Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

NARRATIONS OF IMAM ALI

The reports that related the long maxims and words of wisdom of Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Amirul Muminin (peace be upon him) are too many to the degree that if we want to amass his sermons and words of one topic only, monotheism for example, we will compile a volume that is not thinner than this one altogether. However, we will refer to one sermon only in the field of monotheism, then move to refer to other most common sermons and sayings that fit the topics of our book only and are regarded as the most favorable by the specialists as well as ordinary people. That will be sufficient, inshallah.

Imam Ali’s Sermon of the Sincerity of Believing in the Oneness of Allah

The foremost in the worship of Allah is the acknowledgement of Him. The origin of acknowledging Him is to believe in His oneness. The system of believing in His oneness is to deny His being enjoying attributes, because the minds testify that every attribute or attributed is new in creation. Every creature testifies that it has a creator that is neither an attribute nor an attributed. Every attribute and attributed testifies that is has likes. Everything that has a like is new. Every new thing testifies it has not been eternal, because eternity prevents newness. Who recognizes Allah’s essence does not recognize Him. Who decides an end to Allah does not believe in His oneness. Who compares Him - to anything- does not believe in Him. Who likens him - to anything- does not recognize His actuality. Who imagines Him does not mean Him. Who claims of fathoming Him does believe in His oneness. Who states that He has an end does not believe in Him. Who points at Him does not believe in His eternity. Who admits limitations for Him does not refer to Him. Who recognizes parts for Him does not succumb to Him. Every idiosyncratic matter is made. Except Him, every existent matter is imperfect.

The evidence on the existence of Allah is His made. The intellects recognize the acknowledgement of Him. The conception proves His claim. His portents are His evidences against His servants. When Allah created the creatures, He made a screen between them and Him. His distinction proves that He is different from them. The proof of His being free of materiality is His creating the creatures from materials. The materials are evidences on the neediness of the creatures. The proof of His being foremost is His originating the creatures. Every originated substance is unable to originate others.

His names are expressions. His deeds are means of understanding. His essence is a truth. His quintessence distinguishes Him from the creatures. Thus, whoever states a description for Allah ignores Him, and whoever states a like for Him misses Him, and whoever states an essence for Him passes Him up. To ask, “Where is Allah?” is to state a definite place for Him, and to ask, “In which substance is He?” is to include Him - to another thing-, and to ask, “Since when is He?” is to define an end for Him, and to ask, “For what is He existent?” is to state a reason for Him, and to ask, “How is He?” is to liken Him - to other things-, and to ask, “When is He?” is to state a definite time for Him, and to ask, “Till when is He?” is to state a definite deadline to Him. To state a definite deadline to Allah is to part Him. To part Him means to describe Him, and to describe him leads to disbelieving in Him. He whoever divides Him is going away from Him.

Allah does not change when His creatures change and does not acquire limits when others acquire such limits. He is single but not a number. He is peculiar but not with the partition of needs. He is unseen but not being inside a substance. He is evident but not in physical nearness. He is clear but not seeable. He is Aware but not having corporeality. He acts but without connotation of movements. He is arranging without intellectual planning. He is managing without need to movements. He hears without sense and sees without instrumentality. He is near without physical closeness and remote without distance. He is existent but not after nonexistence. Times do not accompany Him. Places do not include Him. Changes do not affect Him. Descriptions do not limit Him. Tools do not restrain Him. His being preceded times. His existence preceded nonexistence. Origin is His eternity.

