…it is related that on a certain day, one of the companions
of Sádiq [the sixth of the Shi’ih Imams] complained of his poverty before him.
Whereupon, Sádiq, that immortal beauty, made reply: “Verily thou art rich, and
hast drunk the draught of wealth.” That poverty-stricken soul was perplexed at
the words uttered by that luminous countenance, and said: “Where are my riches,
I who stand in need of a single coin?” Sádiq thereupon observed: “Dost thou not
possess our love?” He replied: “Yea, I possess it, O thou scion of the Prophet
of God!” And Sádiq asked him saying: “Exchangest thou this love for one
thousand dinars?” He answered: “Nay, never will I exchange it, though the world
and all that is therein be given me!” Then Sádiq remarked: “How can he who
possesses such a treasure be called poor?”
- Baha’u’llah (‘The
Kitab-i-Iqan’)
