It was said to him -asws ...
It was said to him -asws , ‘If you -asws could arrange your -asws affairs until you -asws equate (rich food with normal food)’. فَقَالَ إِنَّمَا تَدْبِيرُنَا مِنَ اللَّهِ إِذَا وَسَّعَ عَلَيْنَا وَسَّعْنَا وَ إِذَا قَتَّرَ قَتَّرْنَا. He -asws said: ‘But rather, our -asws arrangement is from Allah -azwj . When He -azwj Expands upon us -asws , we expand, and when He -azwj Contracts, we contract’’. [3] وَ عَنْهُ ع قَالَ: كُلَّمَا ازْدَادَ الْعَبْدُ إِيمَاناً ازْدَادَ ضِيقاً فِي مَعِيشَتِهِ.
And from him -asws having said: ‘Every time the servant increases the Eman, there will be a narrowness in his livelihood ’’. [4] Coming back to our topic of poverty: – وَ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع قَالَ: قُلْ لِمُصَاصِ شِيعَتِنَا غَرِّبُوا أَوْ شَرِّقُوا لَنْ تُرْزَقُوا إِلَّا الْقُوتَ.
And from Abu Abdullah -asws having said: ‘Say to the sincere ones of our -asws Shias, ‘Go to the west or to the east, you will never be Graced except the basic subsistence!’’ [5] Basic necessities of life are what Allah -azwj Wants his pious servants to enjoy so that they do not waste their time in the worldly affairs, i.e., love of the world and preoccupation in its attractions.
However, when one plunged into extreme poverty level (not being able to sustain living) that compels one to verge of destruction for both his world as well as the Hereafter, for example: وَ قَالَ ع لِابْنِهِ مُحَمَّدِ ابْنِ الْحَنَفِيَّةِ يَا بُنَيَّ إِنِّي أَخَافُ عَلَيْكَ الْفَقْرَ فَاسْتَعِذْ بِاللَّهِ مِنْهُ فَإِنَّ الْفَقْرَ مَنْقَصَةٌ لِلدِّينِ مَدْهَشَةٌ لِلْعَقْلِ دَاعِيَةٌ لِلْمَقْتِ And he -asws (Ali Amir ul-Momineen -asws ) said to his -asws son Muhammad: ‘O my -asws son!
I -asws fear the poverty upon you, so seek Refuge with Allah -azwj from it, for the poverty is a reducer of the religion, perplexing to the intellect, caller to the hateful ones’’ . [6] عَنْهُ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ سِنَانٍ عَنْ أَبِي الْجَارُودِ عَنْ أَبِي جَعْفَرٍ ع قَالَ: فِي التَّوْرَاةِ أَرْبَعَةُ أَسْطُرٍ مَنْ لَا يَسْتَشِرْ يَنْدَمْ وَ الْفَقْرُ الْمَوْتُ الْأَكْبَرُ وَ كَمَا تَدِينُ تُدَانُ وَ مَنْ مَلَكَ اسْتَأْثَرَ.
My father, from Muhammad Bin Sinan, from Abu Al Jaroud, ‘From Abu Ja’far -asws having said: ‘In the Torah there are four lines (sentences) – “One who does not consult will regret, and ‘والفقر الموت الاكبر’ the poverty is the greatest death, and just as you sow, so shall you reap, and the one who rules will monopolise’”’.
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