As He created the feelings, it is known that He does not need feelings. As he created the essences, it is known that He does not have essence (like the others). As He originated the creatures, it is known that He had no originator. As He is different from things, it is known that nothing matches Him. As he created comparable things, it is known that nothing compares Him. He compared light to darkness and coldness to hotness. He formed the opposites of these things and approximated their different things. Difference refers to its Maker and comparison refers to its comparer. He, the Glorified, made them the evidences on His godhood and witnesses on His being not seen and speakers of His wisdom. The composition of these matters speaks of their being created. Their existence speaks of their nonexistence. Their movement speaks of their transience. Their expiry declares that their Creator will never expire. This is Allah’s saying: “And of everything we have created two pairs that you may be intelligent. ”[38] He made difference between ‘before’ and ‘after’ so that it will be recognized that nothing was before Him and nothing will be after Him. The instincts of the creatures prove that their Maker has no instinct. The changeability of the creatures proves that the Maker of their changes is unchangeable. The timing of the creatures proves that the Maker of their timing is timeless. He made screens among the creatures so that they will realize that there is no screen between them and Him. The confirmation of godhood had been proved to Him before the creation of the servants. The truth of lordship had been proved to Him before the existence of the slaves. The interpretation of hearing had been proved to Him before the existence of anything that is heard. The meaning of knowledge had been proved to Him before the existence of anything that is known. The obligation of capability had been proved to Him before the existence of anything that is under capability. He deserved the name of ‘the Creator’ before He created the creatures, and deserved the name of ‘the Maker’ before He originated things. He distinguished the things without any means and collected them without any means. He arranged them without any efforts. Thoughts do not reach His essence and understandings do not comprehend His quintessence. “When?” does not apply to Him, “may” does not make Him nearer, “probably” does not screen Him, “with” does not compare Him, and “He” does not comprise Him. Tools limit themselves only. Instrumentality refers to its likes. Deeds are found in the things themselves. Apparatuses tell of their neediness. Opposition tells of the opposite. Matches refer to their likes. Times refer to the events. Descriptions are distinguishable by the help of the names. The matches were discriminated from them. Their events referred to them. “Since” prevented them from eternity. “May” stopped against their infinity. “Unless” denied its fatalism. As they - things- separated, they referred to their separator. As they varied, they referred to the originator of their variation. The Creator is obvious to the minds through the things. He hid from sight through them. Things proved that the Creator is more exalted than being realized by thoughts. They proved the lessons. Evidences were extracted from them. Through minds, the believing in Allah is proved, and through declaration of Allah, the faith is perfected.

There is no religion without recognition. There is no recognition without believing. There is no believing without pure monotheism - believing in Allah’s oneness-. There is no monotheism without sincerity. No sincerity if there is anthropomorphism. No denial occurs with the believing in the descriptions - of the Lord-. No pure believing occurs without dismissing the denial totally. Proving a part of anthropomorphism proves the whole. The whole believing in Allah’s oneness does not materialize some of the denial. Declaration is the denial of rejection. Sincerity cannot be reached if there is any amount of denial. Everything that is found in a created matter is nonexistent to the creator - of that matter-. Everything that is possibly occurring to a created matter is impossibly occurring to the creator - of that matter-. Motion, parting, and contacts are not applicable to the Creator. How is it acceptable that a matter that He created can apply to Him, a matter that He originated can affect Him, or a matter that He launched can occur to Him? Otherwise, His essence would be variable, His quintessence would be divisible, and eternity would not be described to Him. Moreover, eternity would not have a meaning other than expiry, and the creator would not have a meaning other than the created. If He had back, he would have front. If He seeks perfection, He will be imperfect. How is it then acceptable for a matter that is variable to have the name of eternity? How is it then acceptable for a thing that is affected by events and years to deserve perpetuity? How is it acceptable for a thing that has parts to originate parts? In this case, He would be having tools, and He would be changed into a guided thing after He had been a guide, and His description would be compared to the others’ descriptions. The impossible hypothesis in not evidence and no answer can be found for the impossible question.

That was a brief part of the Imam’s sermon.

Imam Ali’s Commandment for his son Hasan bin Ali[39]

From the father who is (shortly) to die, who acknowledges the hardships of the times, who has turned away from life, who has submitted himself to the (calamities of) time, who realizes the evils of the worlds who is living in the abodes of the dead and is due to depart from them any day; to the son who yearns for what is not to be achieved, who is treading the path of those who have died, who is the victim of ailments, who is entangled in the (worries of the) days, who is a target of hardships, a slave of the world, a trader of its deception, a debtor of wishes, a prisoner of mortality, an ally of worries, a neighbor of griefs, a victim of distresses, who has been overpowered by desires, and who is a successor of the dead.

Now, (you should know that) what I have learnt from the turning away of this world from me, the onslaught of time over me and the advancing of the next world towards me is enough to prevent me from remembering anyone except myself and from thinking beyond myself. But when I confined myself to my own worries leaving the worries of others, my intelligence saved me and protected me from my desires. It clarified to me my affairs and led me to seriousness wherein there was no trickery and truth, which was not tarnished by falsehood. Here, I found you a part of myself, rather I found you my whole, so much so that if anything befell you, it was as though it befell me and if death came to you it was as though it came to me. Consequently, your affairs meant to me what my own matters meant to me. So, I have written this piece of advice (to you) as an instrument of seeking help through it, whether I remain alive for you or cease to exist.

I advise you to fear Allah, O my child, to abide by His commands, to fill your heart with remembrance of Him and to cling to hope from Him. No connection is more reliable than the connection between you and Allah provided you take hold of it. Enliven your heart with preaching, kill it by renunciation, energize it with firm belief, humiliate it by recalling death, make it believe in mortality, make it see the misfortunes of this world, make it fear the authority of the time and the severity of some changes during the nights and the days, place before it the events of past people, recall to it what befell those who were before you and walk among their cities and ruins, then see what they did and from what they have gone away and where they have gone and stayed. You will find that they departed from (their) friends and lodged in the house of loneliness. Call in their houses: O empty houses, Where are your habitants? Then stop on their graves and say: O ragged bodies and separated organs, How have you found the lodge in which you are living? O my son, Shortly, you too will be like one of them. Therefore, plan for your place of stay and do not sell your next life with this world.

