Quran “You shall not be a spendthrift – as spendthrifts are the brethren of Satan and Satan is ever ungrateful to His Lord.” (17:26-27)
Hadees “Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) forbade wearing of silk and yellow clothes, and the gold ring, and the reciting of the Quran in the ruku’ (state of kneeling in prayer).”
The question is: Are Arabs (only the extravagant ones in this case) brother of Satan?
Answer
When we read the Quran we should try to understand and apply it to ourselves. We should also let others understand and follow the guidance. Our style of inviting others should be polite and intelligent. We have no right to accuse people of wrongdoing in public even if they are seen to be indulging in a crime, except when we take somebody to the court of law or are directly talking to him or her.
For example, if we know through our direct experience that a certain official is indulging himself in bribery, we have a right to take him to court. We can report his crime to higher officials too. If someone seeks our personal advice about him, for marriage or business partnership etc, we should give a negative one based on our experience. However, we can’t make loose remarks against him in public describing him as a criminal.
The Quran says “Allah doesn’t like loud negative remarks except from the one who has been wronged. And Allah is All-Hearing All-Knowing.” (4:148)
We should, therefore, point out flaws in our brothers directly to them. It will either help them in reforming or you will know that your perception of reality was flawed. In any case, you will be behaving responsibly to get the wrong corrected. However, when you don’t take corrective measures against a wrong in the right way and make negative remarks about it in public, you create more evil without getting the original one corrected.
I would therefore suggest that you condemn extravagant spending. If you meet a brother doing it, point it out to him politely and intelligently. But don’t use names to criticise an individual or a group of them in public in a way which is likely to cause more harm than good.