Two Wolves Free Among Sheep

The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “Two wolves free among sheep are no more destructive to them than a man’s desire for wealth and honour is to his religion.” [Jami At-Tirmidhi]

The quest for wealth and honour is extremely damaging because what gets compromised in the process is one’s Deen. Sometimes we hesitate to fulfill our Faraid and adopt the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) when it gets in the way of our earning money. And in order to maintain a certain position in society, we let go of that which is pleasing to Allah (subhana wa ta’ala).

What honour is detrimental to one’s religion? The honour that we seek from people and the world rather than Allah, the angels, and the people of Jannah. The person who is honoured on the Day of Judgement will be honoured before all of mankind, from the first person to the last person. It will include all your relatives, neighbours, friends, colleagues from all the jobs you’ve ever held, all the people you ever dealt with, those who hated you, those who loved you, and those who were indifferent to you, and the trillions of people who never knew you and who you never knew. On the Day of Judgment he/she who is honoured will be honoured before all of these people and they will all get to know who he/she was. Unfortunately, he/she who is disgraced that day will be disgraced before all of mankind as well.

So ask yourself, would you rather be photographed with celebrities or be with seekers of the Deen even if they are in crumbling buildings? Do you care more about who is on your contacts list or how many people you have been able to increase in Eeman? Do you care more about having newspapers write in your honour or having angels praise you? Are you worried more about leaving a good name for yourself in the world or having the inhabitants of Jannah long for your joining them?

Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) put the desires of wealth and honour in us so that we could work for the enormous wealth and the fantastic honour that is waiting for us in Jannah. We should try to purge ourselves of the desire for this-worldly wealth or honour, because it gets in the way of earning these for the never-ending Hereafter.