Give up discussing what you do not know and speaking about what does not concern you. Keep off the track from which you fear to go astray because refraining (from moving) when there is fear of straying is better than embarking on dangers. Ask others to do good; you will thus be among the good doers. Desist others from evil with your action as well as your speech and keep off, to the best of your ability, from he who commits it. Struggle for Allah as is His due; and the reviling of a reviler should not deter you in matters of Allah. Leap into dangers for the sake of right wherever it be. Acquire insight into religious law. Habituate yourself to endure hardships. In all your affairs, resign yourself to Allah, because you will thus be resigning yourself to a secure shelter and a strong protector. You should ask only from your Lord because in His hand is all the giving and depriving. Seek good (from Allah) as much as you can. Understand my advice and do not turn away from it, because the best saying is that which benefits. Know there is no good in knowledge, which does not benefit, and if knowledge is not made use of then its acquisition is not justified.

O my child, when I noticed that you were of goodly age and noticed that I was increasing in weakness, I hastened with my will for you and wrote down salient points of it lest death overtakes me before I divulge to you what I have in my heart, or lest my wit be affected as my body has been affected, or the forces of passions or the mischiefs of the world overtake you making you like a stubborn camel. Certainly, the heart of a young man is like uncultivated land. It accepts whatever is strewn on it. So, I hastened to mould you properly before your heart hardened up and your mind became occupied, so that you might be ready to accept through your intelligence the results of the experience of others and be saved from going through these experiences yourself. In this way, you would avoid the hardship of seeking them and the difficulties of experimenting. Thus, you are getting to know what we had experienced and even those things are becoming clear to you, which we might have missed.

O my child, even though I have not reached the age which those before me had; yet I looked into their behavior and thought over events of their lives. I walked among their ruins till I was as one of them. In fact, by virtue of those of their affairs that have become known to me it is as though I have lived with them from the first to the last. I have therefore been able to discern the impure from the clean and the benefit from the harm.

I have selected for you the choicest of those matters, and collected for you their good points and have kept away from you their useless points. Since I feel for you affairs as a compassionate father should feel and I aim at giving you training, I thought it should be at a time when you are advancing in age and new on the stage of the world, possessing upright intention and clean heart and that I should begin with the teaching of the Book of Allah and its interpretation, the laws of Islam and its commands, its lawful matters and unlawful matters and that I should not go beyond these for you. Then I feared lest you should get confused as other people had been confused on account of their passions and (different) views. Therefore, in spite of my dislike for you being so warned, I thought it better for me to make this position strong rather than leave you in a position where I do not regard you safe from falling into destruction. I hoped that Allah would help you in your straight-forwardness and guide you in your resoluteness. Consequently, I wrote this piece of my will for you.

O my child, what I love most for you to adopt from my will is to fear Allah, to confine yourself to what Allah has made obligatory on you, and to follow the actions of your forefathers and the virtuous people of your folks, because they did not fall short in seeing for themselves what you will see for yourself, and they did about their affairs as you would like to think (about your affairs). Thereafter, their thinking led them to discharge the obligations they came to know of and to desist from what they were not required to do. If your heart does not accept this without acquiring knowledge as they acquired it, then your search should first be by way of understanding and learning and not by falling into doubts or getting entangled in quarrels.

Before you probe into this, you should begin by seeking Allah’s help and turning to Him for competence and keeping aloof from everything that throws you into doubt or flings you towards misguidance. When you have made sure that your heart is clean and humble and your thoughts have come together and you have only one thought which is about this matter, you should see what I have explained to you; but if you have not been able to achieve that piece of observation and thinking which you would like to have, then know that you are only stamping the ground like a blind she-camel and falling into darkness while a seeker of religion should not grope in the dark or create confusion. It is better to avoid this.

The first and the last of my wording is that I praise the Lord of your fathers, as well as you and my. He is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. I praise Him with what He deserves and as He deserves and as He loves and as it should be. We implore Him to bless our Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and his family and all of the prophets and apostles of Allah as the blessing of all of those who blessed him. We also implore Him to complete His grace on us in what He has guided us in asking Him and responding to us. The virtues are complete only through His grace.

