News recently broke that billionaire Jeff Bezos and his fiancée Lauren Sanchez are planning a ₹139 crore ($16 million) wedding in Venice with ₹8 crore reportedly spent on flowers alone.
SubhanAllah! while millions are being poured into a celebration that lasts mere hours, millions of people across the globe don’t even have access to clean drinking water. Refugees, orphans, the war-struck and the poverty-ridden forgotten in the noise of fireworks and designer gowns.
And sadly, this obsession with extravagance is no longer limited to the ultra-rich or the West. It has deeply entered the so called Muslim world too.
Across many Muslim-majority lands, and even in muslim families living in other lands, weddings now resemble red carpet events. Multi-day functions, and massive food wastage are normalized even when the family is in debt.
What’s worse is that many fund these events through interest-based loans, despite knowing the severe warning in the Holy Qur’an about interest (riba).
“…Then be informed of a war from Allah and His Messenger…”
surah Al-Baqarah 2:279
Imagine starting your marriage, a sacred bond with a war against Allah. And yet, because of societal pressure and the fear of “log kya kahenge” (what will people say), many Muslims continue down this dangerous path.
There are even some who have taken education loans, if they had money for such grand, lavish weddings, why did they resort to interest-bearing education loans in the first place? This is called upside down priorities when the concepts are not clear, just to show off!
Coming back to Jeff’s wedding, someone might bring up the argument,
“What’s the harm if someone is rich and wants to spend lavishly? It’s their money, after all.”
Many people see flashy displays of wealth (like Bezos’ ₹139 crore wedding) as the result of “hard work” and “smart business.” But the truth behind much of this wealth is often rooted in systemic exploitation particularly in the capitalist framework that governs today’s world.
While extravagant weddings and luxury lifestyles appear glamorous on the surface, much of this wealth is not earned in isolation but built upon systems that systematically exploit the working class and poor.
In a capitalist model, companies (especially large corporations) are designed to maximize profits often by minimizing costs, especially wages.
Workers in poorer countries manufacture goods for less than a livable wage, while executives take home millions.
Employees often work in unsafe conditions, with no benefits, while CEOs fly private jets and host million-dollar parties.
A worker in Bangladesh may earn $2 a day making clothes sold for $200 in luxury malls.
A tech employee in Kenya might earn $5/hour doing support work for billion-dollar firms.
Capitalism rewards those who already own capital like land, factories, shares, patents. It favors the rich getting richer and the poor staying poor.
Billionaires don’t grow wealth by working more they grow it through stocks, monopolies, patents, and controlling entire supply chains.
Many invest in companies that exploit natural resources in poor nations, often causing ecological damage.
Essentially, many wealthy individuals extract wealth, they don’t create it while the true laborers remain invisible.
People at the bottom are constantly bombarded with marketing to consume to look like the rich, to follow trends, to “level up.” But the rich profit off this endless consumption.
The poor are often left in debt, insecurity, and spiritual emptiness.
It’s a deliberate cycle to exploit, advertise, sell, profit and repeat.
Islam allows profit and business, but it strictly forbids injustice and hoarding. The Prophet ﷺ warned
“The one who hoards is cursed.”
And Allah says:
“Woe to those who give less [than due], who when they take a measure from people, take in full. But when they give by measure or weight to them, they give less.”
Surah Al-Mutaffifin 83:1-3
Islam as a deen (which is not present anywhere in the world right now) requires that wealth circulates, that workers are paid fairly, that zakat purifies earnings, and that no one is left hungry while others live in luxury.
When someone spends ₹139 crore on a wedding, they’re not just using “their money.” That wealth may have been
gained by exploiting legal loopholes.
Amplified by systems that keep others poor.
So the real cost of that luxury is not the money. It’s the injustice behind it.
As Muslims, we are not anti-wealth but we are pro-justice.
Wealth is not a badge of honor unless it uplifts others, and is not earned through exploitation.
We are not judged by how much we earn but by how we earn it, how we use it and for Whose sake?