The Economic System of Islam — Page 51
51 That is: Those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah, are given the tidings of a painful punishment. On the day when that gold and silver shall be heated in the fire of Hell, and their foreheads and their sides and their backs shall be branded therewith and it shall be said to them, this is what you treasured up for yourselves and for the benefit of your families, and had deprived the general public of their benefit. . . The last part of the verse, ‘so now taste what you used to treasure up’ refers to the gold and silver that did not give any benefit to the general public. God says that on the day of judgement this gold and silver is returned to you. But since gold and silver are of no use in the afterlife , it only ‘brands their fore- heads and their sides and their backs’. In this way they find out how sinful it was to withhold wealth from the benefit of mankind. Although this example does not literally relate to the misuse of wealth, withholding of wealth is akin to misusing it since that pre- vents wealth from benefitting mankind at large. In effect, therefore, hoarding or misusing wealth amount to the same thing, i. e. , denying its use for productive purposes. Islam categorically rejects all motives that lead to excessive hoarding of wealth. Since the foundation of every action is its mo- tive, no Muslim can accumulate so much wealth that it becomes a hindrance for human development. For example, some people