16. My father said: Sa`d ibn `Abd Allah said, on the authority of Ibrahim ibn Hashim, on the authority of Ahmad ibn Sulayman that While Abu al-Hasan was circumambulating (the Ka`bah) a man asked him: `Tell me about the Generous.’ He replied to him, Verily, there are two ways to answer your question: If you are asking about the created, then the generous person is one who gives what Allah, the Mighty and High, has made obligatory on him while the miser is one who acts misery in what Allah has made obligatory. However, if you are asking about the Creator, then He is the Generous whether He grants or does not grant, because if He grants something to a servant, then He has granted him something that is not his and if He does not grant, then He has prohibited him what is not his.