Fear God, and strengthen yourself such that you need not ask others to fulfill your needs

Feb 15, '13 11:15 AM for everyone

Imam Sadiq (a.s) narrated that when life got difficult for one of the companions of the Prophet, his wife told him to go and ask God's Prophet (a.s) to help them. The man went to see the Prophet. When the Prophet saw him, he said: 

"Whoever asks us to help him, we will grant him (something), but whoever seeks independence, God will make him independent." The man thought that the Prophet was referring to  him, and went to his wife and told her what had happened. His wife said: "God's Prophet is a human, too. You should have told him about our situation." 

The man went see the Prophet, but again as soon as the Prophet saw him he repeated what he had said before. This was repeated three times until he decided to go and borrow  a pick, go to the top of the mountains and use it to collect some wood. He sold the wood in exchange for some flour that he took home to eat. He continued working, and saved up some money and bought his own pick. Then he bought two camels and two slaves. He continued to work until he became rich. Then he went to the Prophet and told him what he had come for and what he had heard the Prophet say. 

The Prophet again said: "I told you whoever asks us for something, we will grant it to him, but whoever seeks independence God will make him independent." 

Imam Baqir (a.s) said: "Whoever takes a loss easily is physically in comfort." 

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: "The best form of comfort is being independent of people." 

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: "Asking people to give you what you need will ruin your honor and eliminate shyness, but seeking independence from people will be a source of honor for a believer in his religion, and greed is exactly the same as the present poverty."  

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: "Asking people to give you what you need is the root of the existing poverty." 

Imam Baqir (a.s) said: "Do not place any hopes in what is in the hands of the people. This will make you independent, Do not be greedy since greed is the root of the present poverty."  

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: "Fear God, and strengthen yourself such that you need not ask others to fulfill your needs. Know that if you humiliate yourself by asking for something that an oppressive king or one who opposes your religion has, God will be angry with you and make you unknown and leave you to yourself. And if you get some control over a part of the domain of the rule of the king, God will take away all 

blessings, and will not reward you for any of your good deeds such as going on holypilgrimage or freeing a slave