اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ بِجَمِیعِ مَحَامِدِه کُلِّهَا عَلَی جَمِیعِ نِعَمِهِ کُلِّهَا… اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ مالِکِ الْمُلْکِ مُجْرِی الْفُلْکِ مُسَخِّرِ الرِّیاحِ فالِقِ الاْصْباحِ دَیّانِ الدّینِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمینَ اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی حِلْمِهِ بَعْدَ عِلمِهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی عَفْوِهِ بَعْدَ قُدْرَتِهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی طُولِ اَناتِهِ فی غَضَبِهِ وَهُوَ قادِرٌ عَلی ما یُریدُ
ثم الصلاه و السلام علی محمد عبده و رسوله ارسله بالهدی و دین الحق لیظهره علی الدین کله و لو کره المشرکون
اوصیکم عبادالله و نفسی بتقوی الله و اتباع امره و نهیه، و اخوفکم من عقابه
Twelfth Sign of the Righteous:
وَ تَحَرُّجاً عَنْ طَمَعٍ
And they avoid greed
“تحرج” means avoidance of sin (majma al-Bahrain, vol. 1, p. 3). And in this phrase, from the sermon of himam, as the sermon goes on it comes to greed, so the word means greed. The people of piety never go for greed and do not contaminate themselves with it. Amir al-Mu’minin says:
أَزْرَى بِنَفْسِهِ مَنِ اسْتَشْعَرَ الطَّمَعَ
The one who has covered his shirt with greed, he has humiliated himself. Freedom of a men will be destroyed by greed.
Aban ibn swaid asked Imam sadegh (peace be upon him): What consolidates faith in a men ? Imam sadegh answerd him:
الَّذِي يُثْبِتُهُ فِيهِ الْوَرَعُ وَ الَّذِي يُخْرِجُهُ مِنْهُ الطَّمَعُ. (بحار الأنوار، ج٧٠، ص١٦٨)
What establishes faith in him is righteousness, and what drives faith away from him is greed.
Leaving the faith means that there is a possibility of any error or sin (which is sometimes irreparable and there will be no return) for a person. Amir al-muminin says:
تَفَضَّلْ عَلَى مَنْ شِئْتَ فَأَنْتَ أَمِيرُهُ وَ اسْتَغْنِ عَمَّنْ شِئْتَ فَأَنْتَ نَظِيرُهُ وَ افْتَقِرْ إِلَى مَنْ شِئْتَ فَأَنْتَ أَسِيرُهُ وَ الطَّمِعُ مَنْزُوعٌ عَنْهُ الْإِيمَانُ وَ هُوَ لَا يَشْعُرُ لِأَنَّ الْإِيمَانَ يَحْجُبُ بَيْنَ الْعَبْدِ وَ بَيْنَ الطَّمَعِ مِنَ الْخَلْقِ.(بحار الأنوار، ج٧٠، ص169)
Forgive whoever you want that you will be his commander, and tell your needlessness to whoever you want that you will be like him, and ask for help from whoever you want that you will be his slave. and faith, It will detract from the greedy person while he doesn’t know, because the faith makes a veil between men and greed.
To be free from greed and its corruptions, we must build and strengthen our trust in the almighty God and contentment so as not to fall into the trap of greed by trusting in the infinite divine power of allah. And we must know that greed is a whirlwind that has no end and infects its owner more than ever until he dies.
Greed causes thought and mind to fade and human beings fall into great slips by following it, Amir al-muminin says:
أکْثَرُ مَصارِعِ الْعُقُولِ تَحْتَ بُرُوقِ الْمَطامِعِ
Most of the fall of the intellects is due to greed. (Nahj al-Balagha, 219)
Imam Sajjad says:
رَأَيْتُ الْخَيْرَ كُلَّهُ قَدِ اجْتَمَعَ فِي قَطْعِ الطَّمَعِ عَمَّا فِي أَيْدِي النَّاس (بحار الأنوار، ج٧٠، ص١٧١)
I saw all the good that all come together in stopping of covetousness of what people have with their self.
Mullah Ahmad Naraghi writes: “When a poor dervish went to the house of a wealthy person and said, ‘I have heard that you have made a vow of money in the way of God for dervishs, I have am also a dervish. “I have made a vow to the blind you are not blind,” Khawaja said. Then he said, “I am a true blind who has left the door of the grace of God and has come to the house of a person like you. He said this and left. Khawaja became impressed and followed him, and he did not accept whatever he tried to give him. “
Greed leads to a strong dependence on the world and a great deal of attending to non-God and corruption. Greed is one of the causes of anger, hatred, and envy; The greedy person will never be full of the world and is constantly striving to obtain it in every way possible and is in fact in perpetual captivity, as Amir al-Mu’minin says: Greed leads to eternal slavery. (Nahj al-Balaghah, 180 Phrases)
The Holy Quran says about the life of the world, and what makes people to do boasting and to always searching for more:
اعْلَمُوا أَنَّمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا لَعِبٌ وَلَهْوٌ وَزِينَةٌ وَتَفَاخُرٌ بَيْنَكُمْ وَتَكَاثُرٌ فِي الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَوْلَادِ كَمَثَلِ غَيْثٍ أَعْجَبَ الْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتُهُ ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ فَتَرَاهُ مُصْفَرًّا ثُمَّ يَكُونُ حُطَامًا وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانٌ وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ ﴿حدید:۲۰﴾
Know that the worldly life is only play, and distraction, and glitter, and boasting among you, and rivalry in wealth and children. It is like a rainfall that produces plants, and delights the disbelievers. But then it withers, and you see it yellowing, and then it becomes debris. While in the Hereafter there is severe agony, and forgiveness from God, and acceptance. The life of this world is nothing but enjoyment of vanity.
We see that gloom, pride and plurality, they are the same as the world of faulty. The faulty world means that which is crowded, that it causes strife or pride. This is the world we have been told to despise and count as small.
The Holy Quran says:
أَ لَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِكافٍ عَبْدَهُ
Is not Allah sufficient for His servant?
If God is enough, why should we be greedy for something? Isn’t it that the treasurer of the world is in his hands:
وَ لِلَّهِ خَزائِنُ السَّماواتِ وَ الْأَرْضِ وَ لكِنَّ الْمُنافِقِينَ لا يَفْقَهُونَ
To God belong the treasures of the heavens and the earth, but the hypocrites do not understand.