Educational recommendations
The Prophet (a.s.) paid much attention to establish a society balanced in behavior, understanding, values, and morals. Therefore, he supplied the society with treasures in the field of education and social development that would take people to perfection.
The Prophet’s recommendations to Imam Ali
The Prophet (a.s.) recommended Imam Ali (a.s.) with maxims and decencies to be not specially for Imam Ali (a.s.), but to be a guide and method for all Muslims…here, we choose only some passages from those recommendations and not all of their texts.
1. The Prophet (a.s.) said to Imam Ali (a.s.),
“O Ali, from certainty is that you should not please anyone by displeasing Allah, or praise anyone for what Allah has given to you, or dispraise anyone for what Allah has not given to you, because livelihood cannot be brought by a desire of a greedy one nor can it be kept away by the dislike of a disliker. Allah by His will and favor has made mercy and deliverance in certainty and satisfaction, and made grieve and sorrow in suspicion and dissatisfaction.
O Ali, there is no poverty worse than ignorance, no property more beneficial than reason, no loneliness more desolate than self-conceit, no assistance better than consultation, no reason like (good) management, no ancestry like good morals, and no worship like consideration.
O Ali, the plague of speech is lying, the plague of knowledge is forgetting, the plague of worship is slackness, the plague of generosity is the reminding of the favor, the plague of courage is oppression, the plague of beauty is the self-conceit, and the plague of ancestry is priding.
O Ali, Keep to truthfulness and let no lie come out of your mouth at all, and do not dare to commit any treason at all. Fear Allah as if you see Him. Spend your wealth and soul for the sake of your religion. Do keep to the good morals, and do avoid the bad morals.
O Ali, the most beloved deeds to Allah the Almighty are three things; he, who carries out what Allah has imposed on him, is one of the best worshippers, he, who abstains from what Allah has prohibited, is one of the most pious people, and he, who is satisfied with what Allah has given to him, is one of the wealthiest people.”
O Ali, there are three things that are from the nobilities of character; to maintain kinship with those who shun you, to give to those who deprive you, and to pardon those who wrong you.
O Ali, there are three saving things; to restrain your tongue, weep for your sin, and feel satisfied (and pleased) in your house.
O Ali, the masters of deeds are three things; being just to people against yourself, regarding brothers (others) as equal (to you) for the sake of Allah, and remembering Allah at any case.
O Ali, there are three men that are from the guests of Allah; a man who visits his believing brother for the sake of Allah is one of the visitors of Allah and Allah surely is generous to His visitors and He grants them what they ask for, and a man who offers a prayer and then he anthems until the next prayer is the guest of Allah, and surely Allah is generous to His guests, and the performers of major hajj and minor hajj are delegations to Allah, and surely Allah is generous to His delegations.
O Ali, there are three things that their rewards are in this life and in the afterlife; the performing of hajj keeps poverty away, charity repels afflictions, and the maintaining of kinship prolongs one’s age.
O Ali, there are three things that if someone does not have them, his deeds shall not be right; piety that hinders him from the disobediences of Allah the Almighty, knowledge by which he refutes the ignorance of the fool, and reason by which he humors people.
O Ali, there are three men that shall be under the shadow of the Throne on the Day of Judgment; a man who wishes to his brother what he wishes to himself, a man who faces a matter but he does not act until he knows well whether there is satisfaction or dissatisfaction to Allah in that matter, and a man who does not censure his brother for some defect until he repairs that defect in himself, and whenever he repairs a defect in himself, he shall find another, and it is sufficient to man to be busy with himself.
O Ali, there are three things that are from the gates of piety; generosity, good speaking, and patience with harm.
O Ali, in the Torah there are four things beside four things; he who is stingy with the worldly life is angry at Allah, he who complains against a calamity that has afflicted him, as if he complains against his Lord, he who comes to a wealthy person and makes himself low before him, the two thirds of his religion shall go away, and he who shall enter the Fire from this nation is one of those who have taken the signs of Allah as mere amusement and play.
There are four things beside four things; whoever prevails shall appropriate, whoever does not consult (others) shall regret, as you condemn (others) you shall be condemned, and poverty is the major death.
He was asked: is it the poverty of dinars and dirhams? He said: it is the poverty in religion.
O Ali, every eye shall weep on the Day of Judgment except three eyes; an eye that has remained sleepless in the way of Allah, an eye that has been lowered before the prohibitions of Allah (unlawful look), and an eye that has shed tears for fear of Allah.
O Ali, blessed is the figure that Allah looks at while weeping for a sin that no one has ever known except Allah.
O Ali, there are three destructive things and three saving things. As for the destructive things, they are; followed desires, obeyed stinginess, and self-deceit. And as for the saving things, they are; justice at satisfaction and angry, temperance in wealth and poverty, the fear of Allah secretly and openly as if you see Him (Allah), and if you do not see Him, surely He sees you.
O Ali, there are three things that truthfulness is ugly in; talebearing, telling a man about his wife what he hates, and refuting someone intending to do good.
O Ali, there are four things that go in vain; the eating after being satiate, a lamp in the light of the moon, the planting in a moor, and the doing of a favor to one who is not fit for it.
O Ali, there are four things that are the promptest in being punished for; a man that you do him good and he rewards your good doing by doing you bad, a man that you do not wrong but he wrongs you, a man that you agree with him on something and you are loyal to him but he betrays you, and a man that you maintain kinship with but he turns his back to you.
O Ali, there are four things that whoever has had, his faith in Islam shall be perfect; truthfulness, gratefulness, modesty, and good manners.
O Ali, the littleness of asking people for needs is the present wealth, and the muchness of being in need of people is a basement and it is the present poverty.”
2. In another recommendation, the Prophet (a.s.) said to Imam Ali (a.s.), “O Ali, every sin has a repentance except bad morals, for whenever their owner gets out of a sin, he falls into another.”
3. The Prophet (a.s.) said to Imam Ali (a.s.),
“O Ali, the best of jihad is when one does not intend to do wrong to anyone.”
O Ali, whoever people fear his tongue is from the people of the Hell.
O Ali, the worst of people is one whom people respect just to be safe from his impudence and from the harm of his evil.
O Ali, the worst of people is one who sells his afterlife for his worldly life, and worse than him is one who sells his afterlife for the life of other than him.”
4. The Prophet (a.s.) said to Imam Ali (a.s.),
“O Ali, Allah the Almighty has removed by Islam the arrogance of the Pre-Islamic people and their priding on their fathers. Surely the human beings are from Adam and Adam is from earth, and the most honored one of them is the most pious.”
5. The Prophet (a.s.) said to Imam Ali (a.s.), “O Ali, I forbid you from three things; envy, stinginess, and pride.”
6. The Prophet (a.s.) said,
“O Ali, he, who learns a science to compete by it with the fools, or to argue with scientists, or to invite people for himself, is from the people of the Hell.”
7. The Prophet (a.s.) said,
“O Ali, care for four things before four things; your youth before your old age, your health before your illness, your wealth before your poverty, and your life before your death.”
8. The Prophet (a.s.) said,
“O Ali, make your manners good with your family, neighbors, associates, and companions and you shall be recorded near Allah in the high degrees.”
9. The Prophet (a.s.) said,
“O Ali, there are three things that are from the gates of piety; generosity, good speech, and patience with harms.”
The Prophet’s recommendation to Fatima
The Prophet (a.s.) had recommended his daughter Fatima (a.s.) with this recommendation saying,
“He is not from the believers the one whose neighbors do not feel safe from his vices. Let him, who believes in Allah and the Last Day, not harm his neighbor. Let him, who believes in Allah and the Last Day, either say good (things) or keep silent. Allah the Almighty loves a patient, abstinent one and He hates an indecent, stingy one who is importunate in demanding. Modesty is from faith and faith is in the Paradise, and indecency is from obscenity and obscenity is in the Fire…”
The Prophet’s recommendation to Qays
One day, Qays bin Aasim came to the Prophet (a.s.) with some men from Bani Tamim and he asked the Prophet (a.s.) to offer him a recommendation that might benefit him, for he lived in the desert. The Prophet (a.s.) said to him,
“O Qays, there is with glory lowness, with living death, and with this life an afterlife. Everything has a reckoner, over everything there is a watcher, for every good deed there is a reward, for every bad deed there is a punishment, and for every end there is a prescribed book, and you must, O Qays, have a companion to be buried with you who shall be alive while you shall be dead. So if he is generous, he shall be kind to you, and if he is villain, he shall deny you, and then he shall not be resurrected except with you and you shall not be resurrected except with him, and you shall not be asked except about him. So do not make him except good, because if he is good you shall be delighted with him and if he is bad you shall not feel aversion except from him; he is your deeds.”
