Aligned sentence by sentence
. . .
, , , , .
He said: When the discourse on the obligation of binding-oneself to obedience to God has come before us, I saw that I should follow that with what is most emphasized of matters upon the one obedient to God (exalted be He) — namely, reliance upon Him in all his affairs, on account of what is in this of abundant benefits in religion and in worldly life.
, , , , , ,
As for its benefit in his religion: among them is the repose of his soul and the leaning of his heart upon his Creator (exalted be He), in accordance with what is incumbent on the slave by way of reliance on his Master. For if he does not rely on God, he will rely on something other than Him. And whoever has relied on something other than God — God turns His care from him and entrusts him to the one upon whom he has leaned. He becomes of the rank of the one of whom it was said: "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13); and He said: "And they exchanged their Glory for the form of an ox eating grass" (Psalms 106:20).
, , .
And Scripture said: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose trust is the Lord" (Jeremiah 17:7); and: "Happy is the man who has made the Lord his trust, and has not turned to the proud and to those swerving with falsehood" (Psalms 40:5); and: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and from the Lord his heart turns aside" (Jeremiah 17:5).
, , , ,
If he relies on his subtlety, his contrivance, the strength of his body, and his exertion — God entrusts him to himself; his striving is disappointed, his strength weakened, and his contrivance falls short of attaining what he seeks, as Scripture said: "He catches the wise in their craftiness" (Job 5:13); and He said: "I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor yet bread to the wise, nor riches to the discerning, nor favor to those who know" (Ecclesiastes 9:11); and He said: "The young lions go without and starve, but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing" (Psalms 34:11).
Aligned sentence by sentence
.
, , , , . , , . , .
If he relies on the abundance of his wealth, it is taken from him and he remains without it, as Scripture said: "The rich man lies down, but is not gathered; he opens his eyes, and he is not" (Job 27:19); and He said: "Do not weary yourself to be rich; cease from your understanding. When you cast your eyes upon it, it is not" (Proverbs 23:4–5); and He said: "In the midst of his days he shall leave it" (Jeremiah 17:11). Or he is denied benefit from it, as the Wise One said: "Yet God does not give him power to eat from it" (Ecclesiastes 6:2); so it remains as a deposit with him, kept by him from misfortunes until it passes to the one who is its rightful owner and deserves it, as the Friend said: "And to the sinner He gives the business of gathering and amassing — to give to the one who is good before God" (Ecclesiastes 2:26); and He said: "He prepares it, and the righteous puts it on, and the silver the innocent shall apportion" (Job 27:17). And often the wealth itself is the cause of his perishing and the destruction of his soul, as He said: "There is a grievous evil I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm" (Ecclesiastes 5:12).
, , , , , , , , , , , , , .
Among them, too: that the one who relies on God is borne by his reliance on Him to abandon the worship of any other than Him, and to cut off his hope from created beings — so that he does not abase himself before them, nor flatter them, nor join with them in other than the obedience to God, nor be in awe of their authority, nor terrified at their opposition. Rather he strips himself of the garment of their gifts and the burden of thanks for them and the obligation of recompensing them. If they admonish him, he does not regard their admonition; if they reproach him, he is not abashed before them; nor does he allow what is false in their eyes to be made attractive to himself — as the Prophet said: "And the Lord God will help me; therefore I have not been confounded; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I knew that I would not be put to shame" (Isaiah 50:7); and He said: "Do not fear them and do not be afraid of their words" (Ezekiel 2:6); and: "Do not be afraid of their words, and do not be dismayed at their faces" (Ezekiel 2:6); and: "Do not fear before them" (Jeremiah 1:8); and: "Like adamant harder than flint I have made your forehead; do not fear them, and do not be dismayed at their faces" (Ezekiel 3:9).
,
Among them, too: that the one who relies on God is borne by his reliance to free his mind from the affairs of this world and to purify his soul in the works of obedience. He resembles
Aligned sentence by sentence
, .
Among them, too: that the one who relies on God is borne by his reliance to free his mind from the affairs of this world and to purify his soul in the works of obedience. He resembles, in the repose of his soul, the ease of his mind, and the slightness of his preoccupation with the affairs of this world — even more than the master of alchemy who has reached its true reality by knowledge and practice. And if his reliance on God is strong, he surpasses him in ten things.
, . , , , , , , , , .
**The first** — the master of alchemy is in need of specific causes without which nothing is completed for him; and he does not find them at every time and in every place. The one who relies on God has his sustenance secured by means of any cause among the causes of the world, as Scripture said: "That He might make you know that not by bread alone shall the human being live, but by everything that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord shall the human being live" (Deuteronomy 8:3). The causes are not impossible for him at any time or in any place, as you have learned from the story of Elijah with the ravens, and the widow woman, and the cake of coals and the cruse of water (1 Kings 17); and the story of Obadiah with the prophets, of whom He said: "And I hid a hundred men of the prophets of the Lord by fifty in a cave, and sustained them with bread and water" (1 Kings 18:13). And He said: "The young lions go without and starve, but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing" (Psalms 34:11); and He said: "Fear the Lord, you His holy ones, for those who fear Him have no want" (Psalms 34:10).
, . , ,
**The second** — the master of alchemy is in need of works and crafts without which his sought-after end is not made valid for him. Their fumes and vapors may kill him, along with the perpetuity of the labor and the continuity of fatigue in them, night and day. The one who relies on God is in safety from misfortunes, in ease of mind from the descending of calamities; and whatever comes upon him from God (exalted be He) is a delight and joy to him
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , .
and whatever comes upon him from God (exalted be He) is a delight and joy to him; his sustenance comes to him with pleasantness of life, repose, and tranquility, as He said: "He makes me lie down in pastures of green grass; He leads me beside still waters" (Psalms 23:2).
. , .
**The third** — the master of alchemy cannot trust his secret with another, out of fear for himself. The one who relies on God fears no one for his reliance; rather he glories in it, as the Friend said: "In God I have trusted; I will not fear what the human being can do to me" (Psalms 56:12).
, , , . , . , , , , , , , , , . .
**The fourth** — the master of alchemy must either store up much silver and gold for the time of his need, or store up of them only the measure that suffices him for a brief while. If he stores up much of it, he is throughout his lifetime in a state of fear of its loss to him through the various causes of loss; his mind is not settled, nor his soul at ease, out of fear for it from the king and from the populace. If he stores up only what would close the gap of his lack for a brief while, perhaps the work will become impossible for him just when he is in greatest need of it, on account of some impediment among its causes coming upon him. The one who relies on God has strength of confidence in God: that He sustains him with what He wills, when He wills, and from where He wills — as He sustains the embryo in the womb, and the chick in the belly of the egg, which has no opening to it from outside, and the bird in the air, and the fish in the water, and the ant and the worm in their weakness; while sustenance becomes impossible for the lion in his strength on certain days — as David said: "The young lions go without and starve" (Psalms 34:11); and: "The Lord shall not let the soul of the righteous starve" (Proverbs 10:3); and: "I have been young and I have grown old; and I have not seen the righteous abandoned, nor his seed seeking bread" (Psalms 37:25).
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , , , .
kings and the great among people fear him; even the non-rational animal, and even the inanimate seeks his approval — as the Friend said: "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, who lodges in the shadow of the Almighty…" to the end of the psalm (Psalms 91); and He said: "In six troubles He shall deliver you, and in seven evil shall not touch you: in famine He shall redeem you from death" — to the end of the chapter (Job 5:19–22).
, . , , , .
**The sixth** — the master of alchemy is not safe from sicknesses and ailments that spoil his joy by their assault, so that he profits not from what he has and takes no pleasure in what his two hands have garnered. The one who relies on God is in safety from ailments and sicknesses — except by way of refining or recompense — as He said: "Youths shall faint and grow weary, and chosen men shall surely stumble, but those who hope in the Lord shall renew strength" (Isaiah 40:30–31); and He said: "For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous" (Psalms 37:17).
, . , , , .
**The seventh** — the master of alchemy may be unable to reach his nourishment with the gold and silver he has, on account of the absence of food in his land at certain times, as He said: "They shall throw their silver into the streets, and their gold shall become an unclean thing… their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them" (Ezekiel 7:19). The one who relies on God — his nourishment is never impossible for him at any time and in any place, until the conclusion of his term, as He said: "In famine He shall redeem you from death, and in war from the hands of the sword" (Job 5:20); and He said: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not lack" (Psalms 23:1); and He said: "They shall not be put to shame in the time of evil, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied" (Psalms 37:19).
. , , , .
**The eighth** — the master of alchemy cannot settle in any place out of fear of his secret being uncovered. The one who relies on God is at peace in his land, settled of soul in his place, as He said: "Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and pasture in faithfulness" (Psalms 37:3); and He said: "The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever" (Psalms 37:29).
Aligned sentence by sentence
, . , , .
**The ninth** — the master of alchemy is not accompanied in the next world by his alchemy; he attains from it in this world only his nourishment and the safety from poverty and from need of people. The one who relies on God is accompanied by the reward of his reliance in this world and the next, as He said: "And he who trusts in the Lord — kindness shall surround him" (Psalms 32:10); and He said: "How abundant is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You" (Psalms 31:20).
, , . , , , , .
**The tenth** — the master of alchemy: if his affair with it becomes public, it is the cause of his perishing and his destruction, since in what he runs toward and strives for there is an undermining of the governance of the world; so the Supervisor of all sends upon him one who kills him, if he has not managed well to conceal his secret. The one who relies on God — when his reliance becomes known, he rises in the eyes of creatures; people honor him and bless themselves by his company and his perspective; and he is the cause of the righteousness of his city and the repelling of calamities from the people of his place, as He said: "And the righteous is the foundation of the world" (Proverbs 10:25); as in the story of Lot with Zoar.
, , , , , , , . , . , ,
And among the benefits of the one who relies on God (mighty and exalted) in religion also: for the one who relies on God (exalted be He) — if he has wealth, he hastens to give out the rights of God and the rights of people from his wealth, with generosity from himself and magnanimity from his character. If he has no wealth, he sees the loss of wealth as a blessing from God upon him — for the falling away from him of the obligations binding upon him in it toward God and toward people, and for the slightness of his preoccupation of mind in guarding it and managing it. As it was told of one of the pious that he used to say: "I seek refuge with God from the dispersal of the soul." He was asked: "What is the dispersal of the soul?" He said: "That I have property in every valley and in every village." And this is the saying of our Ancestors: "The more possessions, the more worry" (m. Avot 2:8); and they said: "Who is rich? The one content with his portion" (m. Avot 4:1). So the one who relies on God attains the benefits of wealth — namely his provision — while being spared the preoccupation of mind of the possessor of wealth and the length of his worry about it, as the Wise One said: "Sweet
Aligned sentence by sentence
.
