He Has Not Even Been Given Wealth

The whole account is set out. First: they did not agree to Ṭālūt as their leader, because he came of no distinguished family and had no great wealth.

There is at times such a cast of mind among communities, the Muslim communities among them: that prestige belongs to those who have it in worldly terms — money, influence, position — while religious standing counts for nothing. Hence there are countries in the world in which the ʿulamāʾ are denigrated and looked down upon, the media and the rest having simply made it so, save in the minds of a few. Al-ḥamdu li-llāh, in some countries that is changing greatly, and the ʿulamāʾ are coming to be much more respected.

Then there are certain countries in the world — Muslim countries — which send some of their best students, and by best is meant not merely their ablest but also their wealthiest, to the top universities here, to Imperial College and UCL and Oxford and Cambridge. These students come from what may be called the wealthy elite of their countries. For who is to pay twenty or thirty thousand pounds a year in fees? People in the United Kingdom find nine thousand a great deal; twenty thousand from another country, together with every other cost, means that only the very elite come.

Such students come from the mindset of certain countries — not all countries are so, but some are — in which those who are religious are held to be lowly, of a low class. For among the wealthy elite of those countries religion is of little account, money and position affording a false sense of security. Religion also affords security, in the Hereafter and in this world, and teaches a man to deal with his own emotions; but of this they know nothing, since they can buy what they wish and obtain what they wish. They feel that religion is not for them: I have my money, I have my contacts, I know someone in the government, or someone at the local police station. Much corruption arises from precisely this.

Some of these students come to the United Kingdom, or to America and elsewhere, and there they sit beside Muslims of families born in this country who are religious: girls in hijab, some in niqab; men who pray their ṣalāh. There is a muṣallā in the university, and they go to prayer; there is a Jumuʿah prayer; there are religious activities. And these students are astonished: you are what we would most wish to be — we wish we could be like you; what is the matter with you? And subḥānAllāh, many of them come to discover their religion in a Western country, which is a strange thing indeed. That is not to say that everyone should move to a Western country on that account; there are advantages and disadvantages in every country and every place. But it is something to be understood.

The same cast of mind may be seen here, where they say: how can he have sovereignty over us, when we are more rightful and more fitting for that sovereignty, and he has not even been given abundance of wealth? Allāhu akbar.

So Allah says that Allah has chosen him over them, and has increased him both in body — māshāʾAllāh, he was well made in frame and physique — and in knowledge. There is great consolation in this for those who are downtrodden. Allah gives His sovereignty to whom He wills; and Allah is the Expansive, the All-Knowing: He knows exactly where to place it.

Hence throughout history one has seen great traditions and dynasties, peoples upon the ascent, untouchable in their day, superior, the superpowers of their time. Consider Khosrow's Madāʾin, Ctesiphon, in the Persian lands: that city was remarkable, and they defeated the Romans. Today there is not so much as a sign of them. The few that remain sit in India — the fire worshippers, the Zoroastrians, the Magians. Look into history and it appears that whatever is ascendant now need not be so tomorrow. So long as one does what is right, Allah (swt) will give the true sovereignty, which is what truly matters.

And so this account becomes the whole discussion of Dāwūd (peace be upon him), a young man at that time, who kills Goliath, the great giant.