POVERTY AND RENUNCIATION

WHAT IS POVERTY?

Know, 0 dear readers, that the meaning of poverty is not to possess what is necessary to remove wants.

Not to have a thing what is not necessary is not poverty. If you have what is necessary and if you have got control over it you are not a poor man. In this sense, everybody is poor except God, as He is everliving. So God alone is above wants and everybody is dependent on Him. God says: God is above wants and you are poor-47:38. This is the widest meaning of poverty. We do not mean that in this chapter.

What we mean here by poverty is want of riches. The necessity of man is unlimited. He who has got no riches is poor.

FIVE CLASSES OF POVERTY-(1) The poverty of one who renounced the world. This condition is highest because he does not want riches though they come to him. He flees away from riches being displeased and takes care of their injuries and harms. This is renunciation. These are the people who have renounced the world. (2) The poverty of one who does not hate wealth but likes more to be above wants than to live in wants. If wealth comes to him without efforts, he does not refuse. He is a contented poor man.

(3) He loves wealth but he does not make serious efforts for it. He is called a poor man with love of wealth. (4) He is a greedy poor man who has got desire to earn wealth and finds out various means to earn it. (5) The poor man who has got want of necessities and has got no wealth. (6) The condition of another poor man is highest. It is all one to him whether he has got wealth or no wealth. If wealth comes to himjhe is not pleased, and if it does not come, he is not displeased. He is not pleased to see that wealth should last with him, nor does he. want that it should go. He does not feel want out of riches and does not also consider himself rich in case of having riches. He has got self satisfaction, but he is not a rich man. God adorned his heart with the attribute of self satisfaction. He is not a slave of riches. The world renunciation is a basis of all his good works and is highest in his case.

Ordinary world renunciation is harmful in this case, as the Virtues of the virtuous men are the evil deeds of those who are close to God. Any engagement with anything except God is 4:146an impediment to meeting with God. Hating the world is an act of engagement. So he who hates the world can be said to remain engaged in an action of the world. Your engagement with your self and your passion mean that you are busy without God. This is just like the lover and the beloved. He who looks to another in presence of his beloved sets up partnership in love. Similarly he who hates another leaving his act of love lessens his love.

MERITS OF POVERTY

Quran : God says : For the poor Refugees who have been driven out of their houses and properties, who seek pleasure from God and his blessings and help God and His Prophet ... God says : For those poor men who are confined in the way of God and unable to move in the world ... In these places, the poor have been praised.

Hadis:- The Prophet once asked his companions as to who is best. They said : He who is in solvent circumstances and pays his dues therefrom. He said : He is good but he is not like one about whom I am speaking. The companions asked : 0 Messenger of God, who is best in that case ? He said : The poor man who gives his hard earned money in charity.

The Prophet once said to Bilal : Meet with God as a poor man and not as a rich man. He said : God loves one having a big family and restraining himself from begging. The Prophet said : The poor among my followers will enter paradise 500 years before the rich. The Prophet said : The poor are the best among my followers and the weak among them will first roam in paradise before all. The Prophet said : I have got two dear things. If anybody loves both, he loves me and if anybody hates both hates me-poverty and jihad. It is reported that Gabrial once came to the Prophet and asked him : 0 Muhammad. God tenders you salam and asks you : Do you like that I should convert this mountain into that of gold for you and that wherever you will go, the mountain also should go with you ? At this the Prophet remained silent for a while and then said-O Gabriel the world is a house for one who has got no house and it is a wealth for one who has got no wealth. Hee who is not wise hoards for the world. Gabriel told him : 0 Muhammad, may God keep you steadfast on this firm truth. it is reported that Jesus Christ was once passing by a man who was asleep and he was covered with a cloth. He woke him up and 4:1474:148said: 0 sleeping man rise up and remember God. He said: What do you direct me to do? I have abandoned the world for the worldly men. He said to him: 0 dear friend, then sleep. Once the Prophet Moses was passing by a man who was sleeping on the ground. Under his head there was a brick and his face and beard were on the ground and he was covered with a blanket? The Prophet prayed to God: 0 my Lord, why is this servant of yours suffering in the world ? God revealed to him: 0 Moses, don't you know that I keep this world far away from one whom I love most. The companion Abu Rafe reported : Once a guest came to the Prophet but he had no food in his house. The Prophet sent me to a Jew of Khaiber for a loan of some quantity of wheat but the Jew refused it without something in mortgage. I returned to the Prophet and informed him. He said: By God, I am trustworthy to the dwellers of heaven and also trustworthy to the inmates of the world.

