Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | Speaking Tree Website | October 03, 2016

According to a hadith, the Prophet of Islam said:

It is extravagance to eat everything you desire. (Ibn Majah)

Hazrat Umar made the same point when he said: "It is enough for a person to be wasteful if he eats everything that his heart desires." (Kanz al-Ummal)

To waste your money is to spend it on something that you do not really need but that you simply desire.

Every person lives between two things: needs, on the one hand, and desires, on the other. To spend your wealth on things that you need is a justified and legitimate use of it. But to spend it in order to fulfill your desires is an action that you will have to answer for to God on the Day of Judgment.

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In this matter, the right thing to do is that whenever you are faced with a situation that requires money to be spent, take time off to seriously think if this is for something that you truly need or if it is for something that you simply desire. If it is for something that you truly need, then spend the money. But if you feel that it's not really a necessity but only a desire, then at once you must desist from spending on it.

In this matter you need to analyze yourself every day. If you fail to do this even for one day, you may find yourself sliding down the slippery slope of wastefulness, and then it may be very difficult for you to salvage yourself.