This recalls the corresponding words in the Gospels; "Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein" (St. Luke, XVIII 17.), "Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. (St. Matthew  , XI. 25; St. Luke, X. 21.) "Simplicity" and "smallness" are here equivalents, in reality, of the "poverty" which is so often mentioned also in the Gospels, and which is generally very much misunderstood: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven" (5t. Matthew, V. 2.) Studies in Comparative Religion Winter Issue (1973) AL-FAQR (’SPIRITUAL POVERTY’)

This "poverty" (in Arabic al-faqr) leads, according to Islamic esotericism, to al-fanaa, that is, to the extinction of the "ego"; (footnote: This "extinction" is not without analogy, even as to the literal meaning of the term which is used for it, with the Nirvana of the Hindu doctrine; beyond al-fanaa there is fanaa’ al-fanaa’ the extinction of the extinction, which corresponds similarly to Pariniroana.) and, by this "extinction" the "divine station" is reached (al-maaqam al-ilaahii), which is the central point where all the distinctions inherent in the more outward points of view are surpassed and where all the oppositions have disappeared and are resolved in a perfect equilibrium. "In the primordial state, these oppositions did not exist. They all spring from the diversification of the beings (inherent in manifestation and, like it, contingent), and from their contacts caused Faqirs of Refai Tariqat Kataragama by the Universal gyration (that is by the, rotation of the "cosmic wheel" around its axis). They cease then and there to affect the being that has reduced its distinct ego and its particular movement to almost nothing" (Choang-Tseu). Studies in Comparative Religion Winter Issue (1973) AL-FAQR (’SPIRITUAL POVERTY’)

"Poverty", "simplicity" and "childhood", are no more than one same thing, and the process of being stripped which all these words express (footnote: It is the "being stripped of metals" in the Masonic symbolism.) culminates in an extinction" which is, in reality , the fullness of the being, just as "inaction" (wu-wei) is the fullness of activity , because it is from it that all the particular activities are derived; "The Principle is always inactive, and yet everything is done by it"(Tao-Te-Ching). Studies in Comparative Religion Winter Issue (1973) AL-FAQR (’SPIRITUAL POVERTY’)