Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Psychology of Religion Module

With Raymond F. Paloutzian Westmont College

Psychology

SEVENTH EDITION

John W. Santrock

University of Texas

Chapter Outline

Religious Motivation and Justification for Compassion and Violence 4

The Scope of Religion and Links Between Psychology and Religion. 5

The Scope of Religion. 5

The History of Psychology of Religion. 5

Psychology of Religion and General Psychology. 6

Psychological Models and Religion. 6

Defining Religion and Exploring the Psychology of Religion. 8

Defining Religion. 8

Dimensions of Religious Commitment 9

The Science-Versus-Religion Problem. 11

Religious Orientation. 11

Religious Development and Conversion. 13

Religious Development in Children and Adolescents 13

Developmental Changes 13

Religiousness and Sexuality in Adolescence 14

Fowler’s Developmental Theory. 15

EXPLORATIONS IN PSYCHOLOGY: The Exemplary Religious Life and Advanced  17

Religious Thought of Mother Teresa 17

Religion and Spirituality in Older Adults 17

Religious Conversion. 18

Defining Conversion and Types of Conversion. 18

Conversion Processes 18

Conversion and Personality Change 19

Religious Experience, Attitudes, Behavior, and Health. 19

Religious Experience 20

Religious Attitudes and Behavior 21

The Religion-Prejudice Paradox. 21

Quest, and Means and Ends 21

Means and Ends 22

Religion and Physical Health. 22

Religion and Mental Health. 23

Coping. 23

Happiness 24

Religion and Cults 25

EXPLORATIONS IN PSYCHOLOGY: 27

David Koresh and the Branch Davidians 27

Discussion: Religion, Spirituality, and Cults 28

Exploring your Spiritual Well-Being. 28

Scoring and Interpretation. 28

SUMMARY. 30

Overview. 30

WEB LINKS. 35

GLOSSARY. 36

REFERENCES. 38

Religious Motivation and Justification for Compassion and Violence

It is well known historically that religion can be the springboard for love, acts of kindness and social compassion, but that it can also be used as a justification for evil deeds and violence. It has been one of the greatest forces in the history of human beings for positive and for negative ends. Let us briefly look at an example of each.

Osama Bin Laden led his al Queda fighters to destroy the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001, resulting in several thousand deaths, bringing fear and terror world wide and an unprecedented international cooperation to inhibit such acts on a global scale. Although the goals themselves were apparently political, one of the stated justifications for them was religious.

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) was one of this century’s most important figures in the United States. The son of a preacher, he received religious training himself, eventually being awarded a doctorate in theology from Boston University. As an African American minister in the South during the 1960s, King became actively involved in efforts to ease the plight of African Americans in such areas as housing, jobs, voting rights, equal access to education, and other civil rights issues. In the 1950s, he organized a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, as a way of protesting forced racial segregation in the city’s bus system. The boycott lasted 381 days, during which time his home was bombed, he received death threats, and he was jailed. At the end of it all, King’s efforts made an important difference: The United States Supreme Court ruled that it was illegal to have forced segregation in public transportation in the city.

Martin Luther King, Jr., became a renowned civil rights leader who led marches, rallies, and legal actions to promote racial equality. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for these efforts. Among the most important of his teachings was the concept that people should be judged not by the color of their skin but rather by their character. In 1968, at the height of social upheaval in the 1960s, King was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee. A hundred thousand people attended his funeral in Atlanta, Georgia. His birthday is now a national holiday.

Martin Luther King, Jr., was a religiously motivated man. What was the nature of this religious motivation? Sometimes people use their religion as a means to an end. For King, religion might have been a motivational springboard for seeking greater social equality between people from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

Most people’s religious lives do not make the news headlines as dramatically as the above two examples. But most people’s lives are involved in or affected by religion or religious issues in one way or another. This chapter will help you understand the psychological processes that explain how this works.

The Scope of Religion and Links Between Psychology and Religion

How many religious people are there?  Looking at news events and casual observation of various peoples and cultures would seem to suggest that people believe in and follow many diverse religions and faith traditions.  What do the data tell us?

The Scope of Religion

One psychologist commented that religion is gradually disappearing from the face of the earth, and that what remains of it exerts little influence in most cases (Beit-Hallahmi, 1989). How accurate is this belief? Probably not very accurate. In one recent survey of a diverse sample of Americans, 78 percent rated themselves as religious and 90 percent said they were spiritual (Zinnbauer & others, 1999). About 60 percent of individuals attend religious services and 95 percent say they believe in God. Seventy-five percent say they pray (Religion in America , 1993). Religion also is an important dimension of people’s lives around the world - 98 percent of the population in India, 88 percent in Italy, 72 percent in France, and 63 percent in Scandinavia say that they believe in God (Gallup, 1985). Of the world’s 6 billion people, approximately two-thirds are either involved in religion or have been affected by religion in important ways.

Interestingly, females have shown a consistently stronger interest in religion than males have (Bijur & others, 1993; Francis & Wilcox, 1998; Miller & Hoffman, 1996). They participate more in both organized and personal forms of religion, are more likely to believe in a higher power or presence, and feel, more than men do, that religion is a very important dimension of their lives. In one recent study, men viewed God as more controlling than women did (Krejci, 1998).

The worldwide interest in religion suggests that knowledge of the psychological dimensions of religion would improve our understanding of human behavior and mental processes. A psychology of mental processes and behavior would be incomplete without an exploration of the psychology of religion.

The History of Psychology of Religion

Psychology of religion is among both the oldest and the newest research areas in psychology. It was part of the field of psychology from the beginning. The famous psychologist William James wroteThe Varieties of Religious Experience in 1902, shortly afterThe Psychology of Religion (Starbuck, 1899) was published. One of the first journals on any topic in psychology was titledThe American Journal of Religious Psychology and Education , and books were written about adolescent religious awakening and conversion.

Psychology of religion flourished until the 1930s but then remained dormant for about three decades. In the last several decades, a renewed interest in psychology of religion has emerged. A number of books and a host of empirical studies suggest that it is once again a viable area in the discipline of psychology (Batson, Schoenrade, & Ventis, 1993; Hood & others, 1996; Paloutzian, 1996; Wulff, 1997). Psychologists involved in the psychology of religion today work in a wide variety of settings, including colleges and universities, hospitals, clinics, counseling centers, churches and synagogues, schools, research institutes, and private practice.

Psychology of Religion and General Psychology

Areas in the study of psychology of religion and the study of psychology in general are directly linked. The main areas of inquiry in general psychology are the physiological mechanisms underlying behavior, sensation and perception, learning, cognition, human development, personality, social influences on behavior, and abnormal behavior. In psychology of religion, research is being conducted on the physiological or brain mechanisms that underlie religious experiences, and even on the possible genetic basis of religiousness (D’Onofrio & others, 1999; Waller & others, 1990); on self-perception of one’s own religious motivation and feelings (Hill, 1998); on how individuals can use the principles of cognition to understand their religious experience (McCallister, 1995); on the social psychological mechanisms involved in interpreting life circumstances in a religious way, such as attributing an event to God (Spilka & McIntosh, 1995); on links between personality and religion (Emmons, 1999; Piedmont, 1999); on stages of religious growth and development (Fowler, 1996); on whether religiousness promotes or impairs mental or physical health (Koenig, 1998; Plante & Sherman, 2001); and on the nature of religious persuasion (Rambo, 1993). Thus, for every main topic in general psychology, there is a parallel line of research in the field of psychology of religion (Paloutzian, 1996).

Psychological Models and Religion

Psychology of religion draws on a number of psychological models to explain religious thought and behavior (Miller & Jackson, 1995). Four such models are the behavioral model, the psychoanalytic or psychodynamic model, the humanistic model, and the sociocultural model. The behavioral model of religion emphasizes the importance of analyzing a person’s learning history to determine the extent to which, for that person, religious behavior has been and is being rewarded, punished, and imitated. By evaluating an individual’s learning history, we can determine the pattern of rewards and punishments the person has experienced for various aspects of religiousness. For example, a person who has been rewarded for attending church is more likely to attend church in the future than if she or he has been punished for attending. Similarly, if children imitate parents’ prayer behavior and this imitation is approved by the parents, the probability that the children will engage in prayer behavior as adults is increased.

The psychoanalytic (or psychodynamic) model of religion emphasizes that the key to understanding religiousness resides deep within the unconscious mind. Individuals are believed to have instinctual needs that they are not aware of, such as needs for safety and security, which can be met by relating to a higher power. For example, individuals who as children were not nurtured in a secure, loving way by their parents might develop an unconscious insecurity as adults. One way to satisfy this insecurity is to identify with God as a protector and provider. In ways like this, human unconscious needs can be met through religion.

The humanistic model of religion emphasizes that a person’s most important needs include needs for growth, purpose, and self actualization. Humans have innate tendencies to fulfill their potential and express their values. Religion serves as an important vehicle for fulfilling potential and expressing values.

The sociocultural model of religion emphasizes that individuals adopt a particular religious stance because of the experiences they have in the culture in which they live. Most people learn religion from the cultural group into which they are born. For example, someone who grows up in Rome is likely to be Catholic, while someone who grows up in Iran is likely to be a Muslim.

Does one of the aforementioned models provide a better model for psychology of religion than the others? Not necessarily. Like virtually all areas of psychology, the psychology of religion contains many viable approaches that can be used in combination to better understand the nature of religious life.

Defining Religion and Exploring the Psychology of Religion

Can we define what religion is? What are the dimensions of religious commitment? Are science and religion incompatible? What is the nature of religious orientation?

Defining Religion

Defining religion is an inordinately difficult task, complicated by the wide range of religions in the world, their complex histories, and their cultural meanings (Pargament, 1997).

One way to define religion is in terms of its functional nature. For example, psychology of religion scholar Daniel Batson and his colleagues (Batson, Schoenrade, & Ventis, 1993) stated that religion is what a person does to answer the basic existential questions of life (questions having to do with the nature of human beings’ existence). Such questions include these:

•Why am I here?

•What does life mean in general?

•What does my particular life amount to?

•What happens when I die?

Batson believes that people can answer these questions in many ways. Some answers emphasize institutional religious affiliation (such as being a member of the Catholic or Baptist church); others emphasize unique meanings of religion to the individual. Although Batson’s functional, existential definition is instructive, it is inadequate as a comprehensive definition of religion, because many people are religious for reasons not having to do with existential issues. For example, some individuals grow up being taught a specific religion, such as Catholicism or Islam, and believe in their faiths without ever concerning themselves with existential questions. Thus, if we adopted Batson’s definition of religion, someone like this - who practices Catholicism or Islam without exploring existential questions - would have to be labeled “nonreligious” even though they believe in and practice a major world religion.

According to Finnish researcher Kalevi Tamminen (1991), religiousness also involves a conscious dependency on a deity or God. Tamminen argues that this dependency or commitment is reflected in an individual’s experiences, beliefs, and personality, motivating the individual to engage in a variety of behaviors, such as devotional behavior and moral behavior. This definition encompasses individuals’ thoughts and feelings about their beliefs, as well as the beliefs themselves. However, this definition is also somewhat inadequate because not all religions are theistic (a term that means believing in a God or deity), and some psychologists - especially those of a psychoanalytic persuasion - emphasize the unconscious rather than the conscious bases of human religiousness.

The psychology of religion emphasizes the importance of operationally defining the aspects of religiousness that are being studied (Johnson, Mullins, & Burnham, 1993; Spilka, 1993). Anoperational definition is a statement of what a construct is in terms of the procedures or methods used to assess it. For example, the construct of intelligence might be operationally defined in terms of scores on an IQ test. Aggression might be operationally defined as the number of times a person yells or hits in a specified period of time. There are many ways to operationally define religiousness, including frequency of church attendance, degree of belief in religiously orthodox doctrinal statements (such as statements about the virgin birth, the resurrection of Jesus, the authority of Muhammad, the literality of the Exodus), degree of intrinsic versus extrinsic religious motivation, and degree of spiritual well-being.

In one recent study, the link between religion and sexuality was confirmed (Fehring & others, 1998). In college students, guilt, prayer, organized religious activity, and religious well-being were associated with fewer sexual encounters.

Are religion and spirituality the same or different? Some psychologists of religion use the terms religion and spirituality interchangeably (Spilka & McIntosh, 1996). More often, however, spirituality and religion are teased apart (Emmons & Paloutzian, in press; Wulff, 1997). Two contrasts are common (Pargament, 1997). In the first, religion is defined as the institutional, the organizational, the ritual, and the ideological, whereas spirituality is defined as the personal, the affective, the experiential, and the thoughtful. This contrast includes the idea that an individual can be spiritual without being religious or religious without being spiritual. A second contrast between religion and spirituality involves reserving the term spiritual for the loftier side of life with spirituality - the search for meaning, for unity, or connectedness, for transcendence, and for the highest level of human potential. The term religion is correspondingly reserved for institutionalized activity and formalized beliefs, things that can be seen as peripheral to spiritual tasks. The trend in defining religion is moving away from a broad conceptualization of the institutional and the individual toward a more narrow definition in terms of the institutional side of life. The trend in defining spirituality is to describe it in terms of individual expression that speaks to a person’s highest level of human functioning (Emmons, 1999). Despite such trends, there is still a great deal of controversy about how to define religion and spirituality. Many psychologists of religion still believe that religion can be expressed both institutionally and individually, and that spirituality is a core dimension of the psychology of religion (Pargament, 1997; Zinnbauer, Pargament, & Scott, 1999).

Dimensions of Religious Commitment

Our exploration of the definition of religion suggests that the concept of religion is multifaceted and multidimensional. The dimensions of religious commitment include religious belief, religious practice, religious feeling, religious knowledge, and religious effects (Glock, 1962).

Religious belief is the ideological dimension and doctrine of religious commitment - the content of what someone believes. For example, one person might believe that Jesus was the Messiah and rose from the dead, whereas another person might believe that the Messiah has not yet come. These individuals’ theologies differ in doctrinal content.

Religious practice is the ritualistic dimension of religious commitment - the behaviors someone is expected to perform as part of a particular religion. The religious practice could include singing, chanting, scripture reading, going to confession, or bowing to a stick or a stone. It is important to note that these acts are part of what defines religion rather than merely consequences of it.

Religious feeling is the experiential dimension of religious commitment, which consists of the emotions, states of consciousness, or sense of well-being, dread, freedom, or guilt that are part of a person’s religiousness. For example, the sense of awe that people might feel when thinking about the supernatural, the sense of purpose that individuals might experience when they believe that their life is directed by God, and the sense of guilt persons might feel when they violate religiously taught moral requirements are all aspects of the experiential dimension of religious feeling.

Religious knowledge is the intellectual dimension of religious commitment - what a person knows about the belief. Common sense suggests that the belief dimension has two simple categories - those who believe and those who do not - but it might also be conceived as a continuum. Similarly, the knowledge dimension stretches along a continuum of possibilities that range from those who know a great deal about a particular religion to those who know absolutely nothing. Crossing religious belief categories with religious knowledge categories generates some intriguing portrayals. For example, consider the knowledgeable believer and the ignorant believer. Imagine also someone who has “blind faith” - that is, someone who claims strong belief yet has little knowledge about what he or she claims to believe. Such people do exist. And think about someone who is highly knowledgeable about a religion, yet rejects it. These people also exist.  Much can be learned by exploring the various combinations that can be achieved by crossing religious belief and religious knowledge.

