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522 – Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to me, from Zakariyyā ibn ʿAdī, who said: Jesus son of Mary declared, “O company of disciples, be satisfied with the paltriness of this world whenever your religion is safe, just as the people of the world have accepted the paltriness of religion so long as their worldly affairs remain unharmed.”
Zakariyyā said: On that very theme the poet has recited:
[metre: al-basīṭ]
I see men who settle for the barest scrap of faith,
yet I have never seen them content with a lowly life;
So let religion make you independent of the rulers’ wealth,
just as the rulers’ wealth has made them independent of religion.
٥٢٢ - وَحَدَّثَنِي الْحُسَيْنُ بْنُ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ، عَنْ زَكَرِيَّا بْنِ عَدِيٍّ، قَالَ: قَالَ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ: «يَا مَعْشَرَ الْحَوَارِيِّينَ ارْضَوْا بِدَنِيءِ الدُّنْيَا مَعَ سَلَامَةِ الدِّينِ، كَمَا رَضِيَ أَهْلُ الدُّنْيَا بِدَنِيءِ الدِّينِ مَعَ سَلَامَةِ الدُّنْيَا» قَالَ زَكَرِيَّا: وَفِي ذَلِكَ يَقُولُ الشَّاعِرُ:
[البحر البسيط]
أَرَى رِجَالًا بِأَدْنَى الدِّينِ قَدْ قَنَعُوا ... وَلَا أَرَاهُمْ رَضُوا فِي الْعَيْشِ بِالدُّونِ
فَاسْتَغْنِ بِالدِّينِ عَنْ دُنْيَا الْمُلُوكِ كَمَا ... اسْتَغْنَى الْمُلُوكُ بِدُنْيَاهُمْ عَنِ الدِّينِ