Second Subject of Discussion

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

اِنَّ اللّهَ هُوَ الرَّزَّاقُ ذُو الْقُوَّةِ الْمَتِينُ ٭ وَكَاَيِّنْ مِنْ دَابَّةٍ لاَ تَحْمِلُ رِزْقَهَا اَللّٰهُ يَرْزُقُهَا وَاِيَّاكُمْ وَ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ1

O people of îmân! You understood from the previous Discussion how harmful enmity is. Now understand that, just like enmity, greed is a destructive and ruinous malady to the life of Islam. Greed is the cause of utter failure and loss, an incurable illness and humiliation; it leads to deprivation and misery. Indeed, the humiliation and misery of the Jewish nation, which greedily preys upon the world more than any other nation, serve as conclusive proof of this judgment.

Indeed, greed evinces its bad effects throughout the realm of living beings, from the widest sphere to the most minor individual. On the contrary, seeking one's rizq in a manner full of tawakkul is the source of ease and comfort, and it evinces its positive effects everywhere.

Thus, because fruit-bearing trees and plants, which are a kind of living being in need of rizq, remain stationary and contented in their places in a manner full of tawakkul, displaying no greed, their rizq comes running to them. They nurture far more offspring than animals do. Animals, however, can only obtain their rizq with great hardship and deficiency because they pursue it greedily.

Moreover, within the sphere of animals, the bestowal of the licit, perfect and delicate rizq of the young — who practise tawakkul through the language of their impotence and weakness — from the treasury of rahmah and the foul, illicit rizq of the wild beasts — which they earn with immense hardship as they greedily prey — demonstrate that greed is the cause of deprivation, while tawakkul and contentment are the means of rahmah.

And, within the sphere of mankind, the haram, ribâ-based wealth that the Jewish nation — which clings to the world more greedily than any other nation and is infatuatedly attached to worldly life — gained with many difficulties (a wealth of which they are merely treasurers and which brings them little benefit), alongside the slaps of humiliation, misery, death and insult they received from all nations, demonstrate that greed is the very mine of humiliation and loss.

Moreover, there are so many instances of a greedy person always falling into loss that the proverb:

2 اَلْحَرِيصُ خَائِبٌ خَاسِرٌ

has passed into a proverb and become an established maxim, accepted as a universal haqiqah by everyone. Since this is so, if you love wealth, do not seek it with greed, but rather with contentment, so that it will come abundantly.

The people of contentment and the people of greed resemble two persons who enter the audience chamber of a great personage. One of them says from his heart: "If he just accepts me, it will be enough for me to be saved from the cold outside. Even if they give me the lowest chair, it will be a pure favour."

The second man — as if he had a right and everyone was obliged to respect him — arrogantly says, "He should give me the highest chair." He enters with such greed, sets his eyes on the higher seats and desires to go there. But the lord of the chamber turns him back and seats him in a lower place. While he is obliged to be thankful, instead of expressing gratitude, he gets angry in his heart and criticises the lord of the house. Consequently, the lord of the house treats him with cold aversion.

The first man, however, humbly enters and wishes to sit on the lowest chair. This contentment of his pleases the lord of the chamber. “Please take a seat on a higher chair,” he says. The humble man also gradually increases his gratitude, and his satisfaction multiplies.

Thus, this world is an audience chamber of Ar-Rahmân. The face of the earth is a table of rahmah. The degrees of rizq and grades of ni’mahs are those seats.

Moreover, everyone can feel the negative impact of greed even in the most minute of affairs.

For example, when two beggars ask for something, everyone feels in his heart a cold aversion toward the beggar who importunes greedily and withholds giving; whereas, everyone feels in his heart mercy for the quiet beggar and gives to him.

And, for example, if you find yourself unable to sleep at night yet desire rest, if you remain indifferent, sleep will come. However, if you want to sleep greedily, repeatedly saying, "Oh, let me sleep; let me sleep," you will drive sleep away entirely.

And, for example, if you greedily wait for someone for an outcome of great consequence, keeping on saying, "Oh, he hasn't come, he hasn't come," eventually greed exhausts your patience, leading you to get up and leave. A moment later, that person arrives, but the outcome of great consequence you were expecting has been lost.

The mystery of these events is as follows: just as the existence of a loaf of bread depends upon the field, the threshing floor, the mill and the bakery, similarly, in the orderly arrangement of things, there is a sequential, slow and deliberate process under the governance of hikmah. Because a greedy person fails to act with deliberation due to his greed, he does not observe the ma’nawî steps that exist in that orderly arrangement; he either leaps and tumbles down or leaves a step missing, and thus, he cannot reach his goal.

O brothers who have been dazed by the anxiety of livelihood and intoxicated by the greed for this world! Despite the fact that greed is such a profoundly detrimental and calamitous thing, how is it that you stoop to every form of humiliation in the pursuit of greed, accept wealth without regard for whether it is halal or haram, and sacrifice many essential things for the âkhirah?