Religious effects refer to the consequential dimension of religious commitment - the behaviors a person engages in during everyday life that are due to her or his religious beliefs. Religious prescriptions for everyday morality fit this category. For example, consider a man who experiences a religious conversion and as a consequence alters his behavior from abusing his wife to not abusing her. Consider also that, in repeated Gallup surveys, individuals who attend church or synagogue services on a weekly basis report more than twice as many volunteer hours spent in helping the poor and the sick, compared to individuals who never or infrequently attend services. And in one recent study, a commitment to religion was associated with giving to the poor (Regnerus, Smith, & Sikkink, 1998).

An important final point about religious commitment needs to be made. Religious commitment has both positive and negative aspects (Hill, 1998). It is a consistent negative predictor of drug abuse (Gorsuch, 1995), has consistent positive links with marital adjustment and family stability (Hansen, 1992), and is associated in many ways with how people construct a life that they feel is meaningful (Silberman, in press).  However, certain types of religion appear to be related to prejudice and discrimination (Hunsberger, 1995) and to some forms of child abuse (Bottoms & others, 1995). Some experts on the psychology of religion argue that the negative effects of religion occur mainly when a religion is too rigid or is misused, as when it is used to manipulate and control others (Koenig & Larson, 1998). Some clinical psychologists, such as Albert Ellis (1962), argue that excessive religion can produce depression or other mental disorders in some individuals. Others say religion can saddle people with too much guilt. A century ago, William James (1902) distinguished between sick-souled and healthy-minded religion. Today, experts in the psychology of religion continue to believe, like James did a century ago, that religion cannot be given the simple label of good or bad.

The Science-Versus-Religion Problem

It is important to notice that psychology (like any other science) is not necessarily in conflict with religion (Jones, 1994). Some scientists’ conclusions might appear to be in conflict with some specific religious beliefs (as in the evolution-versus-
creation controversy), but such differences are the exception. For the most part, scientists’ views are compatible with, rather than in opposition to, religious teaching. Consider the views of leading neuroscience researcher Candace Pert (1986), who says that she sees constant signs of God’s presence in the beauty of the brain and its order. Contemporary research on the brain and cognition is yielding a portrait of human consciousness that is compatible with spiritual conceptualizations (Hill, 1998; Sperry, 1988).

With regard to psychology and religion, it is not unusual to hear someone say, “Either God did this, or it was psychological, but it was not both.” For example, some might argue that religious conversion is due to God and therefore cannot be explained psychologically. Such reasoning is incorrect, according to psychology of religion scholars (Paloutzian, 1996). There is nothing in psychology’s theories or methods as a scientific discipline that somehow makes psychology automatically contrary to religious teaching. Take religious conversion as an example. It is entirely legitimate to say that religious and psychological explanations can both be correct (or incorrect) at the same time. In other words, religious teachings about the possible supernatural cause of conversion could be true in principle and, likewise, psychological statements about the mental and emotional processes involved could be accurate as well. Thus, the either/or view (either a religious explanation or a psychological one, but not both) is inaccurate.

As you study the psychology of religion in this chapter, it will be helpful to remember that psychology can neither prove nor disprove either religion in general or any particular religion. However, psychology of religion can tell us much about how religion works in people’s lives.

Religious Orientation

One of the most important concepts in psychology of religion research since the 1960s is the concept of intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientation. The distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientation is intellectually related to the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in general motivational theory (Deci, 1975).

Intrinsic religious orientation involves religious motives that lie within the person; the person lives the religion. By contrast,extrinsic religious orientation involves personal motives that lie outside the religion itself; using the religion for some nonreligious ends. To better understand the distinction between these two religious orientations, consider the following two physicians. Physician Jones, as a consequence of her religious teachings about helping needy people in Third World countries, becomes a medical missionary and receives little money for doing so. Indeed, even the small amount she does receive has to be raised from individual supporters. In contrast, physician Smith practices medicine in Hollywood for movie stars and receives large fees for doing so. To which physician should we attribute an intrinsic, altruistic motive (her only desire is to help someone) and to which should we attribute an extrinsic, monetary motive? In this situation, we would infer that physician Jones’s behavior is intrinsically motivated and physician Smith’s is extrinsically motivated.

A sampling of questionnaire items that are designed to measure intrinsic and extrinsic religious motivation can help to clarify these concepts. Intrinsically motivated individuals are more likely to agree with statements like these:

•“I try hard to carry my religion over into all my other dealings in life.”

•“My religious beliefs are what really lie behind my whole approach to life.”

Extrinsically motivated individuals are more likely to agree with statements like these:

•“Although I believe in my religion, I feel there are many more important things in life.”

•“The primary reason for my interest in religion is that my church provides congenial social activities.”

A close examination of these statements reveals that intrinsically motivated religious individuals tend to agree with statements that involve a consistency between beliefs and behavior, whereas extrinsically motivated religious individuals tend to agree with statements that underscore using religion to get something out of it (Allport & Ross, 1967; Hill & Hood, 1999).

The distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic ways of being religious was initially seen as a way of describing genuine (intrinsic) and ingenuine (extrinsic) religiousness. It was said that intrinsically religious individuals live their religion while extrinsically religious individuals use it. The notion also included the idea that religion is a master motive in life for the intrinsically religious individual (Allport, 1966). As such, religion is an umbrella under which other motives operate. The concept of a master religious motive becomes especially important in mixed-motive circumstances. For example, imagine a circumstance in which a person’s religious motivation conflicts with his or her sexual or economic motivation. According to the original master-religious-motive conceptualization, the intrinsically motivated individual would be more likely to follow the teachings of his or her religion in mixed-motive situations, whereas the extrinsically motivated individual would be more likely to compromise the religious teachings.

So far, we would seem to have a clear-cut case that having an intrinsic religious orientation is good while having an extrinsic religious motivation is bad. However, religious orientation is not so simple. Later in this chapter we will discuss the complexity of intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations and learn that people can be both intrinsically and extrinsically religious in a variety of ways.

At this point we have discussed many different ideas about the scope of religion and linkages between psychology and religion, and we defined and explored the psychology of religion. A summary of these ideas is presented in the first half of summary table at the end of the chapter.

Religious Development and Conversion

What is the nature of religious development in children and adolescents? What might a life-span view of religious development be like? What is the nature of spirituality and religiousness in older adults? How does religious conversion unfold?

Religious Development in Children and Adolescents

Many children show an interest in religion, and religious institutions created by adults are designed to introduce children to certain beliefs and ensure that they will carry on a religious tradition. For example, societies have invented Sunday schools, parochial education, tribal transmission of religious traditions, and parental teaching of children at home so that children will come to hold the same beliefs and values as their parents.

Does this indoctrination work? In many cases it does. In general, adults tend to adopt the religious teachings of their upbringing. For instance, if individuals are Catholics by the time they are 25 years of age, and were raised as Catholics, they likely will continue to be Catholics throughout their adult years. If a religious change or reawakening occurs, it is most likely to take place during adolescence.

Religious issues are important to adolescents. In one recent survey, 95 percent of those 13 to 18 years old said that they believe in God or a universal spirit (Gallup & Bezilla, 1992). Almost three-fourths of adolescents said that they pray, and about one-half indicated that they had attended religious services within the past week. Almost one-half of the youth said that it is very important for a young person to learn religious faith.

Developmental Changes

Adolescence can be an especially important juncture in religious development. Even if children have been indoctrinated into a religion by their parents, because of advances in their cognitive development they may begin to question what their own religious beliefs truly are.

During adolescence, especially in late adolescence and the college years, identity development becomes a central focus (Erikson, 1968). Youth want to know answers to questions like these: “Who am I?” “What am I all about as a person?” “What kind of life do I want to lead?” As part of their search for identity, adolescents begin to grapple in more sophisticated, logical ways with such questions as “Why am I on this planet?” “Is there really a God or higher spiritual being, or have I just been believing what my parents and the church imprinted in my mind?” “What really are my religious views?”

The cognitive developmental theory of famous Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1952) provides a theoretical backdrop for understanding religious development in children and adolescents. For example, in one study children were asked about their understanding of certain religious pictures and Bible stories (Goldman, 1964). The children’s responses fell into three stages closely related to Piaget’s theory.

In the first stage (up until 7 or 8 years of age) - preoperational intuitive religious thought - children’s religious thoughts were unsystematic and fragmented. The children often either did not fully understand the material in the stories or did not consider all of the evidence. For example, one child’s response to the question “Why was Moses afraid to look at God?” (Exodus 3:6) was “Because God had a funny face!”

In the second stage (occurring from 7 or 8 to 13 or 14 years of age) - concrete operational religious thought - children focused on particular details of pictures and stories. For example, in response to the question about why Moses was afraid to look at God, one child said, “Because it was a ball of fire. He thought he might burn him.” Another child voiced, “It was a bright light and to look at it might blind him.”

In the third stage (age 14 through the remainder of adolescence) - formal operational religious thought - adolescents revealed a more abstract, hypothetical religious understanding. For example, one adolescent said that Moses was afraid to look at God because “God is holy and the world is sinful.” Another youth responded, “The awesomeness and almightiness of God would make Moses feel like a worm in comparison.”

Other researchers have found similar developmental changes in children and adolescents (Long, Elkind, & Spilka, 1967; Oser & Gmünder, 1991). For example, in one study, at about 17 or 18 years of age adolescents increasingly commented about freedom, meaning, and hope - abstract concepts - when making religious judgments (Oser & Gmünder, 1991).

Religiousness and Sexuality in Adolescence

One area of religion’s influence on adolescent development involves sexual activity. Although variability and change in church teachings make it difficult to characterize religious doctrines simply, most churches discourage premarital sex. Thus, the degree of adolescents’ participation in religious organizations may be more important than religious affiliation as a determinant of premarital sexual attitudes and behavior. Adolescents who attend religious services frequently may hear messages about abstaining from sex. Involvement of adolescents in religious organizations also enhances the probability that they will become friends with adolescents who have restrictive attitudes toward premarital sex. In one study, adolescents who attended church frequently and valued religion in their lives were less experienced sexually and had less permissive attitudes toward premarital sex than did their counterparts who attended church infrequently and said that religion did not play a strong role in their lives (Thornton & Camburn, 1989). In one recent study, the link between religion and sexuality was confirmed (Fehring & others, 1998). In college students, guilt, prayer, organized religious activity, and religious well-being were associated with fewer sexual encounters. However, while religious involvement is associated with a lower incidence of sexual activity among adolescents, adolescents who are religiously involved and sexually active are less likely to use medical methods of contraception (especially the pill) than are their sexually active counterparts with low religious involvement (Studer & Thornton, 1987, 1989).

Fowler’s Developmental Theory

James Fowler (1986, 1996) proposed a theory of religious development that focuses on the motivation to discover meaning in life, either within or outside of organized religion. Fowler proposed six stages of religious development that are related to Erikson’s, Piaget’s, and Kohlberg’s theories of development (Torney-Purta, 1993).

Stage 1. Intuitive-projective faith (early childhood). After infants learn to trust their caregiver (Erikson’s formulation), they invent their own intuitive images of what good and evil are. As children move into Piaget’s preoperational stage, their cognitive worlds open up a variety of new possibilities. Fantasy and reality are taken as the same thing. Right and wrong are seen in terms of consequences to the self. Children readily believe in angels and spirits (Wagener, 1998).

Stage 2. Mythical-literal faith (middle and late childhood). As children move into Piaget’s concrete operational stage, they begin to reason in a more logical, concrete, but not abstract way. They see the world as more orderly. Grade-school-age children interpret religious stories literally, and they perceive God as being much like a parent figure who rewards the good and punishes the bad. What is right is often perceived as fair exchange.

Stage 3. Synthetic-conventional faith (transition between childhood and adolescence, early adolescence). Adolescents now start to develop formal operational thought (Piaget’s highest stage) and begin to integrate what they have learned about religion into a coherent belief system. According to Fowler, although the synthetic-conventional faith stage is more abstract than the previous two stages, young adolescents still mainly conform to the religious beliefs of others (as in Kohlberg’s conventional level of morality) and have not yet adequately analyzed alternative religious ideologies. Someone’s behavior that involves a question of right and wrong is seen in terms of the harm it does to a relationship or what others might say. Fowler believes that most adults become locked into this stage and never move on to higher stages of religious development. The faith of adolescents often involves a personal relationship with God. God is thought of as “always there for me” (Wagener, 1998).

Stage 4. Individuative-reflective faith (transition between adolescence and adulthood, early adulthood). Fowler believes that, at this stage, for the first time individuals are capable of taking full responsibility for their religious beliefs. Often precipitated by the leaving-home experience, young people begin to take responsibility for their lives. Young adults now start to realize that they can choose the course of their lives and that they must expend effort to follow a particular life course. Individuals come face-to-face with such decisions as these: “Should I consider myself first, or should I consider the welfare of others first?” “Are the religious doctrines that were taught to me when I was growing up absolute, or are they more relative than I had been led to believe?” Fowler believes that both formal operational thought and the intellectual challenges to an individual’s values and religious ideologies that often develop in college are essential to developing individuative-reflective faith.

Stage 5. Conjunctive faith (middle adulthood). Fowler believes that only a small number of adults ever move on to this stage, which involves being more open to paradox and opposing viewpoints. This openness stems from people’s awareness of their finiteness and limitations. One woman Fowler placed at this stage revealed the following complex religious understanding: “Whether you call it God or Jesus or Cosmic Flow or Reality or Love, it doesn’t matter what you call it. It is there” (Fowler, 1981, p. 192).

Stage 6. Universalizing faith (middle adulthood or late adulthood). Fowler says that the highest stage in religious development involves transcending specific belief systems to achieve a sense of oneness with all being and a commitment to breaking down the barriers that are divisive to people on this planet. Conflictual events are no longer seen as paradoxes. Fowler argues that very, very few people ever achieve this elusive, highest stage of religious development. Three who have, he says, are Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa. Figure 4 portrays the six stages in Fowler’s theory of religious development. To read about the exemplary religious life and advanced religious thought of Mother Teresa, see Explorations in Psychology describing the exemplary life of Mother Teresa.

Short maxims

A good collection of short maxims has been transmitted from the Prophet (a.s.) that are of wonderful eloquence, literature, and wisdom. Though brief, they show the top of eloquence and expressiveness, and they include the high Islamic morals and manners. The following are some of them:

1. “The farthest of you in being like to me (not like me) is the stingy, the obscene, the indecent.”

2. “The most hateful of men to Allah is a quarrelsome hostile.”

3. “Be kind to the weak, because you are endowed with sustenance and are supported for your weak.”

4. Do you like to be good hearted and to obtain what you want? Be kind to the orphan, pat their heads, and feed them from your food, and you shall obtain what you want.”

5. “Fear Allah and treat all your children fairly as you like them to be dutiful to you.”

6. “Beware of the believer’s insight because he sees by the light of Allah, glory be to Him.”

7. “Avoid anger.”

8. “Avoid wine because it is the key to every evil.”

9. “Avoid every intoxicant.”

10. “The most beloved deed to Allah is the most continuous one of them.”

11. “The most beloved deeds to Allah are the feeding of a hungry person, the paying of some(needy)one’s debt, or the relieving of someone’s distress.”

12. “The most beloved deed to Allah is the keeping (withholding) of one’s tongue.”

13. “The most beloved speech to me is the most truthful.”

14. “The most beloved food to me is that which hands are many at it (more people participate in eating it).”

15. “The most beloved one of your houses to Allah is the house that an orphan is treated kindly in.”

16. “The most beloved one of Allah’s servants to Allah is the most helpful one of them to His servants and the best of them in fulfilling His rights, who endears to them benevolence and the doing of it.”

17. “Beware of mistrusting people.”

18. “Throw earth on the praisers’ faces.”

19. “The most determined one of people is the best of them in suppressing his anger.”