The Prophet’s recommendation to Ibn Mas’ud
Abdullah bin Mas’ud was one of the closest companions of the Prophet (a.s.). He did very well in his jihad for Allah and Islam, and he met different kinds of torment from Quraysh. In return for that, the Prophet (a.s.) was too loyal to him and he offered to him this immortal recommendations.
Ibn Mas’ud narrated, “One day, five men from our companions and I came to the Prophet after a famine that had afflicted us where we did not drink and eat for four months except water, milk, and the leaves of trees. We asked: until when shall we suffer this severe famine?
The Prophet said, ‘You shall suffer it as long as you live; therefore, give thanks to Allah, for I have read the Book of Allah that has been revealed to me and to those before me, and I have found those who would enter the Paradise not other than the patient.’”
Then the Prophet (a.s.) began advising Ibn Mas’ud with these recommendations that we mention just some of them. The Prophet (a.s.) said,
“O ibn Mas’ud, Allah the Almighty has said, (only the patient will be paid back their reward in full without measure),
and (These shall be rewarded with high places because they were patient),
and (Surely I have rewarded them this day because they were patient, that they are the triumphants).
O ibn Mas’ud, this saying of Allah, (And He has rewarded them, because they were patient, with garden and silk),
and (These shall be granted their reward twice, because they have persevered),
and (Or do you think that you would enter the garden while yet the state of those who have passed away before before you has not come upon you; distress and affliction befell them),
and (And We will most certainly try you with somewhat of fear and hunger and loss of property and lives and fruits; and give good news to the patient).
Some one asked, ‘O messenger of Allah, who are the patient?’
The Prophet (a.s.) said, ‘They are those who are patient with the obedience of Allah and with His disobedience, who have gained lawful gain, spent moderately, and done favors, and therefore they shall be successful and prosperous.’ Then, the Prophet (a.s.) said to ibn Mas’ud,
‘O ibn Mas’ud, there appear on them (the patient) reverence, gravity, calmness, pondering, leniency, justice, learning, consideration, good management, piety, benevolence, abstinence, the love (of others) for (the sake of) Allah, the hatred for Allah, giving trusts back to their owners, justice in judgment, maintenance of true witness, supporting the people of the truth, resistance against sinners, and pardoning of mistakers.
O ibn Mas’ud, they are those who when being afflicted, they are patient, and when given, they are grateful, and when judging, they are just, and when speaking, they are truthful, and when promising, they fulfil (their promise), and when erring, they ask for forgiveness, and when doing good, they are delighted, and when the ignorant address them, they say: ‘Peace’, and when passing by what is vain, they pass by it with dignity, and who spend the night before their Lord, prostrate and standing, , and they speak to people kindly. O ibn Mas’ud, by Him Who has sent me with the truth, it is these who are triumphant.
O ibn Mas’ud, (Is he whose heart Allah has opened for Islam so that he follows a light from his Lord).
When this light comes into the heart, the heart is opened and dilated.’
One of the attendants asked, ‘O messenger of Allah, does that have any sign?’
The Prophet (a.s.) said, ‘Yes, the turning away from the abode of enticement (the worldly life), the turning to the abode of immortality, and the getting ready for death before its time. Whoever turns his back to this life, he does not wish for it and he leaves it for its people.’
The Prophet (a.s.) added, ‘O ibn Mas’ud, the saying of Allah (He might try you, which of you is best in conduct)
means that which of you is more abstinent towards this life which is the abode of enticement, the abode of one who has no abode, and to which, that who has no reason, accumulates (wealth…etc.). Surely the most fool of people is he who wishes for this life. Allah the Almighty has said, (Know that this world's life is only sport and play and gaiety and boasting among yourselves, and a vying in the multiplication of wealth and children, like the rain, whose causing the vegetation to grow, pleases the husbandmen, then it withers away so that you will see it become yellow, then it becomes dried up and broken down; and in the hereafter is a severe chastisement)
and Allah the Almighty has said, (and We granted him wisdom while yet a child).
It means the asceticism in this life. Allah has said to Moses, ‘O Moses, the adorned ones shall not adorn themselves with any adornment more attractive to My eye like asceticism. O Moses, if you see poverty coming, you say: welcome to the sign of the righteous, and if you see wealth coming, you say: a guilt whose punishment has come sooner.
O ibn Mas’ud, (think of) of this saying of Allah the Almighty, (And were it not that all people would have become one nation, We would certainly have assigned to those who disbelieve in the Beneficent Allah (to make) of silver the roofs of their houses and the stairs by which they ascend. And for their houses doors (of silver) and couches of silver whereon to recline. And (other) embellishments of gold; and all this is naught but provision of this world's life, and the hereafter is with your Lord only for those who guard against evil),
and His saying, (Whoever desires this present life, We hasten to him therein what We please for whomsoever We desire, then We assign to him the hell; he shall enter it despised, driven away. And whoever desires the hereafter and strives for it as he ought to strive and he is a believer; (as for) these, their striving shall surely be rewarded).
O ibn Mas’ud, whoever longs for the Paradise hastens to do good deeds, and whoever fears the Fire gives up desires, and whoever expects death refrains from lusts, and whoever turns his back to this life calamities shall be easy to him.
O ibn Mas’ud, (think of) this saying of Allah the Almighty, (The love of desires, of women and sons and hoarded treasures of gold and silver and well bred horses and cattle and tilth, is made to seem fair to men).
O ibn Mas’ud, Allah has chosen Moses by the talking to him, when the green of legumes could be seen in his abdomen because of his thinness, but when Moses went to the shadow, he did not ask except for some food to eat because of hunger.
O ibn Mas’ud, if you want, I shall tell you about Noah the prophet of Allah; he lived one thousand but fifty years inviting for Allah. In the morning he said: I shall not remain (alive) until the evening, and when the evening came, he said: I shall not remain until the morning. Therefore, his clothes were of animal hair and his food was barley.
And if you want, I shall tell you about Solomon; though he was a great king he himself ate barley and offered to people white wheat, and his clothes were of animal hair. When the night came, he hanged his hand to his neck and began offering prayers until the morning.
And if you want, I shall tell you about Abraham the friend of Allah; his clothes were of wool and his food was barley.
And if you want, I shall tell you about Yahya (Prophet John); his clothes were of tree fibers and he ate the leaves of trees.
And if you want, I shall tell you about Jesus the son of Mary that is a wonder; he said: my sustenance is hunger, my sign is the fear (of Allah), my clothing is of wool, my mount is my two legs, my lamp in the night is the moon, my warm in the winter is the rays of the sun, and my fruits and nourishment are the legumes of the ground which beasts and cattle eat from. I spend the night while having nothing and when the morning comes I have nothing, but there is no one on the face of the earth wealthier than me.
O ibn Mas’ud, all that was from them (the prophets). They hated what Allah hated, deemed low what Allah deemed low and regarded insignificant what Allah regarded insignificant.
Allah praised them in His Book. He said about Noah, (Surely he was a grateful servant).
He said about Abraham, (And Allah took Abraham as a friend).
He said about David, (O Dawud! We have set you as a viceroy in the earth).
He said about Moses, (And Allah spoke directly unto Moses).
He also said about Moses, (and We brought him nigh in communion).
He said about John, (And we gave him wisdom when a child).
He said about Jesus, (O Eesa son of Mariyam! Remember My favor on you and on your mother, when I strengthened you with the holy Spirit, that you spoke to the people in the cradle and when of old age, and when I taught you the Book and the wisdom and the Torah and the Bible, and when you determined out of clay a thing like the form of a bird by My permission).
And He said, (surely they used to hasten, one with another in deeds of goodness and to call upon Us, hoping and fearing and they were humble before Us).
O ibn Mas’ud, all that was because of what Allah had frightened them of, saying in His Book, (And surely Hell is the promised place of them all. It has seven gates; for every gate there shall be a separate part of them),
and (and the prophets and the witnesses shall be brought up, and judgment shall be given between them with justice, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly).
O ibn Mas’ud, the Fire shall be for whoever practices a prohibited thing and the Paradise shall be for whoever turns his back to a permissible thing. Therefore, keep to asceticism because that is from what Allah prides on with the angels and by which He will come to you with His face, and the Almighty will have blessing on you.
O Ibn Mas’ud, after me, peoples shall come who shall eat variant kinds of foods, ride mounts, make up like the makeup of a wife for her husband, adorn themselves like women, and wear their (women) uniform like the uniform of arrogant kings. They shall be the hypocrites of this nation at the end of time. They shall be drinkers of wines, players of gambling, followers of lusts, abandoners of congregations, sleepers at time of obligations, and wasters of their boundaries. Allah the Almighty says, (But there came after them a generation, who neglected prayers and followed sensual desires, so they will meet perdition).