Sweet is the sleep of the laborer, whether he eats little or much; but the satiety of the rich does not let him sleep
, .
Among them: that the abundance of wealth does not prevent the one who relies on God from relying on God, since he does not lean upon his wealth — and it is, in his sight, in the form of a deposit which he has been commanded to disburse in specific ways and on specific affairs, for a fixed term.
, , .
If its remaining with him endures, it does not make him insolent, nor does he reproach with it the one to whom he has been commanded to deliver some of it, nor seek thanks and praise for that — but rather he thanks God who has made him a means for benefits.
, , , .
If the wealth perishes from him, he does not grieve over it nor become sad at its loss, but thanks God for the recovery of His deposit just as he praised Him at His handing it over to him; he is content with his condition, neither overstepping toward another nor envying anyone in his wealth, as the Wise One said: "The righteous eats to the satisfaction of his soul" (Proverbs 13:25).
, , , , .
As for the benefits of reliance on God in this world: among them is the repose of the heart from worldly anxieties, and the rest from the agitation and disquiet of the soul over the loss of its bodily beloveds. He is in a state of tranquility and quiet, in safety from the world, as He said: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose trust is the Lord; he shall be like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by a stream" (Jeremiah 17:7–8).
, .
Among them is the rest of his body from long journeys that wear out bodies and hasten the end of lives, as Scripture said of him: "He has weakened my strength on the way, He has shortened my days" (Psalms 102:24).
, , , . , . ,
And it has been related of one of the people of asceticism that, at the start of his affair, he traveled to a far land in pursuit of sustenance. He met a man of those who worship idols in the land to which he had traveled. The ascetic said to him: "You are at the extreme of blindness and lack of discrimination in your worship of these images." The Magian said to him: "And what is it that you worship?" The ascetic said: "I worship the Creator, the Powerful, the Sufficient, the One, the Provider
Aligned sentence by sentence
.
beside whom there is nothing like Him.
, . , . , , . , .
The Magian said to him: "Your action contradicts your speech." The ascetic said: "How is that?" The Magian said: "If what you have claimed were certainty, He would have provided you in your land as He provides you here, and you would not have wearied yourself by coming to this land over the long distance between them." The ascetic was cut off from his proof; he turned back to his land, bound himself to asceticism from that hour, and did not travel after that.
, , , , , , , , .
Among them: the rest of soul and body from grueling labors and crafts that exhaust bodies, and the abandonment of binding-oneself to the service of kings in their formal duties and the oppression of their subjects. The one who relies on God exposes himself only to those of the causes of sustenance most restful for his body, most ample for his standing, most easeful to his mind, and most fitting for the upholding of the requirements of his Law — together with the soundness of his certainty that the cause neither adds anything to his sustenance nor diminishes from it, except by the decree of God (exalted be He), as He said: "For not from the east and not from the west, and not from the wilderness of mountains; but God is the judge: this one He brings down and that one He raises up" (Psalms 75:7–8); and He said: "He makes me lie down in pastures of green grass; He leads me beside still waters" (Psalms 23:2).
, , , .
Among them: the slightness of disquiet of his soul over his commerce, the standstill of his merchandise, the impossibility of collecting a debt, or sickness when it falls upon his body — for his knowledge that God is wiser concerning his affairs than he is, and better in choice for him than he is for himself, as He said: "But for God my soul waits in silence; for from Him is my hope" (Psalms 62:6).
, , , " .
Among them: joy in every state into which he is moved, even if his nature is repelled by it — out of confidence in God that He does not act with him except in what is most fitting of matters for him, as the merciful mother acts with her child in his washing, his cleaning, his swaddling and his binding, despite his loathing of it, as the Friend (peace be upon him) said: "If I have not stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child upon its mother — like a weaned child upon me is my soul" (Psalms 131:2).
Now that I have explicated, of the benefits of reliance on God
Aligned sentence by sentence
, .
and its profits in religion and worldly life, what has come to mind, let us set forth from the matter of reliance seven things:
. . , . , . , . , . , .
1. **The first**: the quiddity of reliance. 2. **The second**: on the causes of reliance upon created beings. 3. **The third**: on the explication of the premises that necessitate reliance on God, and the obligation of engagement with the means. 4. **The fourth**: on the explication of the matters in which reliance takes place, and the obligation of its goodness and badness in them. 5. **The fifth**: on the section concerning the difference between the engagement of the one who relies on God with the means of sustenance, and the engagement of the one who does not rely on God with them. 6. **The sixth**: on the explication of the aspects of the obligatory ugliness of the school of those who say there is length to hope in this world, and who promise themselves the binding-on of obedience to God when they have reached their hope in it — these are the people of pawned-pledges. 7. **The seventh**: on the corrupters of reliance on God, and the summary statement of the meaning of reliance and a brief abridgment of its divisions.
. .
. .
As for the quiddity of reliance — It is the repose of the soul of the one who relies, and the leaning of his heart upon the One relied upon, that He will do with him what is most fitting and most agreeable for him in the matter in which he relies upon Him, according to His capacity and His knowledge of what agrees with him.
, , . .
As for the principle from which reliance arises in the one who relies — and which, when absent, the reliance is no longer existent — it is confidence in the One relied upon: that He fulfills what He has said, and does what He has guaranteed; together with good opinion of Him in what He has not stipulated nor guaranteed He would do, that He is doing it as a favor and a kindness.
. .
Aligned sentence by sentence
.
As for the causes by which reliance is made valid in the one who relies upon created beings — they are seven.
, .
**The first** — mercy, compassion, sympathy, and love. For the human being, when he knows of another that he is merciful and compassionate toward him, has confidence in him, and his soul reposes upon him in what he commits to him of his affairs.
, , .
**The second** — that, along with his love for him, he has known him not to be heedless of him nor to neglect his need; rather, he has come to know him as resolute and determined in this. For if this is not made valid for him concerning the trustee, his reliance upon him is not complete, since he knows of his heedlessness and slackness in his needs.
, .
When these two qualities are gathered for the one relying in the one upon whom he relies — namely, the intensity of mercy upon him and the strength of attentiveness to his affairs — he relies on him without fail.
. , . .
**The third** — that the one upon whom one relies be strong, not overcome in his will, nor prevented by anything from carrying out his need. For if he is weak, reliance upon him is not complete, even if compassion and attentiveness are sound from him, on account of the impossibility of matters for him in most cases. When these three qualities are gathered in him, reliance upon him becomes more obligatory.
, . . .
**The fourth** — that the one upon whom one relies be knowledgeable of the aspects of the welfare of the one relying upon him, not ignorant of what agrees with him in his inner and outer state and what would set his condition right. For when he is ignorant of this, the soul of the one relying does not repose upon him in this respect. When the knowledge of his welfare and the power over it and the intensity of attentiveness to him and compassion upon him are gathered in him, his reliance upon him grows strong without fail.
,
**The fifth** — that the one upon whom one relies has been the sole manager of the one relying upon him from the beginning of his existence and his upbringing — in his infancy, his childhood, his youth, his middle age, and his old age — until the end of his affair. When this is made valid for the one relying concerning him, the repose of his soul upon him and his leaning upon him becomes obligatory, on account of what has been mentioned.
Aligned sentence by sentence
, .
on account of what has been mentioned
, , . .
**The sixth** — that the affair of the one relying be wholly turned toward the One relied upon: no one can harm him nor benefit him, and none other than He can be generous to him or ward off what he dislikes from him — like the captive slave locked in the domain of his master. When the one relying is, in the judgment of the One relied upon, in this state, his reliance upon Him is more confirmed and more rightful.
, .
**The seventh** — that the One relied upon be at the utmost of generosity and the limit of bounty, toward those who deserve it and toward those who do not deserve it; and that His generosity be continuous and His bounty unbroken and unceasing.
, , , , .
Whoever gathers all of this — together with what has been mentioned — the conditions of reliance in him are complete; and it is obligatory upon whoever knows this of him to rely upon him and repose upon him outwardly and inwardly, with his heart and his limbs, and to surrender to him, and to be content with his decrees, and to hold good opinion of him in all his judgments and actions.
, .
When we examine these seven conditions, we do not find them all together in created beings, but find all of them in the Creator (exalted be He).
, .
As for His being merciful to His creatures: as He said: "The Lord is compassionate and gracious" (Psalms 103:8); and He said: "And should I not have concern for Nineveh, the great city?" (Jonah 4:11).
" .
As for His not being heedless: as the Friend (peace be upon him) said: "Behold, the guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps" (Psalms 121:4).
, , .
As for His not being ignorant and not being overcome: as He said: "Wise in heart and mighty in strength — who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?" (Job 9:4); and He said: "Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty" (1 Chronicles 29:11); and He said: "The Lord your God is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory" (Zephaniah 3:17).
,
As for His being sole manager of the human being from the beginning of his affair and the start of his upbringing: as the Book said: "Is He not your Father who acquired you? He has made you and established you" (Deuteronomy 32:6); and He said: "Upon You I have leaned from the womb" (Psalms 71:6)
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , .
from my mother's womb You are my support" (Psalms 71:6); and He said: "Did You not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese?" (Job 10:10), and the rest of the passage.
, , , , , .
As for his benefit and harm being in the jurisdiction of none other than the Creator (exalted be He): as the Book said: "Who is this that speaks and it comes to be? The Lord has not commanded it. From the mouth of the Most High does not proceed evil and good" (Lamentations 3:37–38); and He said: "The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God shall stand forever" (Isaiah 40:8); and He said: "Indeed the people is grass" (Isaiah 40:7); and this meaning was established in the Third Section of this book with what suffices.
, , , .
As for His generosity being universal and His bounty encompassing: as He said: "The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works" (Psalms 145:9); and He said: "Who gives bread to all flesh, for His steadfast love endures forever" (Psalms 136:25); and He said: "You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing" (Psalms 145:16).
, .
