Tradition

ما تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ خَيْر يَبْقَ لَكَ ذُخْرُهُ وَ ما تُؤَخَّرُهُ يَكُنْ لِغَيْرِكَ خَيْرُهُ

Imam ‘Ali (‘a) is narrated to have said: “What you send ahead of yourselves will be saved for you and what you delay will end up benefitting others (while its responsibility remains yours).”1

Brief Commentary

It appears that the desire of people to accumulate wealth has increased during modern times to much higher levels than before. Unfortunately, such people accumulate wealth without considering what their main goals in life are, and at some point, it really does seem like an illogical and even insane thing to do.

Such people get so involved in the accumulation of wealth that they sometimes lose sight of whether they are making that money through lawful or unlawful means. In addition, do such people think about the fact that they will not be able to take their wealth with them when they leave this world, nor will they be able to spend all of it during the span of their lives. At some point, they will have to leave all of their wealth and the only thing that will remain with them will be the responsibility of the wealth that they have left behind.

• 1. Nahj al-Balaghah, Sharh Nahj Al-Balaghah, vol. 18, p. 41, Ghurar Al-Hikam, p. 104.