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Conflicting Hadiths on Poverty and Wealth: The Challenge of Widespread Reliance on Unreliable Traditions
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Mohammadhasan Rostami *1   , Kazem Tabatabaeipour , Mahdie Rajaei |
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Abstract: (3 Views) |
There is a divergence among Islamic narrations regarding the best model for living and the permissible and commendable extent of worldly enjoyment. Some consider poverty and patience with it to be superior; others favor wealth accompanied by gratitude; while yet others uphold a middle path—minimal possession and sufficiency limited to necessity—as the ideal. Most Muslim scholars, in attempting to reconcile these seemingly conflicting hadiths—despite the questionable authenticity of many—have not doubted their origins and have devoted themselves to harmonizing them all. However, this collective effort has not led to a single, definitive conclusion, and the diversity found in the narrations is reflected in the scholars' reconciliatory outcomes as well. Moreover, commitment to maximal reconciliation has at times led scholars away from a commonsense understanding of the hadiths, resulting in arbitrary and irrational attempts at synthesis. This study argues that the contradiction among narrations remains an unresolved issue in the discourse of poverty and wealth, and the Muslim community should not be content with a false sense of resolution. Instead, it must remain open to re-evaluating the authenticity of certain narrations and to discarding those that do not withstand critical scrutiny.
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| Keywords: Asceticism (Zuhd), Poverty (Faqr), Wealth (Ghinā), Sufficiency (Kafāf), Contradictory Hadiths, Jurisprudential Disputes, Weak (Da‘īf) Hadiths |
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Full-Text [PDF 635 kb]
(10 Downloads)
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Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Special
Received: 2025/07/2 | Accepted: 2025/09/23 | Published: 2025/09/23
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