Appreciate my advice, O my child, and know that He Who is the Master of death is also the Master of life, that the Creator causes death as well; that He Who destroys is also the restorer of life and that He Who inflicts disease is also the curer. This world continues in the way Allah has made it with regard to its pleasures, trials, rewards on the Day of Judgment, and all that He wishes and you do not know. If anything of this advice is not understood by you then attribute it to your ignorance of it, because when you were first born you were born ignorant. Thereafter, you acquired knowledge. There are many matters of which you are ignorant and in which your sight first wonders and your eye wonders then after this you see them. Therefore, cling to Him Who created you, fed you, and put you in order. Your worship should be for Him, your eagerness should be towards Him, and your fear should be of Him.

Know, O my child, that no one received messages from Allah, the Glorified, as the Prophet (may Allah bless him and his family) did. Therefore, regard him as your forerunner and leader towards deliverance. Certainly, I shall spare no effort in giving you advice and surely even if you try you cannot acquire that insight for your welfare as I have for you.

Know, O my child, that if there had been a partner with your Lord, his messengers too should have come to you and you would have seen signs of his authority and power and you should have known his deeds and qualities. But He is only One God as He has described Himself. No one can dispute with Him in His authority. He is the Creator of everything. He is too great to have His divinity proved by the encompassing heart or eye. When you have understood this then you should do what is done by him who is like you by way of his low position, his lack of authority, his increasing incapability, and his great need of his Lord for seeking His obedience, fearing His chastisement and apprehending His anger, because He does not command you save for virtue and does not refrain you save from evil.

O my child, I have informed you about the world, its condition, its decay and its passing away and I have informed you of the next world and of what has been provided in it for its people. I have recounted to you parables about it so that you may draw instruction from them and act upon them. The example of those who have understood the world is like those travelers who, being disgusted with drought-stricken places set off for greenery and a fruitful place. Then they endured difficulties on the way, separation from friends, hardships of the journey and unwholesome-some food in order to reach their fields of plenty and place of stay. Consequently, they do not feel any pain in all this and do not regard any expenditure to be waste. Nothing is more loveable to them than what carries them closer to their place of stay. (Against this), the example of those who are deceived by this world is like the people who were in a green place but they became disgusted with it and went to a drought-stricken place. Therefore, for them nothing is more detestable or abominable than to leave the place where they were to go to a place, which they will reach unexpectedly and for which they are heading.

I have accused you of various sorts of ignorance, so that you will not reckon yourself with the scholars, then you will take pride in yourself when you solve a problem. The actual well-educated is that who realizes that he ignores more than what he knows; hence, he reckons himself with the ignorant and receives more knowledge by seeking it painstakingly. He keeps on being scholar, by desiring getting more information, benefiting by what he learns, revering his teachers, keeping silence, bewaring of faults, and feeling ashamed of mistakes. If he confronts what he does not know, he will not deny his unawareness because he has already declared his being ignorant. The actual ignorant is that who reckons himself with the scholars -although he ignores many things- and depends on his opinion. He is so far away from the scholars whom he disgraces. He accuses everyone who does not agree with him of error and misguides in the matters that he ignores. He denies and belies the matters that he ignores, and says: I do not know this, and I see it is not accurate and it will never be accurate. This is because such an ignorant is overconfident of his opinion and less aware of his ignorance. He is always involved in his confusing opinions, listening to his ignorance, denying the right, perplexing in his unawareness, and exalting from seeking knowledge.

O my child, try to understand my commandment and make yourself the measure (for dealings) between you and others. Thus, you should desire for others what you desire for yourself and hate for others what you hate for yourself. Do not oppress as you do not like to be oppressed. Do good to others as you would like good to be done to you. Regard bad for yourself whatever you regard bad for others. Accept that (treatment) from others, which you would like others to accept from you. Do not talk about what you do not know even though what you know be very little. Do not say to others what you do not like to be said to you.

Know that self-admiration is contrary to propriety (of action) and is a calamity for the mind. When you have been guided on the right path, humble yourself before Allah as much as you can.

Know that in front of you lies a road of long distance and severe hardship and that you cannot avoid seeking it. Take your requirements of provision keeping the burden light. Do not load your back beyond your power lest its weight become a mischief for you. Whenever you come across a needy person who can carry for you your provision to hand it back to you on the Day of Judgment when you will need it, then accept him as good opportunity and get him to carry it. Put in that provision as much as you are able to, for it is likely that if you may need him (afterwards), you may not get hold of him. If a person is willing to borrow from you in the days of your affluence to pay it back to you at the time of your need then make use of this opportunity. Know that in front of you lies an impassable valley, your terminating point at the other end of this passage will necessarily be either Paradise or Hell, wherein the light-burdened man will be in a better condition than the heavy-burden one. Therefore, prepare the place before getting down.

