Wastefulness 
Someone asked about wastefulness on
DeenPort and I offered this in response:
Al hamdulillah the Sharia of our master Muhammad (Allah bless him and grant him peace) always brings light and clarity so that no question is really impossible to answer.
Concerning wastefulness Imam al-Ghazali (Allah envelope him in mercy) says in the Ihya under the section Munkarat al-Diyafa (Vices related to Entertaining) in the Chapter on Enjoining the Good and Forbidding the Evil:
“As for wastefulness (israf) it relates to desiring to spend money on funeral wailers, singers, and vices. And it is also applied to spending on permissible things of the same nature but with excessiveness. And excessiveness varies according to the condition so we say: the one who possesses nothing except 100 dinars, for example, and he has dependents and children who have no means of living besides him yet he spends all that money on a feast then he is a waster.
And He, Most High, said: '... and do not outspread it widespread altogether, or thou wilt sit reproached and denuded' (Quran 17:29). This was revealed concerning a man in Madina who divided all his wealth and left nothing back for his dependents and so when he was required to spend on their upkeep he was unable to do a thing...”
Imam Ghazali's discussion is a good starting point by which one may gain a clear insight into the limits of this matter of wastefulness. Specifically regarding clothing Alama Zain al-Din Al-Razi mentions in the Hanafi legal primer, Tuhfatul Muluk:
“ Clothing is of three degrees:
1.Obligatory (fard): This is that which covers the body and protects it from the harm of heat and cold being moderate apparel of cotton or linen. And cotton is in my view superior.
2. Recommended (mustahab): This is to wear fine apparel for refinement and adornment, and to manifest the grace of God.
3. Forbidden (haram): This is to wear it (anything) out of arrogance and vanity.”
Shaykh Ahmad Jammal, one of the mashayakh here in Amman, mentioned that one should not spend large amounts of money on things like clothing (though up to a third of one's wealth may be spent on perfume) when good, cheaper clothing is available, unless one is a government official or the like, or has to interact with such people then one may purchase and wear suitable clothing for that purpose.
It returns to sound, honest judgment. One takes into account one's financial ability and responsibilities as well as the prevailing norm (among pious believers that is) and decides. That should be enough with Allah's guidance. We ask Allah for tawfiq and tahqiq.
00:04 , 16 01 10
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