====== Poverty ======

  * “Being aware of the fact that a person is a contingent being, who is always in need of the Necessarily Existent Being.”(([[http://www.lugatim.com/s/fakr|“Fakr”, Kubbealtı Lugatı]]))

  * “How could the guests of an All-Munificent Provider, Who has made the earth’s surface as a table and the spring for flowers to put on that table, regard their own **poverty** and [[helplessness|helplessness]] before God as unbearable? Their **poverty** and need become their appetite, and so they try to increase their **poverty**. The guest tries to increase his **poverty** in the same way he does his appetite. This is why spiritually perfect people are proud of their **poverty**. However, do not misunderstand this! It means to be aware of one’s **poverty** before God and to entreat Him, not to parade **poverty** before the people and assume the air of a beggar.”((Bediüzzaman Said Nursi, //The Words//, New Jersey: The Light, 2013, p. 43.))

  * “O my soul! Do not say: ‘Times have changed. This age is different, for everyone is plunged into this world and adores this [[life|life]]. Everyone is openly committed to the struggle for livelihood.’ For [[death|death]] does not change. Separation does not end and become eternal union or companionship. Our intrinsic impotence and **poverty** do not change; rather, they increase. Our journey (through this world) is not cut; rather, it becomes faster.”((Ibid., p. 185.))

  * “... the essential and intrinsic duty of our existence is to seek perfection through learning and to proclaim our worship of and servanthood to God through prayer and supplication. That is: ‘Through whose compassion is my [[life|life]] so wisely administered? Through whose generosity am I being so affectionately trained? Through whose favors and benevolence am I being so solicitously nourished?’ It is to pray and petition the Provider of Needs in humble awareness of our needs, even a thousandth of which we cannot satisfy on our own. In short, it is flying to the highest rank of being worshipful servants of God on the wings of consciousness of our innate impotence and **poverty**.”((Ibid., p. 332.))

  * “... the All-Wise Originator has implanted an infinite impotence and **poverty** in our nature so that each of us may be a comprehensive mirror reflecting the boundless manifestations of an All-Compassionate One of infinite Power, an All-Munificent One of infinite Richness.”((Ibid., p. 337.))

  * “O soul! I have presented convincing arguments in some of the Words that your nature is ‘kneaded together’ out of defect and deficiency, as well as destitution and impotence. As darkness shows light’s strength in proportion to its density, by way of contrast, you are a mirror through those essential elements of your nature to the All-Majestic Originator’s Perfection, Grace, Beauty, Power, and Mercy.”((Ibid., p. 379.))

  * “Your perception and admission of your impotence leads you to the Divine Name the All-Merciful.“((Ibid., p. 494.))

  * “The top level of //istighna// is becoming a self-effacing person, who feels discomforted by praise from others. Even though the carnal soul enjoys being praised, the conscience of ideal believers must take compliments as if they were insults. When they receive praises, they should ask themselves, ‘Why are they offering me a reward in this world that is to be received in the afterlife? Is it me who made them think this way?’ Then they should take the humble path of acknowledging their impotence and **poverty** before God and pray, ‘My Lord, allow me to forget about my own self and help me dislike talking about myself.’”((M. Fethullah Gülen, //Journey to Noble Ideals//, New Jersey: Tughra Books, 2014, p. 30.))

  * “[[helplessness|Helplessness]], **poverty**, affection, reflection, zeal and thankfulness are the basic elements of this way. [[helplessness|Helplessness]] means being aware of one’s inability to do many of the things that one wants to do, and **poverty** denotes the awareness of the fact that it is God Who is the real Owner and Master of everything. Embracing everybody and everything because of Him is affection, while reflection is thinking deeply, analytically and systematically about and meditating on the outer and inner world, with a new excitement every day.”((M. Fethullah Gülen, //Emerald Hills of the Heart: Key Concepts in the Practice of Sufism// (vol 2), New Jersey: Tughra Books, 2011, p. 278.))

====== Absolute Poverty======

  * “There are four pillars of the way of being a worshipping and (thereby) beloved servant of God, as stated in the following: In the way of depending on [[consciousness|awareness]] of one’s impotence before God, four things are essential; They are, O beloved one, acknowledgement of one’s **absolute** impotence and **poverty** (before God), and absolute [[thankfulness|thanksgiving]] and zeal (in God’s cause).”((Bediüzzaman Said Nursi, //The Letters//, New Jersey: The Light, 2014, p. 374.))

===== See Also =====

  * [[compassion|Compassion]]
  * [[contemplation|Contemplation]]
  * [[enthusiasm|Enthusiasm]]
  * [[thankfulness|Thankfulness]]

===== Other Languages =====

  * [[https://nl.hizmetpedia.org/doku.php?id=armoede|Nederlands]]
  * [[https://tr.hizmetpedia.org/doku.php?id=fakr|Türkçe]]

===== Footnotes =====