تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 12.26.2

12.26.2

He once told me: "I left Baghdad as one of four, one of them being Muḥammad b. Abī al-Sharafī, his companion. We were on foot and had no provisions. We stopped at a spring of water in a certain village, and one of us found a dirham in the spring. We said: 'What shall we do with a dirham?' We agreed to buy bread with it and sent one of us to buy it. But the baker in that village refused to sell bread alone; he would only sell bread for a qīrāṭ and straw for a qīrāṭ. So he bought the bread and the straw from him; we threw away the straw, since we had no animal to eat it, and shared out the bread mouthful by mouthful! And today my condition has come to what you see." I said to him: "You ought to praise God for what He has granted you, and to favour the poor and the needy and give alms." He said: "I cannot do that!" I never saw him give anything generously or do any kindness. We seek refuge in God from stinginess!