One day the Prophet (pbuh) was sitting in a circle with his
companions when a poor man came in. He was wearing
tattered clothes. It is the akhlaq of a ‘majlis’ to sit where there
is a vacant place and not look for a particular place.
The poor man saw a space and sat down. It so happened that
the space was near a rich man who gathered his clothes and
pulled them towards himself as if to create a space between
him and the poor man. It seemed that the rich man was
feeling a little uneasy.
The Prophet (pbuh) was watching the behaviour of the rich
man. He addressed him saying:
“Did you fear that some of his poverty might stick to you?”
The rich man replied:
“No! Ya Rasulallah! “
The Prophet (pbuh) asked:
“Did you fear that something out of your wealth might be
transferred to him?”
The rich man replied :
“No! Ya Rasulallah!”
The Prophet (pbuh) asked a further question:
“Did you fear that your clothes might get dirtied by touching
his clothes?”
The rich man replied:
“No! Ya Rasulallah!”
“Then why did you move yourself away from him?” asked the
Prophet (pbuh)
The rich man replied:
“Ya Rasulallah! I admit I made a grave mistake. I would like to
make amends and I would like to give half my wealth to this
Muslim brother of mine.”
When the poor man heard his words he said:
“Ya Rasulallah! I don’t want to take his offer!”
The companions who were present there were surprised and
said : “Why?”
The poor man replied:
“I fear that with the wealth I am offered I
too may become proud and one day may
make one of my brothers in Islam feel
small in the way in which he (the rich man)
has treated me today.”
Excellent Stories Vol 1