212 – ʿAlī b. Abī Maryam narrated to me, from Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn, who said: ʿAmmār b. ʿUthmān related to me, saying: Ḥuṣayn b. al-Qāsim told me; he said: I heard ʿAbd al-Wāḥid b. Zayd swear by Allah, the Exalted: “A man’s eagerness for this world is, in my estimation, more perilous for him than his most relentless enemy.” ⦗105⦘

He added: “I heard him say, ‘My brothers, never admire someone who is greedy for fortune, for a wide source of income, or for money. Regard him with the eye of aversion for what he is doing, yet with the eye of mercy because today he is occupied with matters that will confront him tomorrow at the Final Return.’

Then he would weep and say: ‘Greed is of two kinds: a ravenous greed and a beneficial greed. The beneficial kind is a person’s eagerness to obey Allah; the ruinous kind is a person’s greed for this world—tormented and ever preoccupied. He finds no ease, cannot relish what he hoards because of his constant busyness, and never frees himself from love of the world long enough to work for his Hereafter—ceaseless toil for what will vanish, and heedlessness toward what will endure and remain.’ He would then weep again.

ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us; he said: Ibn Abī Maryam recited to me:

Do not envy the greedy man for the breadth of his wealth;
Gaze on him with eyes of scorn and disdain.
The covetous is engrossed—by his own misery—
Too occupied to delight in the riches he has gained.