How to achieve strength, contentment, and respect

فإن النفس ما طمعت تهون	أمت مطامعي فأرحت نفسـي
ففي إحيائه عرض مصون	وأحييت القنـوع وكان ميتـ
علته مهانة وعـلاه هـون	إذا طمع يحل بقلـب عبـدٍ

 

Translation:

I killed my desires and freed myself,

For verily a person if he desires, becomes weak.

And I brought to life contentment and it was dead,

And in its resurrection there was protection for my affairs.

If desire is found in the heart of a person,

Then humiliation and weakness shall be upon him.

Explanation:

Man is inherently designed to follow some set of commands, be it divine commands, the commands of another person, or the commands of the desires. But if we manage to control our desires and do not follow their urgings then we have freed ourselves from the Hellfire, from wasting our time, from slavery to our bodies, and we become much more strong-minded as people. The Companions of the Prophet were from amongst the most strongest-minded people to have ever lived as they were the ones who had almost entirely defeated their desires. They would sleep little in order to worship Allah at night; they would eat little and fast in order to attain piety and not become unhealthy and abuse the body Allah had given them; they would fight with their lives for the sake of Allah; and they would strive with their minds to learn knowledge and to teach others. Their entire life was a struggle against their desires – as is ours – but they won their battle and ours is still being fought. As a rule of thumb, if your desires tell you do something, think twice about doing it, until you become absolutely sure it is  allowed in Islam.

The word “Tama'” which has been translated as desires has negative  connotations of taking from others, while “tamh” which also translates as desires, has positive connotations of wanting prosperity and striving without the detriment of others and it is not as lustful of wealth as “tama'” and is often used to describe the “desire for knowledge”.

Contentment is the main weapon against our desire for wealth and collecting possessions. And if we are content with what we have, then not only will Allah give blessing in what we have so that it becomes vast and plentiful for us, but also Allah has taken it upon himself to provide sustenance to his creation and therefore will guard our means of sustenance for us or provide us with other means, as he says in the verse:

“And whosoever fears Allah and keeps his duty to Him, He will make a way for him to get out (from every difficulty).3 And He will provide him from (sources) he never could imagine. And whosoever puts his trust in Allah, then He will suffice him. Verily, Allah will accomplish his purpose. Indeed Allah has set a measure for all things.” (2-3:65)

All we have to do is rely on Allah after doing the best we can, and then Allah promises us that he will help us and bring us respite.

“Ird”, which has here been translated as ones “affairs” is another tricky word to translate as it literally means things related to ones person such as ones wife, property, and body; but it also means honour and dignity. So the Imam is saying that all these things will be protected because of the adoption of contentment.

The Imam concludes the poem by emphasising that acting according to ones desires will only lead one to do evil and despicable acts which will lead to disgrace and humiliation in this world and the hereafter; and this giving in to ones desires will only weaken ones self-resolve and one will become occupied with merely fulfilling ones base desires to the detriment of the greater and higher goals in life.