Know that He Who owns the treasuries of the heavens and the earth has permitted you to pray to Him and has promised you acceptance of the prayer. He has commanded you to beg from Him in order that He may give you and to seek His mercy in order that He may have mercy on you. He has not placed anything between you and Him that may veil Him from you.

He has not required you to get a mediator for you to Him, and if you err, He has not prevented you from repentance. He does not hasten with punishment. He does not taunt you for repenting, nor does He humiliate you when humiliation is more appropriate for you. He has not been harsh in accepting repentance. He does not severely question you about your sins. He does not disappoint you of His mercy. Rather He regards abstention from sin as a virtue. He counts your one sin as one while He counts your one virtue as ten.

He has opened for you the door of repentance. Therefore, whenever you call Him He hears your call, and whenever you whisper to Him He knows the whispers. You place before Him your needs, unveil yourself before Him, complain to Him of your worries, beseech Him to remove your troubles, seek His help in your affairs and ask from the treasuries of His mercy that which no one else has power to give, namely length of life, health of body and increase in sustenance. Then He has placed the keys of His treasuries in your hands in the sense that He has shown you the way to ask Him.

Therefore, wherever you wish, open the doors of His favor with prayer. and let the abundant rains of His mercy fall on you. Delay in acceptance of the prayer should not disappoint you because the grant of prayer is according to the measure of (your) intention. Sometimes acceptance (of prayer) is delayed with a view to its being a source of greater reward to the asker and of better gifts to the expectant. Sometimes you ask for a thing but it is not given to you, and a better thing is given to you later or a thing is taken away from you for some greater good of yours, because sometimes you ask for a thing which contains ruin for your religion if it is given to you. Therefore, your request should be for things whose beauty should be lasting and whose burden should remain away from you. As for wealth it will not last for you nor will you live for it.

O my child, know that you have been created for the next world, not for this world, for destruction (in this world) not for lasting, and for dying not for living. You are in a place, which does not belong to you, a house for making preparations and a passage towards the next world. You are being chased by death from which the runner-away cannot escape, as it would surely overtake him. So, be on guard against it least it overtakes you at a time when you are in a sinful state and you are thinking of repenting but it creates obstruction between you and repentance. In such a case you will ruin yourself.

O my child, remember death very much and the place where you have to go suddenly and reach after death, so that when it comes you are already on your guard against it and have prepared yourself for it and it does not come to you all of a sudden and surprise you. Beware lest, you become deceived by the leanings of the people towards worldly attraction and their rushing upon it. Allah has warned you about it and the world has informed you of its mortal character and unveiled to you its evils.

Surely, those (who go) after it are like barking dogs or devouring carnivore who hate each other. The stronger among them eat away the weaker and the big among them tramples over the small. Some are like tied cattle and some like untied cattle who have lost their wits and are running in unknown directions. They are flocks of calamities wandering in rugged valleys. There is no herdsman to detain them. The world has put them on the track of blindness and taken away their eyes from the beacons of guidance. They have therefore been perplexed in its bewilderings and sunk in its pleasures. They took it as a god so it played with them. They too played with it and forgot what is beyond it. Darkness is disappearing gradually. Now it is as though travelers have got down and the hasteners will soon meet.

Beware, O my child lest, the abundance of its flaws dishonors you.

Know, O my child, that everyone who is riding on the carriage of night and day is being carried by them even though he may be stationary, and he is covering the distance even though he is staying and resting. Allah has accepted nothing but ruining this world and prospering the next world.

O my child, you should abstain from the worldly affairs against which Allah has warned you. If you will not accept my advise, you should know with certainty that you cannot achieve your desire and cannot exceed your destined life. You are on the track of those before you. Therefore, be humble in seeking and moderate in earning because often seeking leads to deprivation. Every seeker of livelihood does not get it, nor is everyone who is moderate in seeking deprived. Keep yourself away from every low thing even though they may take you to your desired aims, because you will not get any return for your own respect, which you spend. Do not be the slave of others for Allah had made you free. There is no good in good which is achieved through evil and no good in comfort that is achieved through (disgracing) hardship.

Beware lest bearers of greed should carry you and make you descend down to the springs of destruction. If you can manage that there be no wealthy person between yourself and Allah, do so, because in any case you will find what is for you and get your share. A little received directly from Allah the Glorified, is more dignified than that which is more but is received through (the obligation of) His creatures, although (really) all is from Allah.

If you see - and Allah’s is the highest example- in what you seek from the kings and from the lowly people, you will realize that the few amounts that you receive from the kings is pride for you, while the much amount that you receive from the lowly people is dishonor. Use economy in your affairs and you will have a good result. No price will equate anything of your religion and honor. The actual defrauded is that who refused his share that Allah decides. Take only what comes to you from the worldly affairs and leave what do not come to you. If not, you should economize in seeking earnings.

