What Are the Reasons for Defrauding?
ماهي أسباب التطفيف؟
What are the reasons for defrauding?
The answer names three causes of defrauding: ignorance of the duty to give full measure together with weak certainty that Allah is the Provider, contempt for other people's rights driven by avarice, and preferring this life to the Hereafter while forgetting that Allah is watching.
Understanding the root causes of this destructive behavior helps individuals guard their hearts against greed and ensures absolute justice in their daily interactions.
The Spiritual and Moral Causes
1. Ignorance and Lack of Faith
The first reason is a severe ignorance about the importance of being just in weighing and measuring. This is coupled with a lack of faith in what Allah has saved and guaranteed for His creation. The defrauder forgets the fundamental Islamic truth that no soul will die before it has fully received all the provision that was preordained for it.
2. Selfishness and Greed
A defrauder arrogantly ignores people's rights and gives preference to his own personal interests on account of others. This is driven by the avarice of the soul and a heart that becomes deeply attached to illegal and impure gain.
3. Forgetting the Hereafter and Divine Watchfulness
The act of cheating stems from favoring this mortal life over the eternal Hereafter. Ultimately, this happens because the person is unconscious of Allah's continuous watchfulness. As the Quran profoundly asks to awaken the dead conscience: (Do such people not think that they will be resurrected?)
ما هي أسباب التطفيف؟
يذكر الجواب ثلاثة أسباب للتطفيف: الجهل بوجوب الوفاء مع قلة اليقين بأن الله هو الرزاق، واحتقار حقوق الآخرين بدافع شح النفس، وإيثار الدنيا على الآخرة مع ضعف مراقبة الله.
إن فهم الجذور الأساسية لهذا السلوك المدمر يساعد الأفراد على حماية قلوبهم من الجشع ويضمن العدل المطلق في تعاملاتهم اليومية.
الأسباب الروحية والأخلاقية
1. الجهل وضعف اليقين
الجهل بأهمية الوفاء بالكيل والوزن، وقلة اليقين بما عند الله وأنه هو الرزاق، وغفلة الإنسان عن الحقيقة الكبرى بأنه لن تموت نفس حتى تستكمل كامل رزقها المقدر لها.
2. الأنانية والشح
احتقار المطفف لحقوق الآخرين وتقديم مصالحه الشخصية على حسابهم، مدفوعا بشح النفس وتعلق القلب بالكسب الخبيث.
3. الغفلة عن الآخرة والرقابة الإلهية
إيثار الحياة الفانية على الآخرة الباقية، وضعف مراقبة الله عز وجل، وتناسي يوم الحساب كما نبه القرآن الكريم: (أَلَا يَظُنُّ أُولَٰئِكَ أَنَّهُم مَّبْعُوثُونَ).
1. Provision Is Already Decreed | الرزق مقسوم
The Prophet said: O people, fear Allah and be moderate in seeking your provision, for no soul will die until it has received its provision in full, even if it is slow in coming; so fear Allah, be moderate in seeking, take what is lawful and leave what is forbidden (Sunan Ibn Majah 2144, graded sahih by al-Albani). Allah has taken on the provision of every creature on earth (Hud 11:6), so cheating cannot add to what is decreed.
وَمَا مِن دَابَّةٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ إِلَّا عَلَى اللَّهِ رِزْقُهَا (سورة هود: 6)
قال النبي ﷺ: "أيها الناس اتقوا الله وأجملوا في الطلب، فإن نفسا لن تموت حتى تستوفي رزقها وإن أبطأ عنها، فاتقوا الله وأجملوا في الطلب، خذوا ما حل ودعوا ما حرم" (سنن ابن ماجه 2144، صححه الألباني). وقد تكفل الله برزق كل دابة في الأرض (هود 11:6)، فلا يزيد الغش في الرزق المقدر شيئا.
2. Avarice of the Soul | شح النفس
The Prophet said: Beware of injustice, for injustice will be darkness on the Day of Resurrection, and beware of avarice, for avarice destroyed those before you; it drove them to shed their blood and make lawful what was forbidden to them (Sahih Muslim 2578). Allah says that those who are saved from the avarice of their own souls are the successful ones (Al-Hashr 59:9).
وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ (سورة الحشر: 9)
قال النبي ﷺ: "اتقوا الظلم فإن الظلم ظلمات يوم القيامة، واتقوا الشح فإن الشح أهلك من كان قبلكم، حملهم على أن سفكوا دماءهم واستحلوا محارمهم" (صحيح مسلم 2578). وأخبر الله تعالى أن من يوق شح نفسه فأولئك هم المفلحون (الحشر 59:9).
3. Remembering the Day of Standing | تذكر يوم القيام
Allah asks the defrauders whether they do not think that they will be raised for a tremendous Day, the Day people will stand before the Lord of the worlds (Al-Mutaffifin 83:4-6). The Prophet explained that on that Day some will sink in their sweat up to the middle of their ears (Sahih al-Bukhari 4938).
يَوْمَ يَقُومُ النَّاسُ لِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ (سورة المطففين: 6)
سأل الله تعالى المطففين: ألا يظنون أنهم مبعوثون ليوم عظيم، يوم يقوم الناس لرب العالمين (المطففين 83:4-6). وبين النبي ﷺ أن أحدهم يغيب يومئذ في رشحه إلى أنصاف أذنيه (صحيح البخاري 4938).
Frequently Asked Questions | الأسئلة الشائعة
Will cheating increase a person's destined provision?
No. The Prophet said that no soul will die until it has received its provision in full, and told people to take what is lawful and leave what is forbidden (Sunan Ibn Majah 2144, graded sahih by al-Albani).
What does the Quran mean by asking whether they do not think they will be resurrected?
It rebukes the defrauders: if they truly believed that they would be raised to stand before the Lord of the worlds and answer for what they took, they would not cheat (Al-Mutaffifin 83:4-6).
How does avarice lead to defrauding?
Avarice attaches the heart to wealth until it disregards other people's rights. The Prophet warned that avarice destroyed those before us and drove them to make lawful what was forbidden to them (Sahih Muslim 2578).
How can a person guard against defrauding?
By strengthening certainty that provision is from Allah, resisting the avarice of the soul, and remembering the Day of Standing, the three causes the answer names, while giving full measure in every dealing.