Ramadhan and the Appetite for Wealth by Muhammad H. al-Asi

I'm listening to this now trying to broaden my understanding of Ramadan and thought I would share.

https://www.icit-digital.org/multimedia/ramadhan-and-the-appetite-for-wealth

"...And the meanings of this month boil down to if we are observing it as Allah tabaraka wa taala requires us to observe it, the cumulative meaning of this month is to diminish or decrease or destroy our appetite for possessions, money, and wealth. Anyone who thinks that they are fasting only because of some dietary benefits or some personal spiritual heightened accomplishment have flunked the month of Ramadan."

"As we've said in previous Khutbahs this month honors us with the discipline that we gain in it; A discipline that takes control of our desires, of our lusts, of our inclinations to the world. And first and foremost is our love for having things. The final Ayah in the Ayat in Suratul Bakara that speaks about the month of Ramadan and fasting, the final Ayah ends with..." 

"The general meaning of this Ayah tells us we are prohibited, we should not obtain, consume, and dispense with illegal possessions and wealth and money. Which means in the month of Ramadan when we are clear in our hearts, when we are clean in our thoughts, our attention is concentrated on the issue of money and wealth. This is not a socialist idea as socialism is defined by the mainstream. This is not a communist idea as it is presented in the mainstream. This is a Quranic idea. This is a Quranic concept. These are divine directions that have to do with wealth and money."

"...But I ask you, you can jog your memory, how many times have you heard the Khutabaa, the Imams, the preachers, the teachers, the Shuyukh, how many times have you heard them integrate the issue of possessions and wealth and money and finances into the practice of fasting and observing Ramadan? How many times has that occured? You have your own answer to it! They will discourse at length about the health benefits of fasting or the spiritual benefits of fasting but dare they speak about the social, economic, financial, monetary benefits of fasting. No! It seems something has been built into our public mind, and this can be traced back 100s of years if not more, something has been built into it that makes us separate the issue of wealth and power because in this final Ayah if refers to the combination of wealth and power.

"You don't, you can't, you shouldn't obtain and consume money, wealth, riches in a manner that conflicts with your conscience and therefore conflicts with the law that is a reflection of your conscience."

"...And you approach with that money, with that wealth THOSE WHO ARE RULING. THOSE WHO ARE IN POWER. Something that is observable in the life, and the world, and the society that we are in. Only thing you have to do is open your eyes and see the meanings of these Ayat in front of you."

"So the question becomes and it probably is an incentive for us to rethink our past and rethink our present so that we can redo our future."

"Why do we have a barrier in our minds and in our societies? Why do we have a barrier between the previous Ayah of fasting and the concluding Ayah of fasting? Why is there a barrier there? Why doesn't anyone speak about what it means to discipline our inclinations to possessing what is only temporarily ours anyways. What do you think? You have a car. You have acreage. You have buildings. You have a checking account. You have wealth. You have abundance. How long is that gonna last? It's not gonna last beyond your lifetime. When that final moment of life approaches, what are going to take with you? You're going to take all of those possessions with you?? YOU'LL TAKE NONE OF IT!"

"...Amwal is the plural of Mal and Mal simply means: Wealth and money. That's a simple meaning of it. So these, this word and its' derivatives occur 86 times in the Quran. And we're not speaking about synonymous meanings. Some of the meanings that are related to Mal or wealth and riches, some of the meanings are Rizq and Nehmah. If we take all of these meanings together, we find an abundance of Ayat in the Quran that speak about an issue that we are prohibited to think about and to express. Not by a law; There's no law out there that says you cannot think about these meanings in the Quran. But there is the force of tradition; The culturalization of inferior Muslims that makes us incapable of pondering and discovering the meanings of Allah's word in our God-given life. That's what's happening! And not many people can liberate themselves from the burden and the chains of traditions and cultures that are alien to Allah and His Prophet. Not many people can do that and this is where we look at ourselves and see we have to do something about this."

"How many of us when we are fasting during this month of Ramadan have cleansed the materialistic TOXINS from our brains and minds to understand that whatever we own doesn't belong to us?"

Imam Muhammad H. al-Asi

"Ramadan and the Appetite for Wealth"