“I once said to abu al-Hassan (a.s.), ‘Please instruct me with good advice.’ He said, ‘I advise you to observe piety before Allah.’ He was silent for a while. I then complained to him about my poverty, saying, ‘By Allah, I do not have any clothes, and it is so much that abu so and so took off two pieces of his clothes so I can wear them.’ He said, ‘Fast and give charity.’ I then asked, ‘Should I give charity from what my friends have given to me, even if it is so little?’ He replied, ‘Give charity from what Allah has provided you, even if you have to give preference to others over yourself.’”