What does Islam say about wealth? Is it better to be poor or rich?

If someone pays 2,000

a month for rent and another pays 200 a month for rent, who is more pious? Who has
earned more good deeds?

Let's take a look at some giants in Islam and see.

Imam Ahmad (rh) used the same leather socks for 7+ years, and whenever they would
tear, he would fix them with his own hands and carry on wearing them. However Imam
Malik (rh) had 300 pairs of shoes. He would also never wear the same clothes when
writing a new hadith, out of respect for the prophet (saw)'s speech.

Does that mean imam Ahmad is more pious than imam Malik? Absolutely not.

Imam Malik once said: "how distasteful is it for someone's religiosity to be known by the
way he dresses". He wasn't referring to the likes of Ahmad (rh); he was referring to
people who are known to be pious *because* of the way they dress, and not their actions
and knowledge. For example if you see someone with scruffy trainers, trousers with holes
in them and a wrinkly shirt, and think "masha-Allah this guy doesn't care about dunya".
This is incorrect, distasteful, and contrary to the sunnah.
Does that mean imam Malik was more pious than imam ahmad? Absolutely not.

Let's take a look at their upbringings and see how it reflects their personality. Imam
Ahmad was an orphan who never had a dime in his childhood. Fast forward a few
decades when he was offered bucketfuls of cash, he declined in an instant. Whereas imam
Malik was the child of two wealthy and prestigious families. When Malik would leave
the house as a boy, his mother would stop him and say, "wait! You cannot go and learn
sacred knowledge looking like that!" Then she would dress him in a huge turban, collar,
and perfume, then say "ok now you are appropriately dressed to take from the shaykh".
Their upbringings had an effect on their personalities and way of living, and there is no
right or wrong.
Bilal Ibn rabah was a slave, but Uthman Ibn Affan was a millionaire. Bilal's footsteps
were heard in jannah by the prophet, and Uthman has been given glad tidings of jannah
by the prophet.
Abu Huraira would not have enough money to fill his own stomach, but Abdulrahman
Ibn Awf was the Bill Gates of his time (no exaggeration).

So what's the conclusion? The conclusion is that there is no preferred option! It's a myth
that being poor is better than being rich, or vice versa. It comes down to the individual;
would being poor remind you of hereafter? Or would being wealthy allow you to fund
lots of projects and feed a lot of people?

It is indeed correct that wealth is a big fitna for people and the prophet (saw) was worried
for the ummah about it; because it makes people complacent and forgetful. But most of
the sahaba who were given glad tidings of jannah were millionaires.

At the end of the day, decide what works for you. If you buy a fancy car that distracts you
from ibadah, then it's a fitna. But if you buy a car that in turn encourages you to pray in
masjid when you previously didn't, because you want to drive it all the time, then it's a
ticket to jannah!

Asses your own situation and see how wealth effects you, and Allah knows best.

Taken from student of Shaykh Mohammad Akram Nadwi (Official)