By Noor Amira Md Akhir
Materialism as we know as an ideology which is as well as belief (faith). Materialism is a worldview emphasizes sensory experience and material possessions concerns to the exclusion of spiritual and religious considerations. In materialism’s belief, there are no Special Creator and creations and this universe created by itself through naturalistic laws. Majority of the Materialist they are an atheist because they do not belief in God is the Creator.
Materialism is an ideology that first known officially use on 17th Century (1733). Materialism is an ideology that comes from combination word of “material” and “ism”. According to the literally meaning of material, it means that having to do with matter, or worldly as opposed to spiritual. When we say as a “matter” usually it is has mass and volume or a kind of substance. In addition, “ism” means that as an ideology or a system of belief, thought or action. The follower of this ideology call as ‘Materialist’. Materialistic is adjective for the materialist.
According to scholars, materialism ideology focuses too much on material possessions and wealth, will limited concern on ethical or spiritual matters. Materialism as a form of philosophical monism (the doctrine of oneness and unity of reality) which as a theory that physical matter is the only reality and that everything, including thought, feeling, mind, and will, can be explained in terms of matter and physical phenomena. They do not believe that this universe was created by the God (Special Creator) and according to Materialism’s belief, all phenomena are explained by physical laws alone or by naturalistic laws.
Nowadays, all human being is influenced by materialism doctrine in their life. Everything is a measuring by a matter and physical.Unconsciously, we as a Muslim also influenced by this concept. For instance, we can see in our education system; the knowledge and human’s intelligent are measure by the grades and certificates, thus who seek employment will be examined and judged by his educational achievements. We as a Muslim cannot run from this system, but we can redefine it and we must always remind ourselves to maintain our goal of life as a Muslim in this world. We must renew our intention and objective in seeking the knowledge not just to get a certificate, but in order to gain knowledge and reach to our Creator, Allah s.w.t.
Our religion, Islam as a ‘deen’ that means as a complete way of life, therefore, our goal and everything must be based on Islamic worldview which encompasses all aspects of a Man’s life including material, mental and spiritual. It never distinguishes any of those aspects, especially the spiritual aspect. Islam always besets spiritual values as the standard along with any material value to measure the degree of one’s dignity. An example is in Surah al-Hujurats, verse 13: “O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you people and tribes that you may know one other. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.” Besides spiritual values, Islam incorporates the spiritual life into the worldview of the material world so as Man would not be swayed by his desires, leading him to his own destruction and corruption. This is mentioned in Surah al-Hadid, verse 20: “Know that the life of this world is but amusement and diversion and adornment and boasting to one another and competition in increase of wealth and children – like the example of a rain whose plant growth pleases the tillers; then it dries and you see it turned yellow; then it becomes debris. And in the Hereafter is severe punishment and forgiveness from Allah and approval. And what is the worldly life except the enjoyment of delusion”. This verse clearly shows the characteristics of materialists. Hence Muslims are reminded not to be too obsessed with the material world, in accumulating wealth for their sustenance in life.
The ideology of materialism actually destroys the value and ethics in human life, its exclusion of spiritual or intellectual pursuits will slowly give effect to human mind and actions. We cannot obsess and over to material possession and wealth like a materialist, but use our wealth with properly fisabilillah such as pay zakat and sadaqah. As a Muslim, we must always be careful in our actions and thoughts and live in balance between dhunia and akhirah. The wealth and richness cannot bring in our grave, but the richness of good deeds can help us in the next world. The more you give, more you will get!***
Picture of Great Big Scary World