Intellect adjudges the gathering of these seven qualities in the Creator (exalted be He) to the exclusion of created beings; but I have brought these passages from the Book for remembrance only.
, , , , , .
When this has been made valid for the human being, and his discernment of the true reality of the Creator (exalted be He) grows strong, he relies upon Him, surrenders to Him, casts his management upon Him, does not suspect Him in His wisdom, and is not displeased with His choice for him, as the Friend said: "I will lift up the cup of salvations and call on the name of the Lord" (Psalms 116:13); and he said: "I found distress and anguish, and I called on the name of the Lord" (Psalms 116:3–4).
. . .
, , . , ,
The first of them: his belief and his verified knowledge that the seven qualities are gathered in God (mighty and exalted) — through whose gathering in the trustee the reliance upon him is made valid for the one relying. I have mentioned them and drawn attention to them with what came to mind from the truthful Book. They are: that God (exalted be He) is the most merciful of the merciful toward the human being, and that every mercy and compassion
Aligned sentence by sentence
, .
and that every mercy and compassion that comes to him from another is from the mercy of God (exalted be He) and His tenderness, as Scripture said, "And He shall give you mercies, and have mercy upon you, and multiply you" (Deuteronomy 13:18).
, , , . , , , , .
The second: that the Creator (exalted be He) is not ignorant of the aspects of the welfare of the human; necessarily so, since the human is among His made things, and none can be more knowledgeable of the aspects of welfare and corruption of the made thing — and of the misfortunes that befall it, and of the aspects of its remedy and its cure — than its Maker. If this is found among the craftsmen of people, who originate in their made things only an accidental form (for as for the matter and the substantial form they have no contrivance or power of derivation in them), then He who created the matters of the human, his form, his constitution, and the order of his composition is more knowledgeable and wiser of the kinds of his benefits and harms and of what agrees with him in his this-world and his next-world, without fail — as He said, "I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go" (Isaiah 48:17); and He said, "For whom the Lord loves He reproves" (Proverbs 3:12).
, , , .
The third: that the Creator (exalted be He) is the strongest of every strong, and His command is more piercing than every command, and there is no rejecting His wisdom — as He said, "All that the Lord wills, He has done" (Psalms 135:6); and He said, "So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth — it shall not return to Me empty, but shall do that which I willed" (Isaiah 55:11).
, , , , , .
The fourth: that He is solicitous of the management of the affairs of the human, every one of them — neither neglects them nor is heedless of them, nor is anything of their fine details or their grand outlines hidden from Him, nor does anything cause Him to forget anything — as He said, "Why do you say, O Jacob, and why do you speak, O Israel: 'My way is hidden from the Lord, and my justice is overlooked by my God'? Have you not known? have you not heard? The eternal God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor grows weary; there is no searching out His understanding" (Isaiah 40:27–28).
, ,
The fifth: that nothing is in the hand of any of created beings — neither benefit to themselves nor harm to themselves, nor to others — except by the permission of God (exalted be He). For when a slave has more than one master, and each one of them is capable of his benefit and harm, his reliance upon any one of them is not made valid, since he hopes for benefit from each of them.
Aligned sentence by sentence
. , , . , , . , , .
If one of them is more capable of this than the rest, the strength of his reliance upon him will be in proportion to that — even if his reliance upon the rest [also obtains]. When none but one of them alone is capable of his benefit and harm, by necessity he relies on him alone, since he hopes for no benefit from another. So too, when the human realizes that none of created beings benefits him or harms him except by the permission of God (exalted be He), his heart turns away from fear of them and hope in them, and he relies on the Creator (mighty and exalted) alone, as He said, "Trust not in nobles, in the son of man, who has no salvation" (Psalms 146:3).
, , , , " .
The sixth: that he know the magnitude of His blessing upon the human, and that with which He has begun him of abundant bounty and beneficence — without prior deserving from him before Him, and without need from Him for him; but rather as generosity and beneficence, bounty and graciousness, as we have laid out in the Gate of Reflection of this book — as the Friend (peace be upon him) said, "You have done many things, O Lord my God: Your wonders and Your thoughts toward us — there is none to compare to You; were I to declare and speak them, they are too many to be told" (Psalms 40:6).
, , , , .
The seventh — that it be made valid for him that for everything intended in this world — substance or accident — there is a known limit, neither exceeding nor falling short of what the Creator (exalted be He) has decreed in its quantity, its quality, its time, and its place: no one multiplies what He has decreed to be made few, nor diminishes what He has decreed to be made many; no one delays what He has decreed to advance, nor advances what He has decreed to delay.
, , ,
Whatever among the matters is otherwise — that is the decreed thing that has gone before in foreknowledge. Yet for all the prior decrees in the knowledge of God (mighty and exalted), there are causes; and the causes have causes. He who is ignorant of the affairs of the world supposes that the proximate cause necessitates the change of matters and their reversal from one state to another, while the cause is too weak and slight for change or transformation in itself to come from it.
Aligned sentence by sentence
, . , , , , , , .
For instance, we see one grain of wheat, from which sprout three hundred ears, in each ear about thirty grains — so that one grain becomes the cause of ten thousand grains and thereabouts. Is the weakness of the grain hidden, given the like of this? And so for the rest of the seeded and planted grains. Likewise the speech concerning the coming-to-be of the body of the human and the rest of the animal from a drop of seed; and like it, the bringing-into-being of a great fish from the egg of a fish, in its weakness.
, , ,
The preoccupation of the soul with advancing what God has delayed, and delaying what He has advanced, and multiplying what He has made little, and diminishing what He has multiplied, of the goods of this world — apart from causing-oneself to fulfill the obligations of His obedience and to bind oneself to His Law — is a weakness of discrimination concerning the true reality of His knowledge, and an ignorance of the goodness of His care for us.
, , , .
The Wise One has gestured at this concept with his saying: "For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heavens" (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Then he mentioned twenty-eight concepts under it, namely his saying: "A time to be born and a time to die" up to "a time of war and a time of peace" (Ecclesiastes 3:2–8); and he said: "For time and chance happen to them all" (Ecclesiastes 9:11); and he said: "For high one is above high one watches, and there are higher ones above them" (Ecclesiastes 5:7).
, .
The currents of the judgments of the Creator (exalted be He) are more hidden, more concealed, and more exalted than that we should reach knowledge of their particulars — let alone their universals; and Scripture has said: "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9).
, , ,
**The second premise** — his knowledge and verification that God (mighty and exalted) is overseeing him, and nothing is hidden from Him of his outer and inner, his secret and his manifest, of his purification in his reliance upon his Lord or the absence of his purification in it — as Scripture said, "The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are vapor" (Psalms 94:11)
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , . .
and He said, "Behold, He weighs hearts; does He not understand?" (Proverbs 24:12); and He said, "For You alone know the heart of all the children of man" (1 Kings 8:39). When the one relying has verified this, it does not become valid for him to claim reliance on God (exalted be He) by his speech without his relying on Him with his heart and his inner being; for he would then be of the rank of the one of whom it was said: "With his mouth and his lips they have honored Me, but their heart is far from Me" (Isaiah 29:13).
, , , . , , . .
**The third premise** — singling out his Lord by reliance upon Him in what reliance is incumbent upon him in, and not associating another with Him in it — so that he relies upon Him together with one of created beings, by which his reliance upon God would be corrupted, since he has associated another with Him. You have learned what Scripture said about Asa, despite his bounty, when he leaned upon physicians, in his saying: "And in his sickness he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians" (2 Chronicles 16:12), and he was punished for this. And Scripture said: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose trust is the Lord" (Jeremiah 17:7).
, , , , .
It is known that anyone among people who has appointed two trustees for the carrying-out of one of his affairs — or more than that — his reliance is corrupted; how much more so the one who has relied on God and on something other than Him: he has corrupted his reliance, and that becomes the strongest cause of his being denied the carrying-out of what he relied upon Him for, as Scripture said: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm" (Jeremiah 17:5).
, , , , " , .
**The fourth premise** — that he be intense in attentiveness and exertion in the upholding of what God (exalted be He, mighty and exalted) has bound him to of His obedience and the working at His commandments, and the desisting from what He has prohibited — according to what he wishes God to be for him in what he has relied upon Him for
Aligned sentence by sentence
, .
Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and pasture in faithfulness" (Psalms 37:3); and He said, "Good is the Lord to those who hope in Him, to the soul that seeks Him" (Lamentations 3:25).
, , , , .
As for the one who relies on God while he disobeys Him — how ignorant he is, how slight his intellect and his discrimination! For he sees that one who has had something committed to him by people, when he is bound to the carrying out of one of his needs, or prohibited from a certain matter — and he transgresses what was set as a limit for him, and this is conveyed to the trustee — his violation of his command is the strongest cause of his being denied the carrying-out of what he had relied upon him for.
, , , , , .
How much more, then — and more emphatic — is the transgression of the limits and obligations of God, in those things over which He has promised reward and warned of punishment, that the hope of the one relying upon Him be disappointed when he disobeys Him: he does not deserve the name of "one who relies on God"; rather he is as Scripture said: "For what is the hope of the impious, when he gains, when God draws out his soul? Will God hear his cry?" (Job 27:8–9); and He said: "Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods whom you have not known — and then come and stand before Me in this house upon which My name is called, and say 'we are delivered' — that you may do all these abominations? Has this house become a den of robbers?" (Jeremiah 7:9–11).
, .
**The fifth premise** — that it be made valid for him that the completion of the events that come to be in this world after creation is by two matters. The one of them, the decree of the Creator (exalted be He) and His will for their going forth into the bounds of being from non-being.
, , .
The second, causes and intermediaries — among them proximate, among them remote; among them manifest, among them hidden — all of them flowing toward the completion of what He has decreed to come to be and appear, by God's aid given to them for that.
, , ,
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , .
, , , , .
, , , .
, , , .
. , , ,
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , , ,
He has commanded it to engage in attracting these by the causes prepared for it in specific aspects and at known times. What God has decreed to be completed for the human of these is completed and made valid by the soundness of the coming of the causes; what God has not decreed to be completed for him is not completed, and the causes become impossible for him
, .
obedience and disobedience to God (mighty and exalted) are validly attributed to him by intent and choice for one of them and not the other, and that necessitates reward and punishment, even if the carrying-out of the act has not been validly completed by the human.
, , , .