You even abandon zakat, which is an important pillar of Islam, in the pursuit of greed. However, zakat is a source of barakah and a repeller of calamities for every individual. In any case, the one who does not give zakat will lose an amount equivalent to zakat from his wealth; either he will spend it on unnecessary things, or a calamity will come and take it away from him.

In a true, visionary dream, during the fifth year of the First World War, I was asked in a strange dream:

"What is the reason for this hunger, loss of wealth and physical hardships that have befallen the Muslims?"

In the dream, I replied:

"Janâb-i Haqq required one-tenth of certain goods {Note 1: That is, one-tenth of the goods, like wheat, which He freshly grants every year.} or He required one-fortieth of some other goods {Note 2: That is, from the forty He formerly bestowed; from which He generally grants at least ten freshly every year by way of commercial profit or animal breeding.} from the wealth He Himself bestowed upon us, so that zakat enables us to receive the du‘â of the poor and averts their rancor and envy. Yet, because of our greed, we acted avariciously and did not give. Consequently, Janâb-i Haqq took the accumulated zakat: thirty out of forty, eight out of ten."

"And every year, in just one month, He required of us a hunger with seventy hikmahs. We pitied our nafs and did not endure that temporary and pleasurable hunger. As a punishment, Janâb-i Haqq compelled us to keep a calamitous type of sawm in seventy ways for five years."

"He also required of us one single hour out of twenty-four hours for a pleasant and sublime, luminous and beneficial kind of Rabbânî training. Yet, we were lazy and did not fulfil that salâh and supplication. Joining that single hour with the other hours, we wasted it. As a kaffarah for that, Janâb-i Haqq made us perform a type of salâh through five years of military drilling, training exercises and mobilisation." I had replied.

Then I came to myself, thought it over and understood that there was an extremely important haqiqah in that visionary dream. As proven and explained in the Twenty-Fifth Word, in the discussion comparing civilisation and the judgments of the Qur'an, the origin of all immorality, revolutions and upheavals in the social life of mankind is two phrases:

One of them is: "What do I care if someone else dies of hunger as long as I am full?"

The second is: "You work; I will eat."

What perpetuates these two phrases is the current of ribâ (interest) and the abandonment of zakat. The only remedy to cure these two terrible social diseases is zakat being an imperative obligation by the implementation of zakat as a universal principle and the prohibition of ribâ (interest). Indeed, zakat is the most important pillar for the happiness of life, not only for individuals and specific communities, but for the entirety of mankind; it is indeed the most important mainstay for the continuation of human life.

Because within humanity, there are two classes: the upper and the lower classes. It is zakat that ensures mercy and benevolence from the upper class towards the lower, and respect and obedience from the lower class toward the upper. Otherwise, from the upper class, tyranny and oppression descend upon the heads of the lower class, and rancor and rebellion rise from the lower class against the wealthy. Thus, the two classes of mankind engage in a perpetual ma’nawî struggle and a friction of discord. Ultimately, they begin to throttle one another in the form of a conflict between capital and labour, as has occurred in Russia.

O people of bounty and conscience! O people of generosity and benevolence!

If acts of benevolence are not given in the name of zakat, there exist three harms; and sometimes, they go in vain. Since you do not give in the name of Allah, you lay a ma’nawî obligation upon the poor, helpless person, leaving him in the captivity of indebtedness. Furthermore, you will be deprived of his acceptable du’â. While you are, in fact, merely a distribution official appointed to deliver the wealth of Janâb-i Haqq to His ‘abds, you imagine yourself as the owner of that wealth, thereby committing an act of ingratitude for the ni’mah (kufr an-ni’mah).

If you give it in the name of zakat, you will gain a sawâb because you give in the name of Janâb-i Haqq, and you will express gratitude for the ni’mah. The needy person, too, will not be compelled to fawn upon you; therefore, his dignity will not be shattered, and his du’â for you will be accepted.

Yes, what a vast difference there is between giving sadaqah and bestowals — whether equivalent to the amount of zakat, or even greater, or in various other forms — yet gaining harms, such as riyâ, fame, indebtedness and humiliation; and performing those same good deeds in the name of zakat, which fulfills a fardh, while gaining ikhlas, sawâb and an acceptable du‘â!

 

 

سُبْحَانَكَ لاَ عِلْمَ لَنَا اِلاَّ مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا اِنَّكَ اَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ

اَللّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ وَ سَلِّمْ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ الَّذِى قَالَ اَلْمُؤْمِنُ لِلْمُؤْمِنِ كَالْبُنْيَانِ الْمَرْصُوصِ يَشُدُّ بَعْضُهُ بَعْضًا وَ قَالَ اَلْقَنَاعَةُ كَنْزٌ لاَ يَفْنَى وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ اَجْمَعِينَ آمِينَ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

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