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Meaning of Spending According to one’s Need

Question

Assalamu alaikumWe know that if one haa haram income and have no alternative to support his family he can eat from that money and fullfil his need. What does neef mean? Does is mean as much as necessary and not more than that? I mean if he is from a well off family must he wear cheap clohes and cant wear good clothes of his standard. I mean according to his living standard he wears a shirt of 50 dolllar. Must he wear cheap clothes of 10 dollar whoch may look cheap and people willl point out why are younwewring that??And some svholars say if pork is the only food you find and you will die you must eat as much as necessary to keep going. And not more than that? So must he eat a few mouthful to stay alive or can he eat as much as necessary???

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

Some scholars stated that if a person obtains money through an impermissible means and he is poor, then he may take from this money to suffice his needs.

What is meant –Allah knows best – is that he can spend from this money enough to suffice his needs, if the situation is that if he does not, then he will face hardship and difficulty. The statement is not restricted to the case of dire necessity.

The matter regarding spending from this money on his family is more lenient than spending it on himself. Al-Ghazaali  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him said that his spending on himself is more strict than him spending on his family. He  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him said in his book Ihyaa’ ‘Uloom Ad-Deen:

"If he spends the ill-gotten money on the poor, then he may spend affluently on them, while if he spends on himself, he should be as strict as possible. However, if he spends on his family, then he should spend moderately; he should spend on them in a state between spending affluently and spending strictly." [End of quote]

Allah knows best.

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