Al-Balad · Makki · ayah 6 of 20

Al-Balad 90:6

يَقُولُ أَهْلَكْتُ مَالًا لُّبَدًا

“He says, "I have spent wealth in abundance."”

Saheeh International

Essence

He boasts of the fortune he 'destroyed', and never notices that his own verb has told the truth about it.

A reflection

He called it destroying

At a wedding in the countryside, the groom's father has arranged a surprise. A helicopter circles twice and lands on the lawn beside the marquee. Three hundred guests film it on their phones. By Monday nobody mentions it. The bill arrives on Wednesday.

The man in this ayah does not say 'I spent'. He says ahlaktu: 'I destroyed', 'I used up', 'I wiped out' a heap of wealth. One commentator notes why he chose that word. It shows how little he cared. He had not spent hoping for any benefit, so he spoke as if the fortune had simply been thrown away. It was a way of boasting: look how much I can afford to lose.

The root pictures breaking and falling. A sandgrouse fleeing a falcon would fling itself down into a gorge. The drop between two mountains was a hulk. A man who spent his wealth down to nothing was said to have istahlaka it.

Without meaning to, the boaster has told the truth. A classical writer spells it out. Had he spent that wealth where it was meant to go, it would not have been destroyed at all. It would have brought him near to Allah and to His reward. Wealth spent on whims and show is exactly what the word says: wealth thrown into a gorge.

The Prophet ﷺ described the same accounting while reciting 'Rivalry for more distracts you' (102:1). The son of Ādam says: my wealth, my wealth. But what is yours of it? Only what you ate and used up, what you wore and wore out, or what you gave in charity and sent ahead (Sahih Muslim).

Notice what the hadith does not forbid. Eating and wearing are yours. The Quran is not against enjoying what Allah gives. The problem is the third category, sent ahead, left empty while the first two overflow for show.

So it is worth asking of any large expense: will this be eaten, worn, sent ahead, or simply destroyed?

The full entry has 4 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.