Letter 21

The following is a letter from Imam Ali (a) to Ziyad.

Give up extravagance and be sparing and moderate in your expenditure. Do not let the pleasures of today make you forget the tomorrow, the Day of Reckoning and Judgement. Keep money with you strictly according to your real requirements and give away the rest to the poor so that it may act as a provision for you in the next world. Do you expect Allah to grant you rewards reserved for courteous, kind and benevolent people, while you actually are proud, vain, haughty and miserly? Do you hope to receive His Blessings reserved for charitable, generous and kind-hearted persons who always help the poor and the needy, while you, rolling in wealth and luxuries, prevent any part of your wealth from reaching the disabled persons and poverty-ridden old widows?

Remember a man receives the reward according to actions he has done in this world because in the next world only the result of such deeds as he has done during his lifetime shall reach him.