(A Response to One Who Is Addicted to Open Sinfulness and, When Advised, Responds with Verses of Hope) They kept company with hopes and were tested by their desires *** and were content with every humiliation and degradation

The Shaykh :"They kept company with hopes and were tested by their desires *** and were content with every humiliation and degradation"
This means that they lived on hopes. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Among the signs of this is that some of them, when you advise them and say to them, "Fear Allah and pay what is due from you," they say, "Allah is Forgiving and Merciful," or they recite to you this verse: , as if they did not understand the phrase "for whom He wills." We say to them: What tells you that you are among those whom Allah wills to forgive? Allah did not say, "and He forgives what is less than that" only; we used to say, yes, do whatever you wish except shirk (associating partners with Allah), but He said: according to what His wisdom requires. You are not certain that you are among those whom He forgives, so you are merely hoping for Allah's favors.
The student: ...

The Shaykh : Yes
The student: ...

The Shaykh : No, humiliation, mistake, mistake, yes.
" *** and were content with every humiliation and degradation
toil and hardship, and they will not cease from it *** there is no sorrow or grief in it
This means that they toil, work, and labor, exhausting themselves, and yet their hearts are filled with sorrow and grief.