📖Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2336
Ka’b bin ‘Iyad narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said: Indeed there is a fitnah (trial) for every Ummah, and the fitnah for my Ummah is wealth.”

Why Wealth is a Fitnah (Trial):

Wealth can deceive people into false security, feed desires, and pull them away from Allah. It’s not evil itself – but what people do with it can destroy their morals.

Real-life Examples of Wealth as Fitnah:

• A rich person starts feeling proud, arrogant, thinking they are better than others.
• Buys immodest clothes, promotes shamelessness (like bikinis, revealing dresses).
• Purchases alcohol, goes against Allah’s clear prohibition.
• Travels the world just for pleasure and sin, falls into zina (adultery) and illegal relationships.
• Becomes obsessed with luxury, status, and social media fame, forgetting Salah, modesty, and purpose of life.
• Refuses to help the poor, instead spends on vanity and showing off.
• Starts thinking they don’t need Allah, like Qarun did.

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Quranic Context:

📖Quran 64:15
Your wealth and your children are only a trial, and Allah has with Him a great reward.
Wealth distracts people from obedience and becomes a test of sincerity.

📖Quran 18:34–36
He said: “I have more wealth than you and am mightier in manpower…” then said: “I do not think the Hour will ever come…”
This shows how arrogance and denial can come from wealth.

📖Quran 9:85
Do not be impressed by their wealth or their children. Allah only intends to punish them through them in this world.

Explanation:

1. Wealth as Punishment:

Wealth becomes a means of punishment when it:

• Leads to arrogance and denial of Allah.
• Is spent on sinful acts: alcohol, zina, nudity, music, gambling, etc.
• Makes people forget the Hereafter, becoming obsessed with luxury and status.
• Makes them reject da’wah, feeling they don’t need religion.
• They are distracted from worship, refusing zakah and helping others.

Result: They fall deep into sin and destruction, thinking they’re successful.

2. Children as Punishment:

Children can also become a trial and punishment when:

• They grow up to be disobedient to Allah, and lead their parents to sin.
• Parents spend all their time and effort pleasing children while neglecting deen.
• Children turn against their own parents, causing stress, humiliation, or even abuse.
• Parents become proud of their children’s worldly success (e.g., fame, money), even if it’s built on haram (e.g., modeling, music, western culture).
• Children drag their parents into haram: making them allow immodest clothing, birthdays, music, dating, etc.

Result: The same children that were loved become a source of pain, regret, and disobedience, causing loss in dunya and akhirah

📖Quran 28:76
Indeed, Qarun was from the people of Musa, but he rebelled against them. We gave him such treasures that even their keys would burden a group of strong men…
Qarun’s pride and disobedience caused his destruction.

Allah doesn’t punish people with wealth or children without reason.

1. For disbelievers, it becomes a punishment. They are left to wander blindly, misusing the blessings to increase in sin and rebellion.
2. For Muslims, wealth and children are a test (fitnah) – to see whether they remain grateful, humble, and obedient to Allah, or become arrogant and disobedient.

It’s not because He wanted evil for them – but because of their arrogance, their continuous rejection of truth, and their choice to chase dunya over deen, So Allah lets them live the life they chose, and what they loved (wealth, children) becomes the reason for their downfall.

📖Quran 2:15
Allah mocks them and leaves them to wander blindly in their rebellion.

📖Quran 6:110
We shall turn their hearts and their eyes away (from guidance), as they refused to believe in it the first time. And We shall leave them in their (excessive) rebellion, wandering blindly.

They were given time and freedom – but instead of turning to truth, they used their blessings for sin, That’s how blessings become punishments. Allah does not force anyone – He simply leaves them to follow their desires when they choose to turn away from guidance, So, Wealth itself is not haram – but it becomes a fitnah when it leads to sin, pride, disobedience, and distraction from the Hereafter. The Prophet ﷺ warned us clearly because he knew that money makes people chase the dunya and forget their soul.