علي بن محمد

5. Ali ibn Muhammad in a marfu‘ manner has said the following: “’Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s.), would brush his teeth widthwise and eat using all of his fingers.’”

“When abu al-Hassan (a.s.), had lunch and the hand-basin was brought, he (the Imam) was the first to wash his hand while he (the Imam) was sitting in the middle of the assembly room, and he (the Imam) said, ‘Begin with one who is on your right side . 5 When one made wudu the servant wanted to remove the hand-basin, but abu al-Hassan (a.s.), said to him, ‘Leave it so that you can wash your hands in it . 555

“I once was with abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), and food was brought for us with kabab and other things in it, then a bowl of rice was brought. I ate with him (the Imam). He (the Imam) said, ‘Eat.’ I said, ‘I ate.’ He (the Imam) said, ‘Eat because the love of a brother (in belief) is proportionate with how much he eats from his food.’ He (the Imam) then marked with his finger in the bowl and said to me, ‘You must eat that after you have eaten.’ I then ate it.’”

Amir al-Mu'minin (as) used to say, "Among the rights of a scholar is that one must not overburden him with many questions nor should one pull on his garment (question excessively). When one would enter in his presence while other people are there one should offer general salutation to all of them and a special greeting directed towards the scholar only. One must sit before him and not behind him. One must not wink with his eyes nor make signal with one's hands and one must not excessively cite others by saying, "So-and-so said this" and "So-and-so said that" in contradiction to his words. One must not become impatient with the length of his companionship. For the scholar is like a date palm-you must wait patiently until something falls from it for you. And the scholar has a greater reward than one who fasts, prays, and fights in the way of Allah."