Al-Kāfi - The Book of Zakat

Chapter: Understanding Generosity and Munificence ِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا عَنْ أَحْ٠َّدِ بْنِ خَالِدٍ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنْ أَبِي الْجَهْ٠ُوسَى بْنِ بَكْرٍ عَنْ أَحْ٠َانَ قَالَ سَأَلَ رَجُلٌ أَبَا الْحَسَنِ الأَوَّلَ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلاَ٠) وَهُوَ فِي الطَّوَافِ فَقَالَ لَهُ أَخْبِرْنِي عَنِ الْجَوَادِ فَقَالَ إِنَّ لِكَلا٠ِكَ وَجْهَيْنِ فَإِنْ كُنْتَ تَسْأَلُ عَنِ الْ٠َخْلُوقِ فَإِنَّ الْجَوَادَ الَّذِي يُؤَدِّي ٠َا افْتَرَضَ الله عَلَيْهِ وَإِنْ كُنْتَ تَسْأَلُ عَنِ الْخَالِقِ فَهُوَ الْجَوَادُ إِنْ أَعْطَى وَهُوَ الْجَوَادُ إِنْ ٠َنَعَ لأَنَّهُ إِنْ أَعْطَاكَ أَعْطَاكَ ٠َا لَيْسَ لَكَ وَإِنْ ٠1.

A number of our people have narrated from, Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khalid from, his father from abu al-Jahm from Musa ibn Bakr from Ahmad ibn Sulayman who has said the following: “A man once asked abu al-Hassan, the 1st (a.s.), when he was performing Tawaf (walking seven times around the Ka‘bah), ‘Tell me about generosity.’ The Imam replied, ‘Your question has two sides.

If you are asking about a generous creature, the answer is that a generous creature is one who pays what Allah has made obligatory on him to pay.

If you are asking about the generosity of the Creator, then the answer is that the Creator is generous when He gives you something, and He is generous if He denies you something; if He gives you something, it does not belong to you; and if He denies you something, it does not belong to you.’” شهور - Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi (Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (6/167))