20. “Be good neighbors to the blessings of Allah and do not make them run away, because it is seldom that they (blessings) leave a people and come back to them again.”

21. “Keep your tongue.”

22. “Pay the trust back to him who has entrusted you with it, and do not betray whoever has betrayed you.”

23. “Repel penalties by (avoiding) ambiguities (when hesitating whether lawful or unlawful), and pardon the slips of the notables except the penalties of Allah.”

24. “Invoke Allah while you are certain of His response, and know that Allah does not respond to an invocation from a neglectful, inadvertent heart.”

25. “If Allah gives you wealth, let the result of Allah’s blessing and honor to you appear on you.”

26. “If Allah wants goodness for a servant, He makes people be in need of him.”

27. “If Allah wants goodness for a servant, He makes him aware of the religion, abstinent in this life, and makes him see his defects.”

28. “If Allah wants goodness for a household, he endows them with leniency.”

29. “If Allah wants growth for a people, He endows them with generosity and chastity, and if He wants perishment for a people, He opens to them the door of betrayal.”

30. “When a ruler becomes enraged, Satan prevails.”

31. “When Allah gives one of you goodness, let him begin with himself and his family.”

32. “If you see an evil omen, let you keep on (action), if you guess, let you not judge, and if you envy, let you not be oppressive.”

33. “If you judge, be just, and if you speak, speak of goodness, because Allah is Beneficent and He loves the beneficent.”

34. “If you find that a man is careless of what he says or what is said about him, then he is either an adulterer or a devil.”

35. “When you see unsound people, pray Allah for good health.”

36. “When the worst of people prevails over them, and the meanest of people is the leader over them, and the sinful are honored, then let disasters be waited for.”

37. “If one of you does something, let him perfect it.”

38. “If you are powerful over your enemy, then make pardon as the gratefulness for the powerfulness over him.”

39. “If someone of you comes from a travel, let him bring with him a present, even if he puts in his bag a stone.”

40. “If two persons are talking with each other, let you not interfere between them.”

41. “If your leaders are the best of you, your wealthy people are the most generous of you, and your affairs are decided after consultation between you, then the surface of the earth is better to you than its interior (to live better than to die). But, if your leaders are the worst of you, your wealthy people are the stingiest of you, your affairs are decided by your women, then the interior of the earth is better to you than its surface.”

42. “If you have what suffices you, then do not ask for what may make you haughty.”

43. “When there shall be the Day of Resurrection, a servant’s legs shall not slip until he shall be asked about four things; his age how he has spent it, his youth how he has worn it out, his gains wherefrom he has gained and on what he has spent them, and about the love to us, we the Ahlul Bayt.”

44. “If man dies, his deeds stop except three; a continuous charity, knowledge that is benefited by, and a good child that prays Allah for him.”

45. “Remember Allah, because He is a supporter to you in what you seek.”

46. “The lowest of people is he who insults people.”

47. “There are four things that are from the signs of misery; inactivity of the eye (not cry), severity of the heart, far greed for the pleasures of this life, and the insisting on sins.”

48. “There are four things that whoever has had he shall be in the greatest light of Allah; he that the protection of his affairs is the witness that ‘there is no god but Allah and that I am the messenger of Allah’, he that when an affliction afflicts him, says ‘we are Allah’s and to Him we shall return’, he that when obtains good, says: ‘praise be to Allah’, and he that when commits a sin, says: ‘I pray Allah to forgive me and I repent to Him’.”

49. “There are four things that are required by every one of reason and intelligence from my nation; listening to knowledge, memorizing, spreading, and acting according to it.”

50. “There are four things whose littleness is much; poverty, pain, enmity, and fire.”

51. “Be merciful to a notable that becomes low, a wealthy one that becomes poor, and a knowledgeable one that is lost among ignorant people.”

52. “Be abstinent in this life and Allah will love you, and be abstinent to what there is in people’s hands, and people will love you.”

53. “Resort to secrecy in (many of) your affairs, because every owner of a blessing is envied.”

54. “Allah’s wrath is so great on adulterers.”

55. “From the most tortured people on the Day of Resurrection is one who shows people that he is good while there is no good in him.”

56. “From the most tortured people on the Day of Resurrection is a knowledgeable one whose knowledge does not benefit him (in the life).”

57. “The strongest of you is he who controls himself at anger, and the most forbearing one of you is he who pardons after having prevalence.”

58. “The most wretched one of the wretched is he on whom the poverty of this life and the torment of the afterlife gather together.”

59. “The most righteous one of people is the best of them to people.”

60. “Seek good health for others, and you shall be granted it for yourself.”

61. “Seek favor near the merciful ones of my nation that you shall live under their protection, and do not seek it near the hard-hearted ones.”

62. “Regard a friend due to his friend.”

63. “The most just one of people is he who accepts for people what he accepts for himself, and dislikes for them what he dislikes for himself.”

64. “The bitterest of your enemies is your soul that is inside you.”

65. “Give to a beggar even if he comes to you on a good horse, and give the employee his fee before his sweat shall dry.”

66. “The most important one of people in this life is he who regards no importance of this life to him.”

67. “The most reasonable one of people is the most of them in humoring people.”

68. “Deeds are (regarded) but by intentions and results.”

69. “Deeds are (regarded) by intention.”

70. “The taking of a present by a leader is ill-gotten, and the accepting of a bribe by a judge is disbelief.”

71. “The most inattentive one of people is he who does not take a lesson from the change of this life from a condition into another.”

72. “The wealthiest of people is he who is not a captive of greed.”

73. “Spread greeting, offer food, maintain kinship, and pray in the night while people are sleeping, and thus you shall enter the Paradise.”

74. “The best of friends is he who when you remember supports you and when you forget reminds you.”

75. “The best of deeds is the gaining in lawful ways.”

76. “The best of deeds is to cause delight for your believing brother, or pay his debt (instead of him).”

77. “The best of faith is patience and generosity.”

78. “The best of jihad is that when one does not intend to wrong anyone.”

79. “The best of good deeds is the honoring of companions.”

80. “The best of charity is reconciliation.”

81. “The best of charity is that a Muslim person learns knowledge and then he teaches it to his Muslim brother.”

82. “The best of charity is the keeping of the tongue (not to offend others).”

83. “The best of deeds is a truthful intention.”

84. “The best of virtues is to maintain relationship with one who has cut his relationship with you, to give one who has deprived you, and to pardon one who has done you wrong.”

85. “The best of people is he who is humble though he is lofty, is abstinent though he is wealthy, is fair though he is powerful, and is meek though prevalent.”

86. “The best of my nation’s jihad is the waiting for deliverance.”

87. “The best of you in faith are the best of you in morals.”

88. “The plague of speaking is lying.”

89. “Accept honoring (gift), and the best of honoring is perfume; the lightest in being carried, and the best in scent.”

90. “The nearest of you to me tomorrow in the Standing (before Allah), is the most truthful of you in speaking, the best of you in giving back trusts, the most loyal of you to covenants, the best of you in morals, and the nearest of you to people.”

91. “The least comfortable people are the stingy.”

92. “The least delighted people are the envious.”

93. “The least things available at the end of time are a trustworthy brother or a well-gotten dirham.”

94. “Pardon the slips of the people of mistakes.”

95. “The greatest of major sins is the mistrusting of Allah.”

96. “The greatest of major sins are the association (of others) with Allah, the killing of a human being, the undutifulness to parents, and false testimony.”

97. “The most satiate people in this life are the hungriest of them on the Day of Resurrection.”

98. “The most appreciated people are the most knowledgeable.”

99. “The most honorable people are the most pious.”

100. “Honor your children and educate them well.”

101. “Honor the knowledgeable because they are the heirs of the prophets. Whoever honors them honors Allah and His messenger.”

102. “Accept from me six things and I will assure to you the paradise; if one of you speaks, let him not tell lies, if he promises, let him not break his promise, and if he is entrusted, let him not betray. Lower your sights (do not look at what is unlawful to look at), hold back your hands (from harming others or obtaining what is unlawful), and keep your honors (private parts).”

103. “Eating in the markets is lowness.”

104. “Shall I guide you to the best morals of this life and the afterlife? Maintain relationship with one who has cut relations with you, give to one who has deprived you, and pardon one who has wronged you.”

105. “There may be a lust of a moment that causes a long sorrow.”

106. “Let no man be alone with a woman, for Satan shall be the third of them.”

107. “Put on new clothes and live as honorable.”

108. “Seek the neighbor before buying a house, and the companion (of travel) before the way.”

109. “Fidelity brings sustenance, and betrayal brings poverty.”

110. “I have been ordered to humor people as I have been to carry out the mission.”

111. “Hope is but a mercy from Allah to my nation. Without hope a mother shall not suckle a child, nor shall a planter plant a tree.”

112. “The most beloved servant to Allah is he to whom Allah has endeared benevolence and to whom He has endeared the doings of it.”

113. “The thing that I most fear for my nation from is every cunning hypocrite.”

114. “The most regretful one on the Day of Resurrection is a man that has sold his afterlife for the life of other than himself.”

115. “The most sinful one on the Day of Resurrection is the most involved one in falsehood.”

116. “The greatest sin to Allah is that when a man neglects those whom he is responsible of maintaining.”

117. “The things that mostly take people to the Fire are the two hollow things; the mouth and the private parts.

118. “Happiness and all happiness is in one’s long life that is spent in the obedience of Allah.”

119. “A reasonable one is he who believes in the oneness of Allah and obeys Him.”

120. “When a servant commits a sin, it shall be made in his heart as a black spot. If he gives up, repents, and seeks forgiveness, his heart shall be cleared, but if he returns to commit the sin, it (the black spot) shall be increased until it shall overcome his heart, and this is the rust that Allah has mentioned in this verse, (Nay! But, what they used to do has become like rust upon their hearts). Qur'an, 83:14

121. “Allah is not obeyed by force, nor is He disobeyed out of defeat, and He does not neglect the people in the kingdom, but He is powerful over what He has made them powerful over, and He is the possessor of what He has made them posses, then if the people follow the obedience of Allah, there shall be no preventer or repeller, and if they disobeys Him, and He wills to prevent them from it (disobedience), He will do…

122. “Allah, glory be to Him, likes lying in (making) righteousness, and hates truthfulness in (making) corruption.”

123. “Allah has revealed to me: be humble lest anyone should pride on another or anyone should oppress another.”

124. “Allah has natured the hearts of His people to love whoever does good to them, and to hate whoever does bad to them.”

125. “Allah the Almighty does not expose the honor of a servant who has inasmuch as the weight of an atom of goodness.”

126. “Allah repels by charity seventy bad deaths.”

127. “Allah, the Exalted, takes pride in a worshipping young man before the angels and says: look at My servant; he gave up his lust for the sake of Me.”

128. “Allah the Almighty hates the obscene, the indecent.”

129. “Allah the Almighty loves the assisting of the terribly needy.”

130. “Allah the Almighty loves leniency in all affairs.”

131. “Allah the Almighty loves from His people the jealous.”

132. “Allah the Almighty recommends you to be kind to women, because they are your mothers, daughters, and aunts.”

133. “Allah hates the adulterate old men, the oppressive wealthy, the proud poor, the importunate beggars, and He frustrates the reward of a reminding giver, and He hates the indecent, daring liars.”

134. “Allah loves when He endows His servant with a blessing that the sign of His blessing should be seen on him, and He hates misery and the pretending of misery.”

135. “Those, who love each other for the sake of Allah, shall be in the shade of the Throne.”

136. “A believer follows the manners of Allah; if Allah gives him much, he includes it, and if He stops giving him, he shall be abstinent.”

137. “Know that success is with patience, deliverance is with distress, and ease is with hardship.”

138. “We, the prophets, have been ordered to talk to people according to their own reasons.”

139. “The firmest ties of Islam is that you love for the sake of Allah and hate for the sake of Allah.”

140. “Deliberateness is from Allah and hastiness is from Satan.”

141. “You and your properties are to your father.”

142. “Keeping to one’s promise is from faith.”

143. “The best servants of Allah are the loyal, the good.”

144. “In the paradise there are a house called the House of Joy that no one shall enter into it except those who have delighted the believers’ orphans.”

145. “In wealth there is a due other than the zakat.”

146. “You can not include people by your properties, so include them by your morals.”

147. “These hearts become rusty as iron becomes rusty.” He was asked, “Then, how are they clarified?” He said, “By remembering death and reciting the Qur'an.”

148. “Allah has servants that He has created for (the carrying out of) the needs of people.”

149. “Allah has servants that He has chosen for the needs of people. People resort to them at need; they are the safe from the torment of Allah.”

150. “I but fear for my nation from three: obeyed stinginess, followed desires, and a deviant leader.”

151. “What has remained from this life is affliction and temptation.”

152. “Surely all goodness is obtained by reason. There is no religion for one who has no reason.”

153. “There is in poetry wisdom, and in eloquence charm.”

154. “From the rights of a child on his father is to name him with a good name, teach him writing and reading, and marry him when he is adult.”

155. “From the causes of forgiveness are the offering of greetings and the well speaking.”

156. “The firmest weapon of Iblis is women.”

157. “My Lord has recommended me with nine things; loyalty in secrecy and openness, justice at satisfaction and anger, moderation in poverty and wealth, to pardon one who has wronged me, give to one who has deprived me, maintain relationship with one who has cut his relation with me, and that my silence should be thinking, my logic remembering, and my looking (taking of) lessons.”

158. “I recommend you to feel shy of Allah as you feel shy of a good man from your people.”

159. “I recommend you of (being kind to your) neighbors.”

160. “The first thing that shall be weighed in the Scales (on the Day of Judgment) is good morals.”

161. “The people of oppression and their assistants shall be in the Fire.”

162. “Beware of greed, because it is the present poverty.”

163. “Beware of excessiveness in the religion, because those before you had perished because of the excessiveness in religion.”

164. “Beware of false reverence, that is when the body is seen as reverent whereas the heart is not.”

165. “Beware of the plant of dunghills.” He was asked what the plant of dunghills was and he said, “A beautiful woman in a bad origin (family).”

166. “Beware of two features; boredom and laziness. If you are bored, you shall be not patient with a right, and if you are lazy, you shall not carry out a right.”

167. “Beware of a bad companion, because you are known through him.”

168. “Beware of any thing which is apologized for.”

169. “Hands are three; begging, spending, and withholding (stingy). The best of hands is the spending one.”

170. “Whatever guardian that is not merciful to his subjects, Allah will deny the Paradise to him.”

171. “The believing in the fate removes grief and sorrow.”

172. “Faith is two halves; a half in patience, and a half in gratefulness.”

173. “O people, what has been transmitted to you from me that agrees with the Book of Allah, then surely I have said it, and what has come to you that disagrees with the Book of Allah, then surely I have not said it.”

174. “Pay charity in the early morning, because affliction does not exceed the charity.”

175. “The dutifulness to parents prolongs one’s life. Telling lies decreases one’s sustenance. Invocation repels the decree of fate.”

176. “Satiety hardens the heart.”

177. “Between the servant and disbelief is the giving up of prayer.”

178. “Before the Hour (the Day of Resurrection) there shall be seditions like parts of night (dark and ambiguous).”

179. “A merchant waits for sustenance and a monopolist waits for curse.”

180. “Talking about the blessings of Allah is gratefulness, and neglecting it (the talking) is disbelief. He, who is not grateful to the little, shall not be grateful to the much. He, who does not thank people, does not thank Allah. Unity is goodness and separation is torment.”

181. “The prize of a believer is death.”

182. “Giving up evil is a charity.”

183. “Shake hands with each other, and hatred shall disappear from your hearts!”

184. “Pay charities, because charity is your release from the Fire!”

