The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) throughout his life encouraged the people to a have independent and noble living. He always pushed his followers to be hard working, make an honest living and discouraged them from seeking charity. He did not condemn wealth and the wealthy; however, he was concerned for his followers that they may not get obsessed by wealth and wealth may not corrupt them.
The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) himself could have been the wealthiest man in the history of Arabia, however, he preferred to live simply and use his wealth to please God. As the leader of the Islamic nation, he received great wealth; however, he hated for that wealth to remain in his home for more than a day without having distributed it in charity. At times he would distribute tens or hundreds of thousands of dinars at a time as soon as he received them. He lived according to his supplication: O my Lord, indeed, true life is only the afterlife, and what have I to do with this life? The similitude of this life and me is as a traveler who stopped to take shelter in the shade of a tree and then arose and left it.
Urwah narrated that ‘Aisha, the wife of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), said to me:
O my nephew! We used to see the crescent, and then the crescent, and then the crescent, in this way we saw three crescents in two months and no fire (for cooking) used to be lit in the houses of Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). I said, “O my aunt! Then what used to sustain you?” Aisha said, “Two dates and water.” (Sahih Bukhari)
Abu Dharr narrated that Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
If I had gold equal to the mountain of Uhud, it would not please me that any of it should remain with me after three nights, except what I would keep for repaying debts. (Sahih Bukhari)