Poverty

      O reader, when you read the title of this then what came into your mind? Was it the thought of material wealth? Was it status, the PHD professor vs. the janitor? Perhaps it was the life style of the affluent compared to the lifestyle of the indigent? O person who is reading, know that you will one day meet your appointed time and when you do then all of this will stay behind and you will be within the earth. So who is the person that is impoverished? 

     Material poverty is without a doubt poverty but it is poverty in the terms of what we see with our eyes and not poverty of what we cannot see. Those of us who can see will see the person who is rich and the person who is poor and this is only one form of poverty that many have taken to be the all in all form of poverty. Rather poverty is being impoverished from having character. There may be the richest person from amoung the people but that person whether it be a male or a female wouldn't show off to people but they would use their wealth for the better of others and society. Whereas there can be the person who is the poorest from amoung the people and he treats people bad, he fights with other people, and he is egocentric in personality. Also there could be the person who goes to a university and a person who goes to a college or even two people going to different universities. The person who goes to such and such university thinks they are better than the other person who goes to such and such university. The professor with the PHD who could feel he is better than the person who collects garbage. This would be intellectual arrogance and there is no doubt that arrogance is poison to the heart that burns the goodness from the heart only to leave it being that which is harder than rock. The PHD professor could be doing less for society compared to the garbage man. The PHD professor would be teaching the youth but when he goes home he is rude with his wife, he doesn't spend time with her or his children, he treats others in society harshly, he doesn't give to the beggar who asks him for little. On the other hand the garbage man is picking up the garbage from the sidewalks and he does so happily, he treats the people in society kindly, he is good to his wife and he spends time with her, he is a good father and his children love him, what he knows that has value then he teaches it. Out of these two the person who is impoverished is the PHD professor. 
      Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) had the poor with him and he had the rich with him and he was just with both and he did not harm any of them. There was no class wars amoung the people where the rich felt they were superior than the poor because people weren't judged on material wealth but on internal wealth. Internal wealth is the character. The poorest of the people can be the richest of the people and the richest of the people can be the poorest of the people. The rich companions and the poor companions didn't look down on one another in any way when it came to material wealth. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) would never say no to a person if they asked him for something and he would feed about 70 of the poor a day. These poor companions went on to being scholars and rulers of people. An example is the companion named Salman Al-Farsi (May Allah Be Pleased with him) who went on to being the ruler of Persia. Abu Huraira (May Allah Be Pleased with him) who is known for narrating numerous hadith to the people. 'Umar ibn Al-Khattab (May Allah Be Pleased with him) who was the second Caliph. The Leader of The Believers. (This was after the death of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) ). 'Umar heard a crying coming from a tent and he went to it and a man came out and stated that his wife was giving birth. 'Umar wanted to know if anyone was tending to her. The poor man let him know that nobody was tending to his wife who was giving birth. 'Umar ran home and got his wife Umm Kulthoom and they both came back to the scene. 'Umar told the man to light a fire and so the man did and then he began to cook this poor family food while Umm Kulthoom helped the woman deliver the child. When the child was born Umm Kulthoom (May Allah Be Pleased with her) cried out to The Leader of The Believers to congratulate them that it is a baby boy. The man then knew that 'Umar was the leader and he then became intimidated. 'Umar gave him the food and told the man to feed his wife and the man was worried because of whose presence he was in. The poor man asked what would happen to him because he was worried and 'Umar then told the man to come to him the next day and he will give him the stipend (child benefit for his child). 

      Impoverished people are those whose wallets are full but their hearts are empty and the rich are people whose hearts are full while their wallets may be empty or full. Allah Loves beauty and so if He has Given someone wealth then they can use their money to buy nice things but they should know that money will come out of their wealth for the poor every year (zakat) and they shouldn't be people who hoard their wealth to themselves because Allah Can take it away from them and that is Easy for Him. Material objects should be in the palms not in the hearts. Everyone is going through tests on this earth. The poor go through them with poverty and the rich go through them with wealth.