According to a hadith: وَأَبْغَضُ الْبِلَادِ إِلَى اللهِ أَسْوَاقُهَا (Sahih Muslim 671) The worst of all places is the marketplace. Why did the Prophet say so? There is deep wisdom in this. In today's language, we can say that shopping centres are the worst places. The worst of all places on the globe is the shopping centre. Why did the Prophet say so? As far as I understand, this is a matter of disorientation. Shopping centres divert your thinking. God has created this world and it is full of divine products. Shopping centre is the place of man-made products. God wants you to ponder over divine products. The leaf is a divine product. The tree, flowing river, mountain, sun, moon, planets, stars are all examples of divine products. The universe is full of God's creation. You must reflect on them. There is inspiration, wisdom and means of intellectual and spiritual development in God's creation. The entire universe offers food for your soul. But what do shopping centres do? When you go there, you get cut off from the universe. Instead of thinking about divine products, you begin to think about man-made products. You reduce yourself to an animal. What is an animal? The animal's thinking is limited to plants and leaves. The human mind has the capacity to think upon higher realities and discover deep secrets of life. We have to discover God's unlimited miracles. This will develop our personality so that we are capable of being settled in Paradise.

What do shopping centres do? I have been to shopping centres with people both in India and America. I have found that almost everyone does unnecessary shopping. They buy whatever they find new or unique. I often tell women that if you look into your wardrobe, you have so many clothes that if you don’t buy new clothes, you will not need to buy any more. You can wear the clothes you already have throughout your life. It is true that ladies have so many clothes that they need not buy anything else till the time of their death. But still people buy more and more new clothes. They go to the shopping centre, see new designs or new colours and buy instantly. This is a satanic act (17:27).

The worst of all places is the marketplace. In the shopping centre, a person forgets God and thinks only of man-made items. This is disorientation.