The Race for Material
Acquisition

A person wants to accumulate more and more material assets. But after his death, he will realize that any increase in worldly goods only increased his accountability.

Chapter 102 of the Quran states: “Greed for more and more distracted you [from God] till you reached the grave. But you will soon come to know. But you will soon come to know. Indeed, were you to know the truth with certainty, you would see the fire of Hell. You would see it with the eye of certainty. Then on that Day you shall be questioned about your worldly favours.” (102:1-8)

The present world is a huge banquet of material things of all kinds. All these things have been placed in the world for the purpose of putting a person to the test rather than for his unrestricted use. If a person looks at things as part of a test, he will make use of them only according to his needs, and with great care and a sense of responsibility.

But a person generally does not adopt a responsible attitude. The attraction of material things draws him towards them and he rushes towards them; his greed does not let him stop at any point. He wants to have more and more and engages himself fully in the acquisition of worldly wealth, morning and evening until his time of death approaches and he leaves the present world for the world of Hereafter with all his life’s earnings. At that time, all of a sudden, he finds himself in a situation where he realizes that he has nothing that will be of any avail to him in the next stage of life.

A person wants to earn more and more so that he may accumulate more and more material assets. He remains caught up in this pursuit until the day he dies. After his death, he realizes that what was worth accumulating was something other than he had imagined. But this realization after death will be of no avail.

Any increase in worldly goods increases a person’s accountability. But he, in his foolishness, thinks that he is adding to his success.