Will benefitting from worldly boons decrease the boons in the hereafter?

- Hadiths, narrations and stories stating that benefitting from worldly boons will decrease the boons in the hereafter are told. Is it true?

For example, the Prophet (pbuh) said to a person who belched, "Those who fill their stomachs in this world will go hungry in the hereafter." Allah granted a lump of gold to a poor Muslim couple but they prayed so that it would go away from them so as not to decrease their sustenance in the hereafter; then, the lump of gold disappeared…

- Are Allah's treasures limited – God forbid? Why should the boons we benefit from in the world cause the boons in the hereafter to decrease?

Dear Brother / Sister,

There is nothing like decrease in Allah’s treasures here. What is in question here is the criteria of the justice mechanism. For instance, if there are two people who perform the same deeds of worship and who have the same level of taqwa in the world and if one of them is rich, with a high standard of living and if the other is poor and has not benefitted from worldly pleasures very much, it is a necessity of justice that their rewards in the hereafter will not be the same.

The comparisons in the hadiths are not related to individuals but to abstract issues. That is, the following understanding is wrong: One person is rich and another person is poor; therefore, the poor person will enter Paradise before the rich person. For, taqwa, that is, respect shown to Allah and love of Allah are essential.  

As a matter of fact, according to a narration, Abud-Darda said to the Prophet,

“O Messenger of Allah! We perform the same deeds of worship as the rich do. They pray as we pray, and they observe fasting as we observe fasting; in addition, they give sadaqah but we cannot give sadaqah. They gain both the world and the hereafter.”

The Messenger of Allah gave him the following answer:

“I will teach you something. If you do it, nobody living before you can outdo you and nobody that will live after you can catch up with you – unless they do the same thing as you do: Say SUBHANALLAH 33 times, ALHAMDULILLAH 33 times and ALLAHU AKBAR 34 (33) times after every prayer.” (The chain of narrators of this hadith reported by Ahmad b. Hanbal, Bazzar and Tabarani is sound. see Haythami, Zawaid, h. no: 16912)

As it is seen, the state of the rich that perform the same deeds of worship as the poor are compared in the hadith above and it is not stated that the poor would absolutely be superior to the rich. On the contrary, they are shown another way of gaining thawabs.

Scholars like Imam Ghazali asked the question “Is a poor person who shows patience or a rich person who thanks Allah is better?” They included the answers of the scholars with different views. However, the issue is completely related to the attitude of the individuals toward Allah. Since an atom´s weight of neither good nor evil will remain secret and since they will be weighed, everybody will be evaluated in detail including their intentions, deeds, levels of taqwa, patience and gratitude. According to those evaluations,

“The poor of the ummah will enter Paradise forty years before the rich.” (Majmauz-Zawaid,no: 17892)

However, some rich people will enter Paradise much earlier than the poor. 

Every level has a different statement. It is a necessity of guidance that different criteria are included in the hadiths depending upon the circumstances.

In conclusion, Allah’s infinite scales of justice will be active in the hereafter. According to this criterion, those whose good deeds outweigh will enter Paradise; those whose bad deeds outweigh will go to Hell – if they are not forgiven.

If the pleasures in the world deactivate the faith of a person in the hereafter, though temporarily, due to heedlessness, it is a necessity of the justice that the degree of such a person will not be the same as those “who do not benefit from any worldly pleasures”. It is unthinkable that those who thank Allah by showing patience will have the same degree in the hereafter as those who do not need to show patience and who do not thank Allah though they enjoy so many boons in the world. Some of the Quranic verses that shed light on the issue are as follows:

“Eat and drink: But waste not by excess, for Allah loveth not the wasters.” (al-A'raf, 7/31)

“O ye who believe! Eat of the good things that We have provided for you, and be grateful to Allah, if it is Him ye worship.” (al-Baqara, 2/172)

“Those who reject Allah will enjoy (this world) and eat as cattle eat; and the Fire will be their abode.” (Muhammad, 47/12)

“And render to the kindred their due rights, as (also) to those in want, and to the wayfarer: But squander not (your wealth) in the manner of a spendthrift.” (al-Isra, 17/26)

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) states the following:

“It is definitely extravagance to eat anything that you want.” (Ibn Majah, At’ima 51)

Once, a man ate a lot and started to belch. The Prophet warned him by saying,

“Stop belching. Those who gorge themselves in the world will be the ones that will remain hungry for a very long time in the hereafter.” (Tirmizi, Kıyamet 37)

The Prophet (pbuh) advised us to leave one-third of the stomach to food, one-third to water and the remaining one-third empty; he did not approve of filling up the stomach with food. He advised us not to eat before feeling hungry and advised us to leave the dining table before feeling full.

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