Consumerism is endless misery. Think about the garment workers in Bangladesh, 1,100 were crushed to death when their unsafe factories collapsed in 2013. And its misery for consumers. Advertising must make you miserable about your life. Why else would you buy new stuff if you were content with what you got? Even rich people are miserable. They know that this system of inequality that ravages us all is going to backfire. So, they are building bunkers to protect themselves or finding other ways to escape.

Can we escape the false god of consumerism? Islam offers us a way out.

There was a governor, Sa'id ibn Aamir Al-Jumahi (ra), in Homs (a city in present-day Syria) during the reign of Umar bin al-Khattab who took this paradigm shift to the next level. People complained about his absence from the people one day month. When he was held accountable for this absence, he explained that it was due to the fact he had to wash the one pair of clothes he had. That's right, one pair of clothes. This type of dedication to a simple life (known as "zuhd") is exceptional and hard to attain. However, it illustrates how Islam has the necessary spiritual and conceptual foundations to support a sustainable economy.