The second aspect: that if the human were spared the toil and engagement and causing in attracting his sustenance, he would exult and grow insolent, and hasten to acts of disobedience, and pay no regard to the dues of the blessings of God upon him — as He said: "And there shall be lyre and lute, drum and pipe, and wine at their banquets — but the work of the Lord they regard not, and the deed of His hands they do not see" (Isaiah 5:12); and He said: "And Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; you grew fat, gross, gorged, and he forsook the God who made him" (Deuteronomy 32:15).
, . .
The early ones said: "Beautiful is the study of the Law together with worldly occupation, for the labor of both makes sin be forgotten; and any Torah without occupation alongside it — its end is annulment, and it draws sin in its wake" (m. Avot 2:2); and more rightful is the one deprived of both, his mind preoccupied with neither.
, , , .
So it was of the gentleness of the Creator (exalted be He) toward the human that He preoccupied him with the affairs of his this-world and his next-world, that he might be occupied throughout the span of his life with that — and not seek what does not concern him and what his intellect cannot grasp, such as the matters of beginning and end, as He said: "He has even put the world into their heart, without which the human cannot find out the work that God has done from beginning to end" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
, , , , ,
If, then, he is one who prefers obedience to God, who chooses His worship, who relies upon Him in the affairs of his religion and his worldly life — withdrawing from vile traits, longing for excellences, neither exulting in ease nor at home in slackness
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , , , ,
neither seized by appetite nor deceived by the world's enchantment — the burden of engagement and causing for the attraction of his sustenance falls away from him, on account of the falling away from him of the two aspects mentioned, namely, the testing and the insolent boasting in the blessing. His sustenance comes to him without weariness or burden, in proportion to need and subsistence,
.
as He said: "The Lord shall not let the soul of the righteous starve" (Proverbs 10:3).
, .
If a speaker should say: "We see some of the righteous whose sustenance is not made ready for them except after burden and weariness; and many of the people of disobedience are at ease, and their living is the most prosperous and pleasant"
, , , , , ,
I say: this concept has already been investigated by the prophets and the excellent ones. Among them is one who said: "Why does the way of the wicked prosper?" (Jeremiah 12:1); and another said: "Why do You make me see iniquity, and look upon trouble — destruction and violence are before me; there is contention, and strife arises" (Habakkuk 1:3); and he said: "When the wicked surrounds the righteous" (Habakkuk 1:4); and: "Why do You keep silent when the wicked swallows the righteous more righteous than he?" (Habakkuk 1:13).
, , , .
Another said: "Behold, these are the wicked, and ever at ease they have grown rich" (Psalms 73:12); and: "Surely in vain have I purified my heart and washed my hands in innocence; for I have been afflicted all the day, and my chastisement comes in the mornings" (Psalms 73:13–14). Another said, on the tongue of the people of his time: "They have built up the doers of wickedness; they have even tested God and escaped" (Malachi 3:15) — and many like that.
, , .
But the Prophet abbreviated the answer concerning the explication of the cause of this, since the cause of each one of the righteous tested, and of each one of the wicked enjoying blessing in this world, is other than the cause of the others. Yet he gestured at this with his saying: "The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children" (Deuteronomy 29:28).
,
The Wise One said, in the like of this: "If you see the oppression of the poor and the violent perversion of justice and right in a province, do not be amazed at the matter" (Ecclesiastes 5:7);
.
and Scripture said: "The Rock — His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice" (Deuteronomy 32:4).
, ,
Even so, I see that I should make plain in this what is in some measure persuasive. I say: the aspect on account of which the sustenance of the excellent one becomes impossible — to the point that
Aligned sentence by sentence
, .
he is afflicted in it and tested by it — may be on account of a sin that preceded him, for which it was incumbent that he be requited for it, as He said: "Behold, the righteous one shall be requited in the earth — how much more the wicked and the sinner!" (Proverbs 11:31).
.
And it may be by way of recompense in the next world, as He said: "That He might afflict you, that He might test you, to do you good in your latter end" (Deuteronomy 8:16).
.
And it may be that his patience and the goodness of his bearing in obedience to God become manifest, that people may pattern themselves after him, as you have learned from the story of Job.
, .
And it may be on account of the disobedience of the people of his time toward God: God tries him with poverty and need and sickness, that his excellence and his obedience to God in distinction from them may be made manifest, as He said: "Surely our sicknesses he has borne, and our pains he has carried; yet we accounted him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted" (Isaiah 53:4).
, .
And it may be on account of the slightness of his championing the dues of God from the people of his time, as you have learned from the story of Eli and his sons, of whom Scripture said: "And every one that is left in your house shall come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread" (1 Samuel 2:36).
, , .
As for the blessing of God upon the disobedient: it may be for some good that preceded him — God recompensing him for it in this world — as He said: "And He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them" (Deuteronomy 7:10), and our early ones translated it: "And He repays those who hate Him — the merits they have done before Him in their lifetimes — to destroy them; He does not delay the good deed of those who hate Him; the merits they have done before Him in their lifetime, He repays to them".
, , .
And it may be by way of a deposit with him, until God provides him with a righteous son who deserves it, as He said: "He prepares it, and the righteous puts it on" (Job 27:17), and: "And to the sinner He gives the business of gathering and amassing — to give to the one who is good before God" (Ecclesiastes 2:26).
.
And it may be for the greatest cause of his perishing and his trial, as He said: "Wealth kept by its owner to his harm" (Ecclesiastes 5:12).
, .
And it may be God's granting him reprieve that he might repent and become deserving of it, as you have learned from the story of Manasseh.
, ,
And it may be for an excellence that preceded in his ancestor, so that he deserved that he be blessed for the sake of his son — as He said to Jehu son of Nimshi: "Sons of the fourth generation shall sit for you on the throne of Israel" (2 Kings 10:30);
Aligned sentence by sentence
, .
and He said: "He who walks in his integrity is righteous; happy are his children after him" (Proverbs 20:7); and: "I have been young and I have grown old; and I have not seen the righteous abandoned, nor his seed seeking bread" (Psalms 37:25).
, , , , , .
And it may be for the testing of the people of evil interiors and corrupt inward states: when they see this, they hasten to the contrary of obedience and rush to flatter them and pattern themselves after their actions; and the pure for God become refined, and the truthful in his obedience to God in his patience under their overbearing and their reproach is made manifest. The recompense for that comes down from God (exalted be He), as you have learned from the story of Elijah with Jezebel, and Jeremiah with the heads of the people of his time.
, , , , , , , .
Now, since the obligation of engagement with the causes upon people has become valid, let us make plain that not every human is bound to engage with every cause among the causes of sustenance. The causes are very many. Among them are easy ones, slight in burden — like trade in a shop, or a craft of the hand light in burden, like sewing and patching and writing, and like the merchant by his hoarding-and-trading of goods, and the wages of partners and hands and those engaged in the cultivation of the earth.
, , , , , , , .
Among them are causes in which there is burden and toil, like the craft of tanning the hide, and the extracting of iron and copper and lead from their mines, and the refining of silver with lead, and the carrying of heavy loads, and the succession of journeys, and the service of the earth and its tilling, and the like.
, , .
Whoever among people is strong in body and weak in discrimination, that of them which fits him, in proportion to his bearing, is the labor of the works of toil. And whoever is weak of body and strong of discrimination — let him not engage with the causes of sustenance with what wearies his body, but rather incline from them to what is light upon his body and to what permits him perpetuity in it.
And every human has an eagerness for some craft or some commerce,
Aligned sentence by sentence
, .
to the exclusion of others, which God has stamped-by-nature in his constitution as a love and a preference.
, , , , , , , , , .
So too in the rest of the animal: as He has stamped in the constitution of the cat the hunting of mice, and in the constitution of the falcon the hunting of birds resembling it, and in the constitution of the deer the hunting of snakes; and so among the birds, some hunt fish only; and so in the constitution of every species among the species of the animal there is an inclination and an appetite for a species among the species of plants and animals which it has been stamped-by-nature for, that it may be a cause for its nourishment. He has prepared its body and its instruments to match that — like the long beak and the long leg for the bird that hunts the fish; like the fang and the strong claws for the lion; like the horns for the bull and the deer.
.
The one whose nourishment depends upon plants — the instruments of hunting and the implements of seizing-and-tearing have been withheld from him.
, , ,
On this same model, you find the dispositions of people and their bodies prepared for trades and crafts. So whoever finds in his constitution and his nature a longing for a craft among the crafts, his body agreeing with it in bearing the burden of its labor — let him engage with it and make it the cause of attracting his subsistence; let him bear with patience its sweetness and its bitterness;
, ,
let him not become anxious if sustenance becomes impossible for him at some times, but let him rely on God (exalted be He) to bestow upon him his sustenance throughout his span.
, , , , ,
Let him aim, in the preoccupation of his mind and his body with one of the causes and engagement with them, at submission to the command of God who has commanded the human to use the causes in the world — like the cultivation of the earth, its service, and its sowing, as He said: "And the Lord God took the human and set him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it" (Genesis 2:15); and the use of animals in his welfares and his nourishment; and the building of cities and the preparation of provisions; and the use of women and marrying them, that progeny might multiply.
, " ,
He will be rewarded for his aim therein at the face of God, with his heart and his intent — whether what he has sought is completed for him, or it becomes impossible — as the Friend (peace be upon him) said: "When you eat the labor of your hands, happy are you, and it is well with you" (Psalms 128:2);
Aligned sentence by sentence
" .
and the early ones (peace be upon them) said: "And let all your works be for the sake of Heaven" (m. Avot 2:12).
, , , , , , ,
His reliance upon God is thereby made valid; the engagement with the causes for the attraction of his sustenance by means of them does not harm him at all, when he aims with his inner being and his intent at the face of God in them. He should not suppose that his sustenance is bound to a particular cause — and that whenever this becomes impossible for him, it cannot come to be by another cause — but rather let him rely on God in his sustenance, and know that the causes are, with God, all alike: He sustains him with what He wills, from where He wills,
, , .
as Scripture said: "For there is no constraint with the Lord to save by many or by few" (1 Samuel 14:6); and He said: "For He is the One who gives you power to act with might" (Deuteronomy 8:18); and He said: "Not by valor and not by power, but by My spirit, says the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6).
. .
Section 4.
, , .
