Contents:
- Introduction
- Prophets And Worldly Gains
- Means And Ends
- "Glitter of Wealth and Power"?
- Moderate Consumption, Without Excess Or Waste
- Charity
- Being "Possessive" about what appears in existence as Possessions
- Social Harmony
- Limits Of Human Knowledge about Livelihood
- Final Note
* Introduction
- A student once asked a Sufi master, "Why most wise men are poor?". The master, noting that the student confined the meanings of the Arabic word رزق 'Rizk' (provisions) to material things, said "Wisdom is part of Rizk, and they have plenty of it."
Rizk or provisions that humans can benefit from are much more than to be confined to material things. Some of what the word includes are:
- Availability of basic natural resources (food, water, fresh air).
- Total wellbeing (covering man's whole "being", it used to be the natural way to look at wellbeing in ancient medicine, in many different cultures, as I understand).
- Security
- Shelter
- Relationships
- Inner Peace
- Inner Sight
- Knowing God
None of the first five is necessarily tied to any particular amount of financial resources. And the last three have definitely nothing to do with financial resources. And the last three are the focus, and advancement in this aspects is the most prized and the most precious a human being can ever have, as far as mystics are concerned. A Sufi saying goes : "What did he find [of worth], he who did not find You [God]? And what is it [of worth] he missed, he who found You?" [from Ibn Ata-Ellah's Munajat (Prayer)].