185. “Learn knowledge, and learn calmness and gravity for knowledge. Be humble to those from whom you learn.”

186. “Be free from the griefs of this life as possible as you can, because whoever the (pleasures of) life is his greatest interest Allah will frustrate his skill and make his poverty between his two eyes, and whoever the afterlife is his greatest interest, Allah will manage to him his affairs and make his richness in his heart.”

187. “Think deeply about the signs of Allah and do not think about Allah (Himself).’

188. “Think deeply about the creation of Allah and do not think about Allah lest you perish.”

189. “Be humble to whom you learn from, and be humble to whom you teach, and do not be tyrant scholars.”

190. “Offer presents to each other that you shall be more beloved (to each other), emigrate (for the sake of Allah) that you shall bequeath glory to your children, and pardon the notables their slips.”

191. “There are three things that are from piety; generosity, good speaking, and the patience with harms.”

192. “There are three ones that the associating with them deadens the heart; the association with villains, the (often) talking with women, and the association with the wealthy.”

193. “There are three fatal things and three rescuing things; as for the fatal things, they are: obeyed stinginess, followed desires, and self-deceit, and as for the rescuing things, they are: the fear of Allah secretly and openly, the moderation in wealth and in poverty, and justice at anger and satisfaction.”

194. “Struggle against your desires and you shall possess yourselves.”

195. “The companions of Allah tomorrow shall be the people of piety and abstinence in this life.”

196. “Unity is mercy and separation is torment.”

197. “The beauty of a man is in the eloquence of his tongue.”

198. “The beauty of a man is in the tongue.”

199. “Beauty is in the tongue.”

200. “The love of (receiving) praise from people makes one blind and deaf.”

201. “Your love to some thing blinds and deafens (you).”

202. “War is trick.”

203. “The inviolabilities that every believer should regard and be loyal to are the inviolability of the religion, the inviolability of good manners, and the inviolability of food.”

204. “Allah has prohibited wine, and every intoxicant is unlawful.”

205. “Happy miens remove spite.”

206. “Good morals take their owner high to the degree of a fasting worshipper.” It was said to the Prophet (a.s.), “What is the best of that which is given to a servant?” He said, “Good morals.”

207. “Trusting is from the good worshipping.”

208. “Being loyal to covenant is from faith.”

209. “A good question is the half of knowing, and leniency is the half of living.”

210. “Better your clothes, and repair your saddles (mounts), until you become as a mole among people (noticeable).”

211. “Guard your monies by zakat, cure your patients by charity, and prepare invocation for affliction.”

212. “A lawful thing is what Allah has made lawful in His Book, and an unlawful thing is what Allah has prohibited in His Book, and what He has said nothing about is from what has been left optional.”

213. “The praise (of Allah) for a blessing is a safety from its disappearance.’

214. “Modesty is two; the modesty of reason and the modesty of foolishness. The modesty of reason is knowledge, and the modesty of foolishness is ignorance.”

215. “Modesty, all of it, is good.”

216. “Modesty is from faith.”

217. “Modesty is the whole religion.”

218. “Your service to your wife is charity.”

219. “The fear of Allah is the head of every wisdom, and piety is the master of deeds.”

220. “There are two features that do not exist in a believer; stinginess and bad morals.”

221. “There are two features that nothing of piety may be above them: the faith in Allah and to benefit the people of Allah.”

222. “There are two things that many people are deceived by; good health and leisure.”

223. “All the creatures are the household of Allah, and the most beloved of them to Allah is the most useful of them to His household.”

224. “The best of the believers is the satisfied one, and the worst of them is the greedy one.”

225. “The best of you is he the seeing of whom reminds you of Allah, whose logic increases your knowledge, and whose deeds make you wish for the afterlife.’

226. “Betrayal brings poverty.”

227. “The best door of piety is charity.”

228. “The best of affairs is the moderate one of them.”

229. “The goodness of this life and the afterlife is with knowledge, and the evil of this life and the afterlife is with ignorance.’

230. “The best of remembrance is that which is secret, and the best of sustenance is that which suffices (the need).”

231. “The best of charity is that which keeps richness, the upper (giving) hand is better than the lower (begging) hand, and you begin (in charity) with those whom you maintain.”

232. “The best of deeds is that you leave this life while your tongue is wet with the remembrance of Allah.”

233. “The best of gaining is the gaining of the worker’s hand when he is sincere.”

234. “The best of meetings is the biggest of them.”

235. “The best of people is the most useful one to people.”

236. “The best of people is he whose life is long and his deeds are good, and the worst of people is he whose life is long and his deeds are bad.’

237. “The best thing of religion is piety.”

238. “The best of your youths is he who imitates old men, and the worst of your old men is he who imitates your youths.”

239. “Goodness is too much, but those who do it are few.”

240. “The best of you is he who is best to his family (wife), and I am the best of you to my family. No one honors women except that he is generous, and no one insults them except that he is mean.”

241. “The best of you is the best to his wives and daughters.”

242. “The best of you is he whom Allah assists against his own soul and then he possesses it.”

243. “The best of you is he who learns the Qur'an and then teaches it.”

244. “The best things that man leaves after him are three; a good child that prays Allah for him, a charity that is continuous and whose reward reaches him, and knowledge that is benefited by after him.”

245. “The best mosques for women are the bottoms (insides) of their houses.”

246. “That who is better than goodness is its giver, and that who is worse than evil is its doer.”

247. “The best of them (women) is the least of them in dowry.”

248. “Leave aside tittle-tattle, importunity, and the wasting of wealth.”

249. “Leave what you doubt about to what you do not doubt about, because you shall not feel the loss of a thing that you have left for the sake of Allah.”

250. “The guide to goodness is as its doer.”

251. “This life changes (from a state to another), so what is for you (has been predetermined) shall come to you even if you are weak, and what is against you, you shall not be able to repel it even if you are powerful.”

252. “This world is as a prison for a believer and as a paradise for a disbeliever.”

253. “This life is a provision, and the best of its provision is a righteous woman.”

254. “Religion is the (sincere) advice.”

255. “The remembrance of Allah is a cure for hearts.”

256. “The head of religion is the piety.”

257. “The head of reason after the faith in Allah is the endearment to people, and the doing of benevolence to every pious and impious one.”

258. “The head of reason after the faith in Allah is modesty and good morals.”

259. “There may be a carrier of jurisprudence that he is not a jurisprudent. He, whose knowledge does not benefit him, his ignorance shall harm him.”

260. “There may be a lust of a moment that causes a long sorrow.”

261. “There may be a worshipper that is ignorant, and there may be a knowledgeable one that is deviant. Therefore, beware of ignorant worshippers, and deviant knowledgeable ones.”

262. “May Allah have mercy on one who holds back the nonsense of his speech, and spends the extra of his wealth.”

263. “May Allah have mercy on a parent who assists his child to be dutiful to him.”

264. “May Allah have mercy on a servant who speaks good and so he gains (good), or abstains from speaking bad and so he becomes safe.”

265. “May Allah have mercy on an eye that weeps for the fear of Allah, and have mercy on an eye that remains sleepless for the sake of Allah.”

266. “The satisfaction of the Lord is in the satisfaction of the parent, and the anger of the Lord is in the anger of the parent.”

267. “The satisfaction of the Lord is in the satisfaction of the parents, and His anger is in their anger.”

268. “Suckling changes the natures.”

269. “It has been pardoned for my nation the (unknowingly) mistaking, forgetfulness, and what they are forced to do.”

270. “Refresh the hearts from time to time!”

271. “Visit the graves because they remind you of the afterlife.”

272. “The abstinence in this life relieves the heart and the body, and the wishing for it (this life) tires the heart and the body.”

273. “The abstinence in this life is not by prohibiting a lawful thing or wasting the wealth, but the abstinence in this life is that you should not be more trusting in what there is in your hands than what there is in Allah’s hand, and that you should wish for the reward of an affliction that if you are afflicted by more than your wishing for keeping it away from you.”

274. “The adultery of eyes is the (unlawful) looking.”

275. “Ask the knowledgeable, talk with wise men, and associate with the poor.”

276. “A reviler of the dead is as if he is near to perishment.”

277. “The carer for a widow or a poor is like a struggler in the way of Allah, or a worshipper worshipping all the night and fasting in the day.”

278. “You shall be greedy of authority, then it shall be regret and grief to you; and then, how good a suckler and how bad a weaner shall be!”

279. “It is absurdity in man to make his guest serve him.”

280. “Walking fast takes away the gravity of a believer.”

281. “A just ruler is the shadow of Allah in the earth. If anyone of you enters a country that has no just ruler, let him not reside in it.”

282. “A just ruler is the shadow of Allah in the earth that whoever honors him Allah will honor him, and whoever insults him Allah will insult him.”

283. “A just ruler is the shadow of Allah in the earth; to whom the weak resort and from whom the oppressed seek support.”

284. “Pray Allah for pardon and good health, for no one has been given, after certainty, anything better than good health.”

285. “Ask Allah for useful knowledge, and seek Allah’s protection against knowledge that is not useful.”

286. “Generosity is prosperity, and difficulty is evil omen.”

287. “Bad morals are evil omen.”

288. “The master of a people is to be as their servant, and the giver of water to them is to be the last one to drink.”

289. “A generous young man with good morals is more beloved to Allah than a stingy, worshipping old man with bad morals.”

290. “Youth is a branch of madness.”

291. “The worst of affairs are the heresies, the worst of blindness is the blindness of the heart, the worst of apology is when death comes, the worst of regret is on the Day of Resurrection, the worst of eating is the eating of the orphan’s property, and the worst of gaining is the gain of usury.”

292. “The worst of people is he who oppresses his family.”

293. “The worst of people is he who hates people and people hates him.”

294. “A wretched one is he who is wretched when in his mother’s abdomen.”

295. “An old man is young in the love of tow things: a long life and abundant money.”

296. “A fasting person is in a state of worshipping even if he is sleeping in his bed as long as he does not backbite a Muslim.”

297. “Truthfulness is tranquility and lying is uncertainty.”

298. “Charity puts out the wrath of the Lord and repels bad death.”

299. “Charity closes seventy doors of evil.”

300. “Maintain relationship with whoever has cut his relations with you, do good to whoever has done you wrong, and say the truth even if it is against yourself.”

301. “Maintain relationship with one who has cut his relations with you, give to one who has deprived you, and pardon one who has wronged you.”

302. “Maintain kinship with your relatives even if by greeting.”

303. “Maintaining kinship prolongs one’s life, and the secret charity puts out the wrath of the Lord.”

304. “There are two kinds of people who if are good, people are good, and if are corrupted, people become corrupted; scholars and rulers.”

305. “There are two sounds that Allah hates; wailing at an affliction and playing music at a blessing.”

306. “Fasting is a protection from the torment of Allah.”

307. “A grateful eating person is like a patient faster.”

308. “The food of the generous is a cure, and the food of the stingy is a disease.”

309. “Greed takes wisdom away from the hearts of scholars.”

310. “Blessed is he whose life is long and his deeds are good, and so his end shall be good where his Lord will be pleased with him. And woe unto him whose life is long and his deeds are bad, and so his end shall be bad where his Lord will be displeased with him.”

311. “Blessed is he who controls his tongue and weeps at his sin.”

312. “The unjust and their assistants shall be in the Fire.”

313. “Worship is seven parts the best of which is the seeking of lawful gain.”

314. “How great it is for a believer; Allah does not determine a fate for him except that is better to him whether it pleases or displeases him. If He afflicts him it shall be a penance for his sin, and if He gives and honors him, it shall be a gift to him.”

315. “Justice is good, but when it is in rulers it is better. Generosity is good, but when it is in the wealthy, it is better. Piety is good, but in the scholars is better. Patience is good, but in the poor is better. Repentance is good, but in the youth is better. Modesty is good, but in women is better.”

316. “Justice of an hour is better than the worship of a year.”

317. “Visit him who does not visit you, and give a present to him who does not give you a present.”

318. “The believer’s promise is as the taking (from him) with the hand (surely shall be fulfilled).”

319. “The promise is as a debt. Woe unto whoever promises and then breaks his promise! Woe unto whoever promises and then breaks his promise! Woe unto whoever promises and then breaks his promise!”

320. “The strictness of (or to) a boy in his childhood shall increase his reason at his adulthood.”

321. “Live whatever you like, for you shall die, and love whatever you love, for you shall part with it, and do whatever you do, for you shall be rewarded for it.”

322. “Chastity is the adornment of women.”

323. “The pardon of Allah is greater than your sins.”

324. “The sign of Allah’s satisfaction with His people is the cheapness of their (goods) prices and the justice of their ruler. And the sign of Allah’s wrath on His people is the oppression of their ruler and the expensiveness of their prices.”

325. “Knowledge and wealth cover every defect, and ignorance and poverty expose every defect.”

326. “Keep to lenience, and beware of cruelty and indecency.”

327. “Keep to the despair of what there is in the people’s hands, and beware of greed because it is the present (lasting) poverty.”

328. “Keep to truthfulness, because it is a door from the doors of the Paradise, and beware of lying, because it is a door from the doors of the Fire.”

329. “The blindness of the heart is the deviation after guidance.”

330. “Two odd words; a word of wisdom from a fool that you are to accept it, and a bad word from a wise man that you are to forgive it.’

331. “Spite and envy eat the good deeds as fire eats the firewood.”

332. “Backbiting is to mention your brother with what he hates.”

333. “The exposedness in this life is better than the exposedness in the afterlife.”

334. “A deep thinking of an hour is better than the worship of sixty years.”

335. “The Qur'an is real cure.”

336. “Say the truth even if it is bitter.”

337. “The heart of an old man is young in the love of two things; living and hope.”

338. “A little household is one of the two eases.”

339. “Satisfaction is a property that does not run out.”

340. “Guard by your monies your honors.”

341. “Say good and you shall gain (good), and abstain from an evil and you shall be safe.”

342. “Tie knowledge by the book (write it down lest it is lost).”

343. “A gainer by his hand is a friend of Allah.”

344. “Greatly hateful to Allah is the eating without hunger, the sleeping without drowsiness, and the laughing without a wonder (reason).”

345. “Laughing much deadens the heart.”

346. “Lying, all of it, is sin except that by which a Muslim may be benefited (lawfully as when reconciling with one another).”

347. “Generosity is piety, honor is (in) humbleness, and certainty is richness.”

348. “The honor of man is his religion, his generosity is his mind, and his ancestry is his morals.”

349. “The penance of a sin is regret. If you do not sin, Allah will bring people who shall sin so that He will forgive them.”

350. “Time is sufficient as a preacher, and death as a separator.”

351. “It is sufficient sin for a man that he neglects those whom he is to sustain.”

352. “It is sufficient knowledge for man that he fears Allah, and sufficient ignorance to him that he is self-conceited.”

353. “It is sufficient jurisprudence for man if he worships Allah, and it is sufficient ignorance to him when he admires his own opinion.”

354. “Death is a sufficient preacher, piety is sufficient wealth, worship is a sufficient business, the (Day of) Resurrection is a sufficient refuge, and Allah is a sufficient Rewarder!”

355. “A believer is natured with every aspect except betrayal and lying.”

356. “Allah may forgive every sin except that when one dies a polytheist or he kills a believer intendedly.”

357. “Every one of a blessing is envied except one of humbleness.”

358. “Every loan is charity.”

359. “Each one of you is a guardian, and he is responsible for his subjects.”

360. “Every favor is charity.”

361. “Every favor you do to a rich or a poor is charity.”

362. “Every harmful person shall be in the Fire.”

363. “A good word is charity.”

364. “How many those are who receive a (new) day, but they do not complete it (die before its end), and how many those are who expect a tomorrow, but they do not reach it.”

