How Much Money Was The Prophet ﷺ Really Making?

Was the Prophet poor?

He was.

People believe money is bad.

Specifically as a Muslim, that is absolutely wrong. Money can be a source of Jannah.

Wait, wait, pause on that again. What business did he start with?

He started out originally with the Prophet. Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Used social media.

Welcome to episode one. In this episode, I'm smiling, I'm excited. We are speaking about the best human on earth. Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Thanks to our amazing guest, Barakullah fiq

Sheikh Warahmatullahi wa barakati. Pleasure being here.

Was he a business owner? What was he doing for a living? I want to understand the depth the story of the Prophet as a businessman.

That's beautiful. And no doubt that the prophets from the beginning were given different jobs and responsibilities, some of them being kings as Dawud and Suleiman, some of them being people who would work as labor as Musa did when he was as ulama, have said shuaib in madyan and so on. The Prophet Muhammad was a businessman. He had other skill sets. He had herded livestock before that, sheep and so on. But his main business that he started with was being a employee with Khatija, as a businessman, as a trader, as he would go on business, travel from Mecca to Sham to Syria, take the caravan and he would manage, he would make sure that the employees, which at the time were the servants of Khadijah, were taken care of, that they were fulfilling their responsibility. He was involved in the finance aspect of it, making sure that the wealth that is given is given to pay off the debts that are needed and to bring the product back. You know, supply chain management, right. All of that was a part of the business acumen of the Prophet. Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Now he shined in his honesty, in his trustworthiness. His business had baraka in it, it had blessings in it. It grew better than other businesses because of the role model that he was in trustworthiness, in fulfilling the oaths and fulfilling the promises and not lying and not cheating and making sure the product is as it is supposed to be

and so on, sharing the defects, making sure everyone knows before they buy what they're getting into.

Exactly, exactly. And honoring when a sale was made that if it was defective, he would go and honor it and so on. So he was known to be a sadiq and a laminate. The Prophet was so successful in his business model that his promotion came one after the other where he was running the business and then the Owner of the business, Khatija Radianha, wanted to marry him because she saw such a great character in him. Alayhi satuhi wasallam. And they were married and he became the head of that business. He ran that business. He controlled all of those assets.

And.

And when it came for the sake of Allah, subhanahu wa ta', ala, he sacrificed. He gave up a lot of the business to focus his time upon the deen. But he didn't sit around expecting to get money from others or food from others. No, he still had his assets. He still had his work.

He was still working for his money.

He was still working even though he was a prophet? Yes. Even after prophethood in Mecca, he had the tijarah. He still had trade routes that they were running.

Was he born wealthy?

He was not. The Prophet was born an orphan. His father died before his birth. His mother died in his childhood. He was raised by his grandfather who died, and then by his uncle, Abu Talib. And at times they were very much struggling.

What business did he start with?

He started out originally with shepherding. And as he said, every prophet shepherded at a time because Allah gives them that understanding of how to take care of an ummah by the sheep and how they're keeping.

Very interesting.

Yes. But then from that he grew into trade and business, buying and selling, buying and selling. And from his honesty, then he was given the responsibility to take the caravans of khati jah and handling the caravan traveling. Now, what's amazing to me is when the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam made the hijra to Madinah, and. And now he is the head of a state. There is a khilafah, there is a government that he's running. But even at that time, he is living a very righteous life. He is not worried about just growing his own self. Not that he doesn't have wealth, but he gives away so much.

Was the Prophet poor?

The Prophet was not poor, but he lived a life of zuhud. For example, somebody who doesn't have anything, if they could, they would. Is poor. But somebody who's given wealth but he gives it away is not somebody who's poor, but he's generous. For example, a sheep or a goat was given to the Prophet's house as a gift. Aisha Ratiyana was so generous, his wife, that she gave away everything but a part of a shank or a shoulder bone. That's all she kept. Gave away everything. Now, it's not that they didn't have, it's that they were generous. So he told. When he was told about this, he told Aisha, what did you do with it? She said, I gave away everything except this one that I kept for you, O messenger of Allah. He said, in reality, you gave this away because you're just going to use it. And everything you gave away, you kept because that's going to be in your scale of good deeds on the day of judgment.

Wait, wait, pause on that again. So she gave away everything and she only kept a small part of the sheep?

Yes.

And when he came, sallallahu alaihi wasallam. He said, you kept everything that you have given, and you only gave away this part because you needed it.

Yes. Meaning that, that what you keep, you're going to eat, it's going to turn into feces, or whatever clothes you're going to wear, just going to wear off. But that which you give for the sake of Allah, you have protected to be in your scale of good deeds on the day of judgment. That's the mindset. A sahabi went to the business market and he made a lot of money that day. He came back, he told the Prophet, nobody made more profit than me today in the marketplace. The Prophet didn't tell him, oh, how much did you make?

What did you do?

No, he told him, you want me to tell you something that is more better, that is more virtuous, that has more profit than what, everything you made? He said, of course. He said, make two raka before fajr.

Subhanallah.

