Hawzah News Agency - Imam Abu Ja‘far (al-Baqir), peace be on him, renounced all the worldly pleasures. He turned away from the ornament of life. He did not furnished his house. Rather he spread out a mat at his sitting-place. He looked deeply at life. He considered carefully all its affairs. Thus, he renounced its pleasures and devoted himself to Allah through a repenting heart. Jabir b. Zayd al-Ju‘fi said: Muhammad b. ‘Ali (al-Baqir) said to me:

“Jabir, I am grieved and my heart is busy.”

“What is your grief? What has made your heart busy?” asked Jabir.

The Imam, peace be on him, spoke to him about what had made him grieved and made him renounce this world, saying:

“Jabir, whoever enters the religion of Allah, the Great and Almighty, through a pure heart, it (Allah's religion) diverts him from other than Allah.

Jabir, what is the world? What may it be? Isn't it a mere riding animal you ride or a garment you wear or a woman you marry?”

Taken from "The Life of Imam Muhammad ibn 'Ali al-Baqir" written by Baqir Sharif al-Qurashi