To do away his exhaustion he came out of the well...

To do away his exhaustion he came out of the well; perspiration dripping from his holy forehead which he would clear by means of his fingers. A little later he once again entered the well, raising a din as he worked hard in it. While he (peace be upon him) was digging, all of a sudden, a fountain of water gushed out like the neck of a camel. The Imam (peace be upon him) immediately emerged from within the well and still perspiring, kept saying: This is charity! This is charity.

Bring me some ink and paper. I hurriedly brought some ink and paper for the Imam (peace be upon him), who wrote the following bequest: This is an endowment from the servant of God, Amirul Mu'mineen (peace be upon him) given to the needy ones of Medinah as charity – a charity that cannot be sold, gifted or transferred till for so long as God is the owner of the heavens and the earth, except if Hasan and Husain (peace be upon them) fall in need of it for then this well would become their property.

[^3] U'mar Ibn Muslim One day Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) inquired about one of his companions by the name of U'mar Ibn Muslim, whereupon a person informed him: He has confined himself to acts of worship and has totally abandoned his trade. Hearing this, the Imam (peace be upon him) said: Woe unto him! Does he not know that the prayers of one, who abandons his work and profession are not answered?

Continuing, the Imam (peace be upon him) related: When the second and third verses of the chapter al-Talaaq were revealed, stating: “And whoever is careful of (his duty to) Allah, He will make for him an outlet, And give him sustenance from whence he thinks not; and whoever trusts in Allah, He is sufficient for him” [^4] , some of the companions of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) enclosed themselves in their houses, abandoned their work and confined themselves in acts of worship, saying: God is sufficient for us to provide us sustenance.

When the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) was informed of this, he asked them: What has caused you to adopt this attitude? They replied: According to the second and third verses of the chapter al-Talaaq, God has taken upon Himself to provide us our sustenance and hence we have restricted our activities to acts of His worship!

The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) rebuked them saying: The prayers of one, who abandons his work and busies himself in worship, are not answered.