He continued to do so until he gathered enough capital to...

He continued to do so until he gathered enough capital to buy equipment and an animal to help him in transporting the firewood and in time he became very wealthy. Afterwards, he came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) and told him what happened. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said, "I told you that if one asks us for something, we will give it to him.

But if one shows freedom from want, God will make him free of want."[^2] A man came to the Most Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) and said, "I have not eaten for two days." He told him, "Go to the market and seek your daily bread there." The next day he came to him and said, "O Messenger of God, I went to the market yesterday, but I did not find anything and last night I slept without having eaten." He (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said again, "Go to the market." The third time he received the same response, he headed for the market and saw that a caravan had arrived.

He helped the people of the caravan to sell their products. In the end, they gave him a share of the profit they had made from the goods they sold. Once again, the man went to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) and said, "I did not find anything." He (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said, "Yes you did. They gave you a share." The man acknowledged this. "Then why did you lie?" the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) asked.

The man said, "You are right but I wanted to find out if you are aware of people's actions. I also wanted to get something from you." The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said, "One who shows freedom from want, God will make him free of want. And one who opens the door of begging for himself, God will open 70 doors of poverty for him that cannot be closed.

It is not permissible to give charity to one who is free of need or one who has healthy limbs giving him the strength to remove his state of need." [^3] [^1]: Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 103, p. 9. [^2]: ‘Usul al-Kafi, vol. 2, p. 112. [^3]: Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 18, p. 115. Previous…