Hadith 121

(The book) ‘Al Kafi’ – Muhammad Bin Yahya, from Ahmad Bin Muhammad, from Ali Bin Al-No’man, from Ibn Muskaan, from Al-Hassan Al-Sayqal who said: I heard Abu Abdullah-asws saying that a friend of Ali-asws does not eat except for the Permissible because his Master-asws was like that, and the friend of Usman does not care whether he eats the Permissible or the Prohibited because his master was like that’. He (the narrator) said, ‘Then he-asws returned to the mention of Ali-asws, and he-asws said; ‘But, by the One Who-azwj Took his-asws soul, he-asws did not eat anything Prohibited in the world, be it little or a lot, until he-asws departed from it. And there were not presented to him-asws two matters both of them in obedience to Allah-azwj except that he-asws chose the more difficult one of the two for his-asws body, and there did not descend any difficulty upon the Rasool-Allah-saww at all except that he-asws faced it, being relied upon for it. And no one from this community can endure the deeds of the Rasool-Allah-saww after him-saww apart from him-asws. And he-asws would work like a man as if he could see into the Paradise and the Fire, and he-asws had freed one thousand slaves from his-asws wealth. All of that was from what he-asws had worked by his-asws own hands, making his-asws forehead perspire for the Sake of Allah-azwj Mighty and Majestic, seeking to be free from the Fire. And there was no meal for him-asws except for the vinegar and oil, and the sweetness of the dates if he-asws could find them. And his-asws clothing was the cotton. If he-asws found excess in his clothes, he-asws would call for the scissors and cut it off’’. [60]