people came to look for righteousness among the poor, since it is more likely to be found among them. Such is the explanation, and Allah knows best. For this reason, humble submission came to be his distinguishing attribute. Likewise, when people saw that humble submission and humility were more prevalent among the poor, they assumed that humility and humble submission were poverty itself. But that is not so.

Rather, poverty here means lacking wealth, whereas humble submission is the submissiveness of the heart. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, used to seek refuge from the trial of poverty and the evil of the trial of wealth. One of the Companions said, “We were tested with adversity and remained patient; we were tested with prosperity and failed to remain patient.” The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, also said:

“By Allah, it is not poverty that I fear for you. Rather, I fear that worldly prosperity will be lavished upon you as it was lavished upon those before you, and that you will compete for it.”

For this reason, poverty predominated among the Emigrants, while wealth predominated among the Helpers; and the Emigrants were superior to the Helpers. Yet some of the wealthy Emigrants were among the best of the Emigrants, even though, through emigrating, they had left behind so much of their wealth that they became poor compared with their former circumstances.