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POVERTY
Arabic
word “faqr” is not to have necessary things,
poverty. It’s not poverty not to have the things that
someone doesn’t need. If the necessary things exist
and if the person has the power to attain them, he is not
assumed as poor. Therefore it is understood that all the
beings other than Allah Almighty are poor. Because the existence
of everything is dependent on another thing and the existence
of all beings come from Allah. All of them are dependent
to Allah The Most High for their existence. But Allah whose
existence is by Him is the real rich Being.
In the Noble Quran the word “fakir” is mentioned
in many places as singular and plural. Some of them are
below:
“The
Evil One threatens you with poverty and bids you to conduct
unseemly. Allah promiseth you His forgiveness and bounties
and Allah careth for all and He knoweth all things.”
(1)
“Allah
hath heard the taunt of those who say: "Truly Allah
is indigent and we are rich!." We shall certainly record
their word and (their act) of slaying the Prophets in defiance
of right and We shall say: "Taste ye the penalty of
the Scorching Fire!.” (2)
“To
those weak of understanding make not over your property
which Allah hath made a means of support for you but feed
and clothe them therewith and speak to them words of kindness
and justice.” (3)
"That
they may witness the benefits (provided) for them and celebrate
the name of Allah through the Days appointed over the cattle
which He has provided for them (for sacrifice): then eat
ye thereof and feed the distressed ones in want.”
(4)
Those verses prove that
“faqr” poverty is the absence of the necessary
goods. In the verses below we see that the there are a few
groups of poor:
“O
ye men! it is ye that have need of Allah: but Allah is the
One Free of all wants Worthy of all praise.” (5)
This verse states that
all people whether they are poor or rich are dependent on
Allah The Most High.
“If ye disclose (acts of) charity
even so it is well but if ye conceal them and make them
reach those (really) in need that is best for you: it will
remove from you some of your (stains of) evil. And Allah
is well acquainted with what ye do.” (6)
“(Some
part is due) to the indigent Muhajirs those who were expelled
from their homes and their property while seeking Grace
from Allah and (His) Good pleasure and aiding Allah and
His Apostle: such are indeed the sincere ones”(7)
The poor mentioned in these verses are the poor Muslim
people.
“(Charity
is) for those in need who in Allah's cause are restricted
(from travel) and cannot move about in the land seeking
(for trade or work). The ignorant man thinks because of
their modesty that they are free from want. Thou shalt know
them by their (unfailing) mark: they beg not importunately
from all and sundry. And whatever of good ye give be assured
Allah knoweth it well.”(8)
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(1) Chapter Bakara, 2/268.
(2)Chapter Âl-i Imrân, 3/181.
(3) Chapter Nisâ, 4/5.
(4) Chapter Haj, 22/28.
(5) Chapter Fâtir, 35/15.
(6) Chapter Bakara, 2/271.
(7) Chapter Hashr, 59/8.
(8) Chapter Bakara Sûra, 2/273.
“Alms
are for the poor and the needy and those employed to administer
the (funds); for those whose hearts have been (recently)
reconciled (to truth); for those in bondage and in debt;
in the cause of Allah; and for the wayfarer: (thus is it)
ordained by Allah and Allah is full of knowledge and wisdom.”(9)
The poor mentioned
in these verses are also the poor Muslim people.
Against the poor in
the first group there is Allah The Most High. Because He
is the absolute rich. Everybody other than Him is poor.
Against the poor of the second group there are rich
people.
The opposite of the third group of the poor are poor
people who aren’t shut up, aren’t prevented
and who don’t hide their poverty.
After giving the general
meaning of “faqr”, we may pass to the meaning
near Sufis: According to Muslim Sufis “faqr”
has a deeper sense than the simple poverty. Although for
Sufis “faqr” is to bind oneself to Ashab-i Suffe
which is from the third group of poor, the real poverty
is to free oneself from being dependent to anything other
than Allah and being dependent only to Allah, it is the
basis of “faqr” and the essence of being a born
servant. Yahya Ibn Muaz said: “The truth of “faqr”
is being rich only with Allah and its form is the absence
of the causes that means the wealth of the world.
A hadith of Our Prophet
is seen as evidence to this sense of “faqr”:
“The poor person is not someone who walks around and
collects a few morsel and a few dates. Poor is such a person
that he can not find something to meet his need, he fells
ashamed to ask from others, his condition is not known that
alm is not given to him.” (10)
Kusheyri who explained
the sentence of “he fells ashamed to ask from others”
as “He feels ashamed against Allah so he can not ask
from people” continued as follows: “faqr”-poverty
is the characteristic of Saints, the ornament of Sufis,
a state that Allah deems as suitable for His distinguished
pious servants and for The Messengers. Poor people are the
pure and distinguished servants of Allah, whom He rendered
as capable to understand the secrets among other servants.
