# Does the Quran motivate people through self-interest?

*Does the Quran motivate by self-interest? Selfishness and the marshmallow test*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/wce73zqci_i/s/31/
- Date: 2020-07-10 · Kind: discussion · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Shaykh Omar Baloch | Cynicism, Consumerism & the Catch 22 of Riba | Mindtrap with Mufti #30 (1:59:04–2:04:13)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCe73zqCi_I&t=7144s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/wce73zqci_i/

**Topics:** Paradise and hell; Motivation and purpose

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth suggests, tentatively, that even the Quran motivates through self-interest; the guest distinguishes healthy from harmful selfishness.

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth says that, though he could be wrong, he feels even the Quran motivates people on the basis of greed, promising paradise and its pleasures because instant gratification is otherwise absent. The guest says the Quran criticises immediate gratification, that there are two kinds of selfishness, and that some selfishness is needed to survive, the question being to what extent; Mufti agrees. Mufti asks how Islam can ask people to give their lives for God if taking everything from them is wrong, and the guest calls that a credit bargain and describes the marshmallow experiment of the early 1970s, in which children who could wait went on to better lives. Mufti asks whether it is not unfair that some are created with a better temperament for waiting, and the two agree that humans have the capacity for harm without an urge to it and that there should be rules.

## Sources and names cited

- Shaykh Omar Baloch
- jannah
- zakat

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:59:04–2:04:13)

[1:58:24] now the people giving the money will not just give human beings as a species we're not just philanthropists you know we're not just like hey I've got this keep taking it away taking away from me yes we might do the occasional charitable act and we may be great people with good hearts but people are motivated by that what's in it for me you know the greatest 5-wood what's in it for me so if somebody comes hey give me five thousand but what's in it for me give me fifty thousand what's in it for me so and there's nothing wrong with that even the Quran even the Koran you see like if I could just say that even the Quran I think part of the problem is is

[1:59:04] that we week that I feel I feel okay this is me okay and and and I could be wrong but I feel that the narrative no but even the Quran is cooling in CERN it does it not constantly Allah is only motivating us based on greed like oh you're gonna get a Jenna you know sorry I let your night in outdoor summer to a lot you're gonna get women you're gonna get sex you're gonna get alcohol you're gonna get this this is the whole nature of the afterlife that's motivating the impulses of in CERN because if Allah just said

[1:59:43] come on just get it's gonna be better for you we'll be like that with that instant gratification is not there but do not add you know a thousand alas hero see the thing is in the Quran it says it's the immediate gratification it's not this hell nothing there's two types of selfishness right okay I can is selfishness wrong is this a wrong thing I don't think the Quran and it feels that selfishness is necessarily wrong we

[2:00:20] need to be to some extent selfish to survive okay so there's an extreme amount okay sure I agree with you on that I agree with you on this absolutely I agree with you on this that look it's it's to what extent you take the selfishness that you cut off the rest of humanity you don't care about absolutely giving zakat for example so the point I'm trying to make is is that when you

[2:00:58] make it an industry to do something good in the name of we're gonna actually rip everything you have away from you because the number of people that actually if you look at what happens about sure let me let me ask you then somebody could say that look but in Islam you're told will come out you know that who you know may you clear the lock or than Hassan and that you will give your life I come die for the sake of God if I mean how can you then justify one system but is it not is it not ripping

[2:01:37] you out of your very existence yeah the thing is that that's a credit bargain what do you mean by a credit ballgame you have to pay a lot here that's the that's the thing that you know it's like what you well Harare says that experiment okay no okay I mean when you look at Quran in the issue of selfishness this is what you see you see the marshmallow experiment occasional marshmallow experiment is basically they come to a little child five years old okay and they say here's a marshmallow one marshmallow but if you wait five

[2:02:16] minutes I'll give you a second one okay okay sure and so now majority of the kids are not able to wait five minutes to get the second one impatient no I have actually I have come across this experiment yeah I mean this study oh yeah yeah of it yeah followed these people for about 30 years this was done in the early 1970s okay and they saw look when it when it's time for exams and people other people are partying these are the people that were able to study for exams right these are the people that were able to get along and have suffered with their wives they were have able to have supper with their employees they were able to have a much

[2:02:55] better quality of life because they were not falling for instant gratification one one could ask that is it not is it not good who's created that temperament in the first place and he's given some people a better capacity to deal with it is that in our a is that not that the dice has been cast is that not unfair yes see but do I'll be compelled to kill I don't I don't feel that I don't feel that we are driven to kill I feel that we have the capacity to kill but I don't

[2:03:33] think we feel an urge as human beings that we need to kill as an urge I don't think so generally speaking no I mean no but there are many urges that we have and there's some of them are negative some are positive is the point right so but I'm just saying these are expressed for Shh sure okay so I'm asexual Anarchy or should there be like some code of conduct no there should be rules I feel that they are not promoting an anarchism but I'm just saying that it seems that when it comes to justify one set of rules we'd feel that look

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment wCe73zqCi_I/s/31. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/wce73zqci_i/s/31/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.