O ibn Mas’ud, they are like oleander; its flower is beautiful but its taste is bitter. Their speech is full of wisdom whereas their deeds are a disease that cannot be cured. (Do they not then reflect on the Qur’an? Nay, on the hearts there are locks).
O ibn Mas’ud, what shall benefit one who enjoys the pleasures of this life when he shall be thrown forever into the Fire? (They know the outward of this world's life, but of the hereafter they are absolutely heedless).
They shall build houses, erect palaces, and decorate mosques, but their interest shall be not but the pleasures of this life which they shall be keeping to and involving into. Their gods shall be their abdomens (desires). Allah the Almighty has said, (And you make strong fortresses that perhaps you may last forever. And when you lay hands (on men) you lay hands (like) tyrants. So guard against (the punishment of) Allah and obey Me),
and said, (Have you then considered him who takes his low desire for his god, and Allah has made him err purposely and has set a seal upon his ear and his heart and put a covering upon his eye. Who can then guide him after Allah? Will you not then be mindful).
He is not but a polytheist that makes his desires his religion and his abdomen as his god; whenever he desires any thing permissible or impermissible, he shall not abstain from it. Allah the Almighty has said, (and they rejoice in this world's life, and this world's life is nothing compared with the hereafter but a temporary enjoyment).
O ibn Mas’ud, their mihrabs are their women, their honor is their dirhams and dinars, and their purpose is their abdomens. These are the worst of evildoers; sedition is with them and to them it shall return.
O ibn Mas’ud, (think of) the saying of Allah the Almighty, (Have you then considered if We let them enjoy themselves for years?
Then there comes to them that with which they are threatened. That which they were made to enjoy shall not avail them).
O ibn Mas’ud, their bodies are not satisfied and their hearts do not show reverence.
O ibn Mas’ud, Islam has started strange and shall return strange as it has started. So blessed are the strangers! Whoever of your offspring shall live in that time should not offer greetings in their meetings, not escort their deads, and not visit their sick ones, because they shall follow your law and appear with your mission, but they shall contradict your deeds, and so they shall die on other than your religion. They are not from me nor am I from them. Therefore, do not fear anyone other than Allah, because Allah the Almighty says, (Wherever you are, death will overtake you, though you are in lofty towers),
and (On the day when the hypocritical men and the hypocritical women will say to those who believe: Wait for us, that we may have light from your light…and the deceiver deceived you concerning Allah. So today ransom shall not be accepted from you nor from those who disbelieved; your abode is the Fire; it is your patron and evil is the end).
O ibn Mas’ud, whoever learns knowledge intending (the interests of) this life and prefers to it (knowledge) the love of this life and its pleasures shall deserve the wrath of Allah and shall be in the lowest abyss of Fire with the Jews and the Christians who have turned their backs to the Book of Allah. Allah the Almighty has said, (and when there comes unto them that which they know (to be the truth) they disbelieve therein. The curse of Allah is on the disbelievers).
O ibn Mas’ud, whoever learns the Qur'an just for this life and its interests, Allah will prevent him from entering the Paradise.
O ibn Mas’ud, whoever learns knowledge but does not act according to it Allah will resurrect him blind on the Day of Resurrection, and whoever learns knowledge just for pride and fame wishing for the interests of this life Allah will deprive him of his blessing, depress his living, and leave him to his desires, and whomever Allah leaves to his desires shall perish. Allah the Almighty has said, (And whoever hopes for the meeting with his Lord, let him do righteous work, and make none sharer of the worship with his Lord).
O ibn Mas’ud, let your companions be the righteous and your brothers the pious and the ascetics, because Allah the Almighty has said in His Book, (Friends on that day will be foes, one to another, except the Righteous).
O ibn Mas’ud, keep to the fear of Allah and the performing of obligations, because He says, (He is worthy to be feared and worthy to forgive)
and says, (Allah is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with Him; that is for him who fears his Lord).
O ibn Mas’ud, keep away from you what does not concern you and keep to what suffices you, because Allah says, (Every man of them shall on that day have an affair which will occupy him (to be headless of others).
O ibn Mas’ud, beware to give up an obedience and go to a disobedience pitying your family, because Allah the Almighty says, (O people! Keep your duty to your Lord and fear a Day when the parent will not be able to avail the child in aught, nor the child to avail the parent. Surely Allah’s promise is the very truth. Let not the life of the world beguile you, nor let the deceiver beguile you, in regard to Allah).
O ibn Mas’ud, beware of this life and its pleasures, lusts, and adornment, and the eating of the ill-gotten gains, and gold, silver, mounts, women, children, accumulations of gold and silver, cattle, and tilth, for that is the pleasure of the worldly life and with Allah there is the most excellent abode. (Say: Shall I tell you what is better than these? For those who guard (against evil) are gardens with their Lord, beneath which rivers flow, to abide in them, and pure mates and Allah's pleasure; and Allah is Seer of the servants).
O ibn Mas’ud, do not be self-deceit before Allah, nor be self-deceit by your prayers, deeds, piety, and worship.
O ibn Mas’ud, when you recite the Book of Allah and get at a verse that has enjoining and forbidding, repeat it with pondering and consideration and do not be heedless to that, because the forbidding means the avoiding of disobediences and the enjoining means the doing of goodness and benevolence. Allah the Almighty says, (Then how will it be when We shall gather them together on a day about which there is no doubt, and every soul shall be fully paid what it has earned, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly).
O Ibn Mas’ud, do not deem a sin as insignificant or trivial, and avoid major sins, because when a servant shall look at his sins on the Day of Judgment, his eyes shall shed pus and blood. Allah the Almighty says, (On the day that every soul shall find present what it has done of good and what it has done of evil, it shall wish that between it and that (evil) there might be a long duration of time).
O ibn Mas’ud, When it said to you: ‘Fear Allah’, do not be angry, because He says, (And when it is said unto him: Be careful of thy duty to Allah, pride carries him off to sin, therefore hell is sufficient for him).
Historians mention that Abdul Melik bin Marwan, the Umayyad king, used to say, “Whoever enjoins on us the fear of Allah we will behead him.”
The Prophet (a.s.) added, ‘O ibn Mas’ud, make your hope little; when it is morning, you say: I may not remain alive until the evening, and when it is evening, you say: I may not remain alive until the morning. Get yourself ready for leaving this life, and love the meeting with Allah and do not hate His meeting, because Allah loves the meeting with whoever loves the meeting with Him and hates the meeting with whoever hates the meeting with Him.
O ibn Mas’ud, by Him Who has sent me with the truth, a time shall come to people when they consider wine as lawful…the curse of Allah, the angels, and of people in whole be on them. I am free from them and they are free from me.
O ibn Mas’ud, one, who commits adultery with his mother, is easier to Allah than one who mixes with his money inasmuch as a grain of mustard seed out of usury, and whoever drinks an alcoholic drink a little or much is worse to Allah than one who eats usury, because it (wine)
is the key to every evil.
O ibn Mas’ud, when you do a doing, make it loyally for the sake of Allah, because He does not accept from His servants except the loyally done deeds. He says, (And no one has with him any boon for which he should be rewarded, except the seeking of the pleasure of his Lord, the Most High, and he shall soon be well-pleased).
O ibn Mas’ud, leave aside the pleasures of this life, its foods, sweet, warm, cool, ease, and enjoyments and keep your self to abstinence from them, because you shall be asked about all that. Allah the Almighty says, (Then on that day you shall most certainly be questioned about the boons).
O ibn Mas’ud, let this life and its pleasures not busy you, for Allah the Almighty says, (What! did you then think that We had created you in vain and that you shall not be returned to Us).
O ibn Mas’ud, if you do a doing of benevolence and you intend by it other than Allah, then do not expect from Him a reward for that, for He says, (and on the Day of Resurrection We assign no weight to them).
O ibn Mas’ud, If people praise you and say that you fast in the day and spend the night in worship while you do not do so, then do not be delighted with that, because Allah the Almighty says, (Do not think those who rejoice for what they have done and love that they should be praised for what they have not done; so do by no means think them to be safe from the chastisement, and they shall have a painful chastisement).
O ibn Mas’ud, do a lot of good deeds and benevolence, because both a good-doer and a bad-doer shall regret; the good-doer shall say: I wish I had done much more good deeds, and the bad-doer shall say: I have been neglectful. The proof of that is His saying, (Nay! I swear by the self-accusing soul).
O ibn Mas’ud, do not advance sin and delay repentance, but advance repentance and delay sin, for Allah the Almighty says in His Book, (But man would fain deny what is before him).