Allah provides sustenance to the creatures generously thanks
to those poor people.
Sulemi told that -communicated
by Hadrat Omar- Our Prophet declared: “Everything
has a key. The key of the Paradise is the loving patient
poor. Those are the people who will sit down near to Allah
in The Day of Judgment.” (11)
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(9) Chapter Tevbe, 9/60.
(10)Buhâri, Nesâi, Musned.
(11)Feyzu’l-Kadir.
According to a narrative,
a man brought ten thousands drachma to Ibrahim Ibn Ethem,
Ibrahim who didn’t accept that said: “Do you
want my name to be erased from the book of the poor with
ten thousands drachma?” I can’t do that!
It’s asked to
Cuneyd: “To be poor and needy to Allah or to being
rich and content with Allah is more perfect? ” he
answered: “ If the need to Allah is in the correct
way, being content with Allah also will be right . If the
content with Allah is in the right way, the richness becomes
complete. So it can’t be said, which one is more complete,
being needy or being content. Because those two states which
are connected to each other can be completed only with the
existence of the other one. (12)
Therefore the real poverty
is not for the self of the person but for Allah. To succeed
this, one should remove all desires of “nefs”-carnal
man, greed, covetousness and leave nothing except the thought
of Allah The Most High inside of him. When The Love for
Allah surrounds all his soul and when he has no tendency
for anything other than Allah, then he attains the degree
of real “faqr”-poverty-.
This degree of “faqr”
is not an obstacle for having wealth. Because the important
thing is not the existence or absence of wealth; not to
settle down the desire of wealth in the soul, being equal
of its existence and absence. In this case neither the lack
of wealth nor its existence becomes harmful to man. Although
most of The Messengers of Allah were rich even some of them
were head of the state, rulers, they were at the peak of
“faqr”-poverty-. For instance Hadrat Abraham
had wealth, Hadrat Davud and His son Suleyman were kings
before. Our Prophet was poor before and after he got married
with Hadrat Hatija he reached to wealth and he became the
president of the Islamic State in Medina after his immigration.
And Allah almighty in order to remind the blessing for him
states in the Noble Quran that:
“Did
He not find thee an orphan and give thee shelter (and care)?”And
He found thee wandering and He gave thee guidance””And
He found thee in need and made thee independent.”
(13)
And the caliphs after Our Prophet , Hadrat Abu Bakr
and Hadrat Omar; they didn’t go out of poverty and
used the wealth for The Sake of Allah not for their own
pleasure and desires. They lived “faqr”-poverty-in
the richness.
Because the real poverty
knows that man is always dependent to Allah, everything
including his being belongs to Allah not to himself. The
real attribute of the born servant is “ faqr”
-poverty-. How someone whose real existence is dependent
and relied on another can be rich?
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(12) Treatise of Kusheyri
(13)Chapter Duhâ, 93/6-8.
The essence of “faqr”
is to take out the desire of the world from inside, not
to appropriate the wealth to oneself, not only in words
but to know in the real sense that the One who gives and
takes is Allah, to be contented with both His favors and
His crash., neither to be sad for the loss of the world
nor to be happy for it’s coming; not to occupy one’s
heart with the world and prevent it to mention the name
of Allah The Most High, not to feel a need for any goods,
situation, the support of worldly people, and the beings
of the world other than Allah The Most High. The existence
of wealth does not make harm to such a person. Allah doesn’t
forbid His wealth and ornaments to such servants, indeed
on the contrary He created the favors of this world for
those servants just as He created the favors of the next
world. Allah declared:
“Say:
Who hath forbidden the beautiful (gifts) of Allah which
He hath produced for his servants and the things clean and
pure (which He hath provided) for sustenance? Say: they
are in the life of this world for those who believe (and)
purely for them on the Day of Judgment. Thus do We explain
the signs in detail for those who understand.” (14)
The maturity of having
wealth is, being equal of the wealth and water in the eyes
of the born servant. As the abundance of water on the shore
or nearby doesn’t make any harm to you, being less
of it is not harmful unless it’s below the level of
sustenance. Wealth is similar to that. If your heart is
not occupied with the love and hatred that stem from richness,
the abundance of wealth is not harmful. Such a person is
independent and he doesn’t need anything other than
Allah. To name him as “fakir”-poor- is not in
respect of literal meaning but in respect of another sense.
Here “faqr”-poverty- is the person’s recognizing
that he needs the help of Allah in all works and that he
is not dependent to anyone other than Allah.
Then a born servant
should examine his heart by distributing some money to needy
ones or when his property diminished or damaged. If he feels
a longing for wealth he understands that he has been deceived.
There are many people that they suppose themselves as disdainful
about wealth but when the property goes out of their possession,
the desire of wealth appears and give great sorrow to their
hearts. (15)
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(14) Chapter A’râf, 7/32.
(15) Ihya
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