Also on this:
Poverty is a ruling, apprehended only
by the One exalted beyond consort and child.
Poverty is a ruling encompassing all creation;
I exclude no entity from it.
All seek it through their essences,
and poverty seeks them through essence in the land.
All are number, for they are number;
all are even except the one called the One.
Every entity other than He is as
we have said, like the Bestower, the Beneficent, the Besought.
Glory be to Him! Exalted is He above anyone’s attaining Him:
He is not begotten in intellect or body.
God, exalted is He, said, “People, you are the poor toward God, while God is the Independent, the Praiseworthy” [Fatir 35:15], meaning through His names, just as we are poor toward His names. This is why He employed the name encompassing the divine names. The reality of its secret: “God has heard the saying of those who said, ‘God is poor and we are rich’” [Al ʿImran 3:181]. Had they been fair, they would have been described by the reality of “We shall write
Notlar
Translator’s note TN4382-1: The repeated unvowelled ʿ-d-d is rendered number in both occurrences; another possible vocalization is ʿudad, instruments or resources. The comparison involving the divine names is retained as stated. Al-Ṣamad is rendered the Besought, distinct from al-Ghanī, the Independent.