Right, Subhanallah. So he, he, sallallahu alaihi wasallam would switch their mindsets from just dunya, dunya, dunya to okay, use that dunya for the akhara.

Okay. So he was a businessman. He was successful. Very successful, very successful. But he was doing it for the Akhirah.

Yeah. Yes.

What are examples where the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, used business, his skill set, and worked to make money and have wealth in order to benefit the ikhrah and the Ummah.

So Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wasallam. In Mecca, for example, when he would do his trade and his tijarah and his work, he would use that wealth afterwards to promote the dawah, for example, he used his skill set of the trade to make money. Then he had the Quraish gather very early on and he made food for them. And he got Ali Radianhu, who used to be as his cousin, at his service. He got him to Gather the quraish and he fed them. He used that money for da' wah and then he tried to give them da'. Wah and when they didn't listen, then he used his business acumen and he used his skill set to then gather them on a mountainside where this used to be the social media of the time. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam used social media. This is gonna go viral. I don't know if you were gonna think that I'm crazy, but look at this. What is social media today? It's a medium for us to communicate a message.

Yeah. It's where a lot of people are gathered so they can display a message.

Exactly.

Yeah.

In the time of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, Their social media was there was a side of a hill in Mecca where is if there was a danger coming, if there was some warning needs to be given, if there was some mass communication that needed to be done, a person would go on that mountain and they would take off all their clothes. They would get absolutely naked and they would say, meaning that an army is going to be attacking by the morning. This was their emergency alert system. This was their social media. So the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. When he gathered the quraish and he made food for them and he saw that they weren't listening, he utilized the social media. He went to that same mountain, but what did he not do? He did not take his clothes off. Okay, so that tells us a principle. Yes. Utilize social media, utilize technology, utilize AI, Utilize every skill set and every tool set at your disposal. But not in the haram, because that's

how they were using social media.

Exactly. Okay, so if social media is using riba, if it's using mirror music, simply

social media with music today.

Exactly. So use social media, but don't put music in it. Don't show half dressed women in it. Like us. In One message foundation, we have da videos, but when we record, we don't use music, we don't use gimmicks, we don't use lies and thumbnails. And even if there are women in the background, we blur them. Because when you're watching our videos, we want you to get reward, not punishment.

Yep. And you just like you would share the reward, you would share the punishment.

Exactly. If someone, and many people discouraged us, they told us, oh, nobody's going to watch your videos if you got blurring and you're not going to get views. But we didn't care.

Turns out it's one of the most viewed platforms.

Yes, it is one of the biggest and definitely most viewed. And by the will of Allah, subhanahu wa ta', ala, the number of shahadas and things. We see great success rates by the will of Allah, but we stuck to the principles. And that's what we see with the Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wasallam. In his business and in his dawah, no compromise, no watering down, no mixing haram into it. So the Prophet, he went on that same mountain and he used the same word, but he did not take his clothes out. He kept to the principles of sharia. When the people gathered, then he told them, if I was to tell you that there's an army about to attack Mecca, would you believe me? And that's why he used that example, because that's what that social media was for. And the people said, of course, you've never lied. You're always honest, you're always trustworthy. Then he told them, look, I'm here to tell you that there is an akhirah, there is a hereafter life, it's not just it. And he used that for dawah, the social media, he used it for the dawah subhanallah. And here Abu Lahab told him, and he made destruction and slow torture be on. You'd gathered us for this. Then the Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wasallam didn't answer to him because Abu Lahab told twice, once at that gathering and once he had, he said tabbalak. Then Allah, subhanahu wa ta' ala responded to him. He replied twice because he had said it twice, and so on. Right. So now we look at how the Prophet used his business skill set when he was in Medina. He would get people would bring him wealth, people would bring him money, and he would utilize that to help people coming to Islam, to help people who were new Muslims with their debts.

So he used wealth as a tool.

He to used. Exactly. He used it for the da', wah, he used it for the deen.

It was not a bad thing. It was something he was using.

Exactly.

Because that's what a lot of people believe. People believe money is bad.

Specifically, as a Muslim, that is absolutely wrong. Money can be a source of Jannah as we spoke about in the case of Uthman IBN Affanu, who purchased Jannah. Exactly. And it can be no doubt, a great victorious thing for Islam that has to be used. The Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wasallam he would always, always make sure that his wives, his children had this lesson that don't disrespect what Allah has given you. When he saw somebody throw food and not care, he said, never disrespect what Allah has given you or Allah will take it away. Right? Meaning what Allah has given you. Understand? Don't just be like, oh, money doesn't matter. No, money does matter. But don't make that your goal. Make your goal the akhirah. Go and work hard and make money so that you can use that for the sake of Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'. Ala. But then don't get caught up in working on that where you lose it. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was given the option to be rich and wealthy or to be from the people that are struggling. And he chose to keep the rizq less so it doesn't become a fitna for him and his children, right? But it doesn't mean that he was poor. There is a difference. He was given wealth. Allah brought for him the Ghana im and everything was at his feet. He just never let that get into his heart. He gave it away, right? So go make money. And then when you have money, use it for sadaqah. Use it to help the Islamic causes. Use it for da'. Wah. Use it for the sake of Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'. Ala. So that you are not out there asking anybody that you're out there fulfilling the needs and responsibilities that we have towards our brothers and sisters in Palestine and our brothers and sisters in the world in Sudan and other places that are in need be from those that solve those problems. But that requires you to build yourself as the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam had done.

