Quick Gain: Between the Bliss of Paradise and the Flames of Hell
"[This is] so that Allah may distinguish the wicked from the good..."
When ʿAbd al-Raḥman ibn ʿAwf (may Allah be pleased with him) arrived in Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ formed a bond of brotherhood between him and Saʿd ibn al-Rabiʿ. Saʿd offered to give him half of his wealth without any compensation, effort, or hesitation, insisting that ʿAbd al-Raḥman accept it. However, ʿAbd al-Raḥman refused, saying: “Show me the marketplace.” He went there and began trading in simple goods like dates and milk, engaging in buying and selling with sharp acumen and honesty. In a very short time, he managed to earn enough capital to be able to get married.
Now the question is: What if you were in the place of ʿAbd al-Raḥman ibn ʿAwf? Would you let this opportunity slip away? Would you choose work and effort over comfort and receiving money for free? Do you believe that money should be earned through personal effort?
If your answer is yes, then you understand the danger of quick and effortless wealth, but you still need to distinguish between lawful and unlawful rapid earning.
Lawful Rapid Earning
Islam does not prohibit rapid earning, nor does it restrict dealings that yield fast profits for their owners. However, it makes a clear distinction between lawful and unlawful gain. Lawful rapid earning is achieved through means that align with Islamic principles and ethical standards, avoiding prohibited practices like riba (usury) and hoarding, which ultimately benefit both the individual and society. This is what ʿAbd al-Raḥman ibn ʿAwf did—he chose trade and effort over taking wealth without labor. This aligns with the command of Allah in His Book: “And when the prayer has been concluded, disperse within the land and seek from the bounty of Allah, and remember Allah often that you may succeed.” (Al-Jumuʿah: 10). And the Prophet ﷺ said: "The truthful and trusty merchant is associated with the prophets, the upright, and the martyrs."
Unlawful Rapid Earning
Many people look for the shortest route to make money, paying no attention to the legality or ethics of those methods. Their focus is solely on how much they can earn and how fast. Thus, unlawful rapid earning can be defined as: generating income through unethical or illegal methods in a short period of time, without effort or providing any real benefit to society. This often involves exploiting legal loopholes and ignoring the Prophet’s ﷺ advice: “Fear Allah wherever you are, do good deeds after doing bad ones, the former will wipe out the latter, and behave decently towards people.”
Measuring financial flows from such unlawful sources is extremely difficult due to their secretive nature. As a result, many organizations, including UNCTAD and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, have developed statistical methods to help countries estimate these flows. For example, the drug trade in one country alone was estimated to be between $1.3 to $1.7 billion annually—representing 4.5% of that country’s total legal exports!
Examples of Unlawful Rapid Earning
There are many forms of unlawful rapid earnings, such as:
- Financial speculation — where a person buys and quickly sells assets like stocks, goods, or currencies solely for profit without regard to real value.
- Gambling and betting — which now appear in the form of online games like roulette, blackjack, and slot machines.
- Sports betting apps like Bet365 and William Hill, and others, target those lured by flashy promises and quick profit.
And that’s not all—bribery, corruption, market manipulation, cyber fraud, scam projects, false promises, lottery scams, pyramid and network marketing schemes, and illegal trades are all traps for the impulsive and greedy who fall victim to these deceptive opportunities.
Victims Weaving Their Own Noose
In one of many cases of unlawful rapid earning, a group of victims essentially built their own gallows. They gathered around a man of status and asked him to invest their money in his ventures in exchange for a monthly return. At first, this criminal pretended to be pious and upright. The victims insisted, so he took their money and gave them the promised returns—even increasing them over time without being asked.
As his fame grew, people flocked to him with all their wealth. Some even sold possessions to invest with him, enticed by the quick profits—ten thousand turned into multiples in just one month!
Money without effort, hardship, or toil—they danced to the rhythm of the forbidden, forgetting their Islamic principles and ethical values. But soon, a storm swept through and turned their wealth to dust. The criminal disappeared with billions, leaving nothing but regret. Some victims died in shock, others were crippled by illness, and some shut their doors, unable to face society…
Harms of Unlawful Rapid Earning
Contrary to popular belief, unlawful quick earning brings severe harm to both individuals and society:
- Religious harm: Moral decline, spread of fraud culture instead of hard work.
- Economic harm: Market instability, financial loss, and erosion of fair commerce.
- Social harm: Increase in crime, unemployment, and violence due to the disruption of legal work, and widening class divides.
- Psychological harm: Gambling addiction, stress, depression, family breakdowns, and social isolation.
- Legal harm: Risk of imprisonment, fines, and legal pursuit.
Islam’s Stance on Unlawful Rapid Earning
Islam takes an uncompromising stance against unlawful quick earnings in all its forms due to its clear contradiction to Shariah principles and the harm it causes. The Islamic texts strictly prohibit such ways of earning, stemming from the insatiable greed of the human self, as the Prophet ﷺ said: "If the son of Adam were to possess two valleys of riches. he would long for the third one. And the stomach of the son of Adam is not filled but with dust. And Allah returns to him who repents."
Unlawful earning in Islam includes:
- Riba (usury): “O you who have believed, do not consume usury, doubled and multiplied.” (Al ʿImran: 130)
- Fraud and deception: Prophet ﷺ said: “And he who treats us dishonestly does not belong to us.”
- Bribery: Prophet ﷺ said: “The curse of Allah is upon the one who offers a bribe and the one who takes it.”
- All forms of illicit earnings: Prophet ﷺ said: “Flesh which has grown out of what is unlawful will not enter paradise.”, and: “God is good and accepts only what is good.”
From all this, we understand that Islam categorically forbids all forms of unlawful rapid earning due to the immense harm they cause. Instead, it encourages work, diligence, and honest effort. The Prophet ﷺ said: “No one has ever eaten better food than what he eats as a result of the labour of his hands.” And from the sayings of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭab: “I see a man and he impresses me, but if I am told he has no trade, he falls from my eyes.” Also: “None of you should sit back from seeking provision.” And ʿAbdullah ibn Masʿud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “I hate to see a man idle—not working for his worldly life, nor for his hereafter.”
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