No Barakah in earnings and time - very distressed

[brotherinpain]

Dear Brothers/Sisters


I am writing to look for dua/surah/activity that will bring Barakah into my earnings. Masha-Allah I earn a good 6-figure salary. I try my best in saving every dollar. I dont eat out. I dont spend on any sort of luxury. I even sacrifice necessities to the extent that I havent bought new clothes in the past 2-3 years or so.
I try my best to keep family(wife+kids) happy by dining out together, outings once in a while etc. so Mashallah I have a happy life. but deep within this happiness lurks a fear and worry that is eating me up from inside every second of my life. I havent mentioned this to my parents(they are old so dont want to worry them). I dont even mention this to my wife.


so the worry is that I am unable to save money. I am hardly left with anything decent saved up every month, no matter how hard I try.


I also live in constant fear of having monetary loss by something or the other breaking at home or some illness coming to one of us(all of this happened in the past). when i began to feel that ok this month i am saving better than last month, something unexpected happens, and i lose money.


I dont know why these things happen to me. I am not 100% religious. I do attempt and manage to pray 1-2 salah's on time every day. read Quran once in a while. pay zakah and fast.


I havent embezzled anybody's wealth. I havent cheated anyone. I havent caused any harm to anyone. I dont even show off to attract any evil eye(I make duas pro-actively to protect me+family from evil eye).


Every day that passes by I am getting sick of my life and condition of being unable to make use of the opportunity Allah has given to earn and save.


I beg and cry in front of Allah every now and then begging like the most lowest of beggars(which I and every human being is in front of Allah SWT). But I dont know if I am missing anything? My earning is Halaal and I dont indulge in any haraam acts.


I am on the verge of giving up everything and returning back to my home country.


Please help with anything I can do to attract Allah's blessings and also increase in wealth and plug all the money drains.
Scientifically/financially speaking, most of it is groceries, the 2nd largest chunk goes in outside eating(which I have to do every now and then even though I dont like).

 

[strivingobserver98]

Brother, Allah has already provided you with 6 figure salary risq masha Allah. The real issue is just how to save the money and stop spending it. Many people including millionaires, pop stars and public figures also have a problem with spending, then at the end they just lose it all!


So I will firstly give you tips on how to spend less:

- THINK before you spend. Think about do I need this product? Is this product going to benefit me in anyway? Will my money be put to good use? Will I use this product regularly? When's the last time I used this product?

- Stop strolling around the markets. If your going to always walk around products and discounts then of course you will be tempted to buy all the time. Instead try and visit the Masjid regularly.
The Prophet :saws: said: “The most beloved places on Earth to Allah are its mosques, and the most despised places on Earth to Allah are its markets.” [Sahîh Muslim]

- Stop watching TV. You cannot watch a single programme without an advertisement! All that mass advertising campaigns that go on, you will just keep getting more and more tempted to buy.

- Sell your unwanted items! Alhamdulilah there are now so many outlets where you can sell directly from your home such as Ebay, Amazon and Gumtree. If you have something unused just lying around then sell it. :ia: it will help with your finances.

- Go 25 days cold turkey where you avoid gratification and impulse purchases. If the situation gets extreme where you find it impossible to stop spending, then why not hand over your money to your wife? Tell your wife "I'm doing this for 25 days, and please handle my finances and don't give me any money". After 25 days :ia: the urges will be less.

- Lastly keep moving forward and never back down! There are many people struggling with finances so your not alone! :ia: try and read their blogs online and how they overcame it.


Here are few Islamic tips to increase your risq and barakah :ia::

- Seek forgiveness and repent to Allah all the time.
"I said (to them): 'Ask forgiveness from your Lord; Verily, He is Oft-Forgiving; (10) 'He will send rain to you in abundance; (11) 'And give you increase in wealth and children, and bestow on you gardens and bestow on you rivers.' " [Surah Nooh, Verses 10-12]

- Recite the Surah of wealth. Surah Al Waqiah.
The Prophet :saws: said, ‘Whoever recites surah al Waqiah at night would never encounter poverty’ [Ibn Sunni 620]

- Make dua and sincere supplication to Allah. Cry out to Him and talk to Him in sujood with all your problems.
It was narrated by Ibn Maajah (925) from Umm Salamah that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) used to say, when he said the salaam at the end of Fajr prayer: “Allaahumma inni as’aluka rizqan tayyiban, wa ‘ilman naafi’an, wa ‘amalan mutaqabbalan (O Allaah, I ask you for good (halaal) provision, beneficial knowledge and accepted good deeds).”

