Living Beyond Your Means is Forbidden: Friday Sermon Warns Against Debt and Extravagance

This Friday's sermon called on Maldivians to practice financial restraint and avoid wasteful spending. The sermon, delivered at mosques across the country on 29 May 2026, was titled "Frugality in Spending Money."

The sermon said that although wealth has been placed in this world for the benefit of humans, its true Owner is Allah SWT. It described wealth as a trust given to humans as a test and said people will be questioned on the Day of Judgment about how they used the blessings given to them.

The sermon noted that Islamic guidelines must be followed both when acquiring wealth and when spending it.

"Breach of trust, extortion, theft, bribery, fraud, dealing in usury (Riba), and gambling are acts that are strictly forbidden in Islam when acquiring wealth. Once wealth is obtained, damaging property, destroying assets, and wasteful spending are also not permitted," the sermon stated.

It said that after acquiring property, one must not let it go unused. It also warned against buying goods beyond actual need.

The sermon cited the Quran on the prohibition of extravagance. "And eat and drink, but do not be excessive. Indeed, He does not like the extravagant," it quoted from Surah Al-A'raf (7:31).

It further quoted the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): "Eat, drink, give charity, and wear what you like, so long as it is not accompanied by extravagance or pride." The hadith is narrated by Ahmad, An-Nasa'i, and Ibn Majah and classified as hasan by Al-Albani.

The sermon said a frugal mindset must be applied when managing daily living and family expenses. It noted that financial hardship is often caused by maintaining an expensive lifestyle and spending beyond one's means.

It called on people to stay away from bad habits such as taking on debt unless an unavoidable situation arises where borrowing becomes absolutely necessary.

The sermon also reminded worshippers that wealth contains the rights of others. It said the rights of the spouse, children, relatives, the poor, the needy, the destitute, and orphans are embedded within one's wealth and that these rights must not be denied.

The sermon warned that using wealth unlawfully is a grave sin. It cited a hadith recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari: "Indeed, there are men who unlawfully spend from the wealth of Allah, and for them will be the Fire on the Day of Resurrection."

The message comes as household borrowing in the Maldives continues to rise. The Maldives Monetary Authority reported a 25 percent year-on-year growth in personal loans by mid-2025, with a surge in credit card use and loans for consumer goods. Private-sector credit growth accelerated to 14 percent by March 2026, according to MMA data.

The World Bank's 2025 Maldives Development Update noted that public and publicly guaranteed debt reached 126.9 percent of GDP, driven by rising domestic borrowing. The government fully repaid a US$500 million sovereign sukuk in April 2026, drawing on official reserves and the Sovereign Development Fund.

The sermon closed by calling on families to manage finances within their means, save a portion of earnings for the future, and not exhaust all that they earn. The closing supplication included prayers for prosperity in Maldivian fisheries and agriculture and for the country's economic strength.