Isa (‘a) said to his apostles, “I have a request for you. If you promise to do it, I will tell you what it is.”

The apostles said in reply, “We submit to you and we will obey your orders!”

Isa (‘a) stood up and began to wash the feet of each one of his apostles. The apostles felt deeply troubled by this, since they had pledged to submit to him, but they yielded to his wishes.

After Isa (‘a) finished washing their feet, the apostles said, “You are our master. It is our duty to wash your feet, not for you to wash ours!”

Nasibah or Nusaybah, also called Umm Ammarah, after her son Ammarah, or daughter of Ka'b, had a scar on her shoulder which was still visible and was a reminder of a serious wound and a reflection of her past. For the younger girls and women, who had not lived in the era of the Messenger of God (S), whenever they happened to see the scar on her shoulder, they asked her with extreme curiosity about the tragic incident which had resulted in her wound. They longed to hear about the exciting adventure of Nasibah in the battle of Uhud from her own lips.

As soon as Umm Hamideh, the mother of Imam Kazim (‘a), saw Abu Basir, who had come to express his condolences to her on the demise of her eminent husband, Imam Al-Sadiq (‘a), her tears began trickling down her face. Abu Basir also wept for some time. When she stopped weeping, she said to Abu Basir, “You were not present at the time of the Imam’s (‘a) death. A strange event occurred.”

Abu Basir asked, “What was it?”

A man from the Ansars (Helpers of the Prophet Muhammad) bought a new house in a neighbourhood of Madinah and moved into it. He discovered that he had a problematic neighbour.

He came to the Holy Prophet (S) and said, “I have purchased a house in such and such a quarter, among such and such a tribe, and moved into it. Unfortunately, my nearest neighbour is a useless person. Not only that, he is also ill-mannered towards me. I am not safe around him; and I am not sure what danger he may bring to us.”

Imam Al-Sadiq (‘a), dressed in a coarse working garment with a spade in his hand, was busy labouring in his orchard. He had been working so hard that sweat covered his entire body, from head to foot.

Abu Amr Shaybani passed by and saw the Imam (‘a) in a state of fatigue and pain. He thought, “If he has taken a spade and is doing hard labour alone, perhaps he may not have found anyone else to do it, and has been obliged to do the work himself.”

He asked the Imam (‘a), “Give me the spade so that I can do the work for you.”

Year by year, month by month, the number of Muslims gradually grew in Makkah. The pressures and the hardships imposed on them by the Makkans did not make the converts to Islam forgo their consciences, and the Makkans were unable to stem the tide of people, both men and women, coming to Islam.

The Holy Prophet (S) was performing his morning prayer in the Mosque with the public. The day became bright and it became easy to recognize the faces of the people present. Suddenly, the Holy Prophet's (S) eyes were fixed on a young man who seemed distressed. His head was swinging to and from over his shoulders, and he was continually moving from one side to the other. The Prophet (S) glanced at his face, and saw it turning pale. His eyes were sunk into its sockets, and his limbs had become thin.

The Prophet (S) asked, “In what condition are you?”

Once Umar ibn Abdul Aziz was on the pulpit (minbar) delivering a speech during his era of the Caliphate. While he was delivering the speech, the people sitting at the foot of the pulpit observed him, from time to time, clutching his garment and shaking it. These movements of his hand surprised his audience. They wondered why the Caliph was doing this during his speech.

By order of the Caliph Mansur, the safe of the public treasury was unlocked, and everyone was paid a share of it. Shaqrani was among those who had come to take his share. Since no one knew him, he could not find any means to receive a share for himself. Owing to the fact that one of his forefathers was a slave freed by the Holy Prophet (S), Shaqrani had naturally inherited his emancipation from them and was nicknamed ‘the emancipated slave of the Messenger of Allah.’

Purity, sincerity and honest collaboration between Hisham ibn al-Hakam and Abdullah ibn Yazid Abazi had earned everyone's admiration in Kufah. They became a good example of two good partners and two honest intimate colleagues. They owned a trade shop together, storing and selling articles of a haberdashery. As long as they lived, they never quarreled, nor did they have any differences between them. What made the matter more noteworthy among people was the fact that these two personalities, from the point of view of religious belief, were situated in two quite opposite poles.