…it is related that
on a certain day, one of the companions of Ṣádiq [the sixth of the
Shi’ih Imams]complained of his poverty before him. Whereupon, Ṣádiq, 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?” Ṣádiq thereupon observed: “Dost thou not possess our love?” He replied: “Yea, I possess it, O thou scion
of the Prophet of God!” And Ṣádiq 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 Ṣádiq remarked: “How can he who possesses such
a treasure be called poor?”
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)