Beware of associating with those whom you expect to ruin your religion. Keep away from the rulers. Do not secure the Shaitan’s trickeries and say that you will desist when you see evil. This is the way that led those who were before you to devastation. They believed in the Judgment and did not accept to sell their next world with this one, but the Shaitan shook them in his trickeries and deception. Hence, they were involved in his destruction in front of a scanty benefit of this world. The Shaitan moved them from an evil into another till he made them despair of Allah’s mercy and took them into disappointment. Finally, they turned their faces to what violated Islam and its rulings.

If you are attracted to the worldly pleasures by currying favor with the rulers and violate what I have warned you against, then you should tie your tongue. Rulers are not guaranteed in rage. You should also not follow their news, divulge their secrets, and intrude yourself among them.

Safety lies in silence. It is easier to rectify what you miss by silence than to secure what you lose by speaking. Whatever is in a pot can be retained by closing the lid. I should prefer you to retain what is in your hands rather to seek what is in other’s hands. Report only the sayings of a truthful lest, you will be a liar. Falsehood is humility. Subsistence with economy is better for you than many earnings with extravagance. Bitterness of disappointment is better than seeking from people. Manual labor with chastity is better than the riches of a vicious life. A man is the best guard of his own secrets. Often a man strives for that harms him. He who speaks much speaks nonsense. Whoever ponders perceives. The virtuous acquaintance is the best luck a man may target. Associate with people of virtue; you will become one of them. Keep aloof from people of vice; you will remain safe from them. Distrust should never control you because it will destroy any association between others and you. Some say that distrust is a part of prudence. The worst food is that which is unlawful. Oppressing the weak is the worst oppression. Adultery is as its name. Standing the misfortunes protects the heart - from flaws-. Where leniency is unsuitable, harshness is lenience. Often cure is illness and illness is cure. Often the ill-wisher gives correct advice while the well-wisher cheats. Do not depend upon hopes because hopes are the mainstay of fools. Kindle your mind with morality like fire when kindled with wood. Do not be like the collector of firewood at night and the scum of a flood. Ingratitude is meanness. Befriending the ignorant is evil omen. It is wise to preserve one’s experience. Your best experience is that which teaches you a lesson. Lenience in behavior is generosity. Make use of leisure before it changes into (the hour of) grief. Determination is prudence. Slowness is a cause of deprivation. Not every seeker achieves (what he seeks); and not every departer returns. To lose provision means ruin. Every matter has a consequence. Often a small quantity is more beneficial than a large quantity. What is destined for you will shortly come to you. A trader undertakes a risk. There is no good in an ignoble helper. Never trust a matter the end of which is unknown. Self-possession achieves prevalence. Understanding achieves proliferation. Meeting with people of virtue prospers the heart. Be compliant with the world as long as it is in your grip. Beware of ride the pack animal of disputation. Hurry in obliterating a sin by repentance. Never betray those who trust you even if they betray. Never divulge a secret even if its owner divulges. Do not put yourself to risk as regards anything in expectation for more than that. Seek insistently and you will receive what is destined for you. Accept the glorification. Give generously. Use good wording with people.

The most inclusive word of wisdom is surely that you should love for people what you love for yourself and hate for them what you hate for yourself.

Know that fulfilling the pledges and defending the horror are parts of generosity. Disaffection is the sign of malice. The many excuses are the sign of niggardliness. It may happen that withholding with kindness is better than giving with severity. To build good relations with the relatives is a part of favoring. No one will depend upon you or trust your relations if you rupture your relations with the relatives. Accusation is the face of enmity.

Bear yourself towards your brother in such a way that if he disregards kinship, you keep to it; when he turns away, be kind to him and draw near to him; when he withholds spend for him; when he goes away approach him; when he is harsh be lenient; when he commits wrong think of (his) excuse for it, so much as though you are a slave of him and he is the benevolent master over you. But take care that this should not be done inappropriately, and that you should not behave so with an undeserving person. Do not take the enemy of your friend as a friend because you will thus antagonize your friend. Never use trickery. It is the character of the evil ones. Give true advice to your brother, be it good or bitter. Help your brother in any case, and go with him wherever he goes, and never retaliate him even if he throws dust in your mouth. Prevail your enemy by doing favor to him. This is more successful. You will save yourself from people by good manners and swallowing the anger. I did not find a sweeter thing than swallowing one’s anger in the end, and nothing more pleasant in consequence. Never suspect in your brother and never leave him without blaming. Be lenient to him who is harsh to you for it is likely that he will shortly become lenient to you. Rupture of relations is very ugly. What an ugly thing is the alienation after brotherhood, enmity after affection, betraying those who trust you, disappointing those who expect your good, and cheating those who confide in you!