O ibn Mas’ud, beware of enacting a heretical norm, because if a servant enact a bad norm, he shall bear its sin and the sin of whoever practices it. Allah the Almighty has said, (and We record that which they send before (them) and that which they leave behind),
and (Man shall on that day be informed of what he sent before and (what he) put off).
O ibn Mas’ud, do not lean on this life and do not trust in it, because you shall leave it soon. Allah the Almighty says, (So We turned them out of gardens and springs),
(And cornfields and palm-trees having fine spadices).
O ibn Mas’ud, consider the ancient nations and the tyrannical kings who had passed away, for Allah says, (and Aad and Thamud and the dwellers of the Rass and many generations between them).
O ibn Mas’ud, be careful to give up sin secretly and openly, (whether) minor or major (it is), because Allah the Almighty sees you wherever you are and He is with you, so avoid them (sins).
O ibn Mas’ud, fear Allah in secrecy and openness, on the land and in the sea, in the night and the day, because He says, (Do you not see that Allah knows whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth? Nowhere is there a secret counsel between three persons but He is the fourth of them, nor (between) five but He is the sixth of them, nor less than that nor more but He is with them wheresoever they are).
O ibn Mas’ud, take Satan as enemy, for Allah the Almighty says, (Surely Satan is your enemy, so take him for an enemy),
and He says about Iblis, (Then I will certainly come to them from before them and from behind them, and from their right-hand side and from their left-hand side; and you shall not find most of them thankful),
and (He said: The truth then is and the truth do I speak. That I will most certainly fill hell with you and with those among them who follow you all).
O ibn Mas’ud, be careful not to eat impermissible thing, not to wear impermissible thing, not to take from impermissible thing, and not to disobey Allah, because Allah the Almighty says to Iblis, (And beguile whomsoever of them you can with your voice, and collect against them your forces riding and on foot, and share with them in wealth and children, and hold out promises to them; and the Shaitan makes not promises to them but to deceive),
and says, (therefore let not this world's life deceive you, nor let the deceiver deceive you in respect of Allah).
O ibn Mas’ud, do not approach any impermissible thing of wealth and women, for Allah the Almighty says, (And for him who fears to stand before his Lord are two gardens),
and do not prefer the worldly life to the afterlife by pleasures and lusts, because Allah the Almighty says in His Book, (Then as for him who is inordinate, and prefers the life of this world, then surely the hell is the abode).
O ibn Mas’ud, do not betray any one in some money that he leaves with you or a trust that he entrusts you with, because Allah says, (Surely Allah commands you to make over trusts to their owners).
O ibn Mas’ud, do not talk about anything except when knowing it that you have heard or seen it, for Allah the Almighty says, (And follow not that of which you have not the knowledge; surely the hearing and the sight and the heart, all of these, shall be questioned about that),
and (Their testimony shall be written down and they shall be questioned),
and (When the two Receivers receive, sitting on the right and on the left. He utters not a word but there is by him a watcher at hand),
and (And certainly We created man, and We know what his mind suggests to him, and We are nearer to him than his life-vein).
O ibn Mas’ud, do not worry about livelihood, for Allah the Almighty says, (And there is no animal in the earth but on Allah is the sustenance of it)
, and (And in the heaven is your sustenance and what you are promised of),
and (And if Allah touch you with affliction, there is none to take it off but He; and if He touch you with good, then He has power over all things).
O ibn Mas’ud, by Him Who has sent me with the truth as prophet, whoever turns his back to this life and wishes for the trade of the afterlife surely Allah will trade for him behind his trade and make his trade profitable. Allah the Almighty says, (Men whom neither merchandise nor selling diverts from the remembrance of Allah and the keeping up of prayer and the giving of poor-rate; they fear a day in which the hearts and eyes shall turn about).
Do not relieve your tongue from the remembrance of Allah, and that is by saying: glory be to Allah, praise be to Allah, there is no god but Allah, and Allah is great. This is the profitable trade. Allah the Almighty says, (…they hope for a gain which will not perish. That He may pay them back fully their rewards and give them more out of His grace).
O ibn Mas’ud, make whatever you see by your eye and your heart admires it (make it) for Allah, for this is the trade of the afterlife; Allah the Almighty says, (What is with you passes away and what is with Allah is enduring).
O ibn Mas’ud, love the righteous because man shall be (resurrected) with whom he loves, and if you cannot do deeds of benevolence, then love the ulama (scholars), because Allah the Almighty says, (And whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger, these are with those upon whom Allah has bestowed favors from among the prophets and the truthful and the martyrs and the good, and a goodly company are they).
O ibn Mas’ud, beware to associate anything with Allah for a twinkle of an eye even if you are sawed by a saw, cut into pieces, crucified, or burned in fire. Allah the Almighty says, (And (as for) those who believe in Allah and His messengers, these it is that are the truthful and the faithful ones in the sight of their Lord).
O ibn Mas’ud, be patient with those who make remembrance of Allah, glorify Him, often say ‘there is no god but Allah’, praise Him, do due to His obedience, and call upon Him in the morning and in the evening. Allah says, (And withhold yourself with those who call on their Lord morning and evening desiring His goodwill, and let not your eyes pass from them),
and (neither are you answerable for any reckoning of theirs, nor are they answerable for any reckoning of yours, so that you should drive them away and thus be of the unjust).
O ibn Mas’ud, do not prefer to the remembrance of Allah anything, because He says, (and certainly the remembrance of Allah is the greatest),
and (Therefore remember Me, I will remember you, and be thankful to Me, and do not be ungrateful to Me),
and (And when My servants ask you concerning Me, then surely I am very near; I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he calls on Me),
and (Call upon Me, I will answer you).
O ibn Mas’ud, Keep to calmness and gravity, and be easy, lenient, chaste, submissive (to Allah), pious, pure, dutiful, immaculate, purified, truthful, loyal, sound, right, reasonable, righteous, patient, grateful, faithful, god-fearing, worshipping, ascetic, merciful, knowledgeable, and aware (of religion). Allah the Almighty says, (Most surely Ibrahim was forbearing, tender-hearted, oft-returning (to Allah)),
and ( And the servants of the Beneficent Allah are they who walk on the earth in humbleness, and when the ignorant address them, they say: Peace. And they who pass the night prostrating themselves before their Lord and standing),
and (And they who, when reminded of the communications of their Lord, do not fall down thereat deaf and blind. And they who say: O our Lord! grant us in our wives and our offspring the joy of our eyes, and make us guides to those who guard (against evil). These shall be rewarded with high places because they were patient, and shall be met therein with greetings and salutations. Abiding therein; goodly the abode and the resting-place),
and (Successful indeed are the believers, who are humble in their prayers, and who keep aloof from what is vain and who are givers of poor-rate, and who guard their private parts, except before their spouses or those whom their right hands possess, for they surely are not blamable. But whoever seeks to go beyond that, these are they that exceed the limits, and those who are keepers of their trusts and their covenant, and who pay heed to their prayers; these are the heirs who shall inherit the Paradise; they shall abide therein),
and (Those shall be in gardens, honored),
and (Those only are believers whose hearts become full of fear when Allah is mentioned, and when His communications are recited to them, they increase them in faith, and in their Lord do they trust. Those who keep up prayer and spend (benevolently) out of what We have given them; these are the believers in truth; they shall have from their Lord exalted grades and forgiveness and an honorable sustenance).
O ibn Mas’ud, let the pity to your family and children not make you involve in disobediences and unlawfulness, for Allah the Almighty says, (The day when wealth and sons avail not (any man), except him who comes to Allah with a heart free (from evil)).
And keep to the remembrance of Allah and the good deeds, for Allah the Almighty says, (and the ever-abiding good deeds are better with your Lord in reward and better in expectation).
O ibn Mas’ud, do not be from those, who guide people to goodness and enjoin them to do good, while they themselves are inadvertent to it. Allah the Almighty says, (What! do you enjoin people to be good and neglect your own souls?)
O ibn Mas’ud, be careful to keep your tongue, because Allah the Almighty says, (On that day We will set a seal upon their mouths, and their hands shall speak to Us, and their feet shall bear witness of what they earned).
O ibn Mas’ud, be careful of your hidden thought, for Allah the Almighty says, (On the day when hidden thoughts shall be searched out. Then will he have no might nor any helper).
O ibn Mas’ud, beware of a day when the pages shall be laid open, and scandals shall be manifest. Allah the Almighty says, (And We will set up a just balance on the day of resurrection, so no soul shall be dealt with unjustly in the least; and though there be the weight of a grain of mustard seed, (yet) will We bring it, and sufficient are We to take account).
O ibn Mas’ud, fear Allah in secrecy as if you see Him, and if you do not see Him, surely He sees you. Allah the Almighty says, (Who fears the Beneficent Allah in secret and comes with a penitent heart; enter it in peace, that is the day of immortality).
