Al-Kafi 9347

Translation

Muhammad Bin Yahya, from Ahmad Bin Muhammad, from Ibn Fazal, from Abu Umara Al Tayyar who said, ‘I said to Abu Abdullah^asws, ‘My wealth has gone and whatever was in my hands has dispersed, and my dependants are many’. So Abu Abdullah^asws said to him: ‘When you proceed to Al-Kufa, so open a door of your shop and spread out your spread sheet, and place your scale, and turn to your Lord^azwj for the sustenance’. He (the narrator) said, ‘So when he opened a door of his shop and spread his spread sheet and placed his scale, so the ones around him were astounded as there was nothing in his house, little nor more from the goods, nor was there anything with him. So a man came over and he said, ‘Buy some garments for me’. He said, ‘So I bought for him (on credit) and took its price’, and the price came to be with him. Then another one came over, so he said to him, ‘Buy some garments for me’. He said, ‘So I sought for him in the market, then I bought some garments for him, and I took its price’. So it came to be in his hands. And such is how the merchants dealt, some of them taking from the others. Then another man came over to him, so he said to him, ‘O Abu Umara! There is a bag of cotton with me, so would you like to buy it, and I shall delay its payment for you for a year?’ So he said, ‘Yes, carry it and come over to me with it’. So he carried it and I bought it from him with a year’s delay (credit)’. So the man arose and went away. Then a man (customer) came from the people of the market, so he said to him, ‘O Abu Umara! What is this bag?’ He said, ‘This is a bag which I have bought’. He said, ‘So sell me half of it and I shall make immediate payment to you for it’. He said, ‘Yes’. So he bought it from it, and he gave him half the merchandise and took half the price. He (the narrator) said, ‘So the remainder came to be in his hands for a year. He said that he went on to buy a garment and two garments with its price, and display it, and buy and sell, until he was enriched, and (was able to) show his face, and attained credibility (as a trader)’.

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