Needs vs. Wants

A long time ago, when Shaykh Muhammad AlShareef was still on the AlMaghrib Lecture circuit in the US (may Allah preserve him), I sat in Enterprise Hall Room 80 at GMU listening to the Tafseer of Suratul Baqarah (awesome seminar fyi).  At some point in the seminar, Shaykh Muhammad spoke about the dichotomy between people’s wants and their needs and how these two easily get confused.  The example he provided famously went on to be known as ‘apples vs. donuts’, which stated that most people, when given the choice between an apple and a donut, will likely choose the donut.  The thought is that people get confused by the sweetness of the donut and its taste, and in the process lose track of the affect that the donut has on your health vs. the apple.

Recently, I’ve come to notice that this phenomenon takes place in many different spheres, and perhaps none more noticable than studying Islam.  When it comes to the real needs of the average person, the basic groundwork is where we all need to start- memorizing Quran, Tahara, Salah, Aqeedah, etc.  But if you provide them a course on some exotic topic like the fitnah or deviance, people will gravitate towards it, even though that topic wont be healthy for their spiritual well being; in a sense, that course becomes their donut.  I’m not saying that those topics shouldnt be studied, but that those topics arent a real need for the average person.  Just a random thought.  Allahu Alam.