O ibn Mas’ud, be fair to people against yourself, and be loyal in advising the community and be merciful to them. If you are so and Allah is displeased with the people of a village while you are among them and He wants to send down torment over them, He will look at you and be merciful to them. Allah the Almighty says, (And it did not behoove your Lord to have destroyed the towns tyrannously, while their people acted well).
O ibn Mas’ud, beware of showing people that you are pious and reverent while between you and your Lord you keep on disobedience and sin. Allah the Almighty says, (He knows the stealthy looks and that which the breasts conceal).
O ibn Mas’ud, do not be from those who are strict to people while loose to themselves. Allah the Almighty says, (why do you say that which you do not do?).
O ibn Mas’ud, when you do something, do it with knowledge and reason, and beware of doing something without good management and knowledge, for, exalted is He, He says, (And be not like her who unravels her yarn, disintegrating it into pieces after she has spun it strongly).
O ibn Mas’ud, keep to truthfulness and do not let any lie come out of your mouth. Be just to people against yourself and be kind. Call people to benevolence, maintain relations with your kin, do not deceive people, and fulfill to them what you have promised them of, for Allah the Almighty says, (Surely Allah enjoins the doing of justice and the doing of good (to others) and the giving to the kindred, and He forbids indecency and evil and rebellion; He admonishes you that you may be mindful).
”
The Prophet’s recommendation to Abu Tharr
Abu Tharr was one of the sincerest companions to the Prophet (a.s.). He struggled against the corrupted Umayyad rule that appropriated the wealth of Allah and took His people as slaves. Abu Tharr began here and there announcing the real principles of Islam that called for resisting despotism and tyranny that angered Uthman bin Affan, the chief of the Umayyads, who was the caliph then. Uthman did Abu Tharr unforgivable wrong by exiling him to ar-Rabatha that was the worst spot in the desert of the Arabia. He lived there very severely under house arrest where there was no means of life until he died hungrily, whereas the Umayyads had accumulated the gold of Muslims in their houses to spend it on their pleasures and red nights. The tragedy of Abu Tharr was one of the most terrible events in the history of Islam.
Anyhow, Abu Tharr was preferred by the Prophet (a.s.) and was one of his closest companions; therefore, he offered to him these precious recommendations. Abu Tharr narrated, “One day in the morning, I went to the messenger of Allah in his mosque, and I found no one of people except the Prophet and Ameerul Mo'minin beside him. I seized the opportunity of that privacy in the mosque and said,
‘O messenger of Allah, may my father and mother die for you, recommend me with what Allah may benefit me by.’
The Prophet (a.s.) said, ‘Yes, and you are honorable, Abu Tharr! You are from us the Ahlul Bayt, and I will offer to you a recommendation that you may keep in mind because it is a combination of the ways and means of goodness. If you keep it, you shall have two shares (of reward).
O Abu Tharr, worship Allah as if you see Him; if you do not see Him, surely He sees you. Know that the first of the worshipping of Allah is the knowing of Him; He is the First before every thing that there is no thing before Him, the One that there is no second to Him, the Everlasting to no end, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and what there is in them and what there is between them, and He is Allah, the most Kind, the most Aware, and He is powerful over everything. Then, is the faith in me, and the acknowledging that Allah the Almighty has sent me to the whole people as a bringer of good news, a warner, an inviter to Allah by His permission, and a luminous light. And then, is the love of my progeny whom Allah has kept away uncleanness from them and purified them a thorough purification.
O Abu Tharr, know that Allah, glory be to Him, has made my progeny among my nation as the Ark of Noah; whoever embarks on it shall be saved and whoever turns his back to it shall drown, and as the Gate of Hittah (of forgiveness) of the children of Israel that whoever enters it shall be safe.
O Abu Tharr, keep what I recommend you with and you shall be happy in this life and in the afterlife.
O Abu Tharr, there are two blessings that many of people are wronged in; good health and leisure.
O Abu Tharr, make use of five things before five things; your youth before your senility, your good health before your illness, your wealth before your poverty, your leisure before your business, and your life before your death.
O Abu Tharr, beware of procrastination in your hoping, for you are of your day and not the day after it. If tomorrow is for you, then be in tomorrow as you are in today, and if tomorrow is not for you, you shall not regret what you have wasted today.
O Abu Tharr, how many are those who receive a day but they do not finish it, and who wait for tomorrow but they do not reach it!
O Abu Tharr, if you think of death and its fate, you shall hate hope and its temptation.
O Abu Tharr, be in this life as if you are a stranger or a passerby, and consider yourself as one of the people of graves.
O Abu Tharr, when you are in the morning, do not talk to yourself about evening, and when you are in the evening, do not talk to yourself about morning. Take from your good health before your illness, and from your life before your death, because you do not know what your name shall be tomorrow (alive or dead).
O Abu Tharr, beware that felling may fall upon you at the slip, and then the slip shall not be pardoned, and you shall not be able to return, and he, whom you leave (the heir) with what you leave (inheritance) shall not praise you…
O Abu Tharr, be with your age stingier than with your dirham and dinar.
O Abu Tharr, does one wait except for arrogant-making wealth, forgetful-making poverty, a corruptive illness, confuting senility, a finishing off death, the Dajjal (Antichrist) that is the worst, awaited absentee, or the Hour (Day of Judgment)? Surely the Hour is much more terrible and more grievous.
O Abu Tharr, the worst of people in position to Allah on the Day of Resurrection shall be a scholar that it is not benefited by his knowledge. Whoever seeks knowledge just to attract people to him shall not find the scent of the Paradise.
O Abu Tharr, whoever seeks knowledge to cheat people by it shall not find the scent of the Paradise.
O Abu Tharr, when you are asked about some knowledge that you do not know, you say: ‘I do not know’ and thus you shall be saved from its responsibility. Do not give a fatwa on that which you have no knowledge of, and thus you shall be saved from the torment of Allah on the Day of Resurrection.
O Abu Tharr, some people of the Paradise shall see some people of the Fire and say to them: what has made you enter into the Fire while we ourselves have entered the Paradise by virtue of your discipline and education? They shall say to them: we used to enjoin goodness, but we ourselves did not do it.
O Abu Tharr, the rights of Allah, glory be to Him, are more greater than to be fulfilled by the servants, and the blessings of Allah are much more than to be counted by the servants, but be evening and morning repentant.
O Abu Tharr, you are in the passage of the night and the day in (gradually) decreased terms and preserved deeds, and death comes unexpectedly. Whoever plants goodness shall soon harvest goodness, and whoever plants evil shall soon harvest regret; every planter gets like what he plants.
O Abu Tharr, no slack one misses his fate and no greedy can get what has not been determined to him. Whoever is given good surely it is Allah Who has given it to him, and whoever is saved from an evil surely it is Allah Who has saved him from it.
O Abu Tharr, the pious are masters and jurisprudents are leaders and the association with them is an increase (of goodness). A believer sees his sin as if he is under a rock fearing that it may fall over him, and a disbeliever sees his sin as if some flies pass by his nose.
O Abu Tharr, if Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, wants for some servant goodness, He makes his sins before his eyes materialized and the sin to him very heavy and great, and if He wants for some servant evil, He makes him forget his sins.
O Abu Tharr, do not consider the littleness of a committed sin, but consider the One Whom you disobey.
O Abu Tharr, the soul of a believer is more confused by sin than a sparrow when it is thrown into the trap.
O Abu Tharr, he, whose sayings conform to his deeds, shall be blessed, and he, whose sayings contradict his deeds, just censures himself.
O Abu Tharr, a man may be deprived of his livelihood because of a sin that he commits.
O Abu Tharr, leave what you have nothing to do with, and do not talk about what does not concern you, and store your tongue as you store your money.
O Abu Tharr, Allah, highly praise be to Him, shall put some people into the Paradise and give them until they shall be bored, and there shall be some people above them in the Highest Degrees. When they shall look at them, they shall know them and say: our Lord, they are our brothers that we were with in the worldly life; by what You have preferred them to us? It shall be said: How far! How far! They were hungry when you were satiate, thirsty when you quenched your thirst, they spent the night in worship when you slept, and they went (to jihad) when you were saved (peacefully).
O Abu Tharr, Allah, highly praise be to Him, has made my delight in prayer and made prayer beloved to me as He has made food beloved to the hungry and water to the thirsty. When a hungry one eats, he shall be satisfied, and when a thirsty one drinks water, he shall quench his thirst, but I do not be satisfied whatever I offer prayers.
O Abu Tharr, whoever voluntarily offers twelve rak’as in a day and a night other than the obligatory ones there shall be a due right to him a house in the Paradise.