Can we conclude on the specific advice that the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was using when it comes to running his business that led to his amazing success.

The Prophet, many beautiful principles of business. I'll mention just a couple. One is whoever cheats us is not from us. What a beautiful hadith. It lays down the principle in business that we don't cheat. We don't lie, we don't switch out products for lesser quality. We don't do these things. So what does that do? It puts a trust on Muslims. Now the Sahaba, they learned this principle from the Prophet. They implemented it in their lives. Then they went to do tijara with different lands. They did business with different lands. And then the tabi' aun and The Taba Tabi' aun after them. One of the examples of the implementation of this hadith is the Muslims and their trade in Indonesia and Malaysia today, in current day, those countries, because these were faraway lands, the Tahaba, the Tabiyun, the Taba Tabiyun. They got in those boats and they went out there and they did business. And they were so honest in their business and they never cheated and they never lied, and they were such reliable, trustworthy businessmen that those entire nations became Muslim Subhanallah, the largest Muslim nation today, Indonesia, numbers wise, 200 million plus Muslims there. Right? Why? No wars, no capturing, not spread by the sword. Just good business practices. And they were honest Subhanallah, honest business practices. The prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam told us another. I'm giving you a couple of them. Yeah, business. He said, pay the laborer before his sweat dries.

Yes, that's one I love. Can you expand on this one, please?

Yes. Meaning that if you have a contract to pay, pay somebody for somebody for a service or labor or work or product, pay them on time, Right? Meaning that if you want to do business with me, and now I tell you, look, I'll get. If I buy this, I'll pay you by this time. And now that time comes and I have money, but now I want to invest that somewhere else and I want to keep you. Now I don't pay you on time and I push you off. And now you're stressed out because you've got payroll to make right now. This is not a business relation. That's going to work. As soon as you can get away from working with me, you're going to get away from working with me. You know, people hire laborers, especially in a lot of these countries that are rich countries, and then they don't pay them. And then they have the Wakil system and this and this and this. And those laborers hate working there. Then they're not going to do a good job. They're not going to go above and beyond. They're not going to care about your product. They hate you because their children are saying, hey, we need to pay bills and we don't have money. So when you work with somebody in your contract with them, pay them on time.

That's one of the key things I mention very often when I meet other business owners. One day I really got into a heavy, heavy argument. I had veins on my forehead of how angry I was. Alhamdulillah people know me. I very rarely get angry. It was someone who paid his team late. Not out of forgetfulness, not out of cash issues, out of neglecting it. He was just busy with something else, taking a vacation. His team, who has kids to feed.

Yes, bills to pay, bills to pay,

was waiting on payment and he was enjoying his life. That was one of the longest, I call it a crash out session. It was one of the longest, deepest crash out sessions. I had to apologize because it was public. I got very, very angry.

And as you should have.

People don't realize that they are entrusted with people's lives. People who work for you, in other words, so sacrifice their lives for your business. And it's a trade off. They will, they will give you their time, they'll give you their sway in exchange for provision for their families. You would take the work, you would take the sway, but you would withhold what they need to provide for their families out of just forgetfulness and acceptable.

Absolutely not. The next principle in business from the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is he told us that sidq, honesty leads to birth, to righteousness and bir leads to Jannah, right? And kazab or lying leads to sinfulness. And that sinfulness leads to hellfire. So in your business, be honest, be truthful, because that will make you successful in business and the akhirah. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. In many, many beautiful ahadith, he told us the obligation to fulfill your word. I'll give you one beautiful hadith from that. The prophet was once asked by a man that I want to meet you about a certain matter. And in this place, Prophet said, okay. He went there. The man forgot. Three days later, the man went by that place and he saw the Prophet was there. The Prophet stayed there for three days. He ate there, he slept there. He stayed there waiting for him to fulfill his word, to fulfill his promise. When the man saw him, he said, oh, I forgot. He didn't crash out on him. He didn't get angry. He just told him, you've made this difficult upon us. But I have kept my word. I told you I'd be here and I was here. So when you do business and you make a contract, live by it, fulfill it.

When you give your word.

When you give your word, honor it. These are beautiful principles. In business, we learn from the life of the best of mankind. A great businessman and a exemplary human being. A prophet of Allah, Muhammad ibn Abdullah. SallAllahu Alaihi wasallam.

What a beautiful, beautiful story. It's amazing that we can learn business principles that if you didn't give me the context, I would think this is just something you read off of a business book today, or this is something you learned from Harvard Business School. But subhanallah, it comes from the Sunnah and from the Prophet. This is amazing.

Allahu barakshaykullah.