It is incumbent upon you to work and earn your sustenance.

It is incumbent upon you to work and earn your sustenance. [^5] To Work is Better than Consuming Charity Once the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) was informed that a person from Madinah had become afflicted with abject poverty. He (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) said: Bring him to me!

When some people brought the person before him, he (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) said to him: Bring whatever you possess in your house; do not regard anything as insignificant. The person went home and returned with a bowl and sackcloth. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) placed them for auction, and they were eventually purchased by a person for two dirhams.

Handing over the money to the poor Muslim, the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) advised: Utilize one dirham to buy some food for your family and use the other dirham to purchase an axe for yourself.

The man did as instructed; purchasing an axe he approached the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny), who then said to him: Go into the desert and collect firewood; collect every piece of wood that you find and do not consider anything to be trivial and insignificant, and then proceed to sell them. He went away and begun to act as per the instructions of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny).

Fifteen days later his financial state had improved; he came to the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) who said to him: It is better for you that you work and earn your wage rather than take charity and enter the plains of Qiyaamah on the Day of Judgment with the ugly sign of charity manifesting upon your face. [^6] Putting the Soul to Labour Fadhl Ibn Abi Qarrah relates: Once when we approached Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), we found him hard at work in his field.

Observing this, we said to him (peace be upon him): May we be made your ransom! Either permit us to do the work or let your servants do it. The Imam (peace be upon him) said: No. Let me work. I desire that I meet God after having exerted myself and worked by my own hands in seeking lawful sustenance. He (peace be upon him) then added: Even Ali (peace be upon him) used to inconvenience himself for the purpose of procuring lawful income.

[^7] Ya’qub Ibn Laith Saffaar All the rulers of the Saffaar dynasty had been Shiites and their rule had extended for a period of fifty six years.