As for the matters in which it is incumbent upon the believer to rely upon God: all of them are of two kinds. The one of them, the matters of this world; the second, the matters of the next world.
, .
The matters of this world are divided into two divisions: the one of them, matters of this world for the welfare of this world; the second, matters of this world for the welfare of the next world.
, , , .
The matters of this world for the welfare of this world are divided into three divisions: the one, the welfares of his bodily affairs alone; the second division, the welfares of his sustenance and the causes of his earning and the kinds of his properties; the third division, the welfares of his household, his dependents, his relations, his brothers, his enemies, and those above him and below him among the ranks of people.
, , .
As for the matters of this world for the welfare of the next world, they are divided into two divisions: the one of them, the duties of the heart and the limbs that pertain to him alone — his action in them does not extend, in benefit or harm, to another.
,
The second division, the duties of the limbs that are made valid only by another's participation with him in act and patient-receiving — like charity, doing-the-beautiful,
Aligned sentence by sentence
.
, , .
As for the matters of the next world, they are divided into two divisions: the one of them, the deserved reward; the second, the reward bestowed as a favor upon the saints and the prophets in the next world.
, . . . . . . , .
So the matters in which one relies on God are, in sum, seven divisions: 1. **The first** — the affairs of the body of the human in particular. 2. **The second** — the affairs of his earning and the causes of his sustenance. 3. **The third** — the affairs of his dependents, his children, his relations, his friends, and his enemies. 4. **The fourth** — the duties of the heart and the limbs whose benefit and harm are restricted to him. 5. **The fifth** — the duties of the limbs whose benefit and harm pass beyond him to another. 6. **The sixth** — the reward of the next world that is according to deed in this world. 7. **The seventh** — the reward of the next world that is from God by way of bounty upon His elect and His saints, as He said: "How abundant is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You; You have done for those who hope in You before the children of men" (Psalms 31:20).
, .
Since I have explicated for you the premises by which reliance is made valid for the one who relies on God (mighty and exalted), it is now incumbent that I follow that with the explication of the aspects of right reliance in each one of the seven matters in which every one who relies on God or another relies, one after another.
, , , , , ,
Aligned sentence by sentence
, . .
from God for him alone — no created being has any management or measuring in them except by the permission of God (exalted be He), by His power and His wisdom. For just as his life, his death, his sickness, and his health are not in the hand of created beings, so too the sustenance of his nourishment, his subsistence, his clothing, and the rest of the affairs of his body are not in their hand.
, , , .
, , , , .
, , , .
, ,
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , , , , , , . ,
The closer the killed one is in relation to the killer, the more emphatic the punishment, as He said: "Because he pursued his brother with the sword and stifled his compassions" (Amos 1:11). So too the killer of himself: the most severe punishment and the most emphatic torment is incumbent upon him without fail. For his case in this is the case of a slave whose master has bound him to keep a certain place for a known span and prohibited him from moving from it until the messenger of his master comes to him; when the messenger is delayed, he moves on without his master's messenger coming to him — and his master is angered with him and binds the most severe punishment upon him. So too the one who kills himself: he has gone outside the obedience to God to the limit of disobedience to Him by exposing himself to the causes of perishing.
" , , , , , " , .
, .
, , .
"
Aligned sentence by sentence
, .
and the people of the Targum translated: "*My merits have grown few from all the kindnesses and from all the goods*."
, ,
, , .
, , , , , , , .
Aligned sentence by sentence
, .
reproaches him for it and seeks thanks for it; and I marvel even more at the one who takes his sustenance at the hand of another, who is compelled to give it to him, and abases himself before him, exalts him, and thanks him." If sustenance does not come to him by the aspect by which he sought it, then either his daily sustenance has come to him already and is in his possession, or it has come to him by another aspect; in either case, it is not fitting for him to abandon causes nor to slacken from engagement with them, when they are agreeable to his constitution, his body, his religion, and his this-world according to what has gone before. Let him rely upon God in this — that He is not heedless of him and does not neglect his affair — as He said: "Good is the Lord as a stronghold in the day of distress; He knows those who take refuge in Him" (Nahum 1:7).
, , , , , ,
If sustenance does not come to him by the aspect by which he sought it, then either his daily sustenance has come to him already and is in his possession, or it has come to him by another aspect; in either case, it is not fitting for him to abandon causes nor to slacken from engagement with them, when they are agreeable to his constitution, his body, his religion, and his this-world according to what has gone before. Let him rely upon God in this — that He is not heedless of him and does not neglect his affair — as He said: "Good is the Lord as a stronghold in the day of distress; He knows those who take refuge in Him" (Nahum 1:7).
, , , , , , , , . . .
Aligned sentence by sentence
, .
You have learned what came in the story of Asa, when he relied upon physicians and abandoned reliance upon God in his sickness, of the rebuke against him; and Scripture said: "For He wounds and binds up" (Job 5:18). As for the explication of the second division — namely, the matters of the human's earning and the causes of his sustenance and the modes of his employment in commerce, craftsmanship, travel, agency, hire, governance, the service of kings and their administration, contracting, deposit-keeping, scribal work, the various forms of service, hunting on land and sea, and the like — that which is used for the acquiring of wealth and the increasing of the surplus of livelihood: The aspect of right reliance on God in this is that the human expose himself to what God has prepared for him of these for moderation, subsistence, and the taking of sufficiency from the world. If God has decreed for him an addition over that, He gives it to him without harshness or hardship, when he relies on God in it and is moderate in his exposure to the causes and does not lean upon them with his heart. If God has not decreed for him more than the subsistence — though the people of heaven and earth should aim at increase over it, this would not be possible for them in any aspect or by any cause. So when he relies upon God in this, he attains the rest of his heart, the repose of his soul, and the ease of his mind — for his sustenance does not pass beyond him to another, neither advances nor delays beyond its time decreed for him in it.
, , , , , . , , , , , ,
As for the explication of the second division — namely, the matters of the human's earning and the causes of his sustenance and the modes of his employment in commerce, craftsmanship, travel, agency, hire, governance, the service of kings and their administration, contracting, deposit-keeping, scribal work, the various forms of service, hunting on land and sea, and the like — that which is used for the acquiring of wealth and the increasing of the surplus of livelihood: The aspect of right reliance on God in this is that the human expose himself to what God has prepared for him of these for moderation, subsistence, and the taking of sufficiency from the world. If God has decreed for him an addition over that, He gives it to him without harshness or hardship, when he relies on God in it and is moderate in his exposure to the causes and does not lean upon them with his heart. If God has not decreed for him more than the subsistence — though the people of heaven and earth should aim at increase over it, this would not be possible for them in any aspect or by any cause. So when he relies upon God in this, he attains the rest of his heart, the repose of his soul, and the ease of his mind — for his sustenance does not pass beyond him to another, neither advances nor delays beyond its time decreed for him in it.
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , , .
**The first**: in his earning of wealth — for he takes what God has decreed for him to take by the ugliest aspects and the basest. If he had sought it by its [proper] aspect, he would have obtained it on the most desirable terms, the matter of his religion and his this-world would have been ordered for him, and nothing would have fallen short of what God had decreed for him.
, , , . , , , . , , , , , .
, , . , , , ,
Aligned sentence by sentence
. , , , , .
He is the wretched one whose striving is disappointed in this world and whose reward is destroyed in the next. The intelligent runs in the three aspects according to what agrees with his religion and his this-world, his confidence in what is in the hand of God concerning his sustenance and his earning being stronger than his confidence in what is in his own hand of that — for he does not know whether it is sustenance of nourishment or sustenance of property; so he attains honor in this world and a beautiful end in the next, as it says in the psalm "Hallelujah, happy is the man who fears the Lord" to the end (Psalms 112).
, , , ,
There are ranks among people who do not labor in the earning of wealth and the multiplying of it except out of love of honor from people and the spreading of fame among them; nothing of it satisfies them — and that is from their ignorance of the causes of honor in this world and the next. What carries them to this is what they observe of the populace exalting the possessors of wealth and honoring them out of greed for what is with them and eagerness for the attracting of what is in their hands.
, , , . , , , , , , ,
If they were intelligent and certain that it is not in their power nor their capacity to deliver a single coin of it except to the one for whom God has decreed it with them — they would not hope in any but God (mighty and exalted), nor reckon as deserving honor with them any but the one whom God has singled out with praiseworthy excellences who is worthy of God's honor (exalted be He), as He said: "For those who honor Me I shall honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed" (1 Samuel 2:30). When the populace, in their honoring of the possessors of wealth, is ignorant of the causes of honor, this increases them in ignorance of the causes of what they seek; they fall into intense eagerness, exertion, and stratagem throughout their lives — heedless of what was more incumbent upon them of striving and eagerness in fulfilling the dues of God (exalted be He) toward Him and thanksgiving for His blessing toward them; and what they sought would have been closer to them by this path without fail, as He said: "Length of days is in her right hand; in her left, riches and honor" (Proverbs 3:16); and He said: "And wealth and honor come from before You, and You rule over all; and in Your hand are power and might; and in Your hand it is to make great and to strengthen all" (1 Chronicles 29:12).
Aligned sentence by sentence
. . , , , , , , , , . , , .
In the totality of seekers of wealth, there is the one who reaches by it the limit of his hope through the path of the causes we have mentioned. There is the one who reaches it by the path of inheritance and the like — and supposes that the cause has necessitated this for him, and that without it nothing of it would have come to him; so he thanks the cause to the exclusion of the Causer. He resembles in this a human in a desert who, parched by thirst, finds non-sweet water settled in a cistern; he rejoices in it greatly and is satiated by it. He has gone only a little distance when he hits upon a flowing fountain — good and sweet — and grieves at his prior drinking of the first water and his being satiated from it. Likewise the possessor of wealth obtained by some cause: if that cause had become impossible to him, he would have attained it by another cause, according to what we have set down — as He said: "For there is no constraint with the Lord to save by many or by few" (1 Samuel 14:6). Of what is fitting for the one who relies on God in his sustenance, when his sustenance is delayed from him on a given day: that he should say to himself, "He who brought me forth into this world at a specific time and a specific moment, and did not bring me forth before it or after it, is the One who withholds my sustenance from me until a known time and a known day, on account of His knowledge of what agrees with me." So too when measured sustenance comes to him with no surplus over his subsistence: it is fitting for him to think within himself and to say, "He who prepared my nourishment in the breast of my mother at the start of my affair according to my need and the measure of my subsistence — day by day — until He recompensed me for it with a more excellent than it, and the measured coming of it harmed me in nothing — likewise this sustenance, to which He has now moved me, measured according to my need to the conclusion of my term, harms me in nothing." He is rewarded for this, as God (exalted be He) said of our forebears in the wilderness, whose state this was, in the saying of Scripture: "And the people went out and gathered the matter of the day in its day" (Exodus 16:4); and He said: "Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your espousals, your going after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown" (Jeremiah 2:2).