If you intend to cut yourself off from a friend, leave some scope for him from your side by which he may resume friendship if it so occurs to him some day. If anyone has a good idea about you prove it to be true. Do not disregard the interests of your brother depending upon your terms with him, for he is not your brother if you disregard his interests. Your family should not become the most miserable people because of you. Do not lean towards him who turns away from you. Do not turn away from him who leans towards you when he deserves association. Your brother should not be firmer in his disregard of kinship than you in paying regard to it. You should exceed in doing good to him than is evil to you, giving to him than is withholding, and favoring him than is ceasing. Do not feel too much the oppression of a person who oppresses you, because he is only busy in harming himself and benefiting you. The reward of him who pleases you is not that you displease him. Livelihood is of two kinds -a livelihood that you seek and a livelihood that seeks you, which is such that if you do not reach it, it will come to you.

Know, O my child, time is changeable. Do not be one of those who blame too much and are excused too little. How bad it is to bend down at the time of need and to be harsh in riches. You should have from this world only that with which you can adorn your permanent abode. Spend properly and do not be the treasurer of others. If you cry over what has gone out of your hands then also cry for what has not at all come to you. Infer about what has not yet happened from what has already happened, because occurrences are ever similar. Never show ingratitude to them who do favor to you. Ingratitude is the vilest atheism. Accept others’ apology. Do not be like those whom preaching does not benefit unless you inflict pain on them, because the wise take instruction from teaching while beasts learn only from beating.

Respect the rights of those who respect your rights whether they were high-ranking or lowly. Ward off from yourself the onslaught of worries by firmness of endurance and purity of belief. He who gives up moderation commits excess. The best share of a man is satisfaction. Envy is the evilest companion. Despair brings about negligence. Niggardliness brings about blame. A companion is like a relation. A friend is he whose absence also proves the friendship. Passion is a partner of distress. Suspension at situations of perplexity is success. Conviction is the best expeller of care. Censure is the outcome of falsehood. Safety lies only in honesty. The outcome of telling lies is the worst. Often the near ones are remoter than the distant ones, and often the distant ones are nearer than the near ones. A stranger is he who has no friend. Mistrust should not make you lose your intimate friend. He who diets will gain cure. He who transgresses right narrows his own passage. He who stays in his position remains constant upon it. The best trait is doing favor to others. The vilest evil is transgressing the less powerful. Pudency is the course to every fine thing. The firmest handle is piety. The most trustworthy intermediary is that which you adopt between yourself and Allah. He who accepts your excuse is doing favor to you. Excessive censure kindles the fires of disputation. Many diseased persons were cured and many healthy ones passed away. When greed leads to ruin, deprivation is an achievement. Not every defect can be reviewed, and not every opportunity recurs.

Often a person with eyes misses the track while a blind person finds the correct path. Not every seeker gains his objective, and not every one that is on his guard can be saved. Delay an evil because you will be able to hasten it whenever you desire. You should treat others kindly if you want them to treat you kindly. Bear your brother in spite of his defects. Do not censure excessively, because this creates malice and drags to hatred. Seek the censure of those who find you excuses. The disregard of kinship of the ignorant is equal to the regard for kinship of the wise. Protecting the honor is a sort of generosity. Whoever regards the world as great, it will humiliate him. He whomever puts himself under censure will be enraged. Dishonor is so near to people of transgression. It is fitter to breach loyalty with him who betrays. The deadliest slip is that of the cautious ones. The cause of telling lies is the worst. Lechery ruins the much amount. Economy develops the few amounts. Fewness is humility. It is well-natured to respect the parents. Errors pursue haste. A pleasure that begets sorrow is worthless. The actual wise is that who benefits by experiments. Guidance removes blindness. Your tongue is the translator of your mind. No harmony occurs when there is incongruity. Visiting the neighbors is a pattern of good-neighbor. He who uses economy will never fail. He who abstains - from the worldly pleasures- will never suffer poverty. The surface evinces the hidden. A seeker may seek his death. Never substitute confidence for hope. Not every fearful thing is harmful. It happens that joking is changed into seriousness. This world will betray those who trust it and will humiliate those who glorify it and will defeat those who try to prevail it and will disappoint those who seek its refuge. Not every one who shoots will hit. When authority changes, the time changes too. The best of your family members is he who supports you. Joking creates hatred. A careful one often skimps. The true conviction is the head of religion. Avoidance of disobediences is the perfection of sincerity. The best wording is that which is supported by deeds. Safety always accompanies righteousness. Supplication - to God- is the key to mercy. Consult the friend before adopting a course and the neighbor before taking a house. Consider this world as a temporary lodging. Receive those who visit you. Accept the excuses of those who make apology. Accept the surplus of people. Do not show anyone what he dislikes. Obey your brother even if he disobeys you, and build good relations with him even if he ruptures relations with you. Habituate yourself to leniency and opt for the best moralities. Good mannerism is a custom. Beware lest, you mention in your speech what may be dirty or rouse laughter even though you may be relating it from others. Judge on yourself before others judge on it.

