Alhamdulilāh. All praise is due to Allah, The Lord, The Creator, and The sustainer of all things. May He send peace and blessings upon his final messenger Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), and all of his respected household and noble companions.

Allah (Subhana wa Taalah) says: Those among the Children of Israel who disbelieved were cursed by the tongue of Dawud (David) and ‘Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary). That was because they disobeyed (Allah and the Messengers) and were ever transgressing beyond bounds.

They used not to forbid one another from the Munkar (wrong, evil­doing, sins, polytheism, disbelief, etc.) which they committed. Vile indeed was what they used to do. (Quran 5:78-79)

Hudhaifah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “By Him in Whose Hand my life is, youeither enjoin good and forbid evil, or Allah will certainly soonsend His punishment to you. Then you will make supplicationand it will not be accepted”.[At-Tirmidhi, who categorized it as Hadith Hasan].

Abu Sa’id Al-Khudri said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave aspeech once and said, (Behold! Fear from people should not prevent one from saying the truth if he knows it.) Abu Sa’id then cried and said, “By Allah! We have seen some errors, but we feared (the people). Reference : Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2191

When Allah (Subhana wa Taalah) was talking about the description of the servant of the most merciful he stated: And those, who, when they spend, are neither extravagant nor niggardly, but hold a medium (way) between those (extremes).Quran (25:67).

The extravagance that we have witnessed in weddings and naming ceremonies, especially with the people of Seattle, is unIslamic and unproductive. We should set our priority straight if we are indeed serious about building our society and the future of our children. This unnecessary and excessive spending will bring us great harm if we do not put an end to it immediately. I am calling upon all Gambian elders in Seattle to come out and find a solution to this problem!

It is important for women who are blindly engaged in these excessive and unIslamic spending to be guided and admonished. They are probably unaware of the consequences of excessiveness and showing off in Islam; their actions are indirectly misleading our community in the wrong direction, especially our wives and daughters.

Unfortunately, the talk of the town these days is about the lavish wedding that took place in The Gambia, which was organized by our community members here in the Seattle area. someone should mercifully hold the hands of these women and educate them. I asked myself, where are the guidance and husbands of these women!. If we are silent about these realities, others will perceive this as acceptable and they will certainly follow in their footsteps. We want to make it very clear that: this is the very opposite of what we teach at our Islamic centers here in Seattle.

We need to set our priority straight!. Gambians have been living in the Seattle area for over 30 years now. As of date, our community is still struggling to own a masjid. Yet, we are engaged in extravagant and excessive naming ceremonies and weddings. Other communities in our area have already built schools for their children, bought their own Islamic community centers, and they are currently working towards building clinics and pharmacies for their community, while our Gambian community is busy competing with one another with unnecessary spending at events.

Celebrating weddings and naming ceremonies that are inline with our Islamic teachings is permissible and not an issue. The issues are the excessive spending and the unIslamic behaviors at these events. Their concern is to dress in gold to show off, and putting on expensive clothes to parade in front of praised singers. Their concern is to waste money on the praised singers, buy them vehicles, land, home etc. the motivation behind all of this is about  fame and Competition with one another. Wasting resources that are prohibited by Allah!. How can the Gambian community develop with these kinds of behavior and attitude?.

This year alone, from 2019 to 2020, we have witnessed enough crisis that should alarm us and serve as a lesson for all of us in the community. We need resources to find solutions for our Gambia children that are struggling and dying due to drugs (as we are all witnessing), more young Gambians are addicted to drugs, some are currently residing in the prison system, some dropped out of schools and idling the streets, and all of this community problems are growing due to the lack of Islamic education (Trabiyyah) and lack of community resources that can enable us to do our due diligence, with respect to raising our children.

The divorce rate is rising in our community. Fathers are busy with two or three jobs. likewise, mothers are competing with fathers with two or three jobs. We are competing in building homes and buying expensive cars, expensive jewels, expensive clothes for naming ceremonies and weddings to compete with others, while our children in the community are not given the attention they deserve and the Islamic education that will  protect them from juvenile delinquency.

if we do not take heed, and set our priority straight, and try our utmost best to reverse these community crises, we will all regret why we came to America!. If we continue to be wasteful and abandon our duties towards community building, we could potentially lose our children to the streets. We will certainly leave all this material behind when death knocks on our door. And all our spending in this world shall be audited by Allah (Subhana Wa Taalah).

 

Lastly, please reflect on the beneficial reminders below!

Quran(17:26) And give the relative his right, and [also] the poor and the traveler, and do not spend wastefully. Quran(17:27) Indeed, the wasteful are brothers of the devils, and ever has Satan been to his Lord ungrateful.

(Explaining this Ayah, Qatadah stated that: Extravagance means spending money on sin in disobeying Allah, and on wrongful and corrupt endeavors. Reference tafsir at-tabari 17:429)

Quran (7:31) O children of Adam, take your adornment [i.e., wear your clothing] at every masjid, and eat and drink, but be not excessive. Indeed, Allah does not like those who commit excess.

Quran (57:20) Know that the life of this world is but amusement and diversion and adornment and boasting to one another and competition in increase of wealth and children – like the example of a rain whose [resulting] plant growth pleases the tillers; then it dries and you see it turned yellow; then it becomes [scattered] debris. And in the Hereafter is severe punishment and forgiveness from Allah and approval. And what is the worldly life except the enjoyment of delusion.

The prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “The marriage, which produces the most blessings, is that which involves least burden.” (Tirmidhi)”

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: What is your opinion on expensive dowries and extravagance in wedding parties, especially preparations for what is called the honeymoon, which includes high expenses? Does Islam approve of this?

He (may Allah have mercy on him) replied: Expensive dowries and extravagance in wedding parties are things that are contrary to sharee‘ah. The most blessed marriage is that which is affordable; the less the expenses are, the greater the blessings. This is something that in most cases is the fault of women, because women are the ones who force their husbands to pay for expensive parties that are not allowed in sharee‘ah. This is something that is included in the words of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted (interpretation of the meaning): “…but waste not by extravagance, certainly He (Allâh) likes not Al-Musrifûn (those who waste by extravagance)” [al-A‘raaf 7:31]. Many women force their husbands to do that and say “So and so had such and such in her party” and so on.

But what is required in such matters is to act in the way prescribed in Islam and not overstep that mark or be extravagant, because Allah – may He be glorified and exalted – has forbidden extravagance and has said that He does not like those who waste by extravagance. End quote from Fataawa 3/176

This advice is not meant to please or anger anyone. My intention is to shed light on the crisis we have in our community. Whatever I stated in my advice above that is correct, is indeed from the blessings of Allah(Subhana wa Taalah), and whatever mistakes or errors I made above are from myself and shaitan. And Allah and his messenger are free from those mistakes, I ask Allah to bless and protect our community from extravagance and wastefulness. May the Almighty guide us to that which pleases him, Ameen. May Allah grant us success.


Muhammad Adam (Imam of Bilal Islamic center of  Everettt WA.