Charity
Hasan ibn Kuthayr reports: I was complaining about indigence and unkindness of brothers-in-faith to Imam al-Baqir (a.s) who said, “A brother who is fond of you when you are rich, but cuts off his relations with you when you are in need, is a bad brother!” Then the Imam ordered his slave to give me a purse of seven hundred Dirhams, saying, “Spend this for the moment and inform me when it comes to and end.”
Benevolence
The companions of Imam al-Baqir (a.s) report: the Imam allowed us to give away between five hundred and six hundred thousand Dirhams and he was never tired of giving gifts to brethren, emissaries and those who had set their hope on him.
Hospitality
Salma, a slave-girl of Imam al-Baqir (a.s), reports: the Imam’s brothers-in-faith would always come to visit him and the Imam too, received them with the best food, gave them a good garment and Dinars. I said to the Imam, “You will become needy as a result of this generosity!” The Imam would say, “O Salma! Good deeds are but giving gifts to brothers-in-faith and praiseworthy deeds. Imam al-Baqir would allow between five and six hundred thousand Dirhams to be given away to brothers-in-faith. He would never get tired of associating with his brethren, saying, “Recognize the actuality of the friendship of your brothers-in-faith from the feelings you have in your hearth towards him.” He was never heard calling anybody with disgraceful names; he would rather call them with their best names.
Praying Together
Imam al-Sadiq (a.s) has reported: Any time an event saddened my father, he would gather women and children and then raise his hands in prayer and they would say Amen.
Surrender To Allah
A group of people went to the presence of Imam al-Baqir (a.s). This visit coincided with the illness of one of his children. They found him sad and restless. They said, “By Allah, if anything happens to him, we might see from him what we do not approve of.” It was not long time when they heard the Imam wailing. He came back to his friends with open face. They said to him, “May we be your ransom! We were afraid that if something happened we would see you more sorrowful.” The Imam said, “We would like to see one whom we love safe and sound but there is Allah’s decree, we will surrender to what He loves.”