Islam Guidance

One day Bohlool arrived at Abbasid Caliph Harun Al-Rashid's palace and saw that the throne was empty. There was no one to stop him, so he unhesitatingly and fearlessly went and sat in Abbasid Caliph Harun Al-Rashid's place. When the court slaves saw this, they immediately started whipping him and took him off the throne. Bohlool started crying.
Abbasid Caliph Harun Al-Rashid came and saw this; he asked those nearby why Bohlool was crying. A slave told him the whole story. Abbasid Caliph Harun Al-Rashid scolded them and tried to cheer Bohlool up.
Bohlool said he was not crying at his condition, but at Abbasid Caliph Harun Al-Rashid's condition. "I sat on the seat of Caliphate wrongfully for a few seconds and received such a beating and endured such misfortune; but you have been sitting on this throne all your life! What troubles you must receive, yet you still don't fear the consequence."

Ref: Islamic Occasions.com

Harun al-Rashid, the Abbasid Caliph, once arranged for an old man in Yemen who had seen the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H&H.P) personally to come to Baghdad and visit him. As the old man was very weak, he was brought on a stretcher. On entering his court, Haroon welcomed and made the Old man sit beside his throne. He then asked him whether he had seen the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H&H.P) personally. The Old man in his weak and lowly voice replied:
“Yes, I used to sit near the pulpit and hear his hadiths (sayings)”.
Harun asked him to describe the main features and appearance of the Prophet and he said:
“The Prophet looked handsome and of sound physique. He had black and curly hair. His face was luminescent. He was fond of perfume and made use of it so much so that his fragrance would remain behind for quite some time wherever he passed”.
Harun then asked whether he remembered any saying of the Prophet. The Old man said that he could still remember one in which he said:
“Man grows old but two qualities in him remain young; greed and far-flung hopes”.
Harun was very happy to meet the Old man and hear from him about the Prophet. He then instructed to his people to present him with a handsome gift of money and return him home to Yemen comfortably. As he was being carried away, the Old man asked to be returned to the Caliph as he had an important matter to discuss with him. On arrival in the court, the Old man said:
“O’ Caliph! Tell me whether this gift of money you gave me was only the first and the last or whether I should come every year to receive a similar gift from you?”
On hearing this, Haroon laughed and said:
“You had rightly quoted the Prophet as saying that the two qualities of greed and long hopes remain young and active even in old age”.
Harun then promised the Old man that he could expect repeated gifts as long as he lived but alas! The greedy Old man was not even destined to enjoy the first gift he had received and died on his way to Yemen.
In order to free oneself from the evil of greed, one should think of the harmful consequences. One should realize that it is the characteristic of animals that are restricted in satisfying their desires. He should train himself to exercise self-control and have the virtue of contentment which enables one to satisfy himself with little and devote more time in the service of his Creator.  The instinct of greed should instead be applied for acquiring more knowledge and awareness and for earning more and more of the pleasure of Allah (S.W.T) in obedience to Him.
Imam Baqir (A.S) has compared the greedy with a silk-worm saying:
“The greedy man in his love of the world is like a silk-worm; the more it wraps itself in its cocoon, the less chance it has of escaping from it, until finally it dies of grief”.

Derived from: Almujtaba Islamic Articles Page

One day Harun was intoxicated and was sitting in a place on the corner of the river, busy watching the spectacle being made by the water waves. Meanwhile, Bahlool arrived. Harun gave a drunken laugh, and then gave Bahlool a happy, warm welcome, and ordered him to sit down.
A little while later Ha Harun said, " Bahlool, today I am going to ask you a matter. If you give the right answer I will give you 1,000 Dinars; if you can't answer, I will give the order to throw you from this palace into the river.
Bohlool said, "I don't have any need for the Dinars, but I will accept your offer on one condition."
Harun accepted so Bahlool said, "If I correctly answer your question then you must free 100 friends of mine that are in your prison; if I don't answer correctly, you have the right to throw me in the river."
So, Harun asked, "If I have one goat, one wolf, and a bundle of grass, and I want to get them one by one from this side to the other side of the river; then in which order should they be taken so that the goat can't eat the grass and the wolf can't eat the goat?"
"First leave the wolf and take the goat across the river. Then come back and take the grass, leave it there, but bring the goat back. Now leave the goat here and take the wolf to the other side. Leave it there, come back alone, and then take the goat. This way one by one, they can all be safely taken across the river. Neither will the goat eat the grass, nor will the wolf eat the goat."
Harun exclaimed, "Bravo! You gave the correct answer."
Then Bahlool told the names of his 100 friends who were all in all believers of the Holy Imam. The scribe wrote these names down; but when Harun received the list, saw and recognized the names, he broke his promise. Later, after listening to Bahlool again, he only freed and forgave ten people.

Ref: Shia Search