365. “A good one is he who criticizes himself and works for what is after death, and a feckless one is he who lets his soul follow its desires and wishes from Allah all wishes.”

366. “There is no faith for whoever has no fidelity, and no religion for whoever has no (loyalty to) covenant.”

367. “Do not envy each other, terrify each other, hate each other, or give up each other. Be brothers in worshipping Allah, and do not be censurers, praisers, or revilers.”

368. “Do not expose any cover of anyone.”

369. “Do not reject any beggar even by giving him a half of a date.”

370. “Do not revile the dead, because they have gone to what they have done before.”

371. “Do not revile the dead lest you hurt the live.”

372. “Do not show rejoicing at your brother’s distress, that Allah may deliver him and afflict you.”

373. “Do not put wisdom near other that its people that you wrong it, and do not prevent its people from it that you wrong them.”

374. “Do not do anything of goodness hypocritically, and do not give it up because of shyness.”

375. “Do not backbite the Muslims and do not look for their defects.”

376. “Do not be angry, because anger is corruption.”

377. “Do not increase your grief; what has been predetermined shall take place, and what has been predetermined as your sustenance shall come to you.”

378. “Do not dispute with your brother or make fun of him, and do not promise him and then you break your promise to him.”

379. “Do not wipe your hand by the garment of one whom you do not provide with clothes.”

380. “Mercy is not taken out except from a rascal.”

381. “There is no good for you in the companionship of one who does not like for you as what he likes for himself.”

382. “There is no religion for one who has no covenant (does not regard his covenant).”

383. “It is no charity (to be paid to others) while there is a needy relative.”

384. “No obedience should be paid to a creature in the disobedience of the Creator.”

385. “There is no reason like good management, no piety like abstinence, and no ancestry like good morals.”

386. “A servant shall not reach the degree of the pious until he leaves what is undoubtful for fear of what is doubtful (whether lawful or not).”

387. “One, whose property has been stolen from him, may remain in accusing one who is innocent of that until he himself becomes more sinful than the stealer.”

388. “A scholar does not become saturate with his knowledge until his end shall be to the Paradise.’

389. “A believer does not ravage.”

390. “A believer is not stung from a (same) hole twice.”

391. “Allah has cursed a briber, a bribed one, and the one who mediates between them.”

392. “Allah has cursed whoever separates (or stir discord between) a mother from her child or a brother from his brother.”

393. “Every sin has a repentance except bad morals.”

394. “Every thing has a pillar, and the pillar of this religion is jurisprudence.”

395. “A lazy one has three signs; he slackens until he wastes, wastes until he loses, and loses until he becomes sinful.”

396. “Allah is in the assistance of a servant as long as the servant is in the assistance of his brother.”

397. “He is not a liar who tries to reconcile a person with another (even by using lies).”

398. “If a mountain oppresses another mountain, Allah will tear down the oppressive one of them.”

399. “If you know what I know, you shall laugh a little and weep too much.”

400. “Offer presents to each other because the present takes hatred away. If I am invited to a trotter, I will respond, and if a trotter is offered to me as a present, I will accept.”

401. “Were it not for woman, man would enter the Paradise!”

402. “Were it not for that the past is the antecedent of the remaining, and the last would follow the first, we would be sorrowful for you, O Ibrahim.” Then his eyes shed tears and he said, “The eye sheds tears and the heart becomes sad, but we do no say except what pleases the Lord. Surely, we are sad for you, O Ibrahim.”[1]

403. “Say: O Allah, I ask you for a certain soul that believes in Your meeting and is pleased with Your fate, and satisfied with Your giving.”

404. “A time shall come to people that one shall not care for wherefrom he takes money; whether from a lawful or unlawful way.”

405. “Someone of you may keep on begging until he meets Allah where there shall be no bit of flesh in his face.”

406. “If one of you takes his ropes to collect firewood on his back, it shall be easier to him than to come to a (wealthy) man, whom Allah has given from His favor, begging him that he either gives to him or not.”

407. “Wealth is not the abundance of properties, but it is the richness of the soul.”

408. “A believer is not the one who becomes saturate while his neighbor is hungry beside him.”

409. “Reconcile people even if you tell lies.”

410. “No one has a preference to another except by faith or a good deed.”

411. “It is not (considered as) backbiting against a deviant.”

412. “He is not from us who cheats, harms, or deceives a Muslim.”

413. “He, who does not regard the old, be merciful to the young, enjoin the good, and forbid the wrong, is not from us.”

414. “No servant loves a servant for the sake of Allah except that Allah will honor him.”

415. “Allah does not entrust a servant with subjects that he does not take care of them sincerely, except that Allah will deny the Paradise for him.”

416. “A servant does not conceal anything except that Allah will dress him with its garment; with good if it is good, and bad if it is bad.”

417. “Allah does never honor anyone with ignorance nor does He lower anyone with patience at all.”

418. “A gainer does not gain anything like virtuous knowledge that guides its owner to guidance or saves him from perdition, nor does his religion become right until his reason becomes right.”

419. “No young man honors an old man for his old age, except that Allah will prepare to him one who shall honor him at his old age.”

420. “No one has ever eaten food better than to eat from the labor of his own hand. Dawud (David) the Prophet of Allah used to eat from the labor of his own hands.”

421. “A Muslim man does not offer a present to his brother better than a word of wisdom by which Allah increases his guidance or preserves him from perdition.”

422. “Allah has not adorned people with an adornment better than abstinence in this life and chastity of their abdomen and private parts.”

423. “Allah does not afflict a people with rainlessness except because of their rebellion against Allah.”

424. “A meeting shall not be narrow for lovers.”

425. “Leniency does not exist in anything except that it adorns it, and stupidity does not exist in anything except that it makes it ugly.”

426. “A scholar, by whose knowledge it is benefited, is better than a thousand worshippers.”

427. “No one is better near Allah than an imam who when speaks is truthful and when judges is just.”

428. “There is no charity more beloved to Allah than the saying of the truth.”

429. “No deed is better than the satisfying of a hungry one.”

430. “No man, who knows his worth, perishes.”

431. “A believer is like a spike which the wind moves; it rises one time and falls down another, and a disbeliever is like a pine tree which remains erect until it is hollowed.”

432. “A mujahid is he who struggles against his soul in the obedience of Allah.”

433. “A dispraised beneficent person is mercified (by Allah).”

434. “To humor people is charity.”

435. “He, whom boredom overcomes, comfort leaves him.”

436. “Whoever Allah wants goodness to him, He endows him with a good companion.”

437. “Whoever commits a sin while laughing shall enter the Fire while crying.”

438. “Whoever humbles himself in the obedience of Allah is more honorable than one who is honored in the disobedience of Allah.”

439. “Whoever likes to be the wealthiest of people let him be more trusting in what there is in Allah’s hand than what there is in his own hand.”

440. “Whoever loves a people Allah will resurrect him with their group.”

441. “Whoever likes to be the strongest of people let him rely on Allah.”

442. “Whoever likes to be the most generous of people let him fear Allah.”

443. “Whoever prefers the love of Allah to the love of people Allah will suffice him against people.”

444. “Whoever does a favor to you, you are to reward him (with some gift), and if you can not, then you are to thank (praise) him because the praise is a reward.”

445. “Whoever fears Allah, Allah saves him from everything.”

446. “Let the goodness, which Allah gives to a person, be seen on him.”

447. “He, whose deed lingers him, his ancestry shall not hasten (exalt) him.”

448. “Let him, who is tried by judging among Muslims, not raise his voice at one of the two litigants except that he raises it at the other (in the same way).”

449. “Let him, who is tried by judging among Muslims, be just to them in his looking (at them), gesturing, and seating (them).”

450. “He is cursed who throws his tiredness on people.”

451. “He is cursed who reviles his father, he is cursed who reviles his mother.”

452. “The heart of religion is piety.”

453. “Cunning, deceiving, and betraying are in the Fire.’

454. “Our generosity, we the Ahlul Bayt, is the pardoning of whoever has wronged us, and the giving to whoever has deprived us.”

455. “Whoever from my nation that his intention is (to) other than Allah, he is not from Allah, and whoever does not care for the affairs of the believers is not from them, and whoever acknowledged meanness willingly is not from us the Ahlul Bayt.”

456. “Whoever assists a dispute wrongfully remains under the wrath of Allah until he shall die.”

457. “Whoever assists an oppressive one Allah will cause him (the oppressor) to oppress him (the assistant).”

458. “Whoever seeks glory with the slaves Allah will degrade him.”

459. “He, who is given four things, shall not be deprived of four things; he, who is given the asking for forgiveness, shall not be deprived of being forgiven, he, who is given (the showing of) gratefulness, shall not be deprived of more giving, he, who is given repentance, shall not be deprived of the acceptance, and he, who is given invocation, shall not be deprived of the response.”

460. “From the greatest sins is a lying tongue.”

461. “Whoever approaches the doors of kings shall be tempted.”

462. “Whoever eats (all) what he likes, wears what he likes, and rides what he likes Allah will not look at him until he dies or he repents.”

463. “It is from piety that you maintain relations with your father’s friend.”

464. “It is from charity that you greet people with happy miens.”

465. “Whoever takes off the garment of modesty backbiting him is permissible.”

466. “Whoever begins with talking before greeting, do not answer him.”

467. “Whoever reaches a position with no right is from the aggressive.”

468. “Whoever is careful shall succeed or be about to, and whoever is hasty shall fail or be about to.”

469. “Whoever is careful shall obtain what he wishes.”

470. “Whoever imitates a people is from them.”

471. “Whoever gets used to eating and drinking much his heart shall be hard.”

472. “Whoever pretends poverty shall be poor.”

473. “From the full greeting is to shake hands.”

474. “Whoever argues in a dispute without knowledge remains under the wrath of Allah until he shall die.”

475. “Whoever is deprived of leniency is deprived of the whole goodness.”

476. “He, whom people fear his tongue, is from the people of the Fire.”

477. “He, who guides to goodness, shall have like the reward of its (goodness) doer.”

478. “Whoever defends his brother’s honor Allah will defend his face against the Fire.”

479. “Whoever is kind to my nation Allah will be kind to him.”

480. “He, who accuses a believer of disbelief, is as if he is his killer.”

481. “Whoever is abstinent in this life Allah teaches him without learning and makes him aware.”

482. “Whoever covers (the defect of) his brother Allah will cover him in the life and the afterlife.”

483. “From the happiness of a man is an abode, a good neighbor, and a comfortable mount.”

484. “Whoever strikes (someone) with a whip unjustly shall be punished for that on the Day of Resurrection.”

485. “Whoever joins an orphan to himself or to another until he will make him unneedful shall deserve to be in the Paradise.”

486. “Whoever seeks the pleasing of a creature by the displeasing of the Creator, Allah, glory be to him, will cause that creature overcome him (with oppression).”

487. “He, who comforts a distressed one, shall have like his reward.”

488. “Whoever pardons at powerfulness Allah will pardon him on the Day of Hardship.”

489. “Whoever combats with Allah, Allah will defeat him, and whoever deceives Allah, Allah will deceive him.”

490. “Let him, to whom a door of goodness is opened, make use of it, because he does not know when it shall be closed before him.”

491. “From the awareness of a man is to better his living, and it is not from the love of this life the seeking of what may better you.”

492. “He, who cuts kinship with a relative or takes a false oath, shall meet its evil results before he dies.”

493. “Whoever that his eating is little his body is healthy, and whoever that his eating is much his body becomes ill and his heart becomes hard.”

494. “Let him, who is to swear, not swear except by Allah.”

495. “Let whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day fulfill his promise when he promises.”

496. “He, who conceals some knowledge from its people, shall be bridled with a bridle of fire on the Day of Resurrection.”

497. “Whoever that his grief is much his body shall be sick. Whoever that his morals are bad…he tortures himself. Whoever reviles men his generosity and dignity shall be gone.”

498. “Let whoever fabricates lies against me intendedly take his seat in the Fire.”

499. “Whoever holds back his tongue from the honors of people Allah will pardon him his slips on the Day of Resurrection.”

500. “Whoever has no piety that prevents him from disobeying Allah when he is alone Allah will not care for anything of his deeds.”

501. “He, whose knowledge does not benefit him, his ignorance shall harm him.”

502. “He, who accompanies an oppressor, becomes sinful.”

503. “Whoever intends to do a sin and then he gives up it shall be a good deed to him.”

504. “If Allah wants goodness for someone, He makes him aware of the religion.”

505. “Whoever does wrong shall be rewarded for it in this life.”

506. “Whoever forgives (others) Allah forgives him, and whoever pardons Allah pardons him.”

507. “A believer is inviolable, all of him; his honor, property, and blood.”

508. “A believer is honorable and noble, and a disbeliever is treacherous and mean.”

509. “A believer is good, intelligent, careful.”

510. “A believer to another believer is like a compact structure that each tightens another.”

511. “A believer is the mirror of another believer and the brother of another believer; he guards him from behind him.”

512. “A true believer is he whom people feel safe from him for their souls, properties, and bloods.”

513. “A believer is advantage; if you accompany him, he benefits you, if you consult with him, he benefits you, and if you participate with him, he benefits you, and everything of his affairs is advantageous.”

514. “People are like their time.”

515. “People are minerals; like gold and silver.”

516. “Regret is repentance.”

517. “Cleanness is from faith.”

518. “A child’s looking at his parents lovingly is a worship.”

519. “How a good intercessor the Qur'an is for its friend (who keeps and acts according to it) on the Day of Resurrection!”

520. “How a good thing a present is at need!”

521. “How good assistance to the fear of Allah wealth is!”

522. “How good assistance to the fear of Allah a property is!”

523. “How good a lawful property for a righteous man is!”

524. “How a good gift a word from the words of wisdom is!”

525. “Sleeping with knowledge is better than offering prayer with ignorance.”

526. “Good intention takes its owner to the Paradise.”

527. “The love of Allah shall be certain to one who becomes angry and then patient.”

528. “Piety is the master of deeds.”

529. “The ink of scholars has been weighed by the blood of martyrs and it (the ink of scholars) outweighed.”

530. “A child is from the flowers of the Paradise.”

531. “Woe unto one who is insolent to a Muslim and violates his right.”

532. “Woe unto one who leaves his family with goodness and comes to his Lord with evil.”

533. “A present is a bounty from Allah, so whoever is offered something as a present let him accept it.”

534. “Worry is a half of senility.”

535. “A time shall come to people where people shall be (as) wolves; whoever shall not be a wolf shall be eaten by wolves.”

536. “A high hand (giving) is better than a low hand (taking), and begin (in giving) with those whom you (are responsible to) sustain.”

537. “Allah’s hand is with unity.”

538. “A false oath misspends goods and mars gaining.”

Short maxims

A good collection of short maxims has been transmitted from the Prophet (a.s.) that are of wonderful eloquence, literature, and wisdom. Though brief, they show the top of eloquence and expressiveness, and they include the high Islamic morals and manners. The following are some of them:

1. “The farthest of you in being like to me (not like me) is the stingy, the obscene, the indecent.”

2. “The most hateful of men to Allah is a quarrelsome hostile.”

3. “Be kind to the weak, because you are endowed with sustenance and are supported for your weak.”

4. Do you like to be good hearted and to obtain what you want? Be kind to the orphan, pat their heads, and feed them from your food, and you shall obtain what you want.”

5. “Fear Allah and treat all your children fairly as you like them to be dutiful to you.”

6. “Beware of the believer’s insight because he sees by the light of Allah, glory be to Him.”

7. “Avoid anger.”

8. “Avoid wine because it is the key to every evil.”

