When it is said to them “Believe as the people believe” they say “Shall we believe as fools believeḍ” Truly they are the foolish ones but they know not. Here the allusion is to the hypocrites who when they were called to the Real described the Muslims as foolish. Similarly when the wealthy are commanded to renounce this world they describe the people of right conduct as lazy and weak. They say the poor fuqarāÌ have nothing because they have no wealth no status no comfort and no livelihood. In truth they [the wealthy] are the poor and they are those who are tested. They fall into ignominy out of fear of ignominy and struggle with abasement out of fear of abasement. They construct castles quṣūr but live in tombs qubūr. They adorn the cradle mahd but are wrapped in the grave lahd. They gallop in the fields of heedlessness ghafla but stumble in the wadis of grief ḥasra. Soon they will come to know but then their knowledge will not benefit them. Nothing will be of use to them. When the dust clears you will see whether a horse or a donkey is beneath you.
