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 have understood from the previous Discussion how harmful enmity is. Now understand that, just like enmity, greed is the most dreadful and harmful disease to the life of Islam. Greed is the cause of disappointment, illness and humiliation; it yields only frustration and misery. Indeed, the humiliation and misery of the Jewish people, who greedily prey upon the world more than any other nation, serve as conclusive proof of this judgment.

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

Thus, because fruit-bearing trees and plants, which are a kind of living beings 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:

On the one hand, the bestowal of the licit, perfect and delicate rizq of the young — who display tawakkul through the language of their weakness and impotence — from the treasury of rahmah, and on the other hand, the foul and illicit rizq of the wild beasts, which they earn with immense hardship as they greedily prey upon it, demonstrates that greed is the cause of frustration, while tawakkul and contentment are the means of rahmah.

And, within the sphere of mankind, the haram, ribâ-based wealth that the Jewish people — who cling to the world more greedily than any other nation and are bound to worldly life with passionate love — gained with many difficulties (a wealth of which they are merely treasurers and which brings them little benefit), together with the slaps of humiliation, misery, death and insult dealt to them by all nations, demonstrate that greed is the very source of humiliation and loss.

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

2 اَلْحَرِيصُ خَائِبٌ خَاسِرٌ

has become a well-known proverb and been accepted as a universally acknowledged haqiqah by everyone. Since this is so, if you love wealth, seek it not 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 were 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 should be thankful, instead of expressing gratitude, he gets angry in his heart and criticises the lord of the chamber. Consequently, the lord of the chamber finds his presence burdensome.

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 gradually increases his gratitude, and his satisfaction and delight grow.

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 the tiers of ni’mahs are those seats.

Moreover, everyone can feel the bad impact of greed even in the most minor affairs.

For instance, when two beggars ask for something, everyone feels a sense of burden in his heart and withholds giving to the beggar who begs with greedy persistence. In contrast, everyone feels mercy in his heart and gives to the quiet beggar.

And, for instance, if you lose your sleep at night and wish to rest, if you remain indifferent, sleep will come. However, if you want to sleep greedily and repeatedly say, "Oh, let me sleep; let me sleep," you will drive sleep away entirely.

And, for instance, if you wait greedily for someone for a vital outcome and keep on saying, "Oh, he hasn't come, he hasn't come," eventually greed exhausts your patience and leads you to get up and leave. A moment later, that person arrives, but the vital outcome you were awaiting is 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 oven, similarly, in the orderly arrangement of things, there is a measured, sequential and slow process under the governance of hikmah.

Because a greedy person fails to act in accordance with this measured, sequential and slow process due to his greed, he disregards the ma’nawî steps within those orderly arranged things; he either leaps and tumbles down, or leaves a step incomplete, and thus fails to reach his goal.

O brothers who have been bewildered by the anxiety of livelihood and intoxicated by the greed for this world! Even though greed is such a detrimental and calamitous thing, how is it that you stoop to every form of humiliation in the pursuit of greed, accept wealth without regarding 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. Inevitably, 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, in the fifth year of the First World War, I was asked in an extraordinary dream:

"What is the reason for this hunger, these financial losses 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 one-fortieth of certain 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 the increase of livestock.} from the wealth He Himself bestowed upon us, so that through zakat we would gain the du‘âs of the poor and avert their rancour and envy. Yet, out of our greed, we acted covetously and failed to give it. Consequently, Janâb-i Haqq took the accumulated zakat: thirty out of forty, and 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 perform that salâh and supplication. By adding that single hour to 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 awoke, 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, within the section comparing modern civilisation with the decrees of the Qur'an, the origin of all immorality, revolutions and upheavals in the social life of mankind is two phrases:

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

The second is: "You work, and I will eat."

What perpetuates these two phrases is the prevalence of ribâ [interest] and the abandonment of zakât. The sole means of healing these two dreadful social diseases is zakat being an imperative obligation by the implementation of zakat as a universal principle, together with the prohibition of ribâ. Indeed, zakat is the most important foundation for the happiness of life, not only for individuals and specific communities, but for the entirety of mankind; it is indeed the most important pillar 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 toward the lower class, and respect and obedience from the lower class toward the upper class. Otherwise, tyranny and oppression from the upper class descend upon the heads of the lower class, and rancour and rebellion rise from the lower class against the wealthy. Thus, the two classes of mankind engage perpetually in a ma’nawî struggle and a friction of discord. Eventually, as has occurred in Russia, they begin to clash with one another in the form of a conflict between labour and capital.

O people of bounty and conscience (vijdân)! O people of generosity and benevolence!

If acts of benevolence are not given in the name of zakat, it entails three harms; and sometimes, they go in vain. Since you do not give in the name of Allah, you place a ma’nawî sense of indebtedness upon that helpless poor 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 sawâb because you give in the name of Janâb-i Haqq, and you will express gratitude for the ni’mah. Since that needy person is not compelled to fawn upon you, his dignity will not be shattered, and his du’â for you will be accepted.

Yes, what a vast difference there is between the two: on the one hand, giving sadaqah and bestowals — whether equivalent to the amount of zakat, or even greater, or in various other forms — yet incurring harms such as riyâ, fame, indebtedness and humiliation; and on the other hand, doing those same good deeds in the name of zakat, which fulfils a fardh, while gaining sawâb, ikhlas 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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