The famous Arab proverb says that greed diminishes what is gathered. God, glory be to Him and exalted, has warned us from that despicable trait, commanding us to love for our brother what we love for ourselves, for in greed there is wretchedness of souls and constriction of hearts, making the individual selfish, thinking only of himself.
There were three friends living in a poor village. They had not been able to earn abundant wealth there. One day the three decided to go to the city together to earn money, where much work was available there and the doors of livelihood were many.
On the morning of a beautiful, sunny day, the three set out on foot journey to the city across the nearby forest. After walking for two consecutive days, and while they were on their way to the city, they found a complete bag of golden coins lying under a large tree.
They became in the utmost happiness and joy. They abandoned the idea of traveling to the city and agreed among themselves to divide the golden coins after returning to their village. But they were in a state of severe fatigue and exhaustion from walking for a long period, so they decided to eat food first, then walk toward the village.
But the wicked fate did not leave them with food or drink. So one of them agreed to go to the nearest village to buy food. The other two remained with the bag. While he was walking on his way to buy food, the idea tempted him to kill his two friends to obtain the bag entirely for himself.
Indeed, he bought some poison and placed it in the food he bought. On the other side, the two other friends agreed to kill their friend upon his return from buying the food, and divide the money between them. They lay in wait for him until he returned with the food. One of them seized him, the other stabbed him, and he died immediately.
Then they threw him away in the forest, happy that the bag would be divided between only the two of them. They sat together to eat the food their friend whom they had killed had brought. After they finished eating, each of them began to suffer severely from the poison present in the food.
When they were on the verge of death, they knew that their friend was the one who had done that. They said to each other: “We have killed him, and he has killed us with his own hands.” Thus the three friends died because of their greed and left the bag of golden coins in the forest behind them.
What if a person collected all the world and destroyed himself? What if each had preferred the other to himself, or even shared with them the good they had found? Would they not be alive and comfortable now? Therefore, we must all adorn ourselves with noble morals and praiseworthy traits, so that we do not destroy ourselves, for greed is one of the ugliest traits that may be characterized by a person.