Chapter IV: Poverty and Renunciation
action of God. It is true that the person who takes cupping is unwilling to take it on account of pain but he does not hate cupping, nor the cupper but entreats him at time. Similarly the disaster of poverty cannot be disliked as it is the work of God.
Otherwise the merits gained by poverty is spoiled. To this effect, the Prophet said : O the assembly of the poor, give satisfaction to God from the core of your heart and then you will get the merits of poverty or else you will not get them. The next higher stage of poverty is to rest satisfied with poverty and not to hate it. The next higher stage is to seek poverty, to rely on God in mind and not to love things beyond necessity. Hazrat Ali said : God sometimes gives punishment by poverty and sometimes gives rewards. When it is a reward, the signs of reward are to treat well with the people, to obey God, not to complain against poverty and to express gratefulness to God for poverty. The signs of punishment are to treat badly with the people, to remain engaged in sins, to give up worship and to remain dissatisfied with luck.
(2) The second duty of the poor during poverty is to abstain from beaging and not to express sorrows for poverty to anyone.
The Prophet said : God loves the poor man having a big family, who abstains from begging. The saint Sufyan said : To express good thoughts at the time of want is good. A certain sage said : To keep poverty concealed is a treasure house of virtues.
(3) The third duty of the poor during 'poverty is not to submit to the rich for their riches. Hazrat Ali said : In order to get virtues from God, it is better for a rich man to become humble to a poor man. Still more is the pride of a poor man relying of God over a rich man. This is the position of the poor. The lower position is not to have connection with the rich and not to desire to join in their assembly. The saint Sufiyan said : When a poor man keeps company with the rich know that he is ahypocrite. When he frequents the ruler, know that he is a dacoit. An Aref said : When a poor man keeps'company with the rich his faith lessens. When he greeds from them, pledge of protection goes from him. When he lives in their midst, he becomes misguided.
MODE OF ACTIONS OF THE POOR : Don't be negligent in worship on account of poverty. If there is any excess wealth, do not hesitate to spend it to remove the wants of others, as charity of the poor to the poor is like jihad. There is a great merit in a poor
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