Sheikh Mateen Charbonneau Daily Updates

Visiting the less fortunate 

Muḥammad b. ʿAjlān said: I was with Abū ʿAbd Allah (as) when a man entered and gave the greeting of peace. So [the Imam] asked him: ‘How are those you left behind, of your brothers?’ 
So he beautified their praised, commended, and extoled them. 

So the Imam said to him: ‘And how do their wealthy visit their poor?’ 

So he said: ‘Very little.’ 

The Imam said: ‘So how do their wealthy see [to the needs] of their poor?’ 

He said: ‘Very little.’ 

The Imam said: ‘So how is the connection of their rich to their poor concerning what they possess?’ 

He said: You are describing manners rarely found among us. 

So the Imam said: ‘Then how do these people claim to be Shīʿa?’*

*Laws of Islam by Ayatollah Sayed Taqi Modaressi pages 291-292, 

Original source: Wasāʾil al-shīʿa, v. 6, p. 298, ḥ. 3