9. “Avoid every intoxicant.”

10. “The most beloved deed to Allah is the most continuous one of them.”

11. “The most beloved deeds to Allah are the feeding of a hungry person, the paying of some(needy)one’s debt, or the relieving of someone’s distress.”

12. “The most beloved deed to Allah is the keeping (withholding) of one’s tongue.”

13. “The most beloved speech to me is the most truthful.”

14. “The most beloved food to me is that which hands are many at it (more people participate in eating it).”

15. “The most beloved one of your houses to Allah is the house that an orphan is treated kindly in.”

16. “The most beloved one of Allah’s servants to Allah is the most helpful one of them to His servants and the best of them in fulfilling His rights, who endears to them benevolence and the doing of it.”

17. “Beware of mistrusting people.”

18. “Throw earth on the praisers’ faces.”

19. “The most determined one of people is the best of them in suppressing his anger.”

20. “Be good neighbors to the blessings of Allah and do not make them run away, because it is seldom that they (blessings) leave a people and come back to them again.”

21. “Keep your tongue.”

22. “Pay the trust back to him who has entrusted you with it, and do not betray whoever has betrayed you.”

23. “Repel penalties by (avoiding) ambiguities (when hesitating whether lawful or unlawful), and pardon the slips of the notables except the penalties of Allah.”

24. “Invoke Allah while you are certain of His response, and know that Allah does not respond to an invocation from a neglectful, inadvertent heart.”

25. “If Allah gives you wealth, let the result of Allah’s blessing and honor to you appear on you.”

26. “If Allah wants goodness for a servant, He makes people be in need of him.”

27. “If Allah wants goodness for a servant, He makes him aware of the religion, abstinent in this life, and makes him see his defects.”

28. “If Allah wants goodness for a household, he endows them with leniency.”

29. “If Allah wants growth for a people, He endows them with generosity and chastity, and if He wants perishment for a people, He opens to them the door of betrayal.”

30. “When a ruler becomes enraged, Satan prevails.”

31. “When Allah gives one of you goodness, let him begin with himself and his family.”

32. “If you see an evil omen, let you keep on (action), if you guess, let you not judge, and if you envy, let you not be oppressive.”

33. “If you judge, be just, and if you speak, speak of goodness, because Allah is Beneficent and He loves the beneficent.”

34. “If you find that a man is careless of what he says or what is said about him, then he is either an adulterer or a devil.”

35. “When you see unsound people, pray Allah for good health.”

36. “When the worst of people prevails over them, and the meanest of people is the leader over them, and the sinful are honored, then let disasters be waited for.”

37. “If one of you does something, let him perfect it.”

38. “If you are powerful over your enemy, then make pardon as the gratefulness for the powerfulness over him.”

39. “If someone of you comes from a travel, let him bring with him a present, even if he puts in his bag a stone.”

40. “If two persons are talking with each other, let you not interfere between them.”

41. “If your leaders are the best of you, your wealthy people are the most generous of you, and your affairs are decided after consultation between you, then the surface of the earth is better to you than its interior (to live better than to die). But, if your leaders are the worst of you, your wealthy people are the stingiest of you, your affairs are decided by your women, then the interior of the earth is better to you than its surface.”

42. “If you have what suffices you, then do not ask for what may make you haughty.”

43. “When there shall be the Day of Resurrection, a servant’s legs shall not slip until he shall be asked about four things; his age how he has spent it, his youth how he has worn it out, his gains wherefrom he has gained and on what he has spent them, and about the love to us, we the Ahlul Bayt.”

44. “If man dies, his deeds stop except three; a continuous charity, knowledge that is benefited by, and a good child that prays Allah for him.”

45. “Remember Allah, because He is a supporter to you in what you seek.”

46. “The lowest of people is he who insults people.”

47. “There are four things that are from the signs of misery; inactivity of the eye (not cry), severity of the heart, far greed for the pleasures of this life, and the insisting on sins.”

48. “There are four things that whoever has had he shall be in the greatest light of Allah; he that the protection of his affairs is the witness that ‘there is no god but Allah and that I am the messenger of Allah’, he that when an affliction afflicts him, says ‘we are Allah’s and to Him we shall return’, he that when obtains good, says: ‘praise be to Allah’, and he that when commits a sin, says: ‘I pray Allah to forgive me and I repent to Him’.”

49. “There are four things that are required by every one of reason and intelligence from my nation; listening to knowledge, memorizing, spreading, and acting according to it.”

50. “There are four things whose littleness is much; poverty, pain, enmity, and fire.”

51. “Be merciful to a notable that becomes low, a wealthy one that becomes poor, and a knowledgeable one that is lost among ignorant people.”

52. “Be abstinent in this life and Allah will love you, and be abstinent to what there is in people’s hands, and people will love you.”

53. “Resort to secrecy in (many of) your affairs, because every owner of a blessing is envied.”

54. “Allah’s wrath is so great on adulterers.”

55. “From the most tortured people on the Day of Resurrection is one who shows people that he is good while there is no good in him.”

56. “From the most tortured people on the Day of Resurrection is a knowledgeable one whose knowledge does not benefit him (in the life).”

57. “The strongest of you is he who controls himself at anger, and the most forbearing one of you is he who pardons after having prevalence.”

58. “The most wretched one of the wretched is he on whom the poverty of this life and the torment of the afterlife gather together.”

59. “The most righteous one of people is the best of them to people.”

60. “Seek good health for others, and you shall be granted it for yourself.”

61. “Seek favor near the merciful ones of my nation that you shall live under their protection, and do not seek it near the hard-hearted ones.”

62. “Regard a friend due to his friend.”

63. “The most just one of people is he who accepts for people what he accepts for himself, and dislikes for them what he dislikes for himself.”

64. “The bitterest of your enemies is your soul that is inside you.”

65. “Give to a beggar even if he comes to you on a good horse, and give the employee his fee before his sweat shall dry.”

66. “The most important one of people in this life is he who regards no importance of this life to him.”

67. “The most reasonable one of people is the most of them in humoring people.”

68. “Deeds are (regarded) but by intentions and results.”

69. “Deeds are (regarded) by intention.”

70. “The taking of a present by a leader is ill-gotten, and the accepting of a bribe by a judge is disbelief.”

71. “The most inattentive one of people is he who does not take a lesson from the change of this life from a condition into another.”

72. “The wealthiest of people is he who is not a captive of greed.”

73. “Spread greeting, offer food, maintain kinship, and pray in the night while people are sleeping, and thus you shall enter the Paradise.”

74. “The best of friends is he who when you remember supports you and when you forget reminds you.”

75. “The best of deeds is the gaining in lawful ways.”

76. “The best of deeds is to cause delight for your believing brother, or pay his debt (instead of him).”

77. “The best of faith is patience and generosity.”

78. “The best of jihad is that when one does not intend to wrong anyone.”

79. “The best of good deeds is the honoring of companions.”

80. “The best of charity is reconciliation.”

81. “The best of charity is that a Muslim person learns knowledge and then he teaches it to his Muslim brother.”

82. “The best of charity is the keeping of the tongue (not to offend others).”

83. “The best of deeds is a truthful intention.”

84. “The best of virtues is to maintain relationship with one who has cut his relationship with you, to give one who has deprived you, and to pardon one who has done you wrong.”

85. “The best of people is he who is humble though he is lofty, is abstinent though he is wealthy, is fair though he is powerful, and is meek though prevalent.”

86. “The best of my nation’s jihad is the waiting for deliverance.”

87. “The best of you in faith are the best of you in morals.”

88. “The plague of speaking is lying.”

89. “Accept honoring (gift), and the best of honoring is perfume; the lightest in being carried, and the best in scent.”

90. “The nearest of you to me tomorrow in the Standing (before Allah), is the most truthful of you in speaking, the best of you in giving back trusts, the most loyal of you to covenants, the best of you in morals, and the nearest of you to people.”

91. “The least comfortable people are the stingy.”

92. “The least delighted people are the envious.”

93. “The least things available at the end of time are a trustworthy brother or a well-gotten dirham.”

94. “Pardon the slips of the people of mistakes.”

95. “The greatest of major sins is the mistrusting of Allah.”

96. “The greatest of major sins are the association (of others) with Allah, the killing of a human being, the undutifulness to parents, and false testimony.”

97. “The most satiate people in this life are the hungriest of them on the Day of Resurrection.”

98. “The most appreciated people are the most knowledgeable.”

99. “The most honorable people are the most pious.”

100. “Honor your children and educate them well.”

101. “Honor the knowledgeable because they are the heirs of the prophets. Whoever honors them honors Allah and His messenger.”

102. “Accept from me six things and I will assure to you the paradise; if one of you speaks, let him not tell lies, if he promises, let him not break his promise, and if he is entrusted, let him not betray. Lower your sights (do not look at what is unlawful to look at), hold back your hands (from harming others or obtaining what is unlawful), and keep your honors (private parts).”

103. “Eating in the markets is lowness.”

104. “Shall I guide you to the best morals of this life and the afterlife? Maintain relationship with one who has cut relations with you, give to one who has deprived you, and pardon one who has wronged you.”

105. “There may be a lust of a moment that causes a long sorrow.”

106. “Let no man be alone with a woman, for Satan shall be the third of them.”

107. “Put on new clothes and live as honorable.”

108. “Seek the neighbor before buying a house, and the companion (of travel) before the way.”

109. “Fidelity brings sustenance, and betrayal brings poverty.”

110. “I have been ordered to humor people as I have been to carry out the mission.”

111. “Hope is but a mercy from Allah to my nation. Without hope a mother shall not suckle a child, nor shall a planter plant a tree.”

112. “The most beloved servant to Allah is he to whom Allah has endeared benevolence and to whom He has endeared the doings of it.”

113. “The thing that I most fear for my nation from is every cunning hypocrite.”

114. “The most regretful one on the Day of Resurrection is a man that has sold his afterlife for the life of other than himself.”

115. “The most sinful one on the Day of Resurrection is the most involved one in falsehood.”

116. “The greatest sin to Allah is that when a man neglects those whom he is responsible of maintaining.”

117. “The things that mostly take people to the Fire are the two hollow things; the mouth and the private parts.

118. “Happiness and all happiness is in one’s long life that is spent in the obedience of Allah.”

119. “A reasonable one is he who believes in the oneness of Allah and obeys Him.”

120. “When a servant commits a sin, it shall be made in his heart as a black spot. If he gives up, repents, and seeks forgiveness, his heart shall be cleared, but if he returns to commit the sin, it (the black spot) shall be increased until it shall overcome his heart, and this is the rust that Allah has mentioned in this verse, (Nay! But, what they used to do has become like rust upon their hearts). Qur'an, 83:14

121. “Allah is not obeyed by force, nor is He disobeyed out of defeat, and He does not neglect the people in the kingdom, but He is powerful over what He has made them powerful over, and He is the possessor of what He has made them posses, then if the people follow the obedience of Allah, there shall be no preventer or repeller, and if they disobeys Him, and He wills to prevent them from it (disobedience), He will do…

122. “Allah, glory be to Him, likes lying in (making) righteousness, and hates truthfulness in (making) corruption.”

123. “Allah has revealed to me: be humble lest anyone should pride on another or anyone should oppress another.”

124. “Allah has natured the hearts of His people to love whoever does good to them, and to hate whoever does bad to them.”

125. “Allah the Almighty does not expose the honor of a servant who has inasmuch as the weight of an atom of goodness.”

126. “Allah repels by charity seventy bad deaths.”

127. “Allah, the Exalted, takes pride in a worshipping young man before the angels and says: look at My servant; he gave up his lust for the sake of Me.”

128. “Allah the Almighty hates the obscene, the indecent.”

129. “Allah the Almighty loves the assisting of the terribly needy.”

130. “Allah the Almighty loves leniency in all affairs.”

131. “Allah the Almighty loves from His people the jealous.”

132. “Allah the Almighty recommends you to be kind to women, because they are your mothers, daughters, and aunts.”

133. “Allah hates the adulterate old men, the oppressive wealthy, the proud poor, the importunate beggars, and He frustrates the reward of a reminding giver, and He hates the indecent, daring liars.”

134. “Allah loves when He endows His servant with a blessing that the sign of His blessing should be seen on him, and He hates misery and the pretending of misery.”

135. “Those, who love each other for the sake of Allah, shall be in the shade of the Throne.”

136. “A believer follows the manners of Allah; if Allah gives him much, he includes it, and if He stops giving him, he shall be abstinent.”

137. “Know that success is with patience, deliverance is with distress, and ease is with hardship.”

138. “We, the prophets, have been ordered to talk to people according to their own reasons.”

139. “The firmest ties of Islam is that you love for the sake of Allah and hate for the sake of Allah.”

140. “Deliberateness is from Allah and hastiness is from Satan.”

141. “You and your properties are to your father.”

142. “Keeping to one’s promise is from faith.”

143. “The best servants of Allah are the loyal, the good.”

144. “In the paradise there are a house called the House of Joy that no one shall enter into it except those who have delighted the believers’ orphans.”

145. “In wealth there is a due other than the zakat.”

146. “You can not include people by your properties, so include them by your morals.”

147. “These hearts become rusty as iron becomes rusty.” He was asked, “Then, how are they clarified?” He said, “By remembering death and reciting the Qur'an.”

148. “Allah has servants that He has created for (the carrying out of) the needs of people.”

149. “Allah has servants that He has chosen for the needs of people. People resort to them at need; they are the safe from the torment of Allah.”

150. “I but fear for my nation from three: obeyed stinginess, followed desires, and a deviant leader.”

151. “What has remained from this life is affliction and temptation.”

152. “Surely all goodness is obtained by reason. There is no religion for one who has no reason.”

153. “There is in poetry wisdom, and in eloquence charm.”

154. “From the rights of a child on his father is to name him with a good name, teach him writing and reading, and marry him when he is adult.”

155. “From the causes of forgiveness are the offering of greetings and the well speaking.”

156. “The firmest weapon of Iblis is women.”

157. “My Lord has recommended me with nine things; loyalty in secrecy and openness, justice at satisfaction and anger, moderation in poverty and wealth, to pardon one who has wronged me, give to one who has deprived me, maintain relationship with one who has cut his relation with me, and that my silence should be thinking, my logic remembering, and my looking (taking of) lessons.”

158. “I recommend you to feel shy of Allah as you feel shy of a good man from your people.”

159. “I recommend you of (being kind to your) neighbors.”

160. “The first thing that shall be weighed in the Scales (on the Day of Judgment) is good morals.”

161. “The people of oppression and their assistants shall be in the Fire.”

162. “Beware of greed, because it is the present poverty.”

163. “Beware of excessiveness in the religion, because those before you had perished because of the excessiveness in religion.”

164. “Beware of false reverence, that is when the body is seen as reverent whereas the heart is not.”

165. “Beware of the plant of dunghills.” He was asked what the plant of dunghills was and he said, “A beautiful woman in a bad origin (family).”

166. “Beware of two features; boredom and laziness. If you are bored, you shall be not patient with a right, and if you are lazy, you shall not carry out a right.”

167. “Beware of a bad companion, because you are known through him.”

168. “Beware of any thing which is apologized for.”

169. “Hands are three; begging, spending, and withholding (stingy). The best of hands is the spending one.”

170. “Whatever guardian that is not merciful to his subjects, Allah will deny the Paradise to him.”

171. “The believing in the fate removes grief and sorrow.”

172. “Faith is two halves; a half in patience, and a half in gratefulness.”

173. “O people, what has been transmitted to you from me that agrees with the Book of Allah, then surely I have said it, and what has come to you that disagrees with the Book of Allah, then surely I have not said it.”

