[What Is Meant by What Has Come Regarding the Blame of the World]

The answer—and Allah is the One who grants success—is that much blame of the world has come in the Noble Book, and in the Sunnah of the noble Messenger (May Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace), and in the words of the Commander of the Faithful (Peace be Upon Him), and in the words of the Imams and others. What is meant by that is blaming being deceived by it, not blaming the world and its enjoyments. There is no blame upon the Muslim if his hands are filled with worldly wealth, but his heart should not be filled by it.
Allah, the Exalted, has said: "Say, 'Who has forbidden the adornment of Allah which He has produced for His servants and the good things of provision?' Say, 'They are for those who believe during the worldly life, exclusively on the Day of Resurrection.'" [Al-A'raf:32]. And He, the Exalted, has said: "O messengers, eat from the good things and do righteous deeds." [Al-Mu'minun:51]. And He said: "O you who have believed, eat from the good things We have provided you and be grateful to Allah, if it is Him that you worship." [Al-Baqarah:172]. And He said: "He is the One who created for you all that is on the earth." [Al-Baqarah:29]. And Allah, the Exalted, has said: "Allah has permitted trade and has forbidden usury." [Al-Baqarah:275]. And He said: "There is no blame upon you for seeking bounty from your Lord." [Al-Baqarah:198]—and other verses besides these in this meaning.
From here we say: what is meant by blaming the world is not that the Muslim should avoid wealth and choose poverty. What is blamed from the world, precisely, is that the Muslim becomes occupied with the world away from what Allah has made obligatory upon him. Allah, the Exalted, says: "O you who have believed, let not your wealth and your children distract you from the remembrance of Allah." [Al-Munafiqun:9]. And Allah, the Exalted, says: "And when they see commerce or amusement, they rush to it and leave you standing." [Al-Jumu'ah:11]—and other than that.
Or that the legally responsible person seeks the world and its enjoyments from other than the way Allah has permitted: either through usury, or fraud, or betrayal, or through wicked oaths, or through usurpation and plunder and highway robbery, or what resembles that among what Allah has forbidden His servants to enter into.
And among that is that the owner of wealth withholds the obligatory rights upon him, such as obligatory almsgiving and the one-fifth religious due, and what is attached to that of the rights of relatives, guests, neighbors, and the like.
And among that is that he spends wealth in other than its proper place—such as that he gives obligatory almsgiving to one who is not entitled to it, or he spends for showing-off and seeking reputation, or he aids the wrongdoers with it, or he offers it as a bribe to rulers so that he may consume people’s wealth unlawfully, or he uses it to wrong people and to behave arrogantly toward them—and what resembles that among forbidden dispositions.
As for other than what we mentioned, there is no problem in it and no blame upon its possessor. It is not upon the Muslim to refrain from enjoying what is lawful: he eats what he wills from the varieties of wholesome things, drinks what he wills, wears what he wants, rides, resides, and marries, and there is no sin upon him in that and no punishment attaches to him. But it is obligatory upon the Muslim to thank Allah, the Exalted, for what He has bestowed upon him of blessings, to fulfill the required rights, and to beware of being deceived by wealth—for the human being, by his nature, as Allah described him in His saying: "Indeed, man transgresses, because he sees himself as self-sufficient." [Al-'Alaq:6–7]

Source: Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.3