[It is] for the poor, who are constrained in the path of God and are not able to travel in the earth. The ignorant man counts them as rich because of their self-restraint. Thou shalt rec- ognize them by their mark-they do not ask of the people imploringly. And whatever good you expend, surely God knows it. This is a description of the state of the poor among the Companions and a clarification of their conduct. Until the day of resurrection, this is the balm of the hearts of the burnt and broken. Their first attribute is that they are constrained in the path of God, that is, they have halted at God's decree. They have constrained their souls to obey Him, their hearts to recognize Him, their spirits to love Him, and their secret cores to see Him.23 They have settled down in God's decree and approved of it, they have welcomed His command, they have kept their souls in obedience, they have occupied their hearts with recognition, their spirits have come to be at ease in love, and their secret cores have remained in anticipation of vision, for the Exalted Lord says about them, " They are unable to travel in the earth. " They are so busy with the Real that they attend neither to the creatures nor to themselves. They take no steps in seeking daily provision, nor do they put their hearts into acquisition and trade. This is exactly what He says: " whom neither trade nor buying diverts from the remembrance of God " [24:37]. They are chevaliers whose watchword is God's remembrance and whose blanket is God's love. They have repose and settledness at the threshold of serving Him and their aspiration is free of others. They are the beauty of paradise and the adorn- ment of the abode of settledness [40:39]-a few of the Emigrants and a few of the Helpers. The ignorant man counts them as rich because of their self-restraint. You would say that they are without need and you would number them as wealthy, for, despite the defectiveness of their state and the constraint of poverty, they never ask, whether from creatures or from the Real. Not asking from creatures is precisely trust, and trust is the level of their abode. Not asking from the Real is the reality of approval, and the field of approval is their way station.
