Since the start of month of Ramadhan Mubarak, i have contemplated and still do on the link between fasting and productivity, fasting and wellbeing, fasting and wealth management among others. Is there any link and if so on what dimensions and how significant that link is?

Let me start by quoting Ibn Al Qayyim on Fasting “The benefits of fasting can be witnessed by a person with sound mind, Allah has ordained it as part of His mercy to them, to safeguard and protect them.” In this first article, i am sharing few insights on fasting and Islamic wealth management.

Intention as determinant of acceptable actions.

Intention might be irrelevant in conventional wealth management, however in Islamic wealth management developing pure intention is an important take away from fasting. In what way? Fasting person seek to please Almighty by leaving his food, drink, marital relations among others. It might be strange for a person to leave all these to please others. So is managing your wealth, we should aim be to please Almighty by observing requirements for creating wealth, spending your wealth, growing wealth, protecting wealth, distributing your wealth and purification of your wealth. As for people, just learn from them but seek not to please them! Thus, it is required to have intention before sunrise for acceptable fast during Ramadhan, you are required to have noble intention everyday as you manage your wealth- ultimately you seek to please Almighty in whatever objective you will be pursuing at a time.

Some Prophetic narrations on significance of intentions are “Actions are through intentions”, “People will be gathered (on the Day of Resurrection) according to their intentions”, “Whoever takes the money of the people with the intention of repaying it, Allah will repay it on his behalf, and whoever takes it in order to spoil it, then Allah will spoil him”, “He who does not acquire knowledge with the sole intention of seeking the Pleasure of Allah but for worldly gain, will not smell the fragrance of Jannah on the Day of Resurrection”

Ethics as base of noble wealth.

Fasting reinforce strongly upholding good morals or ethical conduct. A person who fast is required to stop lying, behave foolishly, quarrel, greediness among others. Either you are manager of other people wealth or you manage your own, you must uphold ethical requirements in all phases of wealth management. Practices such as misrepresentations, fraudulent activities, money laundering, greediness, insider trading, hiding assets in bankruptcy cases, or engaging in dubious tax strategies or investing in Ponzi schemes among others should be avoided. On this note, the concept of ethical wealth investing is highly recommended. What is the benefit of fasting if you break it with food brought to the table using illicit gains? One study suggested that “acting ethicall is not only the right thing to do but potentially linked to personal financial success!”

Taqwa “God consciousness” as purpose of wealth.

Fasting serves the purpose of making a Muslim more God-conscious on his daily activities. But what does Taqwa means? Khalifa Ali r.a said “Taqwa is fear of Almighty in your heart, taking actions according to the sacred law, contentment with little results and preparation of next life.” All these four are essential spiritual ingredients for Islamic wealth management.

• Fear of Almighty- people might not catch you or see or even notice what you do with your wealth, but He does. Your investments are bearing interest, your life or vehicle Takaful has misrepresentations of material facts, we may not know, He does! Do you fear poverty more that Almighty who created you and poverty? “Do as you wish, but be sure of its consequences.”
• Taking actions based on sacred law – people’s actions my be induced by following others or following conventional financial advisers or following your instincts, or following the market performance among others. The question to ask is my action permitted or endorsed by Almighty? is this investment Halal? is this Will Halal? is this insurance cover Halal? Is my job Halal?
• Contentment with little results – do your best, hardly or smartly as the case may be in managing your wealth but know that you may have no control of results. Whatever the outcome, be pleased, learn from it and move forward.
• Preparation for the next life – what do you advance in your next life or take with you or leave behind to keep on adding value to your next life? Here, spiritual investing comes to light and gain its relevance. Building real estate on earth may sound a good investment but also do you know how to build a house or a palace in the hereafter? I wont answer this, you are to find out as you did when selecting your first real estate to buy. Fasting not just during Ramadan but in other days of the year is one form of spiritual investing as it is reward is forgiveness, prevention from fire and much more that only GOD knows.

In Islam as it sound minded people, wealth is not an end by itself but as means to an end. For Muslims, that end will be to attain a status of becoming “Muttaqeen” or God-fearing person. God is reported to have said “Wealth you see is mine. Paradise is Mine. Use my wealth to purchase my paradise.” What a fair deal? Why should you do that? “The paradise everlasting, the world is fleeting!”

I hope this article open mind to think over and provides insights to manage wealth ethically. More importantly, fasting is act of worship among the benefits is improving the person physical health / wellbeing and as the saying goes “health is wealth.”