If he had given me a loan I would have surely repaid it. Take my coat of mail and buy some wheat on mortgaging it. When he came out, this verse was revealed: Don't prolong your eyes for the things of various kinds I have given them for enjoyments, the splendor of the life of this world, through which I test them, but the provision of your Lord is better and more enduring-28:131.

The Prophet said : He who among you rises at morn with his body sound, mind serene and with his daily livelihood, all the treasures of the world were as it were gathered for him. God said to Moses : When you see poverty coming to you say, welcome to the sign of the virtuous. The saint Ata Khorasani said :

Once a Prophet was passing by the bank of a river and saw a man catching fishes. He threw his net in the name of God but did not get any fish. Then he passed by another man who threw his net in the name of the devil and got huge quantity of fish. The Prophet said : 0 my God, what is this matter ? You know that everything is in your hand. God said to the angels : Show to My servant the states of the two fisherman. When Moses saw the high honour kept for the first man and disgrace and dishonor for the second man, he said : 0 my Lord, I am satisfied, Our Prophet said: I peeped in-to paradise and saw that the majority of its innamtes are poor men. I peeped into Hell and saw that the majority of its inamates are the rich and women.

The Prophet said: Poverty is a present for a believer in the world. It is reported in another tradition: Among the Prophets the Prophet Solaiman would go last to Paradise for his riches and among my followers Abdur Rahman-b-Auf will go last to Paradise on account of his wealth. Jesus Christ said :

A rich man will enter paradise with great difficulty. The Prophet said : When God loves a servant, he surrounds him with dangers and difficulties, and when he loves one most. He gives him Eqtana. The companions asked him : What is Eqtana ? The Prophet said It is a condition of one who leaves no property and family. The Prophet also said : When you see poverty coming say. welcome to the sign of the virtuous. When you see wealth coming say : The punishment of sins is soon coming. Once the Prophet Moses asked God : 0 my Lord, who is dearest to Thee among Thy creations? I will love him God said :

Every poor man. The Prophet Jesus Christ said : Certainly I love poverty and hate wealth.

The wealthy and rich men of Arabia once said to the Prophet: Fix a day for us for interview with you and another day for the poor. We will not come to you on the day when they will come to you. The Prophet told them: I will not fix till you and the poor men sit together in the same assembly. At once the revelation came : Keep patience along with those who invoke their Lord morning and evening seeking His pleasure and turn not your eyes from them seeing the adornment of this world's life and don't obey those whose hearts I have kept diverted from My remembrance and tell the truth from your Lord. Let him who wishes be a believer and let him who wishes be a disbeliever. The rich men were Aqra-bin- Habes.

Aina-bin-Hasan etc. The poor men were-Hazrat Bilal, Salman-b-Shuaib. Abu Zarr, Khabbab, Abu Hurairah.

Once a poor blind man sought permission to see the Prophet. At that time, the Prophet was deeply engaged in conversation with the honorable chiefs of the Quraish. When the Prophet did not give him permission at that time at once the revelation came from God (80:1)-He (Prophet) frowned and turned away, because a blind man came to him. Who will inform you that he might grow pure-80: 1?

The Prophet said: On the Judgment day, God will gather together the poor men for taking accounts and say: By My glory and honour, I snatched away the world from you not for this 4:1494:150reason that you are small to Me but for bestowing upon you the honour and blessing that I have prepared for you. 0 dear servants, enter into this assembly, take out one who among this assembly gave you food or cloth by catching his hand. On that difficult day when the people will be afflicted with perspiration, he will enter that assembly and take out one who gave him food and cloth and enter paradise with him. The Prophet said : Keep company with the poor and acquire blessings from them, as there is wealth with them. The companions asked, 0 Messenger of God, what is their wealth ? The Prophet said : When the Day of Judgment will come, they will be told : Take hold of the hand of those who gave you a handful of food, or a drought of water, or a piece of cloth and enter Paradise.

The Prophet said: When I entered Paradise I heard the sound of the walking of a man and saw that he was Bilal. I found also in the upper station of Paradise the poor and their children. In the lower station of Paradise, I found a few rich men and women. I asked : 0 my Lord, what is their affair? He said : Two red things, gold and silk dress, kept the women pleased and long accounts kept the rich busy. I did not first find my rich companion Abdur Rahmen bin-Auf there, but afterwards he came to me weeping. I asked : What is the thing which kept you behind ? He said : 0 Prophet of God, I 'c'ould not reach you till I crossed Mushiat. I feared that I might not meet you. I asked : What is its reason ? He said : I was giving accountof my wealth.

