Life, Wealth, and Knowledge: Aligning Intention and the Heart

Toward Insight: Reorienting Perception

﷽
In the Name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful

Imām ʿAlī (ʿa) said:
«المالُ مادَّةُ الشَّهَواتِ»
“Wealth is the source of desires.” (Nahj al-Balāghah, Saying 58)

Many discussions in society focus on the misuse of wealth, knowledge, or resources, but this is only half the equation. The deeper root — the lack of insight and alignment of the heart and intention — is often overlooked. Without correcting this root, subtle deception persists: people mistake external outcomes, ease, or accumulation for divine favor, while the heart remains unexamined and misaligned. True understanding requires addressing not just how things are used, but how, why, and with what intention they are sought.

Wealth, Intention, and the Heart

Wealth in itself is neutral, yet it fuels the appetites of the nafs. Desires remain dormant without means; when wealth arrives, imagination and ego find wings. Traditional and academic perspectives focus on how wealth is used: Qārūn squandered it in pride and corruption, while Sayyidah Khadījah (sa) channeled it in service of Allah.

Yet this view misses the root issue: intention. Wealth is not meant to be actively sought as an end; it is a by-product of sincere striving, obedience, and service. A heart aligned with Allah transforms wealth into barakah, while a heart oriented toward dunya risks subtle attachment, even when performing charitable acts. This distinction — intention over acquisition — is essential for personal and societal realignment.

Education, Career, and the Sensing Mind

Knowledge and worldly success follow the same principle. Society trains minds to pursue education for tangible outcomes — careers, financial security, status. Knowledge becomes instrumental rather than transformative. Life is often perceived through the lens of sensing (S): measurable, external outcomes dominate attention. We wake, work, plan, and measure progress in worldly terms — careers, housework, physical projects — while spiritual cultivation is neglected.

Daily Alignment and the Heart’s Sensitivity

Even performing obligations — prayer, khums, ṣadaqah — the heart is tested. Many assume that comfort, material ease, or accumulated assets signal divine favor. Yet Qārūn’s example and Imāmic guidance warn that external abundance can coexist with spiritual negligence.

Experience illustrates this vividly: periods of ease, when spiritually disconnected, lead the heart to ride external results, mistaking them for reward. Reconnection — through Qur’an, prayer, and renewed intention — recalibrates the heart. Worldly ease can be both a reward and a blockage: it opens some doors while closing others if attachment shifts from Allah to the influx. Those not regularly aligned oscillate constantly between attachment and disconnection, showing how subtle the heart’s sensitivity truly is.

Abjad Insight: 895 and 5 → Faculties

The Abjad value of the hadith «المالُ مادَّةُ الشَّهَواتِ» is 895, offering symbolic guidance:

• 8 → Balance and cycles: Do not let wealth dominate desires; maintain cyclical awareness of intentions and actions.

• 9 → Culmination and refinement: Complete spiritual cycles before evaluating worldly success; refinement is ongoing.

• 5 → Human faculties: Integrate senses, mind, and heart in pursuit of insight rather than attachment to material outcomes.

Extension via Surah An-Nās (Abjad 23)

Life is meant to be dynamic, like a rolling stone, constantly moving toward refinement, service, and spiritual vigilance. Stagnancy — clinging to comfort, past achievements, or material accumulation — obstructs the natural motion of the heart. Together, 5 and 23 remind us that our faculties and perception must remain active, alert, and oriented toward insight, not worldly stability.

Qur’anic Resonances

The Abjad and principles are mirrored in Qur’anic guidance:

• 8:95 — Misalignment of the heart nullifies apparent standing.

• 89:5 — Cycles of refinement and completion.

• 59:8 — External loss does not preclude divine reward.

• 5:98 — Ultimate judgment depends on intention and alignment, not worldly possession.

These verses confirm the primacy of heart orientation over external accumulation, reinforcing the hadith and Abjad insights.

Toward Insight: Reorienting Perception

To live fully aligned with divine guidance, a shift from sensing to insight is essential:

• Intention over acquisition: Wealth, knowledge, and skills matter only when aligned with Allah.

• Result-oriented perspective: The state of the heart, not accumulation or comfort, measures success.

• Daily recalibration: Prioritize spiritual building — refining intention, strengthening tawḥīd, cultivating service — before worldly tasks.

• Zuhd without asceticism: Ownership without attachment; engagement with the world while mastering the heart.

• Dynamic progression: Faculties and attention must remain in motion, like a rolling stone, preventing stagnation.

When life is perceived this way, wealth, education, and daily actions become tools for inner growth, not masters of the heart. True mastery lies in alignment, insight, and purification of intention, while worldly results naturally follow as secondary outcomes. The heart becomes the true compass, filtering actions, decisions, and priorities through spiritual awareness, ensuring that life’s progress is dynamic, intentional, and deeply rooted in divine guidance.