Chapter: The grateful eater is like the patient faster. In it: From Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

The reciter: Chapter: The grateful eater is like the patient faster. In it: From Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

The Shaykh : As for the issue of the patient faster, it is clear that the patient faster is of a higher rank than the first one. But is it better, the patient poor man or the grateful rich man? Which is better? How?
The student: ...

The Shaykh : That is, regarding the extension of benefit, there is no doubt that the grateful rich man’s benefit extends to others, unlike the patient poor man. And this is not what is intended. But in terms of the meaning confined to the self, which is better? The truth is that it is all a trial; neither wealth nor poverty is [good in itself]. Wealth usually leads to arrogance and heedlessness, and few are safe from this affliction. For this reason, Sulayman (peace be upon him) said: Patience is also difficult for souls because it entails pain from poverty. But the patient one may say to himself: If you are patient, you will be patient like the noble ones; if you are discontent, you will be discontent like the base ones, and that will not benefit you, so there is no benefit in patience. The important point is that the scholars differed on this. Some said that the patient poor man is better and in a more complete state than the grateful rich man, and some said the opposite. What appears is that the grateful rich man is better in absolute terms, because of the effort involved in restraining the self from arrogance and heedlessness, especially if he finds his peers and companions have become heedless and arrogant. In it is also a general benefit, as came in the authentic hadith: It benefits in jihad in the path of Allah, in feeding the poor, in everything. The trial in it is greater than patience, because the patient one may say to himself: What can I do? I have nothing but this. But the patient one who controls himself from arrogance and heedlessness, the grateful one, yes, the grateful rich man.