al-Amīr ʿAbd al-Qādir b. Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Jazāʾirī · Kitāb al-Mawāqif fī baʿḍ ishārāt al-Qurʾān ilā al-asrār wa-l-maʿārif

المواقف

The Book of Stations

About this text

Mawqif 312 · “Alms are only for the poor”
In briefAI
Starting from Q 9:60, “Alms are only for the poor”, the Emir says anyone who seeks what he needs for existence, continuance or manifestation is poor in that respect. God gives as bestower of grace; a creature is a mutaṣaddiq, from ṣadq, hardness, since souls are present to avarice. Almsgivers are three groups: those who give from mercy and distinguish believer from unbeliever; those who give so every form keeps glorifying God; and the few highest, who give so the traces of the divine names continue to appear.
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 1020, Damascus 1966, p. 1021 (archive.org)
قَالَ تَعَالَى: «إِنَّمَا الصَّدَقَاتُ لِلْفُقَرَاءِ».
He, exalted is He, said: "Alms are only for the poor" (Q 9:60).
اعْلَمْ أَنَّ كُلَّ طَالِبٍ شَيْئاً ضَرُورِيّاً لَهُ، بِحَيْثُ لَا وُجُودَ لَهُ بِدُونِهِ، أَوْ لَا بَقَاءَ لِوُجُودِهِ بِدُونِهِ، أَوْ لَا ظُهُورَ لَهُ بِدُونِهِ، طَلَبَ حَالٍ أَوْ طَلَبَ مَقَالٍ؛ فَهُوَ فَقِيرٌ مِنْ حَيْثُ ذَلِكَ الشَّيْءُ•
Know that everyone who seeks a thing necessary to him, such that he has no existence without it, or his existence has no continuance without it, or he has no manifestation without it, whether his seeking is a seeking of state or a seeking of speech, is poor with respect to that thing.
وَمُعْطِيهِ اِيَّاهُ اِنْ كَانَ الْحَقَّ- تَعَالَى- فَهُوَ مُنْعِمٌ مُفْضِلٌ، وَاِنْ كَانَ الْمَخْلُوقَ فَهُوَ مُتَصَدِّقٌ، مِنَ الصَّدْقِ، وَهُوَ الشِّدَّةُ•
And the one who gives it to him: if it is the Real, exalted is He, then He is a bestower of grace and favour; and if it is the creature, then he is an almsgiver (mutaṣaddiq), from ṣadq, which is hardness.
فَاِنَّ الْاِنْسَانَ لَايَتَصَدَّقُ وَلَا يُعْطِي اِلاَّ بِشِدَّةٍ•
For man does not give alms, nor does he give, except with hardness.
فَاِنَّهُ كَمَا قَالَ تَعَالَى: «وَأُحْضِرَتِ الْأَنْفُسُ الشُّحَّ».
For it is as He, exalted is He, said: "And the souls have been made present to avarice" (Q 4:128).
وَقَالَ: «وَمَنْ يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِ». الْأَيَهَ
And He said: "And whoever is guarded against the avarice of his own soul" (Q 59:9; 64:16), the verse.
وَفِي الصَّحِيحِ: «مَثَلُ الْمُنْفِقِ وَالْبَخِيلِ، مَثَلُ رَجُلَيْنِ عَلَيْهِمَا جُبَّتَانِ، اَوْ جُنَّتَانِ مِنْ حَدِيدٍ، قَدِ اضْطُرَّتْ أَيْدِيهِمَا اِلَى تَرَاقِيهِمَا••• الْحَدِيثَ بِطُولِهِ•
And in the Ṣaḥīḥ: "The likeness of the spender and the miser is the likeness of two men wearing two cloaks, or two coats of mail, of iron, their hands forced up to their collarbones...", the ḥadīth in full.
فَأَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ- تَعَالَى- عَلَى الْجَوْهَرِ بِاِيجَادِ الْعَرَضِ•