, , . , , , , , , ,
Of what is fitting for the one who relies on God in his sustenance, when his sustenance is delayed from him on a given day: that he should say to himself, "He who brought me forth into this world at a specific time and a specific moment, and did not bring me forth before it or after it, is the One who withholds my sustenance from me until a known time and a known day, on account of His knowledge of what agrees with me." So too when measured sustenance comes to him with no surplus over his subsistence: it is fitting for him to think within himself and to say, "He who prepared my nourishment in the breast of my mother at the start of my affair according to my need and the measure of my subsistence — day by day — until He recompensed me for it with a more excellent than it, and the measured coming of it harmed me in nothing — likewise this sustenance, to which He has now moved me, measured according to my need to the conclusion of my term, harms me in nothing." He is rewarded for this, as God (exalted be He) said of our forebears in the wilderness, whose state this was, in the saying of Scripture: "And the people went out and gathered the matter of the day in its day" (Exodus 16:4); and He said: "Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your espousals, your going after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown" (Jeremiah 2:2).
Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your espousals, your going after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown" (Jeremiah 2:2).
Aligned sentence by sentence
. , , , , , . , , , .
So too if his sustenance comes to him by one cause and not another, in one place and not another, by the hand of one person and not another, let him say within himself: "He who created me with this form, this figure, this constitution, and this disposition, to the exclusion of the rest of figures, forms, and dispositions, for the rectitude of my state — He has chosen for me that my sustenance come by the aspect that agrees with my state and not the rest of aspects. He who brought me forth into this world in a specific place, by the hand of two specific persons and not the rest of the persons of the world, has chosen for me that my sustenance come in a specific land and by the hand of one whom He has made a cause for my sustenance, as a rectitude for me and a tender care toward me," as the Friend said: "Righteous is the Lord in all His ways" (Psalms 145:17). As for the explication of the matters of the third division — namely, the affairs of his dependents, his children, his household, his clan, his friends, his enemies, his acquaintances, his confederates, and those above and below him among the ranks of people: The aspect of right reliance on God in them is what I shall describe. Every human is not free from one of two cases: either a stranger, or one having household and relation. If he is a stranger, let him take comfort in God in his loneliness, let him rely upon Him in his state of estrangement, let him bring to mind the estrangement of the soul in this world — that the people of the earth are in the rank of strangers in it, as Scripture said: "For sojourners and dwellers are you with Me" (Leviticus 25:23). Let him think within himself that every possessor of relations soon returns a stranger and an isolated one — neither household nor child profits him, nor does any of them harvest him. Then let him think on the falling away from him of the great toil of them, their dues, and their incumbencies upon him; let him reckon that as a blessing from the blessings of God upon him. For if he is a seeker of the matters of this world and its requirements, his burden and his exertion would be easier upon him without dependents and children — so the absence of them is rest for him and care for him. If he is a seeker of the matters of his next world, his mind is more at ease and his heart more empty for that in his state of solitude, without fail. For this reason the people of asceticism in this world used to flee to the mountains, away from their household and their homelands, that their souls might be empty for obedience. So too the prophets, in the era of prophecy, would go out from their homelands and seclude themselves for the obligatory due of God upon them, as you have learned from the story of Elijah with Elisha — when He said of him: "And he was plowing with twelve yoke before him, and he was with the twelfth" (1 Kings 19:19); and when Elijah signaled to him with a subtle sign, he understood, and said to him: "Let me, I pray, kiss my father and my mother, and I shall come after you" (1 Kings 19:20); and He said: "And he went after Elijah and ministered to him" (1 Kings 19:21).
, , , , , , .
As for the explication of the matters of the third division — namely, the affairs of his dependents, his children, his household, his clan, his friends, his enemies, his acquaintances, his confederates, and those above and below him among the ranks of people: The aspect of right reliance on God in them is what I shall describe. Every human is not free from one of two cases: either a stranger, or one having household and relation. If he is a stranger, let him take comfort in God in his loneliness, let him rely upon Him in his state of estrangement, let him bring to mind the estrangement of the soul in this world — that the people of the earth are in the rank of strangers in it, as Scripture said: "For sojourners and dwellers are you with Me" (Leviticus 25:23). Let him think within himself that every possessor of relations soon returns a stranger and an isolated one — neither household nor child profits him, nor does any of them harvest him. Then let him think on the falling away from him of the great toil of them, their dues, and their incumbencies upon him; let him reckon that as a blessing from the blessings of God upon him. For if he is a seeker of the matters of this world and its requirements, his burden and his exertion would be easier upon him without dependents and children — so the absence of them is rest for him and care for him. If he is a seeker of the matters of his next world, his mind is more at ease and his heart more empty for that in his state of solitude, without fail. For this reason the people of asceticism in this world used to flee to the mountains, away from their household and their homelands, that their souls might be empty for obedience. So too the prophets, in the era of prophecy, would go out from their homelands and seclude themselves for the obligatory due of God upon them, as you have learned from the story of Elijah with Elisha — when He said of him: "And he was plowing with twelve yoke before him, and he was with the twelfth" (1 Kings 19:19); and when Elijah signaled to him with a subtle sign, he understood, and said to him: "Let me, I pray, kiss my father and my mother, and I shall come after you" (1 Kings 19:20); and He said: "And he went after Elijah and ministered to him" (1 Kings 19:21).
, , , , . , . , , , .
If he is a stranger, let him take comfort in God in his loneliness, let him rely upon Him in his state of estrangement, let him bring to mind the estrangement of the soul in this world — that the people of the earth are in the rank of strangers in it, as Scripture said: "For sojourners and dwellers are you with Me" (Leviticus 25:23). Let him think within himself that every possessor of relations soon returns a stranger and an isolated one — neither household nor child profits him, nor does any of them harvest him. Then let him think on the falling away from him of the great toil of them, their dues, and their incumbencies upon him; let him reckon that as a blessing from the blessings of God upon him. For if he is a seeker of the matters of this world and its requirements, his burden and his exertion would be easier upon him without dependents and children — so the absence of them is rest for him and care for him. If he is a seeker of the matters of his next world, his mind is more at ease and his heart more empty for that in his state of solitude, without fail. For this reason the people of asceticism in this world used to flee to the mountains, away from their household and their homelands, that their souls might be empty for obedience. So too the prophets, in the era of prophecy, would go out from their homelands and seclude themselves for the obligatory due of God upon them, as you have learned from the story of Elijah with Elisha — when He said of him: "And he was plowing with twelve yoke before him, and he was with the twelfth" (1 Kings 19:19); and when Elijah signaled to him with a subtle sign, he understood, and said to him: "Let me, I pray, kiss my father and my mother, and I shall come after you" (1 Kings 19:20); and He said: "And he went after Elijah and ministered to him" (1 Kings 19:21).
Aligned sentence by sentence
. , , , , , , . , , , . , , , , , , . , , , , , ,
It has been said that one of the ascetics entered a city to guide its people to God (exalted be He). He found them clothing themselves in a single color in their dress and garment, and saw their tombs at the doorways of their houses — and he saw no woman among them. He asked them about this. They said to him: "We have clothed ourselves in a single color of garment, that the weak among us not be distinguished from the rich, that conceit and pride in his wealth not befall the rich, nor the weak grasp baseness and abasement from his self — so that our state above the dust resembles our state beneath it. It has been said of one of the princes that he used to mingle with his slaves so as not to be distinguished among them, in his aim at humility in his bearing and dress. We have set up the tombs of our dead at our doorways that we may take instruction from them and be on guard against death, that we may prepare for it the provision that delivers us to the house of stability. As for what you have seen of our withdrawing from women and offspring: we have set them apart in a village near us; when one of us needs anything from them, he goes up to them, takes care of his purpose, and turns back to us — for we have seen what enters in upon us of the preoccupation of mind and the great trial and the much burden and toil in their neighborhood; and the rest from this is in being far from them, in preference for the next world and asceticism in the matters of this world." The ascetic among them found this beautiful, prayed for them, and admiring-envied them in their state. If the one who relies upon God is a possessor of household, kin, friends, and enemies — let him rely upon God for his safety from them; let him strive in fulfilling their dues and meeting their needs; let him purify his inner being toward them; let him hold his hand from harming them; let him seek the cause of what agrees with them; let him counsel them and guide them to the kinds of their welfares in religion and worldly life — out of obedience to God (exalted be He), as He said: "And you shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18); and He said: "You shall not hate your brother in your heart" (Leviticus 19:17). Not for recompense from them, nor for [building up] a store with them, nor for love of honor and praise from them, nor for seeking authority over them — but in obligation to the command of God and obedience to His covenant and His injunction concerning them. For whoever runs to anything of what we have first mentioned in meeting their needs does not attain his purpose from them in this world; his striving is disappointed and his reward destroyed in the next world. If he runs in this in obedience to God alone, God assists them in recompensing him in this world, looses their tongues with thanks of him, magnifies his affair in their hearts, and abundant reward accrues to him in the next world — like what God said to Solomon, "And also what you have not asked I shall give you, both wealth and honor" (1 Kings 3:13). As for the aspect of his reliance on God in the affairs of those above him and below him among the ranks of people:
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , . , .
, , , , , , , , , , , , . , . , , , , , .
