Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah

Hazrat Antarah, may Allah have mercy on him, says that my father was a friend of Qanbar. He says: I went with Qanbar to Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him. He (Qanbar) said: O Commander of the Faithful! Get up! Come with me. Indeed, I have kept some wealth hidden for you, may Allah be pleased with you. He, may Allah be pleased with him, went with him to his house. There was a basket filled with gold and silver. He said: O Commander of the Faithful! Indeed, you, may Allah be pleased with you, do not leave anything except that you distribute it or spend it. Upon this, he, may Allah be pleased with him, drew his sword and said: Destruction! Do you want to bring such a great fire into my house! Then, in his distraction, he, may Allah be pleased with him, straightened his sword and struck the basket, so that half and a third of it scattered between the broken vessels. He, may Allah be pleased with him, said: Call the supervisors to me. So they came. He, may Allah be pleased with him, said: Divide this wealth into portions. They did so, and he, may Allah be pleased with him, was saying: O gold and silver! Deceive someone other than me. And he, may Allah be pleased with him, was also reciting this verse: "This is my produce, and its best is in it, for every harvester puts his hand to his mouth." The narrator says: There were small and large needles in the treasury, which he, may Allah be pleased with him, used to collect from people as tax, according to the labor of their hands. He, may Allah be pleased with him, said to the supervisors: Distribute them. They said: We do not need to distribute them. He, may Allah be pleased with him, said: By Him in Whose hand is my soul, we will surely distribute this wealth along with its evil.