An Analysis of the Reflections of Extravagance in Social Life from the Perspective of the Qur’ān
Abstract
To maintain a normal standard of life a human being needs to eat and drink. This is his natural right. As a matter of fact, Allah almighty has blessed human beings with countless foods and nutrients so that they may feed themselves. Allah has also determined necessary principles for consuming these blessings. Therefore, divine commands obliged a man to give his relatives, the poor, the traveler, the helpless their due right from divine blessings and for forbade him to waste them unnecessarily. Furthermore, Allah held hedonic consumption identical with the acts of Satan and described prodigals as “friends of devils” and “brothers of devils”. As there were people of excesses consumption in the communities of past our modern society in not exemption. Indeed, those who assume consumption as means of attaining happiness are constantly increasing due to encouraging consumption friendly advertisement. Inappropriate consumption puts many families into economic crisis. Thus, Allah has recommended to keep expenditure away from both extravagance and stinginess to prevent possible crises of not only individual but also social level. It would be wrong to limit the scope of consumption to eating and drinking alone. Beside eating and drinking, clothing, household appliances, daily used telephones and other technological devices, should be considered within the scope of consumption. It can be said that today's consumption market has gone far beyond what is necessary for the continuation and maintenance of normal life. Both national and international advertising agencies and fashion houses have a great deal of influence on this. We do read and see, in the written and visual media, confessions of certain people with tendency towards extravagant consumption who would not feel comfortable, or leave the shopping center, unless they spend all the money available to them.
Squander, in other words, extravagance is not only the problem of the society we live in. It has also manifested itself at different rates in past societies. But today's extravagance has almost reached its peak. That’s why all religious scriptures, of past and today, contain warnings concerning negation and undesired possible consequences of wastefulness. Wannabe and imitation of others also have a great impact on consumption traits. It is an established fact that some people who have the luxury of overconsumption in society affect many people around them psychologically. For example, the holy Qur'ān, as much as it warned about extravagance, made mention of Qārun (Korah), an ultrarich resident of Ancient Egyptian society, and his majesty and splendor. Indeed, his wealth would be refered to, later on, as “the treasures of Qārun”. Qur’ān depits Qārun, the greatest supporter of Paharoh with all his wealth, as a person who would appear before society in most expensive and attractive cloths. Those who were fond of worldly life and dangle after luxurious lifestyle would look at him in immense envy and yearn to take his place. This Quranic depiction of wastefulness can be considered a vivid example of how individual ostentatiousness, splendor and majesty, luxurious and prosperous life affect many people psychologically.
It can be easily argued that today's consumption mentality has changed drastically and reached more advanced dimensions. Goods and services have almost turned into objects of pleasure. Attaining the desired products, and trying them even for once, has begun to be seen, by consumers, as inseparable components of a happy-golucky and joyful life. This can be certainly evaluated as satisfying the hedonistic emotions and impulses rather than genuine needs of life. Examples of spending more than necessary can be witnessed in every layer of today’s society exceeding the income several times. Members of the society, rich of poor, young or old, all strives their best to reach every new technological product, whether they need it or not. The urge of a relatively high number of students, who would not be able to pursue their education without the contribution of their families, for technological products such as telephone, cameras and computers designed for businessmen is a due example in this context. Scenes of people staying overnight in front of shopping malls, that advertise a few products of low discount for a short period of time, waiting for hours on their feet and crushing each other to get in once the doors are open, are new the normal. This study elaborates on lexical and technical meanings of squander/extravagance. It detected areas such as eating-drinking, clothing and dress, weddings and ceremonies where it comes about. Furthermore, it highlights strategies to combat and control wasting disease and who can do it.
Keywords
Kur’ân , Tefsir , Tebzîr/İsraf , Ekonomi , Özenti
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