Now look what thing happened in the case of Abdur Rahman who was a reputed companion of the Prophet and who was one of the ten persons who had been given good news of Paradise in the world.

Once the Prophet went to a poor man and saw that he had nothing. He said: If his light would have been distributed among the inhabitants of the world, it would have been sufficient. The Prophet said : Shall I not inform you about the kings of Paradise ? The companions said : 0 Messenger of God, inform us. He said Every weak man who is known to the people as weak, having disheveled hairs and dust ridden cloth, having only two pieces of cloth and bereft of honour. If he is given oath in the name of God. God proves him true.

Hazrat Imran-in-Hussain reported : I had honour and status in the eyes of the Prophet. He told me once : 0 Imran, you have got honour before us. Will you go to see the ailing Fatima, daughter of the Prophet ? I said : 0 Messenger of God, my parents be sacrificed to you. I will go. He rose up and I also accompanied him. When we reached the house of Fatima, he knocked at the door and said : Peace be on you, shall we enter Hazrat Fatima said : 0 Prophet of God, enter. He said : Myself and my companion ?

Fatima said : 0 Prophet of God, who is with you ? He said Imran. Fatima said : By One who sent you as Prophet, I have got no wearing cloth except a blanket. He said: Do such and such and he hinted it with his hand. Fatema . said : If I cover my body therewith, my head remains uncovered. What shall I do. The Prophet had an old sheet with him. He gave it to her and said: Cover your head with it. Then Fatema gave the Prophet permission to enter with his companion. When they both entered, the Prophet said : 0 my darling, peace be on you. How are you, Fatema said : By God. I have got pain which has been increased by my hunger. Want of food and also. hunger afflicted me very much. The Prophet wept and said : 0 my darling, don't be worried. By God, I got nothing to eat for the last three days though I am much more honorable to God than you. If I had asked food from my Lord, He would have certainly given it to me, but I preferred the next world than this world. Then he placed his hand on his thigh and said: I give you good news that you would be the leader of the inmates of Paradise. Fatema said : In that case, what will be the position of Pharaoh's wife Asia and Mary, daughter of Imran. The Prophet said : Asia will be the leader among her contemporary women and Mary will be the leader among her contemporary women and you will be the leader of your contemporary women. You will live in Paradise made of emeralds and jewels. Then there will be no sorrow, no noise and no want of peace. By God, I got you married to such a person who is the leader of both this world and the next. Hazrat Ali reported that the Prophet said : When the people will hate the poor, construct lofty buildings in the world, vie with one another in amassing wealth, God will send on them four kinds of punishment-prevalence of famine, oppressions of kings and rulers, breach of agreements and oppression of the foes.

4:151Hazrat Abu Hurairah said: Three persons will enter paradise without account-(1) He who wish to wash his piece of cloth without getting another to put on, (2) he who has not got two pots to place on the oven, (3) and he who wishes to have drink but is' asked : Which kind of drink do you want? In other words, he who commits no excess in food, drink and dress will enter paradise without rendering account. It is reported that when a poor man came to Hazrat Sufiyan, he said to him: If you are a rich man, I will not allow you to come near. When his rich disciples saw him sitting near his poor disciples and distant from his rich disciples, the latter wished to be poor. The saint Muammel said : I saw the poor more honoured than the rich in the assembly of Sufiyan Saori. A certain sage said : If the unfortunate man feared Hell as he fears poverty, he would have got salvation from both. If he hoped for paradise as he hopes for riches, he would have got them both, If he feared God secretly as he fears men openly, he would have been fortunate in both the worlds.

Hazrat Ibn Abbas said: He who respects riches and dishonors poverty, is cursed. Loqman advised his son : 0 darling, do not hate a man dressed with old cloth, as your Lord and his Lord is the same. The saint Ihya-bin-Ma'az said : To love the poor belongs to the conduct of the prophets. To sit in their assembly belongs to the conduct of the vituous. To flee from their company is the sign of the hypocrites. What Muwayiah, Ibn Amer and other persons gave as gifts to Hazrat Ayesha amounted daily to lacs of dirhams.

She used to distribute them to the poor, yet her over- garment had stitches. Her maid told her: If you kept one dirharm, I would have purchased therewith meat for you and you could have broken fast therewith. He said : If you had reminded me of it, I would have done it.

