Consequences of Unlawful Money in One’s Life
1. Lavishness
One who accepts unlawful money can neither reach a good spiritual position, nor could he have firm beliefs. Unlawful money has many negative consequences, one of which is lavishness. Many people have been afflicted with lavish lifestyle; so, they cannot get the answer to their prayers.
2. The Difficulty of Happiness
One, whose prayers are not heard, because of his lavish lifestyle, cannot easily gain happiness.
3. Consequences for Next Generations
People, who accept unlawful money, make their lives and raise their children with it, cannot raise good children either. Such children are born and raised with unlawful money and food, and there is no place for them but the Hell.
4. Inability to Reach to a High Spiritual Position
One can never reach a good spiritual position if he accepts unlawful money.
5. Inability to Fight
They say when Martyr Kharrazi saw a few soldiers who had lied to get more food he punished them and shouted that people could not fight after eating unlawful food.
6. Taking away the Beauty of Religious Practitioners
Saying one’s prayers can lead him towards the heights of spirituality. But if one accepts unlawful money, his prayers have no meaning anymore. It even becomes harder for such a person to say prayers and to go on fasting.
7. Regression
According to Qur'an, one should always move forward; “O thou man! Verily thou art ever toiling on towards thy Lord- painfully toiling,- but thou shalt meet Him.”
Some move forward and some move backward. Each step backward gets one closer to the Hell. Both ways are getting people closer to God; one via Heaven, and the other one via Hell. One who accepts unlawful money is deviated from the path of God, thus, he is moving backward.
Another point to be mentioned is that it does not matter how much unlawful money people use in their lives. According to Prophet Muhammad, “Even one bite of unlawful food affects one.”
Unlawful money, no matter how little it is, belongs to someone else and not us. Therefore, the use of it is not acceptable.
Translated by: Sadroddin Musawi
Other links: Backbiting= Eating the flesh of your dead brother
Backbiting is prohibited in Islam
Why Backbiting is considered a great sin?
Reasonable Grounds of Backbiting
Treatment and Penance of Backbiting
