A Beggar's Du'a

It is said that a beggar once went to a wealthy man from Khurasan and asked for help

The rich man

instead of giving him anything

turned to his servant and said mockingly

“O Gold, say to Gem, to say to Jewel, to say to Sapphire, to say to this beggar that we have nothing.”

The beggar stood silently for a moment

then raised his hands to the sky and said

“O my Lord, say to Jibra’il, to say to Isra’fil, to say to Mika’il, to say to Izra’il to take the soul of this miser.”

The story isn’t just about a witty response -

it’s a reminder about what happens when the dunya blinds us

The rich man was surrounded by luxury -

gold

gems

and servants -

yet he was poor in gratitude

The beggar had nothing

yet he was rich in his connection with Allah

That’s the balance many of us struggle with today :

how to live in the world without letting the world live in us

We often turn to people for help

recognition

or relief -

forgetting that Allah is Al-Ghani

the Self-Sufficient

It’s not wrong to seek from the means

but the heart must stay tied to the Source

The beggar understood this deeply

He didn’t beg the rich man harder -

he simply turned higher

He knew where help truly comes from

And that’s the essence of balancing dunya and the akhirah :

to use the dunya as a bridge

not a barrier

Allah doesn’t condemn wealth -

He condemns arrogance

The Qur’an reminds us :

We can earn

build

and enjoy -

but we must remember Who provides and where it leads

The dunya is a test of gratitude

and the akhirah it its result

When wealth makes us humble

it’s a blessing

When it makes us forgetful

it becomes a burden

The beggar in the story could have been bitter

but he was insightful

He didn’t let humiliation pull him down -

he let it lift his du’a up

That’s a lesson for us too

When life denies us what we want

it might be redirecting us to what we need

Sometimes Allah withholds from the dunya to enrich our akhirah

So when you’re ignored

tested

or overlooked -

raise your hands like the beggar did

Because the One who listens directly never turns away

True intelligence isn’t in how we question people

but in how we ask Allah

Balance is not about having less of the dunya

but about remembering more of the akhirah

P.S. I share more like this on Threads and Instagram. Come say Salaam.

until the next letter,

— hidvyaa