Mu’ali bin Khonis – who is one of the companions of Imam Jafar Sadiq (peace be upon him) and one of the hadith narrators – narrates:
On a dark and rainy night, Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) left her house and went to the neighborhood of Bani Saedeh, and I followed him.
On the way, something fell from his hand on the ground, he said: Oh God! Give it back to us.
I went forward and greeted him. After answering the greeting, Hazrat said: Are you a Mo’ali?
I said: Yes, I will sacrifice you.
He said: near by here pay close attention and draw your hand on the ground, if you find something, pick it up and give it to me.
Moali says: I did some research and searched on the ground until I found a basket with bread in it.
I took it and handed it over to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) and said:
O my lord! Let me carry it and bring it with you?
Hazrat said: No, I myself am more deserving for this matter; But if you want, you can accompany me.
Mo’ali said: I also moved with Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) until we reached the neighborhood of Bani Saedeh, and I saw people there who were sleeping.
When he reached each of those people, he would take a loaf of bread from the basket and put it next to him. And in the same way, until the last person, he gave each one a loaf of bread; And then we came back together.
On the way, I said to the Prophet: O son of the Messenger of God! Those who didn’t notice and didn’t recognize you?!
He said: No, if I wanted them to notice, I should have brought them salt too.
And then he added: God has placed the affairs of all things in the hands of the angels for the purpose of calculation
Except the charity, which he directly receives and makes it a subject of calculation and reward.
After that he said: Whenever my father, Imam Muhammad Baqir, peace be upon him, gave charity to a poor person, he would put it in the poor person’s hand and kiss his own hand. Because charity will be noticed by God before it reaches the beggars and the poor. [1]
Also it’s mentioned:When the darkness of the night covered everywhere, Imam Jafar Sadiq (peace be upon him) would take a bag and put bread and meat in it and carry it on his shoulder. And he also took some money and took it to the residence of the needy and destitute of the people of Medina; And he would divide them among them, without them knowing the Imam (peace be upon him).
And when that Imam was martyred and joined the meeting of Allah, the poor people saw that unknown person was not coming again, after a while they realized that he was Imam Jafar Sadiq (peace be upon him).
subscripts:
[1] Bihar al-Anwar: vol. 93, p. 6 125 and p. 8 127 and vol. 47, p. 20, h 17.
2] Ayan al-Shia, Vol. 1, p. 666.
