Miserliness

Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Miserliness encompasses all vices, and it is a rein with which one is led to every defect.

Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Miserliness is [a source of] shame.

Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Miserliness is the garment of wretchedness.

Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Miserliness in giving [to others] what is at hand is a mistrust in God.

Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘A man who is miserly with his money will face humiliation, but a man who is miserly with his faith [i.e. he does not readily give it up] will be dignified.

Imam al-Hasan (AS), when his father asked him about greed, said, ‘[It is] when you count what is in your hands as a source of honour, while you count what you have given away as a waste.

Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘The miser is he who denies what is Allahs right, and spends instead for a purpose other than Allahs sake.

Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘Greed is worse than miserliness because a miser is parsimonious in spending what he has, whilst a greedy man covets that which others possess in addition to what he himself possesses, such that whatever he sees in the hands of others he wishes to be his; lawfully or unlawfully. He cannot be satiated, and nor does he derive any benefit from what Allah has granted him.

Imam al-Ridha (AS) said, ‘Miserliness rips ones honour apart.