These days people indulge in ostentation. They justify it by taking words from the Quran and Hadith. For example, according to a hadith: مَنْ كَانَ يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَاليَوْمِ الآخِرِ فَلْيُكْرِمْ ضَيْفَهُ (Sahih al-Bukhari 6018) If a person has faith in God and the Hereafter, he should honour and respect his guest. People take this hadith to make elaborate preparations of food and drink.

Here, honouring of the guest is meant in the moral sense and not in the sense of making grand preparation of food. Give respect to the guest, be kind and compassionate with him. This is the meaning of the hadith, not that you should prepare a lot of food. This principle extends to marriages as well. People do so much ostentation in marriages. I believe it is impermissible in Islam. Marriages are not done in Islamic manner and then people believe their children will have a happy life. This is why, often marriages don't work out well. After spending crores of rupees, what follows is only loss. Marriages break apart, people get divorced and fight with one another.

Islam believes in: الْبَذَاذَةُ مِنَ الْإِيمَانِ (Sunan Ibn Majah 4118) Bazazah means simplicity. Simplicity is part of faith. In honouring the guest, marriages and other functions, it is necessary to adopt simplicity. The Quran says: إِنَّ الْمُبَذِّرِينَ كَانُوا إِخْوَانَ الشَّيَاطِينِ (17:27) People earn money and then spend it on ostentation. They decorate their houses, spend in marriages and other functions. This is not allowed in Islam. What is the principle? Simplicity is part of faith. If you take this principle and judge people on this, you will know that those who pray or perform Hajj are also not following this principle. Islam doesn't only concern itself with theology, but also human life in general. Islam tells us about fasting and prayer. In the same way, it also tells us about how to spend life in this world.