The aspect of right for him, when necessity calls him to seek a need from one above or below him, is to rely on God in this and to make them causes in its meeting — as he makes the cultivation of the earth and its sowing a cause for his sustenance. If God wills to sustain him from it, the seed sprouts, grows, and is purified — and the earth is not thanked in this; thanks belong to God alone. If God does not will to sustain him from it, the earth sprouts nothing, or sprouts and the growth meets a misfortune — and there is no blame upon the earth. So too when he requests a need of one of created beings: let the weak and the strong of them be alike with him in its meeting; let him rely on God for its completion. If it is met by the hand of one of them, let him praise God (mighty and exalted), who has met his need, and thank the one by whose hand it has been met for the goodness of his intent and his inner being toward him — for God has run his welfare upon his hands. It is well-attested that God (exalted be He) does not run welfare except upon the hands of the righteous, and seldom does corruption run upon their hands, as the early ones said: "*Merit is conducted by way of the meritorious, and culpability by way of the culpable*" (b. Shabbat 32a); and they said: "No iniquity shall come upon the righteous" (Proverbs 12:21). If his need is not met by their hands, they should not be blamed, nor any falling-short ascribed to them; rather let him thank God (exalted be He), who has chosen the better for him in this, and let him thank them in proportion to his knowledge of their eagerness and aim to meet his need — even if it has not been completed according to his desire and theirs. So too in his acquaintances and his friends, his commercial partners, his business contacts, and his associates.
. , , , , , , .
The aspect of right for him, when necessity calls him to seek a need from one above or below him, is to rely on God in this and to make them causes in its meeting — as he makes the cultivation of the earth and its sowing a cause for his sustenance. If God wills to sustain him from it, the seed sprouts, grows, and is purified — and the earth is not thanked in this; thanks belong to God alone. If God does not will to sustain him from it, the earth sprouts nothing, or sprouts and the growth meets a misfortune — and there is no blame upon the earth. So too when he requests a need of one of created beings: let the weak and the strong of them be alike with him in its meeting; let him rely on God for its completion. If it is met by the hand of one of them, let him praise God (mighty and exalted), who has met his need, and thank the one by whose hand it has been met for the goodness of his intent and his inner being toward him — for God has run his welfare upon his hands. It is well-attested that God (exalted be He) does not run welfare except upon the hands of the righteous, and seldom does corruption run upon their hands, as the early ones said: "*Merit is conducted by way of the meritorious, and culpability by way of the culpable*" (b. Shabbat 32a); and they said: "No iniquity shall come upon the righteous" (Proverbs 12:21). If his need is not met by their hands, they should not be blamed, nor any falling-short ascribed to them; rather let him thank God (exalted be He), who has chosen the better for him in this, and let him thank them in proportion to his knowledge of their eagerness and aim to meet his need — even if it has not been completed according to his desire and theirs. So too in his acquaintances and his friends, his commercial partners, his business contacts, and his associates. So too if one above him or below him burdens him with the meeting of a need: let him cause himself to perform it by his intent, and expose himself to its meeting by his inner being if it is possible to him, and the one who has burdened him with its meeting is worthy of striving for him in it; then let him rely on God for its completion. If it is met by his hand, let him not thank himself for that, nor seek thanks or recompense from his companion for it; rather let him thank God (exalted be He), who has met it by his hand and made him a cause for the welfare of another. If it becomes impossible for him and he cannot meet it, let him not blame himself; let him excuse himself to his companion, after the giving of effort and life-blood in this.
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , .
, , , , .
, , , .
, , , , , .
.
, , , , , .
,
As for the affairs of his enemies, his enviers, and those who hate him: let him rely upon God in their affairs, and bear with patience
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , , , , , .
,
, .
, .
, , , , ,
, , , ,
What is not hidden from us of these — namely, the choice of obedience and disobedience, and the aim and resolve upon the act — reliance upon God in this is error and ignorance, for God (exalted be He) has committed to us the choice of His obedience and His disobedience, as Scripture said: “And you shall choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19). He has not committed to us the carrying-out of the work
Aligned sentence by sentence
, ,
, , ,
, ,
, , , .
.
.
, , , , , , .
,
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , , ,
, .
.
, .
, , , ,
, , , , ,
, ,
, , , , , .
, ,
Aligned sentence by sentence
, .
.
,
, , , , , , , , , , , , , .
, , , , .
, , ,
, , , ,
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , , , .
.
, , . , , ,
, , , , , , , .
, .
, , , , , .
, , .
Among them: because the nation was in ignorance and slightness of perception
Aligned sentence by sentence
, ,
such that this was not concealed from the Book. The Creator (exalted be He) walked the way of the compassionate father with his small son when he wishes to discipline him with gentleness and tenderness —
,
as He said, "For Israel is a youth, and I love him" (Hosea 11:1).
,
When the father, in the state of his son's childhood, aims to teach him the disciplines by which he may ascend to the high degrees that the child is ignorant of at that time —
,
were his father to entice him with them and say to him, "Bear the burden of discipline and teaching that you may ascend by them to the degrees of the excellences," he would not bear that, nor be led to it by his ignorance of them.
,
But when he promises him for that what would give him pleasure in the immediate — food, drink, clothing, and a glittering ride, and the like;
,
and warns him with what would pain him in the immediate — hunger, nakedness, beating, and the like;
, ,
and persuades him with what comforts him of sensible signs and clear truthful witnesses — he finds it easy to bear the burden of discipline and bears with patience its toil.
, , , .
When he reaches his maturity and his intellect grows strong, he discriminates the purpose intended in his disciplining; he aims at its aim, and reckons as small the pleasure he was running toward at the start of his affair — and that was tender care for him.
,
So too the Creator (exalted be He) enticed the nation and warned it by an immediate reward and punishment,
, ,
knowing that, when the nation was set right for obedience, its ignorance of the reward of the next world and its punishment would be uncovered for it; it would aim at obedience for its sake and run to it.
.
Likewise the discourse on what came in the Book of corporealization of the Creator (exalted be He).
,
Among them: that the reward of the next world is not deserved by anyone of people by the rectitude of his deed alone.
,
Reward is deserved from God by two causes after the good deed. The one of them: the guiding of created beings to the obedience to God, and bearing them to good deed for God
,
as He said: "And those who lead the many to righteousness are like the stars forever and ever" (Daniel 12:3);
.
and He said: "And to the reprovers it shall be pleasant, and upon them shall come the blessing of good" (Proverbs 24:25).
When the reward of his setting-others-right is gathered for the one who exerts himself,
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , , .
along with the reward of his own rectitude, and the reward of his purification and his patience, he is worthy of the reward of the next world from God (exalted be He).
,
The second cause: bounty from God (exalted be He), generosity and beneficence from Him —
.
as He said: "And to You, O Lord, is kindness, for You requite each man according to his deed" (Psalms 62:13).
,
The reason in this is that the deed of the human, even were it the like of the meadow of the sea in its number, would not fulfill a single blessing among the blessings of God upon him in this world.
,
How much more if there are slips and heedlessnesses on his part!
,
If a settling-of-accounts came from God in seeking the thanks of His blessing from the human, his deed would fall away from him, and the slightest blessing of God upon him would consume it.
.
So whatever there is of God's reward (exalted be He) for him — he does not deserve it by the deserving of his deed; it is by God's bounty upon him.
,
As for punishment in the two abodes, it is by an obligatory right and an incumbent debt upon the human;
,
only that God's bounty upon him is comprehensive in the two abodes,
.
as He said: "And to You, O Lord, is kindness" (Psalms 62:13), and: "And He is merciful, He pardons iniquity" (Psalms 78:38).
,
Among them: that the good deed is divided into two divisions.
,
Of it is hidden — only God (exalted be He) is informed of it, like the duties of the heart and what is like them.
, ,
Of it is manifest upon the limbs, not hidden from created beings — namely, the laws whose performance is manifest upon our limbs.
,
The Creator (exalted be He) requites the manifest deed upon the limbs with manifest reward in this world,
,
and requites the hidden inner deed with hidden reward — and that is the reward of the next world.
, .
For this reason the Friend described it with a wording that indicates this, in his saying: "How abundant is Your goodness which You have stored up for those who fear You; You have done for those who hope in You before the children of men" (Psalms 31:20).
,
So too the current of punishment in the manifest and the hidden runs upon the current of reward.
, .
The evidence for this is that the Creator (exalted be He) has guaranteed the nation, upon the manifest obediences upon the limbs, a manifest, hastened reward in this world — and it is explicated in the section of "If you walk in My statutes" (Leviticus 26:3 ff.);
,
and so He has guaranteed it, upon the manifest, well-known disobediences, a manifest, hastened punishment in this world — for upon the bulk of the nation is only what
Aligned sentence by sentence
,
is manifest upon the limbs, not what is hidden,
,
as Scripture said: "The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children" (Deuteronomy 29:28);
.
and Scripture said: "And if the people of the land hide their eyes from that man… then I shall set My face against that man" (Leviticus 20:4–5).
,
As for the inner obediences and the hidden disobediences, the judgment of their reward and punishment is to God in this world and the next;
.
for this reason Scripture has abridged the explication of the reward of the next world.
,
Among them: that the reward and punishment mentioned in the Book — the Messenger has paired with the reward of this world and its punishment the people of this world;
,
and when Joshua son of Jehozadak was in the world of the angels, it was said to him: "And I shall give you ones who walk among these standing here" (Zechariah 3:7) —
, .
for this is the way of enticement and warning: that there be a resemblance of the time and the place. Understand.
,
Among them: that the reward of the next world has as its end-point the singling-out by God and the drawing-near to His highest light,
,
as He said: "And your righteousness shall walk before you" (Isaiah 58:8);
,
and He said: "And the wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament" (Daniel 12:3);
,
and He said: "To bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life" (Job 33:30).
,
It is reached only by one with whom God is pleased; and the satisfaction of God (exalted be He) is the root of the reward,
.
as He said: "For there is a moment in His anger, life in His satisfaction" (Psalms 30:6).
, , .
And He said in the section "If you walk in My statutes" intimations indicating the satisfaction from God — namely, His saying: "And My soul shall not abhor you" (Leviticus 26:11), "And I shall turn toward you and shall be your God, and you shall be My people" (Leviticus 26:9, 12); and He said: "And He shall love you and bless you and multiply you" (Deuteronomy 7:13).
, ,
Reliance upon God for what He has promised the righteous of the reward of this world and the next upon obedience — that He shall fulfill that for whoever has deserved it, and so too shall fulfill what He has guaranteed of punishment for whoever has deserved it —
,
is incumbent upon the believer; and his confidence in God in this is from the perfection of faith in Him,
,
as He said: "And he believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness" (Genesis 15:6);
and the Friend said: "Were it not that I had believed I would see the goodness of the Lord
Aligned sentence by sentence
.
in the land of the living…" (Psalms 27:13).
