Sunday, July 19, 2009

SUPERIORITY OF THE POOR PEOPLE WHO ARE PATIENT

Hadrat Imam-i Rabbani says in the 38th letter of the third volume of his Maktubat:

It was informed that the poor ones of this Ummat [1] would go to Paradise half a day before the rich ones. This half day is equal to five hundred worldly years. For, one day expressed by Allahu ta’ala is as long as a thousand worldly years. It is declared clearly in Hajj Sura [2] that this is so. Allahu ta’ala, alone, knows why it is that long. For, the next world does not have the night, the day, the month or the year, which exist in the world.

The poor people having the privilege of going to Paradise earlier are those poor people who obey the Shari’at [3] and who are patient. To obey the Shari’at means to do what the Shari’at commands and to avoid what it prohibits. And there are grades, degrees in poverty. The highest of grades is obtained in the rank of fana. A faqir [4] who is in this grade knows everything other than Allahu ta’ala as poor, needy. [There is not a creature who does not need Allahu ta’ala, that is, who is not poor before Him.] He forgets all creatures. He remembers none of them.

He who has attained all grades of poverty is superior to the one who has attained a few. It is for this reason that the state of a person who has reached the grade of fana and who is poor, needy outwardly is better, more valuable than that of a person who has reached the grade of fana but who is not poor outwardly.

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GLOSSARY
[1] ummat: (pl. of umma) the community, body of believers, of a prophet.
[2] sura(t): a Qur’anic chapter [a chapter of the Qur’an].
[3] Shari’at: (pl. of Shari’a) i) rules and commandments as a whole of the religion. ii) religion.
[4] faqir: i) form of introduction of oneself, meaning poor, humble servant in need of Mercy; ii) poor Muslim who has more than his subsistence but less than nisab.

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