Al-Kāfi - Volume 8


Book 1, Chapter 191

Words of wisdom from ‘A’immah, 'Alayhim al-Salam
1 Ḥadīth

الْحُسَيْنُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ الْأَشْعَرِيُّ عَنْ مُعَلَّى بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ رَفَعَهُ عَنْ بَعْضِ الْحُكَمَاءِ قَالَ إِنَّ أَحَقَّ النَّاسِ أَنْ يَتَمَنَّى الْغِنَى لِلنَّاسِ أَهْلُ الْبُخْلِ لِأَنَّ النَّاسَ إِذَا اسْتَغْنَوْا كَفُّوا عَنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ وَ إِنَّ أَحَقَّ النَّاسِ أَنْ يَتَمَنَّى صَلَاحَ النَّاسِ أَهْلُ الْعُيُوبِ لِأَنَّ النَّاسَ إِذَا صَلَحُوا كَفُّوا عَنْ تَتَبُّعِ عُيُوبِهِمْ وَ إِنَّ أَحَقَّ النَّاسِ أَنْ يَتَمَنَّى حِلْمَ النَّاسِ أَهْلُ السَّفَهِ الَّذِينَ يَحْتَاجُونَ أَنْ يُعْفَى عَنْ سَفَهِهِمْ فَأَصْبَحَ أَهْلُ الْبُخْلِ يَتَمَنَّوْنَ فَقْرَ النَّاسِ وَ أَصْبَحَ أَهْلُ الْعُيُوبِ يَتَمَنَّوْنَ فِسْقَهُمْ وَ أَصْبَحَ أَهْلُ الذُّنُوبِ يَتَمَنَّوْنَ سَفَهَهُمْ وَ فِي الْفَقْرِ الْحَاجَةُ إِلَى الْبَخِيلِ وَ فِي الْفَسَادِ طَلَبُ عَوْرَةِ أَهْلِ الْعُيُوبِ وَ فِي السَّفَهِ الْمُكَافَأَةُ بِالذُّنُوبِ.


191. Al-Husayn Bin Muhammad Al-Ashary, from Moala Bin Muhammad, with a chain going up to some of the wise ones who said: ‘The most deserving of the people who wish to enrich the people are the niggardly ones, because if the people become rich they would refrain from their wealth. And the most deserving of the people who wish for the correction of the people are the ones with the faults, because if the people are corrected, they would refrain from following their faults. And the most deserving of the people who wish for forbearance for the people are the foolish ones who need to be exempted from their foolishness. On the contrary, the niggardly ones become wishers of poverty for the people, and the faulty ones become wishers for mischief for them, and the sinful ones become wishers for their foolishness. And in poverty people are needy to the niggardly ones, and in mischief they find faults with the faulty ones, and in foolishness, the recompense is by the sins’. (THIS IS NOT A HADEETH)