Imagine a situation where you get your first salary, or your salary increases. You decide to put down a payment for a new car you’ve always wanted. On the way back home, you decide to treat yourself to takeaways because you can now easily afford it. You start buying more expensive shoes, get a new phone and go on holiday more often. Eventually, what was once seen as luxuries out of your reach is now seen as necessities. The cost of your lifestyle slowly creeps upwards and one day you suddenly realise that your finances are a mess.

This is called lifestyle creep and is viewed negatively from a financial planning perspective. How do we view lifestyle creep from an Islamic perspective? The following points shed light on the Islamic perspective

Partake in the blessings of Allah

Allah has blessed some with more wealth than others. There is no harm in using that wealth to beautify, adorn, simplify or ease our lifestyle. 

It was narrated from Abu Al-Ahwas, from his father, that he came to the Prophet ﷺ wearing shabby clothes. The Prophet ﷺ said to him: "Do you have any wealth?" He said: "Yes, all kinds of wealth." He said: "What kinds of wealth?" He said: "Allah has given me camels, cattle, sheep, horses and slaves." He said: "If Allah has given you wealth, then let the effect of Allah's blessing and generosity be seen on you." (Nasa’i).

Don’t be wasteful

While we should use the wealth and blessings of Allah it is important not to be wasteful. Allah commands us to “eat and drink, but do not waste. Surely, He does not like the wasteful.” (Qur’an 7:31).

To partake in the blessings of Allah, yet not being wasteful are not contradictory concepts. To want beauty, goodness and quality in our lives is something that is meritorious, however, we shouldn’t spend our wealth on things which we don’t need or are not useful. We don’t need an entire wardrobe in our house filled with clothes we never wear or rooms we don’t sleep in. We shouldn’t constantly be throwing away food or buying items that reaches the end of their useable life span before you make use of it. These are examples of wastage. It is important to constantly examine our lifestyle and finances to ensure our spending habits are not wasteful.

Allah is our focus

We live in a consumer centric society. The algorithms on search engines and social media often know us better than we know ourselves. We are constantly bombarded with adverts which are designed to sell us the idea that with a particular purchase a void in our lives can be filled.

It is important to acknowledge that we as human beings are innately designed to gravitate towards our Creator. Any attempt to fill the void within our existence with other than Allah is bound to fail and leave behind a path of destruction.

Don’t neglect duties

As Muslims, especially male Muslims, we have certain financial duties and responsibilities. These may include looking after parents during their old age or providing for our family. These responsibilities may require a certain amount of planning. It is important to develop spending goals that are in line with these plans. For example, we may be required to save or invest a certain amount each month to ensure that our children have proper access to education. These goals will determine the extent to which we may have some degree of leeway in our spending patterns.

Our objective is the next world

All the time and wealth we are given are merely resources that can be used to build our abode in the next life. Therefore, we should ensure that our spending habits align with this objective. This can be in simple acts such as charity or consciously spending on our family with the objective of fulfilling our duties as assigned to us by our Lord.

Allah Knows Best.