Maimoon Ibn Mahraan narrated:
I was sitting beside Imam Hasan (peace be upon him) when a man came up to him and said: O’ Son of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny)! I owe a person a debt but do not possess any money to repay it and so he intends to hurl me into prison.
The Imam (peace be upon him) said: Presently I do not possess any money by which I can pay off your debt.The man pleaded: Then do something so that he does not put me into prison.
The Imam (peace be upon him) had been in a state of itekaaf, but he put on his shoes and intended to move out of the mosque whereupon I said to him: O’ Son of the Prophet of God! Have you forgotten that you are in a state of itekaaf (and you must not go out of the mosque)?
The Imam (peace be upon him) said: No! I have not forgotten. However I have heard from my father that the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) used to say: “One, who strives to fulfill a desire of his Muslim brother is like one who has spent nine thousand years, fasting during the days and worshipping during the nights. ( Riwaayat-ha Wa Hikaayat-ha, pg. 122; Daastaan-ha-e-Paraakandeh, vol. 2, pg. 152. )