220 chapter five
to them. The contended claims are mainly: (a) if one strongly believes
in God, and in that God will provide for one’s needs, as God has
stated, and one still strives to earn a living, this would imply that one
has doubts about the ability of God to provide, and this is kufr,
disbelief, (b) in striving for a living of something God has destined
for one to have, one would be interfering in the timing of God and
this would be like hurrying God in obtaining what one is destined
to get at a certain time, in God’s knowledge, and this is also not
permitted, and (c) the pursuit of a living emanates mainly from a
weakness in faith as the real faith would imply that the believer
should be content with what God has given him and ought to wait
until God’s bounty reaches him. This sounds like a plausible argument
that might seem convincing to some Muslims who are seeking the
blessing of God by any means, or the weak-hearted in facing the hard-
ship of making a living. Al-Έrith exposes these claims and replies
to them logically and coherently with evidence from the Qur"àn, the
Sunnah and the practice of the early companions. Of the reasons
he mentions for the invalidity of these claims, one reads, with interest,
his statement that by the flùfì accepting offerings from others he
might be accepting donations from the sources of which may be for-
bidden in the sight of God. A means that does not justify the end!
The remaining part of Earnings and Asceticism is purely an eth-
ical treatise on earnings and how it can be used. It addresses vari-
ous ethical issues with regard to earnings; the generation of earnings
and the use of its revenue in fulfilling one’s needs. Written by a
flùfì, the book, in this part, projects the flùfìsm’s views on such an
important economic issue. It is distinguished from other ethical writ-
ing on economics in that it projects a puritan view as seen by a sect
that, despite the extremity of some of its followers, has always been
regarded as having highly spiritual values. The particular puritan
distinction of the flùfì can be seen throughout the book when a
special emphasis is placed on the necessity to leave out what may
not be forbidden in case it is not decisively permissible. This is a
theme that can be seen to be stressed in the writing of the Earnings
and Asceticism. The section begins with the definition of asceticism,
wara", in views of al-Œàrith and other teachers of flùfìsm of his con-
temporary as well as those before him. Asceticism, which is still
difficult to define with one comprehensively precise definition, is “the
avoidance of what may not please God, of saying, of action, of inner
thought, or of an inner desire, and the avoidance of missing out on