1279 - النَّهيُ عَنِ الامتِنانِ بِالمَعروفِ‏

1279. PROHIBITION OF MAKING SOMEONE FEEL OBLIGED FOR AN ACT OF COURTESY

4176.الإمامُ عليٌّ عليه السلام: أحْيِ مَعروفَكَ بِإماتَتِهِ .¹

4176.Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Give life to your act of courtesy by killing it [i.e. by killing your expectation of receiving anything in return].’²

4177.الإمامُ عليٌّ عليه السلام : إذا صُنِعَ إلَيكَ مَعروفٌ فَاذكُرْ ، إذا صَنَعتَ مَعروفاً فَانْسَهُ .³

4177.Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘If an act of courtesy is done unto you, then be sure to remember it, and if you do an act of courtesy unto someone else, then be sure to forget it.’⁴

4178.الإمامُ عليٌّ عليه السلام: مِلاكُ المَعروفِ تَركُ المَنِّ بِهِ .⁵

4178.Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘The yardstick [used to measure the goodness] of an act of courtesy is the absence of expectation accompanying it.’⁶

(اُنظر) الصدقة : باب 1117 .

(See also: CHARITY: section 1117)

1278 - تَداوُلُ الأيدي فِي المَعروفِ‏

1278. CIRCULATION OF GOOD ACTS FROM HAND TO HAND

4174.رسولُ اللَّهِ صلى اللَّه عليه وآله : مَن تَصَدَّقَ بِصَدَقَةٍ عَلى‏ رَجُلٍ مِسكينٍ كانَ لَهُ مِثلُ أجرِهِ ، ولَو تَداوَلَها أربَعونَ ألفَ إنسانٍ ثُمّ وَصَلَت إلى‏ مِسكينٍ كانَ لَهُم أجراً كامِلاً .¹

4174.The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘He who offers charity to a poor man gets the reward befitting the action, but if forty thousand people pass the same offering from hand to hand until it reaches the poor man, they all receive a complete reward for it.’²

4175.الإمام الصّادقُ عليه السلام : لَو جَرَى المَعروفُ عَلى‏ ثَمانينَ كَفّاً لَاُجِروا كُلُّهُم فيهِ ، مِن غَيرِ أن يُنقَصَ صاحِبُهُ مِن أجرِهِ شَيئاً .³

4175.Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘If an act of charity [or courtesy] goes through eighty changes of hands, all of them receive the reward for it, without any decrease in the reward of the initiating good-doer.’⁴