Which is better: the grateful rich person or the patient poor person?

Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: Which is better, the generous rich person who is grateful for Allah’s blessing, or the poor person who is patient and dignified?

Answer:
This is a matter of scholarly disagreement among the scholars: which is better, the grateful rich person or the patient poor person? Each has a reward, each has [a reward], but which is better? There is disagreement on this, and the stronger position, as held by Shaykh Taqi al-Din ibn Taymiyyah, the student of Ibn al-Qayyim, in a book of his titled *Al-Zad al-Sabirin wa Dhakhirat al-Shakirin* (The Provisions of the Patient and the Store of the Grateful), is that the better of the two is the one who is more mindful of Allah. The better of the two is the one who is more mindful of Allah. So if the grateful rich person is more mindful of Allah, he is better. And if the opposite is the case, and the patient poor person is more mindful, he is better. . Yes.