Tradition

طَلَبُ الْحَوائِجِ إِلىَ النّاسِ مَذَلَّةٌ لِلْحَياةِ وَ مَذَهَبَةٌ لِلْحَياءِ وَ إِسْتِخْفافٌ بِالْوَقارِ وَ هُوَ الفَقْرُ الْحاضِرُ

Imam al-Sajjad (‘a) is narrated to have said: “Requesting things from the people is (a kind) of abjectness in life and it destroys one’s humility and weakens one’s character and standing. It is a (type of) poverty that the people create for themselves.”1

Brief Commentary

Some people throw themselves into poverty as a result of actions which they believe will actually save them from it. They request things from people which are not necessary and they make themselves dependent and needy upon them. Through such behavior, their character is weakened and ruined in front of others. Islam has ordered its followers to stand upon their own two feet as much as possible and to be wary of dependence in their lives. This is because taking care of one’s needs through others is the worst type of neediness and poverty.

• 1. Taken from the book: Tuhaf al-’Uqul, p. 201.