O Abu Tharr, as long as you are in the prayer, you are knocking at the door of the Mighty King, and whoever knocks at the door of the King much, it shall be opened to him.
O Abu Tharr, no believer gets up to offer the prayer except that benefaction is scattered on him from between him and the Throne, and an angel is entrusted with him to call out: O son of Adam, if you know what you get in the prayer and Whom you talk to, you shall not leave.
O Abu Tharr, blessed are the bannermen on the Day of Resurrection; they shall carry them (banners) and precede the people to the Paradise. They are the precedents to mosques in dawns and other than dawns.
O Abu Tharr, prayer is the pillar of the religion, and the tongue (remembrance) is greater, charity removes sin, and the tongue is greater, fasting is protection from the Fire, and the tongue is greater, jihad is honor, and the tongue is greater.
O Abu Tharr, a degree in the Paradise is like what is between the heaven and the earth. A servant may raise his sight and a light shall glitter to him that shall be about to take away his sight; he shall be frightened by that and say: what is this? It shall be said to him: this is the light of your brother. He shall say: my brother so-and-so! We both worked in the worldly life and now he has been preferred to me as so? It shall be said to him: he was better than you in deeds. Then, satisfaction shall be put into his heart until he shall be satisfied.
O Abu Tharr, this life is the prison of a believer and the paradise of a disbeliever. No believer in it except that he is sad; and how does he not become sad where Allah, highly praise be to Him, has promised him that he shall enter the Hell and has not promised him that (when) he shall get out of it, and he shall meet diseases, calamities, and many things that depress him, and shall be oppressed without triumphing, wishing for a reward from Allah the Almighty? He is still sad in it (this life) until he leaves it, and when he leaves it, he shall resort to ease and honor.
O Abu Tharr, Allah, glory be to Him, has been never worshipped with anything like long sorrow.
O Abu Tharr, he, who has been given knowledge that does not make him weep, surely has been given knowledge that does not benefit him, because Allah has described the knowledgeable by saying, (Surely those who were given knowledge before it, when it is read unto them, fall down prostrate on their faces in obeisance; saying: Glory to our Lord! Verily the promise of our Lord must be fulfilled. They fall down on their faces, weeping, and it increases humility in them).
O Abu Tharr, let him, he who can weep, weep, and let him, he who cannot, make his heart feel sorrow and feign weeping. Surely a hard heart is far from Allah the Almighty, but you do not feel.
O Abu Tharr, by Him in Whose hand the soul of Muhammad is, if this life equaled near Allah to a wing of a mosquito or a fly, He would not give to the disbelievers in it a sip of water.
O Abu Tharr, Allah, the Blessed, the High, revealed to my brother Jesus (a.s.): O Jesus, do not love this life, for I do not love it, but love the afterlife because it is the abode of the Return.
O Abu Tharr, Gabriel brought to me the treasures of the world on a gray mule and said to me: O Muhammad, these are the treasures of the world, and nothing of your share near your Lord shall be decreased. I said: O my beloved Gabriel, I am in no need of them; when I am satisfied (with food), I thank my Lord, and when I am hungry, I ask Him.
O Abu Tharr, when Allah, glory be to Him, wants for a servant goodness, He makes him knowledgeable of the religion, abstinent in this life, and aware of the defects of himself.
O Abu Tharr, no servant becomes abstinent in this life except that Allah plants wisdom in his heart and makes his tongue utter it, makes him aware of the defects of life, its diseases, and its cures, and takes him out of it whole to the abode of peace.
O Abu Tharr, when you see your brother abstinent towards this life, listen to him because he casts wisdom.
I (Abu Tharr) asked: O messenger of Allah, who is the most abstinent of people? He said:
It is he who does not forget graveyards and perishment, who leaves the further pleasures of this life, who prefers what lasts to what passes away, who does not consider tomorrow as one of his days, and who considers himself as one of the dead (getting ready to death).
O Abu Tharr, Allah, the Blessed, the High, did not reveal to me to accumulate wealth, but He revealed to me: (But hymn the praise of your Lord, and be of those who make prostration (unto Him). And serve your Lord until certainty comes to you).
O Abu Tharr, I put on coarse clothes, sit on the ground, lick my fingers (after having food), ride the donkey without saddle, and let others sit behind me (on a mount), so whoever refrains from my Sunna is not from me.
O Abu Tharr, the love of wealth and honor is more harmful to one’s religion than two savage wolves in a pen of sheep that they attack and when the morning comes, they shall leave nothing in it.
I said: O messenger of Allah, do the fearers (of Allah), the fighters (in the way of Allah), the humble, the rememberers of Allah too much precede people to the Paradise?
The Prophet (a.s.) said:
No, but it is the poor Muslims; they overstep people’s necks and the guardians of the Paradise shall say to them: stay where you are until you shall be judged. They shall say: for what shall we be judged? By Allah, we had no authority that we might give liberally or be just, nor were we given wealth that we might prevent or give, but we worshipped our Lord until He called us and we responded.
In this passage, the Prophet (a.s.) invited to asceticism in this life and not to pounce upon its pleasures and desires. And indeed, Abu Tharr the great companion followed this recommendation when he turned his back to this world and refused to respond to the Umayyad rule when great monies were offered to him, but he refused them and preferred the satisfaction of Allah until he died very poor and wretched in the worst spot of the desert in ar-Rabathah; and thus he was the leader of the poor and the wretched.
The Prophet (a.s.) added:
O Abu Tharr, this life is a preoccupation of hearts and bodies, and surely Allah, the Blessed, the High, will ask us about what He has afforded us of permissible boons, so how about the impermissible pleasures we have enjoyed?
O Abu Tharr, I have prayed Allah, highly praise be to Him, to make the sustenance of whoever loves me as necessary subsistence, and to give whoever hates me abundant wealth and children.
O Abu Tharr, blessed are the abstinents in this life, the wishers for the afterlife, who take the earth of Allah as a carpet, its soil as a bed, and its water as a flavor, and who take the Book of Allah as their symbol and His invocation as their garment…
O Abu Tharr, the tilth of the afterlife is the good deed, and the tilth of this life is wealth and children
O Abu Tharr, my Lord has told me saying: by My glory and honor, worshippers do not get like what they get by weeping (for fear of Allah). I will build for them in the Highest Association a palace that no one shall participate with them in it.
I said: O messenger of Allah, which of the believers is more reasonable?
The Prophet (a.s.) said:
The most of them in remembering death and the best of them in getting ready to it.
O Abu Tharr, when the light (of faith) enters the heart, the heart shall expand and dilate.
I said: what is the sign of that, may my father and mother die for you O messenger of Allah?
The Prophet (a.s.) said:
The returning to the Abode of Eternity, the turning away from the abode of temptation, and the getting ready for death before its coming.
O Abu Tharr, fear Allah, and do not show people that you fear Allah so that they may honor you while your heart is dissolute.
O Abu Tharr, two moderate rak’as (offered) with consideration is better than spending a (whole) night in worshipping while the heart is inadvertent.
O Abu Tharr, the truth is (heavy and) bitter and falsehood is light and sweet. Perhaps a pleasure of a moment may cause a lasting sorrow.
O Abu Tharr, judge yourself before you are judged because it shall be easier for your judgment tomorrow. Weigh yourself before you are weighed, and get prepared for the Greatest Show when you shall be showed. There is nothing hidden to Allah.
O Abu Tharr, the example of him, who calls with no work, is like the example of him who shoots with no bowstring.
O Abu Tharr, Allah sets right, by the righteousness of a servant himself, his children and the children of his children, and preserves him in his house and the houses around his as long as he is among them.
O Abu Tharr, a good companion is better than loneliness, and loneliness is better than a bad companion, and the saying of good is better than keeping silent, and silence is better than the saying of evil.
O Abu Tharr, do not make friends except with the faithful. Let no one eat from your food except a pious one, and do not eat from the food of disobeyers.
O Abu Tharr, Feed your food to whom you love for the sake of Allah, and eat from the food of whoever loves you for the sake of Allah.
O Abu Tharr, Allah the Almighty is at the tongue of every sayer, so let man fear Allah and know what he says.
O Abu Tharr, avoid extra speech, and it is sufficient to you the speech by which you get to your need.
O Abu Tharr, it is enough for one as lying that he says all what he hears.
O Abu Tharr, nothing is worthier of being imprisoned than the tongue.
O Abu Tharr, from glorifying Allah is the honoring of an old Muslim, the active appliers of the Qur'an, and a just ruler.
O Abu Tharr, he does not do (good deeds) who does not guard his tongue.
O Abu Tharr, do not be a censurer, praiser, defamer, or disputer.
O Abu Tharr, a servant still increase in being far from Allah as long as his morals are bad.
