is therefore good, since the shield and protection intervening between them is the Real. The Real and backbiting are existence, not nonexistence, so a correspondence occurs between the two existents and the weaker is included within the stronger. Know this. “God speaks the truth, and He guides the way” [al-Ahzab 33:4].
Chapter One Hundred and Sixteen: On Knowledge of Contentment and Its Secrets
Contentment is a door you enter
if you are the one hoped for in His service.
Be content with the blessings days give
from nature; do not be content with His blessing.
Had you the wealth of all creatures,
one person would eat of it only his morsel.
For us, contentment is not being satisfied with what exists without seeking increase. God sent upon Job, an honored prophet of whom it was said, “How excellent a servant; he is ever-returning” [Sad 38:30], and whom He praised for patience despite his supplicating his Lord to remove harm, which He removed—a swarm of golden locusts. When He sent it, Job began gathering it within his garment. His Lord said to him, “Had I not made you free of need of this?” He replied, “My Lord, I have no freedom from need
Notes
Translator’s note TN4103-1: The poem distinguishes natural blessings from the unrestricted divine bounty whose increase is sought. The following account uses Job’s gathering of the golden locusts to deny that contentment means never asking for more. The supplied citation Sad 38:30 is retained.