,
It is not fitting for him to rely upon the rectitude of his deed and so guarantee for himself the reward in this world and the next upon his deed;
,
rather let him strive and exert himself and labor in it as thanks for the blessings of God successive upon him —
,
not in hope of an inaugurated reward he is to deserve by his deed;
,
rather let him rely upon the bounty of God in it, after his exertion in fulfilling the thanks of God (mighty and exalted) for the magnitude of His prior gifts to him,
.
as the early ones said: "Do not be like the slaves who serve the master on condition of receiving a gift" (m. Avot 1:3).
, ,
One of the righteous used to say: "No one reaches the reward of the next world by his deed at the close-examination of the reckoning, in what is incumbent upon him toward God (exalted be He) for the blessings He has bestowed upon him;
, ,
rather by God's bounty upon him. So do not be deceived by your deeds."
.
As the Friend said in this concept: "And to You, O Lord, is kindness, for You requite each man according to his deed" (Psalms 62:13).
,
As for the explication of the seventh division — namely, the bestowal of God's bounty upon His saints and His chosen ones in the abode of the next world, of abundant blessings whose description we cannot encompass:
,
The aspect of reliance upon God in this is the engagement with the causes that bring him to the degrees of the saints who deserve this from God (mighty and exalted) —
, , , , .
namely, the assuming of the dispositions of the people of asceticism in this world, the bringing forth of the love of it and the preferring of it from his heart; the recompensing of that with love for God, the cutting-off to Him, and the taking comfort in Him; the becoming alienated from this world and its people; the conducting of himself in it after the way of the prophets and the chosen ones.
.
Then let him think well of God (exalted be He): that He bestows bounty upon him as He bestowed upon them in the next world.
,
As for the one who relies upon God to bring him to that without the means of work, he is the ignorant fool;
" .
he is in the rank of the one of whom the early ones (peace be upon them) mentioned: "They do the deed of Zimri and seek the reward of Phinehas" (b. Sotah 22b).
, , ,
Of the marks of the people of this elevated degree are: the guidance of God's servants to the obedience of God; patience in trial and affliction; the slighting of every
Aligned sentence by sentence
,
thing alongside the upholding of the command of God —
,
as you have learned in the story of "And God tested Abraham" (Genesis 22:1),
,
and the story of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah in the fiery furnace,
, .
and the story of Daniel in the lions' den, and the Ten Slain by the Kingdom.
, , , ,
Whoever prefers death in obedience to God over life in disobedience to Him, poverty over wealth, sickness over health, and affliction over wellbeing —
, ,
out of surrender to the judgment of God and contentment with His decree — is worthy of the bounty of God upon him in the bliss of the next world,
,
of which Scripture said: "To bequeath substance to those who love Me, and to fill their treasuries" (Proverbs 8:21);
,
and He said: "Eye has not seen, O God, beside You, what He shall do for the one who waits for Him" (Isaiah 64:3);
.
and He said: "How abundant is Your goodness which You have stored up for those who fear You" (Psalms 31:20).
. .
**Chapter Five.**
.
As for the difference between the one who relies on God and another in the matter of engagement with the causes:
, .
I say: the one who relies on God (exalted be He) is distinguished from the one who does not rely on Him in seven concepts.
, , ,
**The first** — the one who relies on God is content with His judgment in all his states, and thanks Him in joy and adversity,
.
as Job said: "The Lord has given and the Lord has taken; let the name of the Lord be blessed" (Job 1:21).
,
The one who does not rely on God thanks himself in joy, as He said: "For the wicked has praised himself for the desire of his soul" (Psalms 10:3);
.
and reproaches his Lord in adversity, as He said: "And it shall be, when he is hungry, that he shall be furious and curse his king and his God" (Isaiah 8:21).
, , ,
**The second** — the one who relies on God is at rest of soul, calm of heart concerning the decrees, on account of his knowledge that they run from God in what agrees with him in his this-world and his next-world,
.
as the Friend said: "But for God my soul waits in silence; for from Him is my hope" (Psalms 62:6).
The one who does not rely on God
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , ,
is in continual anxiety, long worry, and a sadness that does not depart from him in his joy and his adversity —
,
in joy, on account of the slightness of his contentment with his state and his greed for increase, ostentation, and accumulation;
,
in adversity, on account of his despair at it and its contradiction of his desires and its opposition to his nature and traits.
.
Of him the Wise One said: "All the days of the afflicted are evil" (Proverbs 15:15).
, , ,
**The third** — the one who relies on God, even though he engages with the causes, does not lean upon them with his heart; he hopes from them no benefit and no harm apart from God's decree.
,
He engages with them as a preference for the obedience to God who has commanded engagement in this world for its building-up and its adornment.
,
If he attracts a benefit by them or wards off a harm, he praises God (mighty and exalted) alone for that,
, , , , .
and he does not increase in admiring-envy of them nor in eagerness for them nor in repose toward them; rather his reliance upon God grows strong, and his heart is calmed toward Him to the exclusion of the causes.
,
If he does not profit by the causes, he knows that his sustenance comes to him when God wills, from where He wills;
, .
this does not make him renounce them, nor abandon their use, in obedience to God (exalted be He).
,
The non-reliant engages with the causes in reliance upon them, that they benefit him and ward off harm from him.
,
If he profits by them, he thanks them, thanks his striving in them and his eagerness for them, and looks at nothing but them;
,
if he does not profit by them, he disparages and despises them, and his eagerness turns from them —
.
as Scripture said: "Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his trawl-net, for by them his portion is fat and his food rich" (Habakkuk 1:16).
, ,
**The fourth** — the one who relies on God, when there is a surplus over his subsistence, disburses it in what agrees with the satisfaction of God (exalted be He) with openhandedness of soul and graciousness of heart,
as the Friend said: "For from You is the all, and from Your hand
Aligned sentence by sentence
. , , , .
, , , , .
, , , .
, , , .
, , , .
, , , , , , ,
Aligned sentence by sentence
. , , , , , , .
, , , , , , , , , .
, , , , .
, , , , , , , ,
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , , , , .
, , , , , .
. .
, , , , , , , .
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , .
, , , , , , .
, , , , , . , , .
, , , . ,
Aligned sentence by sentence
, . , , , , , , , .
, .
, , , , . , . , . , .
, , . ,
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , […] […] , , , .
, , […] […] , , , , .
, . , , , , , [……].
Aligned sentence by sentence
. .
, .
, .
, , .
, , , .
, , .
Among them: his inclining toward the proximate causes that he handles. He is ignorant that the closer the causes are to the caused, the lesser their power to benefit the caused or to harm it; the further they are, the more their power to benefit and harm it is piercing and manifest.
, , , , , , . , , , , , , , , .
Like the prince, when he wills the punishment of one of his slaves, he commands his chamberlain to carry that out; the chamberlain commands the vizier; the vizier commands the chief of the police; the chief of the police commands his deputy; the deputy commands the constables; the constables take that up with instruments prepared for it. The weakest of them in power to lighten the pain or to strengthen it are the instruments, since they have no choice; then the constables are more powerful for that than the instruments; the deputy is more powerful than the constables; the chief of the police more powerful than the deputy; the vizier more powerful than the chief of the police; the chamberlain more powerful than the vizier; the prince more powerful than them all — for if he wills, he pardons him. It is plain that the weakness of the causes and their strength in their bringing of effect upon the caused are in proportion to their nearness and their distance from it.
The Creator (exalted be He), who is the utmost of the causes in remoteness from caused things,
Aligned sentence by sentence
, . , . , , , . , , , . , .
, , , , , , ,
If his sustenance is made ready for him by the hand of others among created beings, he turns his reliance upon them and his soul reposes toward them. When his discrimination grows strong and he sees their poverty and their need of the Creator (exalted be He), he turns his reliance to Him and his leaning upon Him in the matters in which he has no contrivance and no sufficiency apart from Him for surrendering to the decree of God in them — like the descent of rains upon the seed-crop, travel by sea, the crossing of trackless wastes without water, at the onset of floods, at the falling of plagues among animals, and the like, in matters in which there is no contrivance for the human in any aspect, as Scripture said: "And in the time of their evil they shall say, 'Arise and save us'" (Jeremiah 2:27). If his discrimination of God (exalted be He) grows strong, he relies upon Him also in what is possible to him of some contrivance — like the attracting of sustenance by feared causes and crafts wearying to bodies; he abandons them in reliance upon God that He sustains him by what is easy to use of them.
Aligned sentence by sentence
, . , , .
, .
If his discrimination of God (mighty and exalted) grows strong, he turns his reliance to God in the totality of the causes — what is hard of them and what is easy — and his aim, in his exposure to them, is obedience to God and submission to His command.
, , , , , , , , .
If his discrimination grows strong more than that, by the gentleness of the Creator (exalted be He) toward His created beings, he is content with what comes of God's decree for him and upon him — with his heart, his tongue, his outer and his inner. He is delighted with everything God deals with him: death and life, poverty and wealth, health and sickness. He longs for nothing other than what God has chosen for him, nor wills anything but what God wills for him. He surrenders to God and casts himself and his body upon His judgment; he prefers no state over another, nor chooses anything other than what he is upon of the affairs of his this-world — as one of the reliant ones used to say: "I have never woken in a state and wished for any other."
, , , , , , . , , .
If his discrimination of God grows strong more than that, and he knows the purpose for which he was aimed at by his being created and by his being brought forth into this perishing abode — and discriminates the excellence of the other, abiding abode — he renounces this world and its causes; he is severed, in his imagination, his soul, and his body, to God (mighty and exalted). He takes comfort in His remembrance in solitudes; he is alienated apart from thinking on His majesty. If he is in assemblies, he wishes only for His satisfaction, and longs only for the meeting with Him; his joy in His love preoccupies him from the joy of the people of this world in this world, and the joy of the people of the next world in the next world.
Aligned sentence by sentence
, , .
.
These are the ten degrees of reliance, none of the reliant being free from one of them.
, , , , , , , , , , .
We have found the meaning of reliance in the Book of God expressed in the Hebrew tongue by ten words, in correspondence with these ten degrees: *mivṭaḥ*, *mishʿan*, *tiqvah*, *maḥseh*, *toḥelet*, *ḥikkui*, *semikhah*, *seber*, *misʿad*, *kesel*.
.
May God set us and you among those who rely upon Him, who surrender to His judgment in outer and inner — by His mercy (exalted be He).