Ameerul Momineen went to enquire about the health of his companion Ala bin Ziad-el-Harisi and when he noticed the vastness of his house he said:
What will you do with this vast house in this world, although you need this house more in the next world. If you want to take it to the next world you could entertain in it guests and be regardful of kinship and discharge all (your) obligations according to their accrual. In this way you will be able to take it to the next world.
Then Ala said to him: O' Ameerul Momineen, I want to complain to you about my brother Asim ibn Ziyad. Imam enquired: What is the matter with him? Ala said: He has put on a woollen coat and cut himself away from the world. Imam said: Present him to me.
When he came Imam said: O' enemy of yourself. Certainly, the evil (Satan) has misguided you. Do you feel no pity for your wife and your children? Do you believe that if you use those things which Allah has made lawful for you, He will dislike you? You are too unimportant for Allah to do so. He said: O' Ameerul Momineen you also put on coarse dress and eat rough food.
Then he replied: Woe be to you, I am not like you. Certainly, Allah, the Sublime, has made it obligatory on true leaders that they maintain themselves at the level of low people so that the poor do not cry over their poverty.
