May I be made your ransom!

May I be made your ransom!” The Imam (a.s) said to me: “Move your hand over the ground and hand over to me whatever you happen to find.” As I moved my hand over the ground I found some pieces of bread scattered around; gathering them all, which eventually became a sack-full, I handed them to him (a.s) and said: “May I be made your ransom. Allow me to carry the sack upon my back.” He (a.s) said: “No.

I am more deserving of carrying the sack, but yes, I do permit you to accompany me.” Thus, together with the Imam (a.s), I reached the tent of Bani Sai'dah, where a group of poor people lay asleep. The Imam (a.s) began placing one or two pieces of bread below their garments till all the pieces of bread were used up. As we turned back, I said to him: “May I be made your ransom!

During that period a preacher, from atop the pulpit in the mosque, preached: “When one desires to give charity, seventy Satans cling onto his hands to prevent him from giving it.” Hearing this, a person said to his friends in amazement: “Giving charity has no such thing associated with it. I have some wheat present in my house which I shall immediately bring to the mosque and distribute amongst the poor.” With this in mind, he set off for his house.

When he reached home and informed his wife of his intention, she began to reprimand him saying: “In this period of drought do you not have consideration for your wife and child? Maybe the drought will extend for a long time, in which case we shall die of hunger and …” In short, she rebuked him to such an extent that eventually the man returned to the mosque empty-handed. His friends asked him: “What happened?

Did you see how seventy Satans clung to your hand and prevented you?”[^6] The man said: “Honestly speaking, I did not see the Satans, but I certainly saw their mother, who prevented me from performing this good deed.””[^7] The Widely Respected Shia Government Minister Perhaps, the only Shiite minister to have been widely popular amongst the people of all classes was Sahib Ibn Ubbad (326 ah to 385 ah). Initially he had been the minister of Muayyad al-Daulah Dailami (d.

373 ah), after whose death, he became the minister of Muayyad's brother, Fakhr al-Daulah.