Assisting a Believer in his Needs

“Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, has created a creature among His creatures. He has chosen to make the wishes of the poor people of the Shi’a come true so that for such good deed they can be counted among those who deserve paradise. Try to be one of them, if you succeeded, so be it.’ The Imam then said, ‘For us, by Allah, is the Lord. We worship Him and do not consider anything equal to him.’”

“Helping to meet the needs of a believer is better than setting free one thousand slaves and better than donating one thousand horses loaded (with good) in the way of Allah.’’ Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from his father from Muhammad ibn Ziyad a Hadith similar to the two above Ahadith.

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.) has said, ‘Compete in al-Ma’ruf doing good to your brothers (in belief) and be of such people; in paradise there is a door called al-Ma’ruf through which no one can enter except those who have performed al-Ma’ruf (a virtuous deed) in the worldly life. If a servant (of Allah) walks to help his believing brother (in belief), Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, appoints two angels one from the right and one from the left to ask forgiveness for him from his Lord and pray for his wish to come true.’ The Imam then said, ‘By Allah, the Messenger of Allah becomes happier for the coming true of the wish of the needy believer than the needy believer himself.’”

“By Allah, performing one Hajj is more beloved to me than setting free of ten slaves and up to seventy slaves. If I look after a Muslim family, satisfy their hunger and clothe them to safeguard their dignity among the people it is more beloved to me than to perform Hajj ten times and so on up to seventy Hajj.”