Wealth and Poverty in the Qurʾan and Traditions of the Prophet, and How Those Concepts are Reflected in the Rasaʾil Ikhwan al-Safaʾ

The aim of this paper is to scrutinize abstract notions of wealth and poverty as portrayed in the Qurʾan and the traditions of the Prophet, and how those concepts are reflected in a well-known encyclopaedia entitled Rasaʾil Ikhwan al-Safaʾ that circulated the Arab world at the turn of the tenth century. In the conclusion I tentatively argue that, despite their revolutionary attitude toward the prevailing religio-political authorities, the Ikhwan took a conservative stance concerning wealth and poverty by striking a balance between excessive wealth and abject poverty.