ʿUyūn akhbār al-Riḍā

31-203 Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Imran ad-Daqqaq - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Muhammad ibn Harun al-Sufi quoted on the authority of Ubaydillah ibn Musa Al-Royani, on the authority of Abdul Adheem ibn Abdullah Al-Hassani, on the authority of Imam Muhammad ibn Ali (a.s.), on the authority of his father Ar-Ridha’ (a.s.), on the authority of his father Musa ibn Ja’far (a.s.), on the authority of his father As-Sadiq Ja’far ibn Muhammad (a.s.), on the authority of his father (a.s.), on the authority of his grandfather (a.s.), “Salman invited Abu Dharr to his house - may God have Mercy upon them both. He brought two loaves of bread for him. Abu Dharr picked them up and looked at the back of them. Salman asked him, “Why did you do that?” Abu Dharr replied, “I wanted to make sure that they have not been baked incorrectly.” Salman got terribly angry and said, “How dare you pick at the bread to see if it is well-baked or not? I swear by God that the water under the Throne has been used in their baking. The angels have worked to make that water reach the winds. The wind has moved it to the clouds. The clouds have worked to send it to the Earth. Thunder and lightning have also been instrumental in this. Also the angels have worked to spread it over the right places on the Earth. The Earth has also worked on it. Wood, iron, animals, fire, firewood, salt and many other things which I did not mention have been at work to make this bread. How can you be grateful for this bread?” Then Abu Dharr said, “I shall repent to God and ask him to forgive me for what I have said. I also apologize to you for what I did which you disliked.” It has also been narrated that Salman invited Abu Dharr to his house and brought him one loaf of dry bread and wet it with some water from his jar. Abu Dharr said, “How nice it would be if there was some salt to eat with this bread.” Then Salman got up and went out. He pawned his jar to borrow some salt and took it to Abu Dharr. Abu Dharr took some of the bread, put some salt on it, ate it and said, “All praise be to God that made us content with our share of daily bread!” Then Salman told him, “If you were content I would not have had to pawn my jar!”