He added, “I have heard the Prophet (a.

He added, “I have heard the Prophet (a.s) say that on the Day of Judgment the man who has stolen cloth will be brought in such a manner that all the pieces of cloth that he had stolen will be loaded on his head!” Ibn Kathir writes in Al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah that Abū-Matar al-Misri says, “I was coming out of the al-Kūfah Mosque when someone called me from the back that I must pick up the lapel of my shawl that was touching the ground.

When I turned back, I saw a Bedouin carrying a whip in his hand, with a loincloth around his waist and a shawl around the shoulders. This simplicity was so great that I was much impressed. I asked a man about the identity of the person. The man said I looked a stranger. I affirmed that I hailed from al-Basrah. He replied that the person I asked about was Amir al-Mu’minin `Ali ibn Abi-Talib (a.s).

I shook in my limbs and instead of moving forward, I went back a few steps and went behind the Imam (a.s). I saw that he stopped near the shops of grocers and told them, “Sell! But do not sell by taking oaths. This way the prosperity will depart even if all the material was sold!” Then he went to the section of the date sellers where he found a slave girl crying.

When he asked her the reason for her crying, she said that she had bought dates from the shopkeeper for 1 dirham which her master did not like and asked her to return to the shop. The shopkeeper was not taking the dates back. The Imam (a.s) told the shopkeeper that the girl was a slave and a poor person and you must help her by taking the dates back. The shopkeeper refused to comply. I could not keep quiet. I told him, ‘Do you know who is asking you to take back the dates?

He is Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s)!’ Hearing this, the shopkeeper took back the dates from the girl and gave her the dirham. Then the Imam (a.s) addressed the shopkeepers, ‘Give to the poor to eat, your business will flourish!’ Now he moved to the fish market. And said, ‘Beware! Do not sell fish that has died inside the water, not caring for legitimate and taboo!’ He moved forward and entered the cloth merchant’s area. He asked one shopkeeper to give a cloak worth about 3 dirhams.

The person recognized the Imam (a.s) and welcomed him. But the Imam (a.s) did not buy the cloak from him. From another shop, he bought a cloak for three dirhams. When the Imam (a.s) returned to al-Rahbah, one person came and wanted to give him 1 dirham.