Tradition

إيّاكَ أنْ تَمْنَعَ فى طاعَةِ اللّه فَتُنْفِقَ مِثْلَيهِ فى مَعْصِيَةِ اللّه

Imam al-Kazim (‘a) is narrated to have said: “Do not abstain from spending money in the way of God’s obedience, for if you do, you will inevitably spend twice as much in the way of sin and error.”1

Brief Commentary

There are some people who are so stingy when it comes to money that even when they become ill, they refuse to spend anything on treating themselves. As a result, their condition worsens and they are then forced to spend two or three times that amount in curing themselves. This is in fact a general rule that if someone doesn’t spend the necessary money on their basic expenses, they will in turn be forced to spend much more when an issue comes up later.

Those who refrain from spending time or money for the education and training of their children end up paying a backbreaking price later on in life. Such neglect can bring out issues in their children like deviancy, criminality, and drug addiction. The parents will end up suffering a hundred fold for their initial neglect, which could have been remedied with just a small amount of time and effort. Similarly, if a person neglects to help the poverty stricken of their society, they will end up paying several times that to prevent various things which arise from such poverty…

• 1. Tuhaf al-’Uqul, p. 305.