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Section.

All the Ṣúfí Shaykhs have spoken on the subject of poverty. I will now cite as many of their sayings as it is possible to include in this book.

One of the moderns says: Laysa ´l-faqír man khalá min al-zád: innama ´l-faqír man khalá min al-murád, “The poor man is not he whose hand is empty of provisions, but he whose nature is empty of desires.” For example, if God gives him money and he desires to keep it, then he is rich; and if he desires to renounce it, he is rich no less, because poverty consists in ceasing to act on one’s own initiative. Yaḥyá b. Mu`ádh al-Rází says: Al-faqr khawf al-faqr, “It is a sign of true poverty that, although one has reached the perfection of saintship and contemplation and self-annihilation, one should always be dreading its decline and departure.” And Ruwaym says: Min na`t al-faqír ḥifṣu sirrihi wa-ṣiyánatu nafsihi wa-adá´u faríḍatihi, “It is characteristic of the poor man that his heart is protected from selfish cares, and that his soul is guarded from contaminations, and that he performs the obligatory duties of religion:” that is to say, his inward meditations do not interfere with his outward acts, nor vice versâ; which is a sign that he has cast off the attributes of mortality. Bishr Ḥáfí says: Afḍal al-maqámát i`tiqád al-ṣabr `ala ´l-faqr ila ´l-qabr, “The best of ‘stations’ is a firm resolution to endure poverty continually.” Now poverty is the annihilation of all “stations”: therefore the resolution to endure poverty is a sign of regarding works and actions as imperfect, and of aspiring to annihilate human attributes. But in its obvious sense this saying pronounces poverty to be superior to wealth, and expresses a determination never to abandon it. Sḥiblí says: Al-faqír man lá yastaghní bi-shay´in dúna ´lláh, “The poor man does not rest content with anything except God,” because he has no other object of desire. The literal meaning is that you will not become rich except by Him, and that when you have gained Him you have become rich. Your being, then, is other than God; and since you cannot gain wealth except by renouncing “other”, your “you-ness” is a veil between you and wealth: when that is removed, you are rich. This saying is very subtle and obscure. In the opinion of advanced spiritualists (ahl-i ḥaqíqat) it means: Al-faqr an lá yustaghná `anhu, “Poverty consists in never being independent of poverty.” This is what the Pír, i.e. Master `Abdalláh Anṣárí^[30]—may God be well-pleased with him!—meant when he said that our sorrow is everlasting, that our aspiration never reaches its goal, and that our sum (kulliyyat) never becomes non-existent in this world or the next, because for the fruition of anything homogeneity is necessary, but God has no congener, and for turning away from Him forgetfulness is necessary, but the dervish is not forgetful. What an endless task, what a difficult road! The dead (fání) never become living (báqí), so as to be united with Him; the living never become dead, so as to approach His presence. All that His lovers do and suffer is entirely a probation (miḥnat); but in order to console themselves they have invented a fine-sounding phraseology (`ibáratí muzakhraf) and have produced “stations” and “stages” and a “path”. Their symbolic expressions, however, begin and end in themselves, and their “stations” do not rise beyond their own genus, whereas God is exempt from every human attribute and relationship. Abu ´l-Ḥasan Núrí says: Na`t al-faqír al-sukún `inda ´l-`adam wa ´l-badhl `inda ´l-wujúd; and he says also: Al-iḍṭiráb `inda ´l-wujúd, “When he gets nothing he is silent, and when he gets something he regards another person as better entitled to it than himself, and therefore gives it away.” The practice enunciated in this saying is of great importance. There are two meanings: (1) His quiescence when he gets nothing is satisfaction (riḍá), and his liberality when he gets something is love (maḥabbat), because “satisfied” means “accepting a robe of honour” (qábil-i khil`at), and the robe of honour is a token of proximity (qurbat) whereas the lover (muḥibb) rejects the robe of honour inasmuch as it is a token of severance (furqat); and (2) his quiescence when he gets nothing is expectation of getting something, and when he has got it, that “something” is other than God: he cannot be satisfied with anything other than God; therefore he rejects it. Both these meanings are implicit in the saying of the Grand Shaykh, Abu ´l-Qásim Junayd: Al-faqr khuluww al-qalb `an al-ashkál, “When his heart is empty of phenomena he is poor.” Since the existence of phenomena is “other” (than God), rejection is the only course possible. Shiblí says: Al-faqr baḥr al-balá wa-balá´uhu kulluhu `izzun, “Poverty is a sea of trouble, and all troubles for His sake are glorious.” Glory is a portion of “other”. The afflicted are plunged in trouble and know nothing of glory, until they forget their trouble and regard the Author thereof. Then their trouble is changed into glory, and their glory into a spiritual state (waqt), and their spiritual state into love, and their love into contemplation, so that finally the brain of the aspirant becomes wholly a centre of vision through the predominance of his imagination: he sees without eye, and hears without ear. Again, it is glorious for a man to bear the burden of trouble laid upon him by his Beloved, for in truth misfortune is glory, and prosperity is humiliation. Glory is that which makes one present with God, and humiliation is that which makes one absent from God: the affliction of poverty is a sign of “presence”, while the delight of riches is a sign of “absence”. Therefore one should cling to trouble of any description that involves contemplation and intimacy. Junayd says: Yá ma`shar al-fuqará innakum tu`rafúna billáh wa-tukra-múna lilláh fa-´nẕurú kayfa takúnúna ma`a a ´lláh idhá khalawtum bihi, “O ye that are poor, ye are known through God, and are honoured for the sake of God: take heed how ye behave when ye are alone with Him,” i.e. if people call you “poor” and recognize your claim, see that you perform the obligations of the path of poverty; and if they give you another name, inconsistent with what you profess, do not accept it, but fulfil your professions. The basest of men is he who is thought to be devoted to God, but really is not; and the noblest is he who is not thought to be devoted to God, but really is. The former resembles an ignorant physician, who pretends to cure people, but only makes them worse, and when he falls ill himself needs another physician to prescribe for him; and the latter is like one who is not known to be a physician, and does not concern himself with other folk, but employs his skill in order to maintain his own health. One of the moderns has said: Al-faqr `adamun bilá wujúdin, “Poverty is not-being without existence.” To interpret this saying is impossible, because what is non-existent does not admit of being explained. On the surface it would seem that, according to this dictum, poverty is nothing, but such is not the case; the explanations and consensus of the Saints of God are not founded on a principle that is essentially non-existent. The meaning here is not “the not-being of the essence”, but “the not-being of that which contaminates the essence”; and all human attributes are a source of contamination: when that is removed, the result is annihilation of the attributes (faná-yi ṣifat), which deprives the sufferer of the instrument whereby he attains, or fails to attain, his object; but his not-going to the essence (`adam-i rawish ba-`ayn) seems to him annihilation of the essence and casts him into perdition.