You will not attain piety birr until you expend of what mimmā = min mā you love; and whatever thing you expend God knows of it. When the object of seeking is piety and goodness birr [the preposition] min is used which is [the particle of speech] for dividing something into portions. He said “of what mimmā = min mā you love.” Whoever desires piety and goodness birr should expend some portion of what he loves while whoever desires the One who is All-Goodness al-bārr should expend everything he loves. Whoever expends what he loves in this world will find what he seeks from the Real most high. Whoever is attached to the fortunes of the lower self man kāna marbūṬan bi-ḥuẓūẓi nafsihi will not find fortune in nearness to his Lord lam yaḥaẓẓu bi-qurbi rabbihi. It is said that if you can only attain piety and goodness birr by expend- ing what you love how will you ever reach the One who is All-Goodness al-bārr so long as you prefer your worldly fortunes to Himḍ And whatever thing you expend God knows of it. There are those who expend looking for reward and compensation those who expend looking to defend themselves from affliction and tribulations and those who expend content with His knowing. One of them said: He wishes to walk in a weak way so that she might when she hears of his suffering send a message to him. He trembles because of what has become known in seeking the sublime that his qualities might be mentioned one day before Salmā.
