Contentment (qana'a)

Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy sets contentment (qana'a) against greed. He holds that people are by nature inclined to greed and do not settle for little, and that acceptance of what God has apportioned, and leaving off wishing for what others have, are among the sources of happiness ¹.

The speaker says that a person has greed and evil in his nature, and does not content himself with little ¹. He gives a story which he takes as evidence that a person is greedy and does not accept little, and that when he persists in sin, his soul is given over to it (needs_source: the rest of the story is unclear in the transcript) ².

The speaker tells a story in which Isa is with a man, food is shared out, and there are portions of butter, and he presents it as an illustration of greed (needs_source: the details are garbled and are not given verbatim) ^{3 4}.

The speaker says that none of us should wish for what another has, but should ask God for His bounty; men should not wish for what women have, nor women for what men have ⁵. He gives examples of such wishing, such as the wish to sit on a board of directors or in parliament (needs_source: the transcript is partly garbled) ⁶.

The speaker alludes to a Qur'anic verse in the context of wishing, but the recording does not name its sura or verse, so it is not linked (needs_source).

The Sheikh says that true richness is the richness of the soul, not an abundance of goods ^{7 8}.

The Sheikh holds, as his own view, that a contented poor man may be better off than a king (needs_source: the word for "king" in the transcript is unclear) ⁹.