 So what is it that makes money good and what is it that makes it bad? If, and I'll try and summarize insha'Allah, if your view of wealth checks two boxes, you're generally in good hands and there isn't much to worry about in terms of money becoming the source of your destruction, two boxes, two conditions, two key criteria have to be satisfied. What are they? Number one, you have to have what we call a utilitarian view of wealth. What does that mean? It means that you have to consider what is the benefit that you derive from your wealth. Let me give you a couple of examples. If you wear a watch and this watch ultimately, what is it supposed to do? The purpose of a watch is to tell you what the time, it's supposed to allow you to stay punctual in your appointments. It's supposed to alert you to the time of day so that you could keep your word if you have given someone a commitment, right? Now if a watch consistently shows you the wrong time, I don't care if it's a Patek Philippe or if it's a diamond encrusted Rolex, what does it matter? It's useless. It may be a good fashion accessory. Maybe it's something you can boast with your friends and family. You can post it on social media and we talked about that pathetic. That thing that people do on social media all the time last night. Maybe it has value in that sense, but as a watch, it's useless. Now, what is the purpose of money? That's the difference between someone who is consciously thinking about their steps and about their actions and someone who is numbed out mindlessly walking in this labyrinth of life being pushed and nudged by different forces to do whatever the corporations want to do, not what God wants from you. The difference between these luminous faces that I see before me and everybody else is that you ask these questions. What's the purpose of money? What's it supposed to do? Money is supposed to allow me to live a comfortable life. Money is supposed to give me a dignified lifestyle so I don't have to extend my hands and ask others for help so that I could look after my family, feed my family. Right? That's the purpose of it. Now, if money doesn't serve that purpose but rather does other things, what happens there? There's a beautiful hadith in which Imam al-Sadiq, alaihi salatu wa s-salam, says, The Imam says in this hadith, Atara Allah a'ta man a'ta when God gave wealth to certain people man a'ta min karamatihi alaih because those people somehow God owes them something when God gives lots and lots of wealth to impious, immoral, irreligious atheists, for example. Is that because God is trying to honor them? Certain people who are good, pious, moral, God-fearing, if Allah deprives them of wealth, is that because God takes those people lightly because He doesn't care about them? Is that how you see the distribution of wealth and how it works? Money belongs to God. He gives it to people and this brings me to the second point, the second criteria. The first one we said was what? That you have a utilitarian view of money. What is this money intended to do? Right? And the intention, before I read the rest of the hadith, the purpose of money is to allow you to live a dignified life, number one, and number two, to fulfill the purpose of this verse in the Qur'an. Which means that religion never tells you that money is bad. Religion never tells you that money is evil. Religion says the love of money is evil, being obsessed with money is evil, becoming extravagant with money is evil, but money itself is not bad. In fact, you can buy the best car that you want if that car allows you to worship Allah s.w.t. And to do good things. Buy the most expensive car if that most expensive car will be utilized in the service of Allah and in obedience of the Creator. Anything other than that becomes a burden. Anything other than that becomes a massive headache. And I mentioned on the first night, if you recall, the will and testament of Imam Al-Hassan, al-Mushtaba alaihi s-salatu wa s-salam, who said that you must lead a life of asceticism as best as you can, because ultimately this world is such that fi halalihah hasab, wa fi haramihah You will be audited. You will be questioned. You will be held to account. So get the best tools as long as those tools allow you to serve Allah s.w.t. Nobody says that wrong. Anyway, listen to the rest of the Hadith. The Imam says when Allah distributes wealth and deprives other people and gifts to others, is that because he wants to honor those that have been endowed with wealth? Is it because he wants to dishonor those that don't have the wealth? This is criteria number two. Keep this in mind. Number one, what's the purpose? What am I doing with this? Number two, remember that it's not yours to begin with. Remember that this is a trust that's been handed to you temporarily so that you would use it in the way the real owner wants it to be used. And he allowed them to eat qasdan. Qasdan here means iqtizadan, which means in moderation. You want to eat, eat. But spending a thousand dollars a plate at a fancy four Michelin star restaurant or whatever it is with gold sheets on top and all this extravagance, all this israaf, that's not acceptable. Why is it not acceptable? Let me finish the Hadith and then give you an example that I think will allow you to absorb this better. To spend a thousand dollars on a handbag or to do all these extravagant things with your shoes, with your shirts, with your jackets, with all these things, how do you justify that? How do you justify using the wealth that's given to me as a trust in extravagance? That's the definition of israaf because people have this mentality and I'm sure you've come across this where it's like this is my hard earned money. I worked very hard for this. So what that means is you fail the second criteria, which is that you need to recognize this isn't yours. Just like everything in life, this is a trust. This is what we call amana. It's been given to you so that you could use it. And you have a lot of discretion by the way. Allah doesn't want you to be miserable. He doesn't want you to be poor. You want you to live a comfortable life but don't go into excesses. Let me share this example with you. Some of you who work for a big enough company or a corporation, you are often assigned an expense card. You know what that means. Or you're given a company car. What's an expense card? It's a credit card that the company gives their employees, who they see as being valuable, who they see as being good sales people. And in order to facilitate the work of these employees, they give you a card and tell you, look, in case you have to invite your client to lunch and you don't have money on you, it's okay. You can put it on this card. If you have to buy a ticket and fly to another city to engage in your business activities, it's okay. You can put it on the card. Why? Because all of these activities ultimately lead to the company making a bigger profit because they facilitate your work as an employee of the of the corporation, right? Or they give you a car and tell you that you can use this car for your business related activities. That's why governments often, especially in the Western world, they exempt business vehicles and business tools and products from taxes. Why? Because the government wants to encourage you to engage in more business, to expand the business, to make more money, because ultimately they make more in taxes as well. Now, imagine you have an expense card, but you go and squander thousands of dollars on something that's completely unrelated to your business. For example, you take a vacation, every once in a while you hear that a certain politician, for example, right? He put a massive amount of money on his government issued credit card on personal matters. He went to a vacation, he bought an expensive gift for his wife, or God knows what, and there is usually a scandal that follows that and he might even have to resign. Why? The reason is obvious because you're supposed to use this business card, this expense card, this credit card in order to further the company's objectives, in order to facilitate your work for who? For the company, not so that you could enjoy yourself without any restrictions. You see the difference here? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave you and I and everybody on this planet an expense card called Rizq, sustenance, money, wealth. You might say, but I'm working very hard, I'm earning all of this, but ultimately who's the owner? Who's the one with the ultimate authority? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.