O Abu Tharr, a good word is as charity, and every step that you step towards prayer is charity.
O Abu Tharr, whoever responds to the propagandist of Allah and well maintains the mosques of Allah, his reward from Allah shall be the Paradise.
I said: May my father and mother die for you O messenger of Allah, how are the mosques of Allah maintained?
The Prophet (a.s.) said:
Voices should not be loud in them (the mosques), it should not be argued on falsehood, contracts of selling or buying should not be concluded in them, and you avoid nonsense as along as you are in them. If you do not do, then do not blame except yourself on the Day of Resurrection.
O Abu Tharr, Allah the Almighty gives you, as long as you are sitting in the mosque, for every breath you breathe a degree in the Paradise, and the angels pray for you and record to you for every breath you breathe ten good deeds and removes from you ten bad deeds.
O Abu Tharr, do you know what about this verse (O you who believe, be patient and excel in patience and remain steadfast, and be careful of (your duty to) Allah, that you may be successful)
has been revealed?
I said: I do not know.
The Prophet (a.s.) said:
About the waiting for a prayer after a prayer.
O Abu Tharr, the performing of wudu’ (ablution) at calamities is from penances and the much going to mosques is the bond (with Allah).
O Abu Tharr, Allah, the Blessed, the High, says: the most beloved servants to Me are the loving one another for the sake of Me, whose hearts are attached to mosques, and who seek the forgiveness of Allah in the early dawns; it is they that when I want to punish the people of the earth I remember them and give up My punishment against them.
O Abu Tharr, every sitting in the mosque is nonsense except three; the reciting of a praying one, the remembrance of Allah, or a seeking of knowledge.
O Abu Tharr, be in practicing piety more careful than your care for your deeds, because practicing piety does not decrease in value, and how does a thing that is accepted (by Allah) decrease? Allah the Almighty says, (Allah only accepts from those who guard (against evil)).
O Abu Tharr, one does not be from the pious until he calls himself to account more than a partner when calling his partner to account. Let he know well wherefrom his food, drinks, and clothes are; whether they are well-gotten or ill-gotten?
O Abu Tharr, he who does not care that wherefrom he has obtained wealth, Allah does not care that wherefrom He throws him into fire.
O Abu Tharr, let him, he who is pleased to be the most generous one of people, fear Allah.
O Abu Tharr, the most beloved one of you to Allah is the most of you in remembering Him, and the most generous one of you near Allah, glory be to Him, is the most pious one of you, and the most saved one of you from the torment of Allah is the most of you in fearing Him.
O Abu Tharr, the pious are those who fear Allah from something that is not feared from, fearing that they may involve in ambiguity (whether lawful or not).
O Abu Tharr, whoever obeys Allah the Almighty remembers Allah even if his prayer, fasting, and reciting of the Qur'an are little.
O Abu Tharr, the origin of the religion is piety and its head is obedience.
O Abu Tharr, be pious and you shall be the best of worshippers; the best thing in your religion is piety.
O Abu Tharr, the virtue of knowledge is better than the virtue of worshipping. Know that if you offer prayers until you become like bows, and you fast until you become like bowstring, that shall not benefit you except with piety.
O Abu Tharr, the people of piety and abstinence in this life are the real guardians of Allah.
O Abu Tharr, whoever shall not come, on the Day of Resurrection, with three (things) shall be a loser; piety that prevents him from what Allah, glory be to Him, has prohibited, patience by which he repels the ignorance of the fool, and good manners by which he humors people.
O Abu Tharr, if you are pleased to be the strongest of people, then rely on Allah, and if you are pleased to be the most generous of people, then fear Allah, and if you are pleased to be the wealthiest of people, then be about what there is in the hands of Allah, glory be to Him, more certain that about what there is in your hands.
O Abu Tharr, if all people follow this verse, it shall be sufficient to them: (and whoever is careful of (his duty to) Allah, He will make for him an outlet, and give him sustenance from whence he thinks not; and whoever trusts in Allah, He is sufficient for him; surely Allah attains His purpose).
O Abu Tharr, Allah, highly praise be to Him, says: by My honor and glory, My servant does not prefer My desires to his desires except that I make his richness in himself, and (relieve) his griefs in his afterlife, and make the heavens and the earth assure his sustenance, and suffice to him his lose, and I will be (assistant) to him from behind the trading of every trader.
O Abu Tharr, if the son of Adam runs away from his livelihood as he runs away from death, his livelihood shall come to him as death comes to him.
O Abu Tharr, Allah, the Blessed, the High, does not look at your figures or properties, but He looks at your hearts and deeds.
O Abu Tharr, piety is here. Piety is here (he pointed to his chest).
O Abu Tharr, there are four things that no one obtains them except a faithful; silence which is the first of worship, humility to Allah, glory be to Him, the remembrance of Allah at any case, and the littleness of properties.
O Abu Tharr, intend to do good deed even if you do not do it, lest you are recorded as one of the unmindful.
O Abu Tharr, beware of backbiting, because backbiting is worse than adultery.
I said: O messenger of Allah, what for?
He said: because one commits adultery and then he repents and Allah accepts his repentance, but backbiting is not forgiven until the one backbitten forgives it.
O Abu Tharr, reviling a Muslim is disobedience, fighting him is disbelief, eating his flesh (backbiting him) is from the disobediences of Allah, and the inviolability of his properties is like the inviolability of his blood.
I said: O messenger of Allah, what is backbiting?
He said: to mention your brother with what he hates.
I said: even if that which is mentioned is available in him?
The Prophet (a.s.) said: know that if you mentioned what there is in him, you backbite him, and when you mention what there is not in him, you fabricate against him.
O Abu Tharr, whoever repels backbiting from his Muslim brother surely Allah, glory be to Him, will save him from the Fire.
O Abu Tharr, whoever his Muslim brother is backbitten near him and he is able to repel backbiting from him and he does that, Allah will assist him in this life and in the afterlife, and if he lets him down though he is able to repel backbiting from him, Allah will let him down in this life and in the afterlife.
O Abu Tharr, a talebearer shall not enter the Paradise.
O Abu Tharr, the practiser of talebearing shall not be relieved from the torment of Allah in the afterlife.
O Abu Tharr, he, who has two faces and two tongues (hypocrite) in this life, shall have two tongues in the Fire.
O Abu Tharr, meetings should be (held) with fidelity, and the disclosing of your brother’s secret is betrayal, so avoid that and avoid the meeting of the tribe.
O Abu Tharr, the deeds of the people of this life from Friday to the next Friday are shown to Allah on Monday and Thursday, and every faithful servant shall be forgiven except one who there is between him and his brother enmity. Allah says (to the angels): leave aside the deeds of these two until they make peace with each other.
O Abu Tharr, beware of deserting your brother, because one’s deed is not accepted because of desertion.
O Abu Tharr, I prohibit you from desertion, and if you have to do, then do not desert (your brother) more than three days, and whoever dies during them the Fire shall be worthier of him.
O Abu Tharr, whoever likes men to stand for him reverently let him take his seat in the Fire.
O Abu Tharr, whoever dies while there is in his heart inasmuch as a whit of pride shall not find the scent of the Paradise except if he repents before that (death)…pride is that when you give up the truth and overstep it to other than it, and you look at people and see that no one’s honor is like yours and no one’s blood is like yours.
O Abu Tharr, most of those who enter the Fire are the proud.
O Abu Tharr, blessed is he who is humble to Allah the Almighty with no defect, who lowers himself with no misery, spends money that he has collected in no disobedience, is merciful to the needy and the wretched, and associates with the people of jurisprudence and wisdom. Blessed is he whose inward is right, whose outward is good, and who keeps his evil away from people. Blessed is he who works due to his knowledge, spends the extra of his money, and holds back the nonsense of his speech.”
Another recommendation to Abu Tharr
One day, the Prophet (a.s.) said to Abu Tharr, “Shall I teach you some words that Allah may benefit you with?”
Abu Tharr said, “O yes, the messenger of Allah.”
The Prophet (a.s.) said, “Keep (your duty to) Allah and He will keep you. Keep (obedient to) Allah and you shall find Him in front of you. Know Allah at ease and He will know you at distress. If you want to ask, ask Allah the Almighty. If you want assistance, seek the assistance of Allah, for the Pen has recorded what shall take place until the Day of Resurrection. If the whole human beings gather together to benefit you with something that has not been determined for you, they shall not be able to do that.”