So God, exalted is He, has bestowed grace on the substance by bringing the accident into existence,
فَاِنَّهُ لَا وُجُودَ لَهُ بِدُونِهِ•
for it has no existence without it.
وَاَنْعَمَ عَلَى الْعَرَضِ بِاِيجَادِ الْجَوْهَرِ؛ فَاِنَّهُ لَا قِيَامَ لَهُ بِدُونِهِ•
And He has bestowed grace on the accident by bringing the substance into existence, for it has no subsistence without it.
وَأَنْعَمَ عَلَى الْأَسْمَاءِ الْاِلَهِيَّةِ بِاِيجَادِ الْعَالَمِ، فَاِنَّهُ لَا ظُهُورَ لَهَا اِلاَّ بِهِ•
And He has bestowed grace on the divine names by bringing the world into existence, for they have no manifestation except through it,
وَلَا تَأْثِيرَ لَهَا اِلاَّ فِيهِ•
and no effect except in it.
وَالْمُتَصَدِّقُونَ طَوَائِفُ: طَائِفَةٌ تُعْطِي الْمُتَصَدَّقَ عَلَيْهِ رَحْمَةً بِهِ، مَعَ رَجَاءِ مَا وَعَدَ اللَّهُ بِهِ الْمُتَصَدِّقِينَ•
Almsgivers are of several groups. One group gives to the recipient of alms out of mercy for him, together with hope for what God has promised almsgivers.
وَهَؤُلَاءِ يُفَرِّقُونَ فِي صَدَقَاتِهِمْ بَيْنَ الْمُؤْمِنِ وَالْكَافِرِ وَالْمُطِيعِ وَالْعَاصِي، نَظَرُهُمْ اِلَى مَا وَرَدَ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ بِاخْتِيَارِ الْاِنْسَانِ لِصَدَقَتِهِ•
These make a distinction in their alms between the believer and the unbeliever, and between the obedient and the disobedient; their regard is to what has come down of the command that a person choose [the recipients] of his alms.
وَطَائِفَةٌ أَعْلَى مِنْهَا، تُعْطِي الْمُتَصَدَّقَ عَلَيْهِ لِبَقَاءِ صُورَتِهِ مُسَبِّحَةً لِلَّهِ– تَعَالَى– ذَاكِرَةً لَهُ•
And a group higher than it gives to the recipient of alms so that his form may continue glorifying God, exalted is He, and remembering Him.
وَهَؤُلَاءِ لَايُفَرِّقُونَ بَيْنَ مُؤْمِنٍ وَكَافِرٍ، وَلَا بَيْنَ حَيَوَانٍ نَاطِقٍ وَصَامِتٍ•
These make no distinction between believer and unbeliever, nor between a speaking animal and a mute one,
بَلْ وَلَا بَيْنَ حَيَوَانٍ وَنَبَاتٍ•
nay, not even between animal and plant.
نَظَرُهُمْ اِلَى أَنَّ كُلَّ صُورَةٍ، كَانَتْ مَا كَانَتْ؛ مُسَبِّحَةٌ لِلَّهِ– تَعَالَى– مَادَامَتْ بَاقِيَةً•
Their regard is to this: that every form, whatever it may be, glorifies God, exalted is He, as long as it continues.
وَطَائِفَةٌ وَهِيَ أَعْلَى الْجَمِيعِ، وَقَلِيلٌ مَا هُمْ؛ تُعْطِي الْمُتَصَدَّقَ عَلَيْهِ لِبَقَاءِ ظُهُورِ آثَارِ الْأَسْمَاءِ الْاِلَهِيَّةِ، فَاِنَّهُ لَا ظُهُورَ لَهَا اِلاَّ بِالصُّوَرِ، وَكُلُّ اسْمٍ انْهَدَّ مَنَارُهُ؛ خَبَتْ آثَارُهُ•
And a group, the highest of all, and how few they are, gives to the recipient of alms so that the manifestation of the traces of the divine names may continue; for they have no manifestation except through forms, and every name whose beacon has collapsed, its traces have died out.

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