The upper hand and the lower

Hakim ibn Hizam asked the Prophet ﷺ for something, and was given it. He asked again, and was given it again. This happened more than once.

Then the Prophet ﷺ spoke to him about it directly. He told him, in substance, that this wealth is green and sweet — appealing to look at — and that whoever takes it without greed, with a contented heart, finds blessing in it, while whoever takes it out of greed is like someone who eats and is never satisfied.

And he told him that the upper hand — the one that gives — is better than the lower hand, the one that receives.

Hakim's response was immediate and total. He told the Prophet ﷺ that he would never again ask another person for anything as long as he lived.

He held to it. Both Abu Bakr and later Umar, as caliphs, offered him his due share of what was distributed to people in his position, and both times he refused it.