Sayyid Ne’matullah Jazairi narrates in his book: “One year, a famine struck. During that period a preacher, from atop the pulpit in the mosque, preached: “When one desires to give charity, seventy Satans cling onto his hands to prevent him from giving it.”
Hearing this, a person said to his friends in amazement: “Giving charity has no such thing associated with it. I have some wheat present in my house which I shall immediately bring to the mosque and distribute amongst the poor.”
With this in mind, he set off for his house. When he reached home and informed his wife of his intention, she began to reprimand him saying: “In this period of drought do you not have consideration for your wife and child? Maybe the drought will extend for a long time, in which case we shall die of hunger and …”
In short, she rebuked him to such an extent that eventually the man returned to the mosque empty-handed.
His friends asked him: “What happened? Did you see how seventy Satans clung to your hand and prevented you?”6
The man said: “Honestly speaking, I did not see the Satans, but I certainly saw their mother, who prevented me from performing this good deed.””( Iblis Nameh, pg. 60; Anwar al-Nu’maniyyah, vol. 3, pg. 96 )