“Being aware of the fact that a person is a contingent being, who is always in need of the Necessarily Existent Being.”¹⁾

“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 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.”²⁾

“O my soul! Do not say: ‘Times have changed. This age is different, for everyone is plunged into this world and adores this life. Everyone is openly committed to the struggle for livelihood.’ For 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.”³⁾

“… 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 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.”⁴⁾

“… 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.”⁵⁾

“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.”⁶⁾

“Your perception and admission of your impotence leads you to the Divine Name the All-Merciful.“⁷⁾

“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.’”⁸⁾

“Helplessness, poverty, affection, reflection, zeal and thankfulness are the basic elements of this way. 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.”⁹⁾

“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 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 thanksgiving and zeal (in God’s cause).”¹⁰⁾

Compassion

Contemplation

Enthusiasm

Thankfulness

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