NAHJUL BALAGHA
SERMON 125
Do you command me that I should seek support by oppressing those over whom I have been placed? By Alláh, I won’t do so as long as the world goes on, and as long as one star leads another in the sky. Even if it were my property, I would have distributed it equally among them, then why not when the property is that of Alláh. Beware; certainly that giving of wealth without any right for it is wastefulness and lavishness. It raises its doer in this world, but lowers him in the next world. It honours him before people, but disgraces him with Alláh. If a man gives his property to those who have no right for it or do not deserve it, Alláh deprives him of their gratefulness, and their love too would be for others. Then if he falls on bad days and needs their help, they would prove the worst comrades and ignoble friends.