The Prophet’s recommendation to Mu’ath bin Jabal
When the Prophet (a.s.) sent Mu’ath a wali over Yemen, he supplied him with these recommendations that are from the political principles in Islam. The Prophet (a.s.) said,
“O Mu’ath, teach them the Book of Allah, and well educate them with the good morals. Put the people in their real positions-the good and the evil ones of them- and fulfill the decree of Allah among them and do not exclude any one in His decree and wealth, because it is not your guardianship or property. Give trusts back to them (their owners) whether little or much, and keep to kindness and pardoning but in no cases of giving up the truth. Apologize to the people of your job for everything you fear that a defect may happen in it until they excuse you. Deaden the habits of ignorance (the pre-Islamic age) except what Islam has acknowledged, and manifest all affairs of Islam whether little or great. Let most of your attention be to prayer, because it is the head of Islam after the acknowledgment of the religion. Remind the people of Allah and the Last Day, and follow preachment because it is stronger to them in doing what Allah likes. Then, spread among them teachers, and worship Allah to Whom you shall return, and do not fear in the way of Allah the blame of any blamer.
I recommend you of the fear of Allah, truthfulness in speaking, fulfillment of covenant, repaying of trusts, avoiding of betrayal, leniency in speech, offering of salutation, dutifulness to neighbors, mercifulness to orphans, good deeds, little wishing, the love of the afterlife, terrifying from Punishment (of the afterlife), keeping to faith, awareness of the Qur'an, suppressing of anger, and being kind.
Beware of reviling a Muslim, obeying a sinner, disobeying a just ruler, denying a truthful one, or believing a liar. Remember your Lord at every tree and rock, and seek repentance for every sin; secretly for secretly and openly for openly.
O Mu’ath, as I see that we shall not meet until the Day of Resurrection; otherwise, I will brief my recommendation, but I see that we shall not meet forever. Then, know, O Mu’ath, that the most beloved one of you to me is he who shall meet me in the same state that he leaves me in.”
His recommendation to Salman al-Farisi
The Prophet (a.s.) recommended his close companion Salman al-Farisi with seven things and ordered him not to leave them. Salman narrated,
“He (the Prophet) recommended me to look at one who is lower than me and not to look at one who is above me, to love the poor and approach them, to say the truth even it is bitter, to maintain kinship with my relatives even if they desert me, and not to ask people for anything. He also recommended me to often and always say: ‘there is no power and might save in Allah, the High, the Great’ for it is a treasure from the treasures of the Paradise.”
His recommendation to al-Fadhl bin al-Abbas
The Prophet (a.s.) said to his cousin al-Fadhl bin al-Abbas,
“O boy, fear Allah and you shall find Him in front of you. O boy, fear Allah and you shall find Him sufficient to you away from anyone else than Him. If you ask (for something), ask Allah, and if you seek assistance, seek the assistance of Allah. If the whole creatures gather together to repel something from you that has been decreed for you, they shall not be able to do, and if the whole creature gather together to bring you something that has not been decreed for you, they shall not be able to do. Know that success is with patience, and deliverance is with distress, and ease is with hardship, and everything that shall come is near. Allah the Almighty says: if the hearts of My servants gather with the heart of the most wretched one of My servants, that shall not decrease from My power inasmuch as a wing of a mosquito, and if the hearts of My servants gather with the heart of the happiest one of My servants, that shall not increase My power inasmuch as a wing of a mosquito. And if I give to every servant all what he asks Me for, that shall not be except like a needle that a servant from My servants inserts into the sea, that because My giving is just saying and My promise is just saying; I just say to a thing: be! and it shall be.”
A recommendation to Khalid bin Zayd
The Prophet (a.s.) said to Khalid after he had asked him to recommend him,
“I recommend you of five things; to despair of what there is in people’s hands because it is the real richness, and beware of greediness because it is lasting poverty, and offer the prayer as if you soon shall leave (this world), and beware of (doing) what you have to apologize for, and like for your brother as what you like for yourself…”
His recommendation to Harmalah
Harmalah al-Anbari asked the Prophet (a.s.) to guide him to something that might benefit him, and the Prophet (a.s.) said to him,
“See what you hate that people may talk about, and then if you are alone, do not do it!”
His recommendation to Abu Umayyah
A man from Bani Tamim called Abu Umayyah came to the Prophet (a.s.) and asked him, “What do you invite people for, O Muhammad?”
The Prophet (a.s.) said, “(I invite unto Allah with sure knowledge; I and whosoever follows me),
and invite to One Who when a distress afflicts you and you invoke Him, He will relieve you from it, and if you seek His assistance when you are depressed, He will assist you, and if you ask Him when you are in need, He will enrich you.”
These affected the man and he said, “Advise me, O Muhammad!”
The Prophet (a.s.) said to him, “Do not be angry!”
The man asked, “More!”
The Prophet (a.s.) said, “Accept from people what you accept to them from yourself.”
The man said, “More!”
The Prophet (a.s.) said, “Do not revile people that you get enmity from them.”
The man said, “More!”
The Prophet (a.s.) said, “Do not abstain from benevolence near its people (who deserve it).”
The man said, “More!”
The Prophet (a.s.) said, “Endear yourself to people and they shall love you. Meet your brother with a smiling face. Do not be weary that your weariness may deprive you of this life and the afterlife. Wrap yourself (with loincloth) to the middle of the leg, and beware of loosing the loincloth and the shirt, for that is from pride and Allah does not like pride.”
His recommendation to some man
The Prophet (a.s.) said to some man who asked him for advice,
“Remember death much and that shall make you abstinent towards it. Keep to gratitude, for that increases blessings. Supplicate Allah too much, because you do not know when it shall be responded to you. Beware of oppression, because Allah the Almighty had determined that whoever (has been oppressed, Allah will most certainly aid him),
and He says, (O people, surely your oppression is against your own souls).
And beware of plotting, because Allah has determined that (the evil plot encloses but the men who make it).
”
His recommendation to another man
The Prophet (a.s.) said to some man asking him for advice,
“Do not associate with Allah anything even if you are burnt with fire and tortured, except that when your heart is firm with faith. Keep to your parents; obey them and be dutiful to them when they are alive and when they are dead, and if they order you to leave your wife and property, then do that, because that is from faith. Keep to the obligatory prayer; do not leave it intendedly, because whoever leaves an obligatory prayer intendedly the protection of Allah shall be free from him. Beware of drinking wine and every intoxicant for they are the key to every evil.”
His recommendations to some other men
The Prophet (a.s.) said to some man asking him for advice, “do not be angry!...the strong one is not he who is strong at battle, but the strong one is he who controls himself at anger.”
He said to another man who asked him for advice, “Keep your tongue! Keep your tongue!”
The man asked again, “Advise me, O messenger of Allah!”
The Prophet (a.s.) said to him, “Keep your tongue!”
The man said again, “Advise me, O messenger of Allah!”
The Prophet (a.s.) said, “May Allah have pity on you! Shall anything throw people on their noses in the Fire except the harvests of their tongues?!”
The Prophet (a.s.) said to some other man asking for advice, “Keep to the despair of what there is in people’s hands because it is the lasting wealth.”
The man said, “O messenger of Allah, advise me more!”
The Prophet (a.s.) said, “Beware of greediness, because it is the lasting poverty.”
The man said, “O messenger of Allah, advise me more!”
The Prophet (a.s.) said, “If you intend to do something, think deeply about its end; if it is good and reasonable, then you follow it, and if it is error, you give it up.”
Abu Tharr narrated that the messenger of Allah (a.s.) advised some man by saying to him,
“Decrease pleasures and then poverty shall be easy to you, and decrease sins and death shall be easy to you. Advance your wealth before you (spend it in good ways) and you shall be pleased to follow it. Be satisfied with what you have been given and your judgment (on the Day of Resurrection) shall be light to you. Do not busy yourself away from what has been obligated on you with what has been assured to you, because you shall not miss what has been determined for you, and you shall not obtain what has been kept away from you, so do not strive for what has already been determined, and strive for a property that shall not disappear in an abode that shall not be left to another place.”
The Prophet (a.s.) recommended Muslims about women saying, “Allah the Almighty recommend you to be kind to women, for they are your mothers, daughters, and aunts.”
He also said, “Fear Allah concerning women, because they are as captives near you.”
He said, “The best of you are the best to their women.”
He said, “The best of you is the best to his wife, and I am the best of you to my wife. No one honors women except that he is generous, and no one insults them except that he is mean.”
The Prophet (a.s.) gave a general recommendation for all Muslims saying,
“I recommend the present of my nation and the absent of them, and those that are in men’s backs and women’s wombs until the Day of Resurrection to maintain kinship even if (one of their relatives is) at (a distance of) a journey of one year, because this is from the religion.”
He said, “I recommend you of the Book of Allah and my progeny, for I have asked Allah the Almighty not to separate between them until they would come to me at the pond (in the Paradise), and He has granted me that.”
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Author: Baqir Sharif al-Qarashi
