Piety of Abu Hanifah

Abu Hanifah, the famous scholar (may Allah have mercy on him) and a man from Basrah were partners in a business.

On one occasion, Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) sent 70 expensive garments to him, sending with them a note informing the man, "One of them is defective, and it is such and such garment, so when you sell it make sure that you point out the defect." The man sold it for 30,000 dirhams, and when he came with the money to Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him), he asked, "Did you point out the defect?", the man replied, "I forgot."

Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) took nothing from the profit, but instead gave it all in charity.

Moral

From this story we learn about the righteous character of Imam Abu Hanifah, and how the Muslims in the past were extremely careful regarding how they earned their money, unfortunately in recent times cheating and selling forbidden produce has become common amongst the Muslims and thus the income we earn is becoming void of the blessings of Allah. A small halaal income is far better than a large corrupt one.