- Tawakkul, Trust in Allah.
“If you had all relied on Allah (SWT) as you should rely on Him, then He would have provided for you as He provides for the birds, who wake up hungry in the morning and return with full stomachs at dusk.”
[At-Tirmidhi]

- Give in charity for the sake of Allah :swt:.The Messenger of Allah :saws: said, “Allah has said, ‘Spend (on charity) O son of Adam, and I shall spend on you.’”
[Sahih Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
“The likeness of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah, is as the likeness of a grain (of corn); it grows seven ears, and each ear has a hundred grains. Allah gives manifold increase to whom He wills. And Allah is All-Sufficient for His creatures’ needs, All-Knower.
Those who spend their wealth in the Cause of Allah, and do not follow up their gifts with reminders of their generosity or with injury, their reward is with their Lord. On them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve” [Al-Baqarah 2: 261-262]


There are many books about this subject of money in Islam in-depth, so I recommend you read them :ia:. And there are many threads on this Business/Finance section which you can read through.

Also I would highly advise you brother to start praying all the 5 times prayers. With daily salah your connection with Allah :swt: will be much closer.

May Allah give you abundant risq and keep you steadfast on the deen. Ameen.

:jz:

 

[Alpha Dude]

Brother, you need to surrender your affairs to Allah and trust in him more and cultivate a feeling of being able to show patience and contentment if/when it comes to Allah testing you with something such as the things you worry about. Without having that kind of mindset and strength of connection with Allah, you will always feel worry and unease.

For your situation though, you simply need to practice better money management. Sit down and make a list of all the likely essential monthly outgoings (e.g. rent, utility bills, phone/internet bills, food, travel costs, kids spending money, etc.) and from that, work out how much money would be left over from your monthly income. The figure you come up with is the figure you should aim to save per month.

Also - importantly, note that if income is haram or a person deals in riba/usury/interest, there is little baraka in it:

Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Even if riba is much, it will end up being a small amount.” (Reported by al-Haakim, 2/37; see also Saheeh al-Jaami’, 3542

Conversely, giving charity has the opposite effect, in that it brings barakah into a person's life:

Abu Hurairah (r.a.) reported Allah’s Messenger (s.a.w.s.) as saying: “Charity does not in any way decrease the wealth and the servant who forgives, Allah adds to his respect; and the one who shows humility, Allah elevates him in the estimation (of the people).” (Muslim Vol. 4, Hadith 6264)

So we should avoid major sins like usury/interest and give in charity (especially obligatory ones like annual zakat) in order to protect us from lack of and to gain more baraka in our wealth.

 

[M.I.A.]

I was going to write you a long story but..

Be greatful for what you have and try not to lose sight of all you have.

Everybody must feel like you at some point in there lives but patients and perseverance is key.

..or just fling yourself through every open door, not sure what you would end up doing or if it would make you any happier.

At times iv found temp work literally for a month, only to give it all to zakat at the end of it.

...somehow I don't think you would take that as a boast.

New clothes twice a year because the wife insists lol.

 

[MuslimInshallah]

Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuhu brother,


I am very sorry to hear that you are suffering. Financial problems are very stressful, and men especially often feel really bad if they can't be the providers that they'd like to be.

I would like to recommend a book to you that I read many years ago, and that helped me get my financial life under control. Like you, I always seemed to have no money, and budgeting just didn't seem to work. I wanted to be able to stay home to look after my children, so I had to figure out how to do this on only 1 income. And, alhamdullillah, reading this book had a really profound impact on my way of dealing with money. And not only were we able, after following the exercises and steps in this book, to clear our debts and live on just 1 income, but we were able to save a lot of money.

As a Muslim, you can't follow the investment step the book recommends, but apart from that, the insights and exercises in this book are really very enlightening and practical.

(smile) Anyway, there is an updated edition, so perhaps there are now other investment ideas (I don't know). Here a link to Amazon so you can find the pertinent information to get the book, but you don't have to buy it from Amazon (I personally am trying to avoid purchasing through Amazon because of what I have read about their terrible business practices and abuse of employees). http://www.amazon.ca/Your-Money-Lif...27825&sr=1-1&keywords=your+money+or+your+life


(smile) May Allah, the Source of Good, Have Mercy on those who worry about their rizq... and Help us see the goodness in what we have.