Manuscript volume 14 · Page 42

عن خيرك».

فإن كان فعل هٰذا لما هو عليه ظاهر الحال، فهو ما أردنا، وإن كان ليقتدي به في ذٰلك، فما فعل إلا ما هو أولى بالقربة إلى الله من تركه، وهو من ﴿الَّذِينَ هَدَى الله﴾، وأمر الله نبيه ص بالاقتداء بهداهم، وقال لنا: ﴿لَقَدْ كانَ لَكُمْ في رَسُولِ الله أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ﴾ [الأحزاب: 21].

(القناعة وقصر السؤال على الله)

والقناعة عندنا على بابها في اللسان، وهي المسألة، والقانع السائل، والسؤال من الله، لا من غيره، يقال: قنع يقنع قنوعا، إذا سأل، وهو الذي رفع سؤاله إلى الله، وهو قوله في الظالمين يوم القيامة: ﴿مُقْنِعِي رُؤُسِهِمْ﴾ [إبراهيم: 43]، أي رافعين إلى الله، يسألونه المغفرة عن جرائمهم.

ويجتمع الحدان في أمر^[14]، وهو أن السائلين الله قنعوا به في سؤالهم والتجائهم إليه، فلم يسألوا غيره تعالى، فهٰذا معنى قول الأكابر الاكتفاء بالموجود، وهو الله بالسؤال عن طلب المزيد، وهو أن يتعدى بالسؤال إلى غيره.

والخلق عيال الله، أي الفقراء إلى الله، فمن سأل غير الله، فليس بقانع، ويخاف عليه من الحرمان والخسران، فإن السائل موصوف بالركون لمن سأله، والله يقول: ﴿ولا تَرْكَنُوا إِلَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا فَتَمَسَّكُمُ النَّارُ وما لَكُمْ من دُونِ الله من أَوْلِياءَ ثُمَّ لا تُنْصَرُونَ﴾ [هود: 113]، ومن ركن إلى جنسه، فقد ركن إلى ظالم، فإن الله يقول في الإنسان: ﴿إِنَّهُ كانَ ظَلُوماً﴾ [الأحزاب: 72]، لحمله الأمانة، وما من أحد من الناس

of Your good.”

If he did this as the outward state indicates, it is what we intend. If he did it so that he might be followed in this, he did only what brings greater nearness to God than leaving it. He is among “those God guided,” and God commanded His Prophet, God bless him and grant him peace, to follow their guidance. He said to us, “You have in the Messenger of God a good example” [al-Ahzab 33:21].

(Contentment and Restricting Asking to God)

For us, contentment follows its linguistic sense: asking. The contented one is the asker, and the asking is directed to God rather than another. One says qanaʿa, yaqnaʿu, qunūʿan when one asks. He is the one who raises his request to God, as in His saying concerning the wrongdoers on the Day of Resurrection, “With their heads raised” [Ibrahim 14:43], meaning raised toward God, asking Him to forgive their crimes.

The two definitions meet in one matter:^[14] those asking God are content with Him in their asking and resorting to Him, so they ask none other than Him, exalted is He. This is the meaning of the great ones’ saying, “Being satisfied with what exists”: God is sufficient in asking, rather than seeking more by extending one’s asking to another.

Creation are God’s dependents, meaning those in need of God. Whoever asks other than God is not contented and is feared for as to deprivation and loss. The asker is described by leaning upon the one he asks, while God says, “Do not lean upon those who do wrong, lest the Fire touch you. You have no protecting friends apart from God; then you will not be helped” [Hud 11:113]. Whoever leans upon his own kind has leaned upon a wrongdoer, for God says of the human being, “He was unjust” [al-Ahzab 33:72], because he bore the trust. No one among people