Zuhd of the Holy Prophet,Sallallahu ʿAlayhi waalihi

‘I came up to Abu Ja’far (asws) one day and (I felt that) he was resting (upon something) whilst eating, and he had been telling us that it is undesirable. So I looked at him, so he called me over to eat with him. When he had finished, he said: ‘O Muhammad, you had been thinking that no eye had seen the Rasulallah (saww) eating whilst leaning (upon something) from the time Allah (azwj) Sent him up to his passing away’. He (the narrator) said, ‘Then he referred to himself and said: ‘No! By Allah (azwj), no eye had seen his eating whilst leaning (upon something) from the time Allah (azwj) Sent him up to his passing away. Then said: ‘O Muhammad! Perhaps you think that he satiated himself from good bread for three continuous days from the time Allah (azwj) Sent him up to his passing away’. Then he referred to himself, then said: ‘No! By Allah, he did not satiate himself from good bread for three continuous days since Allah sent him up to his passing away. But, I am not saying that he could not find it, for he used to gift one man a hundred camels. Had he intended to eat it he would have eaten. And Jibra'il had come to him with the Keys of the treasures of the earth three times giving him the option without any reduction of anything from Allah from what Allah (azwj) had Prepared for him for the Day of Judgement. He chose the modesty to his Lord (azwj). And when asked for anything he never said, ‘No’, at all. He would say: ‘If I had it I would give it’. And if was not available, he would say: ‘It would come’, and whenever Allah (azwj) Gave anything at all he would hand it over to him, to the extent that if the man has been Given the Paradise, which Allah (azwj) would submit to him, then he would give it to him by his own hands’. And said: ‘Your Master (Amir-ul-Muminin) used to sit like the sitting of the slave, and eat like the eating of the slave, and would feed the people good bread and the meat, and would return to his family to eat bread with oil. And if he were to buy Al-Sunbulani shirt, then he would give his slave the choice of the better one, then would wear the remaining one. So if he would find a little excess he would withdraw it, and if his would feel that his heel had exceeded he would have removed it. No two matters would be referred to him at all for the sake of Allah except that he would opt for the more difficult one upon his body, and he was the ruler of the people for five years but did not place a brick upon a brick, and did not build a construction upon a construction, and did not acquire a piece of land, and did not leave a legacy behind him, white or red except for seven hundred Dirhams as a gifts, intending that he would buy a servant for his Family. No one could bear any of his works, and Ali Bin Al-Husayn (a.s.) used to look into a Book from the Books of Ali, so he would strike the ground with it and would say: ‘Who can endure this?’