a personalised number plate costs USD 750 and the money is paid to the Government. a personlised number plate looks nicer on a vehicle and does not reveal the age of the vehicle. Can I buy a personalised plate (it will show only my initials, not my full name) , given that it is nicer/ more beautiful than a conventional number plate, and given that the Almighty likes beauty.

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

There is nothing wrong with that as long as it does not amount to the prohibited extravagance and blameworthy wastefulness. Ibn ‘Abbaas said: “Eat and dress as you wish as long as you avoid two things: extravagance and vanity.” [End of quote]

According to scholars, the governing rule on extravagance is spending on things that are inappropriate or spending too much on things that are appropriate. For example, it is considered extravagance when a person spends his wealth on unlawful things or spends too much on lawful things beyond his needs and accordingly wastes his wealth.

Extravagance is a reprehensible quality; Muslim scholars held that it is prohibited, while some of them held that it is disliked. However, the view that it is prohibited is stronger as it is supported by the indication of the textual evidence in this regard and reinforced by the rules of Sharee‘ah.

The Quran and Sunnah drive the Muslims away from extravagance because Allah, The Exalted, likened the extravagant and wasteful people to the brothers of Satan. He Says (what means): {Indeed, the wasteful are brothers of the devils, and ever has Satan been to his Lord ungrateful.} [Quran 17:27]

Finally, a Muslim should spend his money on things that are better than this and that benefit him and the Muslim community.

Allah Knows best.