💎[Allah is Magnificent to Them, so Creation is Insignificant to Them]

🖊️Al-Ḥasan ibn Abī al-Ḥasan al Basrī wrote to ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz:

«أَمَّا بَعْدُ يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّ الدُّنْيَا‌‌ لَيْسَتْ بِدَارِ إِقَامَةٍ، وَإِنَّمَا أُهْبِطَ إِلَيْهَا آدَمُ عُقُوبَةً،

"To proceed: O Commander of the Believers, know that this world is not a place of settlement. Indeed, Adam was only cast down into it as a punishment.

فَبِحَسْبِ مَنْ لَا يَدْرِي ثَوَابَ اللَّهِ أَنَّهُ ثَوَابٌ، وَبِحَسْبِ مَنْ لَا يَدْرِي عِقَابَ اللَّهِ أَنَّهُ عِقَابٌ،

It is enough (of a delusion) for one who does not recognize the reward of Allah that he mistakes this world for a reward. And it is enough (of a misjudgment) for one who does not understand the punishment of Allah that he imagines being denied this world is the punishment.

لَيْسَتْ صَرْعَتُهَا كَالصَّرْعَةِ، تُهِينُ مَنْ أَكْرَمَهَا، وَتُعِزُّ مَنْ أَذَلَّهَا، وَتُذِلُّ مَنْ أَعَزَّهَا، وَتُفْقِرُ مَنْ جَمَعَهَا، وَلَهَا فِي كُلِّ حِينٍ قَتِيلٌ،

Its blow of defeat is unlike any other: it degrades those who honor it, and elevates those who scorn it. It disgraces the one who seeks status through it, and impoverishes the one who amasses it. With every moment, it claims a new victim.

فَالزُّهْدُ فِيهَا تَرْكُهَا، وَالْغِنَى فِيهَا فَقْرُهَا،

Renunciation of it is to let it go. True wealth lies in perceiving it as poverty.

هِيَ وَاللَّهِ يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ كَالسُّمِّ يَأْكُلُهَا مَنْ لَا يَعْرِفُهَا لِتَشْفِيَهُ، وَهِيَ حَتْفُهُ،

By Allah, O Commander of the Believers, this world is like a deadly poison—consumed by the one who does not know its nature, hoping it will cure him, when in fact it brings his ruin.

فَكُنْ يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ كَالْمُدَاوِي جُرْحَهُ، يَحْتَمِي قَلِيلًا مَخَافَةَ مَا يَكْرَهُ طَوِيلًا، وَيَصِيرُ عَلَى شِدَّةِ الدَّوَاءِ مَخَافَةَ الْبَلَاءِ،

So be like a man tending his wound: he restrains himself briefly, fearing long-term harm; he endures bitter medicine to ward off greater affliction.

فَأَهْلُ الْبَصَائِرِ يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ مَشْيُهُمْ بِالتَّوَاضِعِ، وَمَلْبَسُهُمْ بِالِاقْتِصَادِ، وَمَنْطِقُهُمْ بِالصَّوَابِ، وَمَطْعَمُهُمُ الطَّيِّبُ مِنَ الرِّزْقِ،

The people of insight, O Commander of the Believers— walk with humility, dress with moderation, speak with clarity and truth, and eat from what is wholesome and pure.

وَقَدْ نَفَذَتْ أَبْصَارُهُمْ فِي الْآجِلِ كَمَا نَفَذَتْ فِي الْعَاجِلِ، فَخَوْفُهُمْ فِي الْبَرِّ كَخَوْفِهِمْ فِي الْبَحْرِ، وَدُعَاؤُهُمْ فِي السَّرَّاءِ كَدُعَائِهِمْ فِي الضَّرَّاءِ،

Their gaze penetrates the world to come just as it sees the world before them. Their fear on land is like their fear at sea. Their supplications in ease are like their supplications in hardship.

وَلَوْلَا الْأَجَلُ الَّذِي كُتِبَ عَلَيْهِمْ لَمْ تَقِرَّ أَرْوَاحُهُمْ فِي أَبْدَانِهِمْ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا خَوْفًا مِنَ الْعِقَابِ، وَشَوْقًا إِلَى الثَّوَابِ، ‌

Were it not for the fixed term written for them, their souls would scarcely remain in their bodies, out of fear of punishment and longing for reward.

عَظُمَ ‌الْخَالِقُ فِي أَعْيُنِهِمْ، وَصَغُرَ الْمَخْلُوقُ عِنْدَهُمْ،

The Creator is immense in their estimation, and all creation has diminished before them.

فَارْضَ مِنْهَا بِالْكَفَافِ، وَلْيَكْفِكَ مَا بَلَّغَكَ الْمَحَلَّ»

So be content with sufficiency from this world. Let what brings you to your destination suffice you."

📚Source: Abū Bakr ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd ibn Sufyān al-Baghdādī al-Umawī al-Qurashī, known as Ibn Abī al-Dunyā (d. 281 AH), al-Zuhd, ed. Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Qādir Aḥmad ʿAṭā (Damascus: Dār Ibn Kathīr, 1st ed., 1420 AH / 1999 CE), p. 136, no. 282.