174. “Pay charity in the early morning, because affliction does not exceed the charity.”

175. “The dutifulness to parents prolongs one’s life. Telling lies decreases one’s sustenance. Invocation repels the decree of fate.”

176. “Satiety hardens the heart.”

177. “Between the servant and disbelief is the giving up of prayer.”

178. “Before the Hour (the Day of Resurrection) there shall be seditions like parts of night (dark and ambiguous).”

179. “A merchant waits for sustenance and a monopolist waits for curse.”

180. “Talking about the blessings of Allah is gratefulness, and neglecting it (the talking) is disbelief. He, who is not grateful to the little, shall not be grateful to the much. He, who does not thank people, does not thank Allah. Unity is goodness and separation is torment.”

181. “The prize of a believer is death.”

182. “Giving up evil is a charity.”

183. “Shake hands with each other, and hatred shall disappear from your hearts!”

184. “Pay charities, because charity is your release from the Fire!”

185. “Learn knowledge, and learn calmness and gravity for knowledge. Be humble to those from whom you learn.”

186. “Be free from the griefs of this life as possible as you can, because whoever the (pleasures of) life is his greatest interest Allah will frustrate his skill and make his poverty between his two eyes, and whoever the afterlife is his greatest interest, Allah will manage to him his affairs and make his richness in his heart.”

187. “Think deeply about the signs of Allah and do not think about Allah (Himself).’

188. “Think deeply about the creation of Allah and do not think about Allah lest you perish.”

189. “Be humble to whom you learn from, and be humble to whom you teach, and do not be tyrant scholars.”

190. “Offer presents to each other that you shall be more beloved (to each other), emigrate (for the sake of Allah) that you shall bequeath glory to your children, and pardon the notables their slips.”

191. “There are three things that are from piety; generosity, good speaking, and the patience with harms.”

192. “There are three ones that the associating with them deadens the heart; the association with villains, the (often) talking with women, and the association with the wealthy.”

193. “There are three fatal things and three rescuing things; as for the fatal things, they are: obeyed stinginess, followed desires, and self-deceit, and as for the rescuing things, they are: the fear of Allah secretly and openly, the moderation in wealth and in poverty, and justice at anger and satisfaction.”

194. “Struggle against your desires and you shall possess yourselves.”

195. “The companions of Allah tomorrow shall be the people of piety and abstinence in this life.”

196. “Unity is mercy and separation is torment.”

197. “The beauty of a man is in the eloquence of his tongue.”

198. “The beauty of a man is in the tongue.”

199. “Beauty is in the tongue.”

200. “The love of (receiving) praise from people makes one blind and deaf.”

201. “Your love to some thing blinds and deafens (you).”

202. “War is trick.”

203. “The inviolabilities that every believer should regard and be loyal to are the inviolability of the religion, the inviolability of good manners, and the inviolability of food.”

204. “Allah has prohibited wine, and every intoxicant is unlawful.”

205. “Happy miens remove spite.”

206. “Good morals take their owner high to the degree of a fasting worshipper.” It was said to the Prophet (a.s.), “What is the best of that which is given to a servant?” He said, “Good morals.”

207. “Trusting is from the good worshipping.”

208. “Being loyal to covenant is from faith.”

209. “A good question is the half of knowing, and leniency is the half of living.”

210. “Better your clothes, and repair your saddles (mounts), until you become as a mole among people (noticeable).”

211. “Guard your monies by zakat, cure your patients by charity, and prepare invocation for affliction.”

212. “A lawful thing is what Allah has made lawful in His Book, and an unlawful thing is what Allah has prohibited in His Book, and what He has said nothing about is from what has been left optional.”

213. “The praise (of Allah) for a blessing is a safety from its disappearance.’

214. “Modesty is two; the modesty of reason and the modesty of foolishness. The modesty of reason is knowledge, and the modesty of foolishness is ignorance.”

215. “Modesty, all of it, is good.”

216. “Modesty is from faith.”

217. “Modesty is the whole religion.”

218. “Your service to your wife is charity.”

219. “The fear of Allah is the head of every wisdom, and piety is the master of deeds.”

220. “There are two features that do not exist in a believer; stinginess and bad morals.”

221. “There are two features that nothing of piety may be above them: the faith in Allah and to benefit the people of Allah.”

222. “There are two things that many people are deceived by; good health and leisure.”

223. “All the creatures are the household of Allah, and the most beloved of them to Allah is the most useful of them to His household.”

224. “The best of the believers is the satisfied one, and the worst of them is the greedy one.”

225. “The best of you is he the seeing of whom reminds you of Allah, whose logic increases your knowledge, and whose deeds make you wish for the afterlife.’

226. “Betrayal brings poverty.”

227. “The best door of piety is charity.”

228. “The best of affairs is the moderate one of them.”

229. “The goodness of this life and the afterlife is with knowledge, and the evil of this life and the afterlife is with ignorance.’

230. “The best of remembrance is that which is secret, and the best of sustenance is that which suffices (the need).”

231. “The best of charity is that which keeps richness, the upper (giving) hand is better than the lower (begging) hand, and you begin (in charity) with those whom you maintain.”

232. “The best of deeds is that you leave this life while your tongue is wet with the remembrance of Allah.”

233. “The best of gaining is the gaining of the worker’s hand when he is sincere.”

234. “The best of meetings is the biggest of them.”

235. “The best of people is the most useful one to people.”

236. “The best of people is he whose life is long and his deeds are good, and the worst of people is he whose life is long and his deeds are bad.’

237. “The best thing of religion is piety.”

238. “The best of your youths is he who imitates old men, and the worst of your old men is he who imitates your youths.”

239. “Goodness is too much, but those who do it are few.”

240. “The best of you is he who is best to his family (wife), and I am the best of you to my family. No one honors women except that he is generous, and no one insults them except that he is mean.”

241. “The best of you is the best to his wives and daughters.”

242. “The best of you is he whom Allah assists against his own soul and then he possesses it.”

243. “The best of you is he who learns the Qur'an and then teaches it.”

244. “The best things that man leaves after him are three; a good child that prays Allah for him, a charity that is continuous and whose reward reaches him, and knowledge that is benefited by after him.”

245. “The best mosques for women are the bottoms (insides) of their houses.”

246. “That who is better than goodness is its giver, and that who is worse than evil is its doer.”

247. “The best of them (women) is the least of them in dowry.”

248. “Leave aside tittle-tattle, importunity, and the wasting of wealth.”

249. “Leave what you doubt about to what you do not doubt about, because you shall not feel the loss of a thing that you have left for the sake of Allah.”

250. “The guide to goodness is as its doer.”

251. “This life changes (from a state to another), so what is for you (has been predetermined) shall come to you even if you are weak, and what is against you, you shall not be able to repel it even if you are powerful.”

252. “This world is as a prison for a believer and as a paradise for a disbeliever.”

253. “This life is a provision, and the best of its provision is a righteous woman.”

254. “Religion is the (sincere) advice.”

255. “The remembrance of Allah is a cure for hearts.”

256. “The head of religion is the piety.”

257. “The head of reason after the faith in Allah is the endearment to people, and the doing of benevolence to every pious and impious one.”

258. “The head of reason after the faith in Allah is modesty and good morals.”

259. “There may be a carrier of jurisprudence that he is not a jurisprudent. He, whose knowledge does not benefit him, his ignorance shall harm him.”

260. “There may be a lust of a moment that causes a long sorrow.”

261. “There may be a worshipper that is ignorant, and there may be a knowledgeable one that is deviant. Therefore, beware of ignorant worshippers, and deviant knowledgeable ones.”

262. “May Allah have mercy on one who holds back the nonsense of his speech, and spends the extra of his wealth.”

263. “May Allah have mercy on a parent who assists his child to be dutiful to him.”

264. “May Allah have mercy on a servant who speaks good and so he gains (good), or abstains from speaking bad and so he becomes safe.”

265. “May Allah have mercy on an eye that weeps for the fear of Allah, and have mercy on an eye that remains sleepless for the sake of Allah.”

266. “The satisfaction of the Lord is in the satisfaction of the parent, and the anger of the Lord is in the anger of the parent.”

267. “The satisfaction of the Lord is in the satisfaction of the parents, and His anger is in their anger.”

268. “Suckling changes the natures.”

269. “It has been pardoned for my nation the (unknowingly) mistaking, forgetfulness, and what they are forced to do.”

270. “Refresh the hearts from time to time!”

271. “Visit the graves because they remind you of the afterlife.”

272. “The abstinence in this life relieves the heart and the body, and the wishing for it (this life) tires the heart and the body.”

273. “The abstinence in this life is not by prohibiting a lawful thing or wasting the wealth, but the abstinence in this life is that you should not be more trusting in what there is in your hands than what there is in Allah’s hand, and that you should wish for the reward of an affliction that if you are afflicted by more than your wishing for keeping it away from you.”

274. “The adultery of eyes is the (unlawful) looking.”

275. “Ask the knowledgeable, talk with wise men, and associate with the poor.”

276. “A reviler of the dead is as if he is near to perishment.”

277. “The carer for a widow or a poor is like a struggler in the way of Allah, or a worshipper worshipping all the night and fasting in the day.”

278. “You shall be greedy of authority, then it shall be regret and grief to you; and then, how good a suckler and how bad a weaner shall be!”

279. “It is absurdity in man to make his guest serve him.”

280. “Walking fast takes away the gravity of a believer.”

281. “A just ruler is the shadow of Allah in the earth. If anyone of you enters a country that has no just ruler, let him not reside in it.”

282. “A just ruler is the shadow of Allah in the earth that whoever honors him Allah will honor him, and whoever insults him Allah will insult him.”

283. “A just ruler is the shadow of Allah in the earth; to whom the weak resort and from whom the oppressed seek support.”

284. “Pray Allah for pardon and good health, for no one has been given, after certainty, anything better than good health.”

285. “Ask Allah for useful knowledge, and seek Allah’s protection against knowledge that is not useful.”

286. “Generosity is prosperity, and difficulty is evil omen.”

287. “Bad morals are evil omen.”

288. “The master of a people is to be as their servant, and the giver of water to them is to be the last one to drink.”

289. “A generous young man with good morals is more beloved to Allah than a stingy, worshipping old man with bad morals.”

290. “Youth is a branch of madness.”

291. “The worst of affairs are the heresies, the worst of blindness is the blindness of the heart, the worst of apology is when death comes, the worst of regret is on the Day of Resurrection, the worst of eating is the eating of the orphan’s property, and the worst of gaining is the gain of usury.”

292. “The worst of people is he who oppresses his family.”

293. “The worst of people is he who hates people and people hates him.”

294. “A wretched one is he who is wretched when in his mother’s abdomen.”

295. “An old man is young in the love of tow things: a long life and abundant money.”

296. “A fasting person is in a state of worshipping even if he is sleeping in his bed as long as he does not backbite a Muslim.”

297. “Truthfulness is tranquility and lying is uncertainty.”

298. “Charity puts out the wrath of the Lord and repels bad death.”

299. “Charity closes seventy doors of evil.”

300. “Maintain relationship with whoever has cut his relations with you, do good to whoever has done you wrong, and say the truth even if it is against yourself.”

301. “Maintain relationship with one who has cut his relations with you, give to one who has deprived you, and pardon one who has wronged you.”

302. “Maintain kinship with your relatives even if by greeting.”

303. “Maintaining kinship prolongs one’s life, and the secret charity puts out the wrath of the Lord.”

304. “There are two kinds of people who if are good, people are good, and if are corrupted, people become corrupted; scholars and rulers.”

305. “There are two sounds that Allah hates; wailing at an affliction and playing music at a blessing.”

306. “Fasting is a protection from the torment of Allah.”

307. “A grateful eating person is like a patient faster.”

308. “The food of the generous is a cure, and the food of the stingy is a disease.”

309. “Greed takes wisdom away from the hearts of scholars.”

310. “Blessed is he whose life is long and his deeds are good, and so his end shall be good where his Lord will be pleased with him. And woe unto him whose life is long and his deeds are bad, and so his end shall be bad where his Lord will be displeased with him.”

311. “Blessed is he who controls his tongue and weeps at his sin.”

312. “The unjust and their assistants shall be in the Fire.”

313. “Worship is seven parts the best of which is the seeking of lawful gain.”

314. “How great it is for a believer; Allah does not determine a fate for him except that is better to him whether it pleases or displeases him. If He afflicts him it shall be a penance for his sin, and if He gives and honors him, it shall be a gift to him.”

315. “Justice is good, but when it is in rulers it is better. Generosity is good, but when it is in the wealthy, it is better. Piety is good, but in the scholars is better. Patience is good, but in the poor is better. Repentance is good, but in the youth is better. Modesty is good, but in women is better.”

316. “Justice of an hour is better than the worship of a year.”

317. “Visit him who does not visit you, and give a present to him who does not give you a present.”

318. “The believer’s promise is as the taking (from him) with the hand (surely shall be fulfilled).”

319. “The promise is as a debt. Woe unto whoever promises and then breaks his promise! Woe unto whoever promises and then breaks his promise! Woe unto whoever promises and then breaks his promise!”

320. “The strictness of (or to) a boy in his childhood shall increase his reason at his adulthood.”

321. “Live whatever you like, for you shall die, and love whatever you love, for you shall part with it, and do whatever you do, for you shall be rewarded for it.”

322. “Chastity is the adornment of women.”

323. “The pardon of Allah is greater than your sins.”

324. “The sign of Allah’s satisfaction with His people is the cheapness of their (goods) prices and the justice of their ruler. And the sign of Allah’s wrath on His people is the oppression of their ruler and the expensiveness of their prices.”

325. “Knowledge and wealth cover every defect, and ignorance and poverty expose every defect.”

326. “Keep to lenience, and beware of cruelty and indecency.”

327. “Keep to the despair of what there is in the people’s hands, and beware of greed because it is the present (lasting) poverty.”

328. “Keep to truthfulness, because it is a door from the doors of the Paradise, and beware of lying, because it is a door from the doors of the Fire.”

329. “The blindness of the heart is the deviation after guidance.”

330. “Two odd words; a word of wisdom from a fool that you are to accept it, and a bad word from a wise man that you are to forgive it.’

331. “Spite and envy eat the good deeds as fire eats the firewood.”

332. “Backbiting is to mention your brother with what he hates.”

333. “The exposedness in this life is better than the exposedness in the afterlife.”

334. “A deep thinking of an hour is better than the worship of sixty years.”

335. “The Qur'an is real cure.”

336. “Say the truth even if it is bitter.”

337. “The heart of an old man is young in the love of two things; living and hope.”

338. “A little household is one of the two eases.”

339. “Satisfaction is a property that does not run out.”

340. “Guard by your monies your honors.”

341. “Say good and you shall gain (good), and abstain from an evil and you shall be safe.”

342. “Tie knowledge by the book (write it down lest it is lost).”

343. “A gainer by his hand is a friend of Allah.”

344. “Greatly hateful to Allah is the eating without hunger, the sleeping without drowsiness, and the laughing without a wonder (reason).”

345. “Laughing much deadens the heart.”

346. “Lying, all of it, is sin except that by which a Muslim may be benefited (lawfully as when reconciling with one another).”

347. “Generosity is piety, honor is (in) humbleness, and certainty is richness.”

348. “The honor of man is his religion, his generosity is his mind, and his ancestry is his morals.”

349. “The penance of a sin is regret. If you do not sin, Allah will bring people who shall sin so that He will forgive them.”

350. “Time is sufficient as a preacher, and death as a separator.”

351. “It is sufficient sin for a man that he neglects those whom he is to sustain.”

352. “It is sufficient knowledge for man that he fears Allah, and sufficient ignorance to him that he is self-conceited.”

