live than a house with a courtyard. 3. A cart, that is, a car. It makes the far near, and if the need arises, it “feeds” you. 4. Investment in the children’s future. Money is needed to educate a child and for his expenses. 5. Money is also needed to serve one’s parents and to gladden them with various gifts. 6. Money is a very good helper in helping the needy and the poor. Money is increased not only by accumulating it, but also by charity and good giving. When the amount of money reaches the nisab, one must pay the zakat joyfully. There is also the matter of spending money on recreation. Nowadays it has become fashionable to go abroad for vacation. There are also those who promote it. Everyone’s choice is his own. But if a journey has no clear purpose, simply spending money on it is also unreasonable. Travel and journeys may have the following reasons: 1. Knowledge, that is, one travels to distant lands in search of knowledge. 2. Trade, that is, one sets out on a journey to bring back and sell goods needed in one’s own land. 3. Health, that is, a sick person sets out on a journey seeking a cure in order to recover. 4. Worship, that is, one travels for Hajj or Umrah. 5. Visitation, that is, one goes to mausoleums, tombs and shrines to receive the blessing of the great and to remember the departed. 6. Persecution, that is, one sets out on a journey if oppression and injustice, danger and threat befall one’s life. 7. Service, that is, one travels to carry out certain assignments of one’s workplace or of the great. We did not include work in this list, although nowadays most people go abroad in search of work. If there is absolutely no way to earn a living, perhaps the journey is permissible, but we think it preferable to live in the homeland, content with one’s provision in patience. Leaving one’s wife and children alone in order to work for a long period is probably not suited to a human life. For this problem leads to bitter consequences both spiritual and physical. It is not beautiful that a husband and wife are one family and yet live as wanderers, and that the children are left without upbringing. If becoming rich, having money and living in plenty is written on one’s forehead, provision will find a person here too. If not, by going to foreign lands one first of all puts faith, piety, upbringing, health and peace of mind at risk. For in lands that do not have the mindset of distinguishing halal from haram, pork or dog meat is served as food just like that, and protecting one’s throat from such things is a very great problem. Later on, too, the brand of being an outsider closes the door to honor for a person. In any case, in a foreign land you are forced to live with your head bowed. However rich and wealthy, abundant and complete you show yourself to the people, you yourself know that in a foreign country your head is bowed, your neck bent, and your breath held inside you. Having eaten the bread and drunk the water of a foreign state, you put up with everything there. That is why may He not separate you from your own land and your own neighborhood. There is also the matter of debt — one should avoid debt as far as possible. Debt makes a person a slave. We are forced to bow before the one who lent to us. May God grant deliverance to all debtors! The greatest warning: do not let even a drop of haram into your home! Do not spend even a single tiyin of haram money! Haram ruins both our worlds. At the end of our words we return to the very first point: a family that is not a slave to the worry of provision, does not waste, keeps away from covetousness and debt, spends according to a plan, keeps an expense book if necessary, and holds to charity and giving, contentment and gratitude, becomes rich and depends on no one.

Akrom MALIK