(164) It is related by ‘Amr bin Auf that the Apostle of God said: “It is not poverty that I fear for you, but what I really fear is that the earth should be spread for you, as it had been spread for those who came before you, so that you should covet it as they had coveted, and, then, it destroyed you as it had destroyed them.”
                                                        -Bukhari and Muslim
Commentary.-The Prophet had before him the experience of some of the earlier peoples who, when they attained prosperity, grew more greedy of worldly possessions and neglectful of the real purpose of life with the result that they became envious of each other, and were, ultimately, destroyed by their own greediness and avidity. The Prophet regarded it to be the greatest danger for his own followers too. In the above Tradition, he has warned them against it and advised them to be cautious of the deceptive charm and witchery of the material world.