# The Islamic Cure for Overconsumption | Imam Tom Weekly

**Author:** Tom Facchine
**Series:** Imam Tom Live
**Published:** 2025-01-30
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/jQCHA5bS_h8
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-islamic-cure-for-overconsumption-imam-tom-weekly
**Topics:** Culture, Family & Community, General Psychology, Psychology & Mental Health

## Description
In a world where being visibly Muslim feels more challenging than ever, now is not the time to hide our identity. Imam Tom Facchine describes how, in the face of a shifting political climate, we can embrace the challenges of being Muslim much in the way the Prophet (s) did, and be able to...

## Transcript
**[0:00]** We live in such a throwaway culture and such a disposable culture that Islam has so much

**[1:54]** really only using what you need. That's why hunting for sport is not permissible. You're not allowed to just shoot creatures and not eat them. You know, everything that we consume has to be tied to a purpose. And it's really fascinating because they have this term that's called planned obsolescence.

**[2:12]** So if you've paid attention that some things that were made in the 60s and the 70s, you know, they were made to last. You know, those big tanks of cars with the real metal and tables and drawers. You feel like that thing is it's really heavy and it's but it's also not going to go anywhere. It'll be there for 70, 100 years or more.

**[2:29]** And now everything is cheap. You've got IKEA furniture, which is just like wood pulp that's stuck together with glue. And, you know, it can't even barely hold a shelf of books without collapsing. You know, we live in a throwaway, disposable culture.

**[2:45]** They've made everything, whether it's the phone, technology, the cars, so that it will stop working. They've planned it so that it will stop working. They've made it so that it will break. They want it to break so that you can buy a new one. It's crazy. But that is what happens when you have society that's completely secularized.

**[3:04]** It's decoupled from any type of divine guidance. Then that becomes logical. If you want people to buy more, you only care about GDP. You're going to look at GDP and make an idol out of it and think that this is the reflection of whether a nation is prosperous or happy or not.

**[3:19]** Guess what? It's not. Then it only makes sense to make throwaway stuff because then people are going to make more, buy more. There's going to be more stuff. That's what our society wants us to have. More and more stuff. There's retail therapy. You start feeling sad and you go buy something. Muslims should have a lot to say about this, that we should be on the front lines when it comes to demonstrating to people how to be happy and thrive with less.

**[3:42]** You don't have to be constantly buying stuff. You don't have to constantly update your wardrobe or get new things. You can actually be perfectly fine with the things that you already have or even here's a crazy idea, less than what you currently have. And part of this is super important. If you want to take it to another level to understand where all of your things come from, a vegetable, a piece of fruit, you have no idea where it comes from.

**[4:03]** Does it come from New Zealand? Does it come from South America? Does it come from Europe? You have no idea. Thousands of miles, tons of oil and gas was spent. And who's the person who raised it? How does he pay his workers? Does he pollute the atmosphere? You have no idea. It's a society built on convenience. You just go into the store, you've got an alienated relationship to it.

**[4:20]** You just buy it and that's it. It's been commodified completely. I would issue a challenge to anybody. I'd be happy to do this challenge with you. Imagine if you went through 2025 only buying things that could be grown or produced within the state that you live. That would be incredible. Now, whether you realize it or not, you would be following in the sunnah of some of the great scholars and wise people of Islam, such as Imam Nawawi (رحمه الله), who he moved from his village to a larger city

**[4:47]** in order to teach. And he didn't even trust the food that was around him in that big city. So he had his father send him food through the mail from their farm because he wanted to be sure, absolutely sure where his food came from, that he knew it was halal, how it was raised, the conditions it was raised in.

**[5:04]** Now, imagine you did that for your clothes, your furniture, your paper products, with everything. To me, that's Islam and that is Islamic. And that's something that we should be trying to promote. We don't just operate off of convenience. Is it more convenient to go to Walmart? Yes, it's more convenient to go to Walmart. But Mr. Walmart doesn't live in your city.

**[5:20]** Mr. Walmart doesn't live in your town. You don't know how Mr. Walmart treats his employees. You don't know if he pays them fair benefits. So we have to we have to do better. Islam is all about ihsan, about trying to do not just the bare minimum, but the best that we can. And so this is something that we should share with society.

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