Different Forms of Servitude to Material Wealth

Question

Many people have become servants of material wealth. Is this associating partners with Allah and neglecting His oneness and worship, when He says, 'Worship your Lord until certainty comes to you' [al-Hijr 15:99]?

Answer (English translation)

Answer: Servitude to material wealth takes different forms. If a person serves it in the sense that he abandons religion altogether, giving up worship of Allah, including prayer, fasting and other acts, and turns away from Allah, His oneness and sincere devotion to Him, he is like the other disbelievers. He has abandoned his religion and turned away from it entirely.

As for someone whose pleasure and anger may revolve around wealth, and who is careless about his religious duties for its sake, while still worshipping Allah alone and remaining a Muslim, he falls under what the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: 'Wretched is the servant of the dinar; wretched is the servant of the dirham; wretched is the servant of the fine garment.' He may swear falsely or neglect some obligations for its sake. He has thereby sinned and erred, and his faith is diminished. He is called its servant in this respect, because his pleasure and anger revolve around it. In this respect he is its servant, but he is not like someone who worships idols. No: these are two different things.