prepared the equipment for Hajj; the value of what I spent on buying camels, gear, servants, and other things was five thousand dinars, and I took another five thousand dinars with me. I set out toward Hajj, thinking that no man had ever left Talqan in a better state than mine, nor more learned, nor more knowing, nor more understanding, nor more virtuous.

By Allah, no sooner had I been hidden from the city than misfortunes overtook me. I did not stop at any lodging except that I was afflicted therein, either by the death of a servant or something being lost. All those I knew from my town mocked me, saying: "Misfortunes only strike you and not us because you followed your father’s path and habit, which is extremism (ghuluw) and disbelief." Despite this, I remained patient. My affairs continued to diminish until I entered Mecca and nothing remained with me but a single Bactrian camel carrying my load and a slave who was among my special servants. When I entered Mecca, I rented a place to stay and worked on burying the money. The servant fell ill, so I went out to bring a doctor, then returned to find him dead. I felt a severe grief and a great anguish over him; his loss pained me. I went out and brought a shroud and a washer. When I had prepared him, taken him out, and buried him, I returned to my residence only to find that the money in the house had been taken. I looked, and there was nothing with me but the ihram cloth I was wearing.

I was anguished by that, my mind was scattered, and my intellect was dazed. I went out bewildered, not knowing what to do or which way to turn. I looked, and none of the people of my town or those who knew me was there except that they mocked me and were gladdened by my misfortune. I returned to my inner self and remembered a report I had related:

From Abu 'Abd Allah Ja'far ibn Muhammad — Exalted Glory — that he said: "There is no one of our Shia who is struck by a misfortune, or overtaken by a calamity, or tested by a trial, and remains patient for three consecutive days without complaining of