The Prophet used to give her advice and say: If you wish to live with me in paradise, live the life of the poor and shun the society' of the rich. Don't part with your overgarment till it is stitched. Once a man came to Ibrahim bin adbam with ten thousand dioramas. The man requested him to accept it Ibrahim said to him : Do you wish that by accepting the ten thousand dirhams, I would cut off my name from the register of the poor I shall never do it.

4:152STATUS OF THE TRUTHFUL AND SATISFIED POOR MAN

The Prophet said: whose is guided to Islam,gets the provision of his livelihood and whose is satisfied with both should be thankful. He said : 0 assembly of the poor, give pleasure from your heart to God and you will then get the merits of poverty or else not It appears from these traditions. that the greedy poor man will not get meats for his poverty. The Prophet said : There is key to everything and the key to paradise is love for the poor They will sit with God on the Resurrection Day for their patecnce. The Prophet said : The poor man who is dearest to God is he who remains satisfied with what is with him and with the provision God gave him The Prophet said : 0 God, give sufficient provision for the family members of Muhammad. The Prophet said: There will be no poor or rich man who will not wish and say on the Resurrection Day : It would have been sufficient if there would have been for me bare provision of life in the world God revealed to the Prophet Ismail : Search Me near one who is broken hearted. The Prophet said : If a poor man remains satisfied, there is nobody better then him. The Prophet said : God will say on the resurrection day : Where are those among My creations who are pure-souled? The angels will ask: 0 God who are those people ? He will say They are those Muslims who remain satisfied with My gifts and with what I decreed for them Take them to Paradise, They will take there food and drink in paradise, while others will remain confined to rendering accounts.

Sayings of Sages. Hazrat Omar said: Greed is poverty and despair is wealth. He who remains satisfied with being despaired of what is with the people remains free from them or indifferent. The sage Abu Mas'ud said : No day passes on which an angel does not proclaim below the Throne : 0 son of Adam, a little provision sufficient to sustain your life is better than enormous riches which attract towards infidelity. The sage Abu Darda said There is no man who has got no defect in his intellect. The reason of this is that when the world comes to him with great wealth and property, he becomes satisfied but the days and nights which are destroying his span of life do not grieve him. 0 son of Adam, alas for you. When your span of life is decreasing, what is the good of increasing wealth ? Some wise man was asked: What is wealth? nr i 4:153He said : Your little hope and your satisfaction with necessary things.

It has been narrated that Hazrat Ibrahim bin-Adham was a great ruler of Khorasan. One day he looked down from his lofty palace and saw that a man was eating a loaf in his hand in the courtyard of his palace and after this he fell asleep. Hazrat Ibrahim told one of his servants : When he gets up from sleep, take him to me. When he awoke from sleep, the servant took him to the king who said to him: 0 man, have you eaten bread in hunger ? The man said : Yes. He asked him : Have you been satisfied with it ? He said : Yes.

He asked: Have you slept with comfort? He said: Yes. Then Ibrahim said within himself : What shall I do with this world ? If I get this much, I should remain satisfied. Once a man was passing by the side of Amer-bin-Qais when he was eating vegetables with salt. He told the sage : 0 servant of God, are you satisfied with these small things ? The sage said : Shall I not give you information .-of a man who remains satisfied with a thing more insignificant than this he said : Inform me. The sage said : He is the man who remains satisfied with this world in lieu of the next world. The saint Muhammad-bin-Wa'se use to pick up dried bread mix it with water and eat it with salt and say : He who is satisfied with this little food in this world is free from being needy to the people. The great saint Hasan Basari said : God cursed those for whom He look oath but who did not believe it. Then he read the Quranic verse - "There is provision for you in the sky and what you have been promised with." By the heaven and earth, that is certainly true. The companion Abu Zarr was once seated amongst the people when his life came to him and said : Are you seated amongst these people while there is nothing in the house to eat ?

He said : 0 darling, there is a great problem before me. None but the God fearing can be free from it.

Being satisfied with this word, she retired. The saint Jun-Nun said : He who does not have patience at the time of hunger is near disbelief. Once a saint was asked : What is your wealth ? He said : To harbor good ideas openly, to cherish hope in mind and not to hope for what is in the hands of the people. It is reported that God revealed in one of the ancient scriptures : 0 son of Adam, if you get the whole world, you will get nothing but the quantity of food that is necessary for you, when I give you from the world the quantity of food that 4:154is necessary for you, I put its account on others and do you good. For this reason, apoet said aboutsatisfaction:

Seek what you wish from God, not from men, Be satisfied in joy, there is honour therein.

On friends and relatives, don't be burden.

Rich is he who hopes from God, not from men.