353. “It is sufficient jurisprudence for man if he worships Allah, and it is sufficient ignorance to him when he admires his own opinion.”

354. “Death is a sufficient preacher, piety is sufficient wealth, worship is a sufficient business, the (Day of) Resurrection is a sufficient refuge, and Allah is a sufficient Rewarder!”

355. “A believer is natured with every aspect except betrayal and lying.”

356. “Allah may forgive every sin except that when one dies a polytheist or he kills a believer intendedly.”

357. “Every one of a blessing is envied except one of humbleness.”

358. “Every loan is charity.”

359. “Each one of you is a guardian, and he is responsible for his subjects.”

360. “Every favor is charity.”

361. “Every favor you do to a rich or a poor is charity.”

362. “Every harmful person shall be in the Fire.”

363. “A good word is charity.”

364. “How many those are who receive a (new) day, but they do not complete it (die before its end), and how many those are who expect a tomorrow, but they do not reach it.”

365. “A good one is he who criticizes himself and works for what is after death, and a feckless one is he who lets his soul follow its desires and wishes from Allah all wishes.”

366. “There is no faith for whoever has no fidelity, and no religion for whoever has no (loyalty to) covenant.”

367. “Do not envy each other, terrify each other, hate each other, or give up each other. Be brothers in worshipping Allah, and do not be censurers, praisers, or revilers.”

368. “Do not expose any cover of anyone.”

369. “Do not reject any beggar even by giving him a half of a date.”

370. “Do not revile the dead, because they have gone to what they have done before.”

371. “Do not revile the dead lest you hurt the live.”

372. “Do not show rejoicing at your brother’s distress, that Allah may deliver him and afflict you.”

373. “Do not put wisdom near other that its people that you wrong it, and do not prevent its people from it that you wrong them.”

374. “Do not do anything of goodness hypocritically, and do not give it up because of shyness.”

375. “Do not backbite the Muslims and do not look for their defects.”

376. “Do not be angry, because anger is corruption.”

377. “Do not increase your grief; what has been predetermined shall take place, and what has been predetermined as your sustenance shall come to you.”

378. “Do not dispute with your brother or make fun of him, and do not promise him and then you break your promise to him.”

379. “Do not wipe your hand by the garment of one whom you do not provide with clothes.”

380. “Mercy is not taken out except from a rascal.”

381. “There is no good for you in the companionship of one who does not like for you as what he likes for himself.”

382. “There is no religion for one who has no covenant (does not regard his covenant).”

383. “It is no charity (to be paid to others) while there is a needy relative.”

384. “No obedience should be paid to a creature in the disobedience of the Creator.”

385. “There is no reason like good management, no piety like abstinence, and no ancestry like good morals.”

386. “A servant shall not reach the degree of the pious until he leaves what is undoubtful for fear of what is doubtful (whether lawful or not).”

387. “One, whose property has been stolen from him, may remain in accusing one who is innocent of that until he himself becomes more sinful than the stealer.”

388. “A scholar does not become saturate with his knowledge until his end shall be to the Paradise.’

389. “A believer does not ravage.”

390. “A believer is not stung from a (same) hole twice.”

391. “Allah has cursed a briber, a bribed one, and the one who mediates between them.”

392. “Allah has cursed whoever separates (or stir discord between) a mother from her child or a brother from his brother.”

393. “Every sin has a repentance except bad morals.”

394. “Every thing has a pillar, and the pillar of this religion is jurisprudence.”

395. “A lazy one has three signs; he slackens until he wastes, wastes until he loses, and loses until he becomes sinful.”

396. “Allah is in the assistance of a servant as long as the servant is in the assistance of his brother.”

397. “He is not a liar who tries to reconcile a person with another (even by using lies).”

398. “If a mountain oppresses another mountain, Allah will tear down the oppressive one of them.”

399. “If you know what I know, you shall laugh a little and weep too much.”

400. “Offer presents to each other because the present takes hatred away. If I am invited to a trotter, I will respond, and if a trotter is offered to me as a present, I will accept.”

401. “Were it not for woman, man would enter the Paradise!”

402. “Were it not for that the past is the antecedent of the remaining, and the last would follow the first, we would be sorrowful for you, O Ibrahim.” Then his eyes shed tears and he said, “The eye sheds tears and the heart becomes sad, but we do no say except what pleases the Lord. Surely, we are sad for you, O Ibrahim.”[1]

403. “Say: O Allah, I ask you for a certain soul that believes in Your meeting and is pleased with Your fate, and satisfied with Your giving.”

404. “A time shall come to people that one shall not care for wherefrom he takes money; whether from a lawful or unlawful way.”

405. “Someone of you may keep on begging until he meets Allah where there shall be no bit of flesh in his face.”

406. “If one of you takes his ropes to collect firewood on his back, it shall be easier to him than to come to a (wealthy) man, whom Allah has given from His favor, begging him that he either gives to him or not.”

407. “Wealth is not the abundance of properties, but it is the richness of the soul.”

408. “A believer is not the one who becomes saturate while his neighbor is hungry beside him.”

409. “Reconcile people even if you tell lies.”

410. “No one has a preference to another except by faith or a good deed.”

411. “It is not (considered as) backbiting against a deviant.”

412. “He is not from us who cheats, harms, or deceives a Muslim.”

413. “He, who does not regard the old, be merciful to the young, enjoin the good, and forbid the wrong, is not from us.”

414. “No servant loves a servant for the sake of Allah except that Allah will honor him.”

415. “Allah does not entrust a servant with subjects that he does not take care of them sincerely, except that Allah will deny the Paradise for him.”

416. “A servant does not conceal anything except that Allah will dress him with its garment; with good if it is good, and bad if it is bad.”

417. “Allah does never honor anyone with ignorance nor does He lower anyone with patience at all.”

418. “A gainer does not gain anything like virtuous knowledge that guides its owner to guidance or saves him from perdition, nor does his religion become right until his reason becomes right.”

419. “No young man honors an old man for his old age, except that Allah will prepare to him one who shall honor him at his old age.”

420. “No one has ever eaten food better than to eat from the labor of his own hand. Dawud (David) the Prophet of Allah used to eat from the labor of his own hands.”

421. “A Muslim man does not offer a present to his brother better than a word of wisdom by which Allah increases his guidance or preserves him from perdition.”

422. “Allah has not adorned people with an adornment better than abstinence in this life and chastity of their abdomen and private parts.”

423. “Allah does not afflict a people with rainlessness except because of their rebellion against Allah.”

424. “A meeting shall not be narrow for lovers.”

425. “Leniency does not exist in anything except that it adorns it, and stupidity does not exist in anything except that it makes it ugly.”

426. “A scholar, by whose knowledge it is benefited, is better than a thousand worshippers.”

427. “No one is better near Allah than an imam who when speaks is truthful and when judges is just.”

428. “There is no charity more beloved to Allah than the saying of the truth.”

429. “No deed is better than the satisfying of a hungry one.”

430. “No man, who knows his worth, perishes.”

431. “A believer is like a spike which the wind moves; it rises one time and falls down another, and a disbeliever is like a pine tree which remains erect until it is hollowed.”

432. “A mujahid is he who struggles against his soul in the obedience of Allah.”

433. “A dispraised beneficent person is mercified (by Allah).”

434. “To humor people is charity.”

435. “He, whom boredom overcomes, comfort leaves him.”

436. “Whoever Allah wants goodness to him, He endows him with a good companion.”

437. “Whoever commits a sin while laughing shall enter the Fire while crying.”

438. “Whoever humbles himself in the obedience of Allah is more honorable than one who is honored in the disobedience of Allah.”

439. “Whoever likes to be the wealthiest of people let him be more trusting in what there is in Allah’s hand than what there is in his own hand.”

440. “Whoever loves a people Allah will resurrect him with their group.”

441. “Whoever likes to be the strongest of people let him rely on Allah.”

442. “Whoever likes to be the most generous of people let him fear Allah.”

443. “Whoever prefers the love of Allah to the love of people Allah will suffice him against people.”

444. “Whoever does a favor to you, you are to reward him (with some gift), and if you can not, then you are to thank (praise) him because the praise is a reward.”

445. “Whoever fears Allah, Allah saves him from everything.”

446. “Let the goodness, which Allah gives to a person, be seen on him.”

447. “He, whose deed lingers him, his ancestry shall not hasten (exalt) him.”

448. “Let him, who is tried by judging among Muslims, not raise his voice at one of the two litigants except that he raises it at the other (in the same way).”

449. “Let him, who is tried by judging among Muslims, be just to them in his looking (at them), gesturing, and seating (them).”

450. “He is cursed who throws his tiredness on people.”

451. “He is cursed who reviles his father, he is cursed who reviles his mother.”

452. “The heart of religion is piety.”

453. “Cunning, deceiving, and betraying are in the Fire.’

454. “Our generosity, we the Ahlul Bayt, is the pardoning of whoever has wronged us, and the giving to whoever has deprived us.”

455. “Whoever from my nation that his intention is (to) other than Allah, he is not from Allah, and whoever does not care for the affairs of the believers is not from them, and whoever acknowledged meanness willingly is not from us the Ahlul Bayt.”

456. “Whoever assists a dispute wrongfully remains under the wrath of Allah until he shall die.”

457. “Whoever assists an oppressive one Allah will cause him (the oppressor) to oppress him (the assistant).”

458. “Whoever seeks glory with the slaves Allah will degrade him.”

459. “He, who is given four things, shall not be deprived of four things; he, who is given the asking for forgiveness, shall not be deprived of being forgiven, he, who is given (the showing of) gratefulness, shall not be deprived of more giving, he, who is given repentance, shall not be deprived of the acceptance, and he, who is given invocation, shall not be deprived of the response.”

460. “From the greatest sins is a lying tongue.”

461. “Whoever approaches the doors of kings shall be tempted.”

462. “Whoever eats (all) what he likes, wears what he likes, and rides what he likes Allah will not look at him until he dies or he repents.”

463. “It is from piety that you maintain relations with your father’s friend.”

464. “It is from charity that you greet people with happy miens.”

465. “Whoever takes off the garment of modesty backbiting him is permissible.”

466. “Whoever begins with talking before greeting, do not answer him.”

467. “Whoever reaches a position with no right is from the aggressive.”

468. “Whoever is careful shall succeed or be about to, and whoever is hasty shall fail or be about to.”

469. “Whoever is careful shall obtain what he wishes.”

470. “Whoever imitates a people is from them.”

471. “Whoever gets used to eating and drinking much his heart shall be hard.”

472. “Whoever pretends poverty shall be poor.”

473. “From the full greeting is to shake hands.”

474. “Whoever argues in a dispute without knowledge remains under the wrath of Allah until he shall die.”

475. “Whoever is deprived of leniency is deprived of the whole goodness.”

476. “He, whom people fear his tongue, is from the people of the Fire.”

477. “He, who guides to goodness, shall have like the reward of its (goodness) doer.”

478. “Whoever defends his brother’s honor Allah will defend his face against the Fire.”

479. “Whoever is kind to my nation Allah will be kind to him.”

480. “He, who accuses a believer of disbelief, is as if he is his killer.”

481. “Whoever is abstinent in this life Allah teaches him without learning and makes him aware.”

482. “Whoever covers (the defect of) his brother Allah will cover him in the life and the afterlife.”

483. “From the happiness of a man is an abode, a good neighbor, and a comfortable mount.”

484. “Whoever strikes (someone) with a whip unjustly shall be punished for that on the Day of Resurrection.”

485. “Whoever joins an orphan to himself or to another until he will make him unneedful shall deserve to be in the Paradise.”

486. “Whoever seeks the pleasing of a creature by the displeasing of the Creator, Allah, glory be to him, will cause that creature overcome him (with oppression).”

487. “He, who comforts a distressed one, shall have like his reward.”

488. “Whoever pardons at powerfulness Allah will pardon him on the Day of Hardship.”

489. “Whoever combats with Allah, Allah will defeat him, and whoever deceives Allah, Allah will deceive him.”

490. “Let him, to whom a door of goodness is opened, make use of it, because he does not know when it shall be closed before him.”

491. “From the awareness of a man is to better his living, and it is not from the love of this life the seeking of what may better you.”

492. “He, who cuts kinship with a relative or takes a false oath, shall meet its evil results before he dies.”

493. “Whoever that his eating is little his body is healthy, and whoever that his eating is much his body becomes ill and his heart becomes hard.”

494. “Let him, who is to swear, not swear except by Allah.”

495. “Let whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day fulfill his promise when he promises.”

496. “He, who conceals some knowledge from its people, shall be bridled with a bridle of fire on the Day of Resurrection.”

497. “Whoever that his grief is much his body shall be sick. Whoever that his morals are bad…he tortures himself. Whoever reviles men his generosity and dignity shall be gone.”

498. “Let whoever fabricates lies against me intendedly take his seat in the Fire.”

499. “Whoever holds back his tongue from the honors of people Allah will pardon him his slips on the Day of Resurrection.”

500. “Whoever has no piety that prevents him from disobeying Allah when he is alone Allah will not care for anything of his deeds.”

501. “He, whose knowledge does not benefit him, his ignorance shall harm him.”

502. “He, who accompanies an oppressor, becomes sinful.”

503. “Whoever intends to do a sin and then he gives up it shall be a good deed to him.”

504. “If Allah wants goodness for someone, He makes him aware of the religion.”

505. “Whoever does wrong shall be rewarded for it in this life.”

506. “Whoever forgives (others) Allah forgives him, and whoever pardons Allah pardons him.”

507. “A believer is inviolable, all of him; his honor, property, and blood.”

508. “A believer is honorable and noble, and a disbeliever is treacherous and mean.”

509. “A believer is good, intelligent, careful.”

510. “A believer to another believer is like a compact structure that each tightens another.”

511. “A believer is the mirror of another believer and the brother of another believer; he guards him from behind him.”

512. “A true believer is he whom people feel safe from him for their souls, properties, and bloods.”

513. “A believer is advantage; if you accompany him, he benefits you, if you consult with him, he benefits you, and if you participate with him, he benefits you, and everything of his affairs is advantageous.”

514. “People are like their time.”

515. “People are minerals; like gold and silver.”

516. “Regret is repentance.”

517. “Cleanness is from faith.”

518. “A child’s looking at his parents lovingly is a worship.”

519. “How a good intercessor the Qur'an is for its friend (who keeps and acts according to it) on the Day of Resurrection!”

520. “How a good thing a present is at need!”

521. “How good assistance to the fear of Allah wealth is!”

522. “How good assistance to the fear of Allah a property is!”

523. “How good a lawful property for a righteous man is!”

524. “How a good gift a word from the words of wisdom is!”

525. “Sleeping with knowledge is better than offering prayer with ignorance.”

526. “Good intention takes its owner to the Paradise.”

527. “The love of Allah shall be certain to one who becomes angry and then patient.”

528. “Piety is the master of deeds.”

529. “The ink of scholars has been weighed by the blood of martyrs and it (the ink of scholars) outweighed.”

530. “A child is from the flowers of the Paradise.”

531. “Woe unto one who is insolent to a Muslim and violates his right.”

532. “Woe unto one who leaves his family with goodness and comes to his Lord with evil.”

533. “A present is a bounty from Allah, so whoever is offered something as a present let him accept it.”

534. “Worry is a half of senility.”

535. “A time shall come to people where people shall be (as) wolves; whoever shall not be a wolf shall be eaten by wolves.”

536. “A high hand (giving) is better than a low hand (taking), and begin (in giving) with those whom you (are responsible to) sustain.”

537. “Allah’s hand is with unity.”

538. “A false oath misspends goods and mars gaining.”