The Sixty-First Assembly, the Assembly of Friday, the Twenty-Fifth of the Month of Rabi` al-Akhir, 368 AH.

Ja`far b. al-Husayn رضي الله عنه narrated to us. He said: Muhammad b. Ja`far b. Batta narrated to us. He said: Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Khalid narrated to us from his father from Muhammad b. Sinan from `Abdullah b. Muskan from Abi `Abdillah al-Sadiq عليه السلام. He said: The most deserving of people to hope that the people become rich are the misers, because if the people become rich, then they will become needless of their wealth [and then no one would ask them for anything]. The most deserving of people to hope that the people become rectified are those with flaws, because if they become rectified, they will stop following up on their flaws. The most deserving of people to hope that the people become forbearing are the fools who need to be pardoned for their foolishness. However, the poor hope for the people to become poor, those with flaws hope that the people become flawed, and the fools hope that the people become foolish; even though poverty is the very thing that drives men to the miser's door (so his own wish brings the askers to him); corruption is the very thing that sets men digging for the shame of the faulty (so his own wish exposes him); and foolishness is the very thing that gets a man paid back in kind for his offences (so his own wish costs him the pardon he needs).