Do not consult women because their view is weak and their determination is unstable. Cover their eyes by keeping them under the veil because strictness of veiling keeps them and you for long. Their coming out is not worse than your allowing an unreliable man to visit them. If you can manage that they should not know anyone other than you, do so. Do not allow a woman matters other than those about herself. This is better for achieving prosperous and peaceful life and permanent beauty. A woman is a flower not an administrator. Do not pay her regard beyond herself. Do not encourage her to intercede for others lest, she will be with that party against you. Do not associate women for a long time so that you will not feed up with them and they will not feed up with you. Keep a part of abstinence from them in yourself. To abstain from women while they realize your ability to associate with them is better than their being more powerful than you are. Do not show suspicion out of place, because this leads a correct woman to evil. You should use wisdom in treating them; you should punish when they make a big or a small mistake. Do not punish so excessively that you make the guilt seem to be grand and disgrace censure.

Use good manners with the servants. Lessen your rage and do not use excessive censure when there is no sin. If any of them makes guilt, you should blame them. Blaming with amnesty is more effective than physical punishment for the intelligent. Do not hold the mindless. Lessen retaliation. For everyone among your servants fix a work for which you may hold him responsible. In this way, they will not fling the work one over the other.

Respect your relatives because they are your wing with which you fly, the origin towards which you return, and your hands with which you attack. They are the propensity in time of crises. You should honor the generous among them, visit the ailed, take part in their affairs, and alleviate their problems. Seek Allah’s aid in all your affairs. He is surely the best supporter.

Place your religion and your world at Allah’s disposal and beg Him to ordain the best for you in respect of the near and the far, this world and the next; and that is an end to the matter.

Imam Ali’s Commandment for his son Hussein bin Ali

O son, I command you to fear God in richness and poverty, cling to the word of right in satisfaction and rage, be moderate in richness and poverty, be fair to your friends and enemies, work in activity and laziness, and satisfy yourself with Allah is crises and luxury.

O son, an evil that is followed by Paradise is not a true evil, and a welfare that is followed by Hell is not a true welfare. Every comfort other than Paradise is valueless and every misfortune other than Hell is a good health.

You should know, O my son, that he who notices his own flaws will give up chasing others’ flaws. Nothing will cover those who strip the covers of piety. He who satisfies himself with Allah’s distribution (of sustenance) will not be sad for that which misses him. He who unsheathes the sword of aggression will be killed with it. He who digs a well for his brother will fall in it. The screens of the houses of those who tear others’ screens will be exposed. He who neglects his sin will see the others’ sins as great. He who overdoes will be exhausted. He who pushes himself in the risks will be sunken. He who prefers his opinion will deviate. He who clings only to his own views will make mistakes. He who shows arrogance against people will be humiliated. He who associates with the scholars will be respected. He who associates with the mean ones will be disgraced. He who belittles people will be insulted. He who intrudes himself in evils will be accused. He who jokes will be disrespected. He who gives much of something will be known of it. Much speech leads to much erring. Much erring leads to decreased pudency. Little pudency leads to decreased piety. Little piety deadens the heart. The dead-hearted will be in Hell.

O son, the actual foolish is he who looks in people’s defects and accepts the same defects for himself. He who ponders (over things) will surely learn lessons. He who learns lessons will surely retire. He who retires will be in safe. He who neglects the passions will live in freedom. People will bear love to those who leave envy.

O son, the honor of the (faithful) believer is to dispense with people. Satisfaction is a never-ending treasure. He who mentions death frequently will satisfy himself with little worldly pleasures. He who realizes that his words are within his deeds will speak of nothing except what benefits him.

O son, how strange that who fears the punishment and does not cease - from doing evil- is! How strange that who wishes for the rewards and does not repent or work is!

O son, intelligence casts on illumination, inadvertence casts on gloom, and ignorance casts on deviation. The actual happy is that who learns lessons from the others. Morality is the best heritage. The best friend is the good mannerism. No growth can be expected from rupturing relations with the relatives and no wealth should be waited from lechery.

O son, good health is of ten parts, nine of which lies in silence except in situations of reference to Allah, and one lies in the abandonment of associating with the foolish ones.

O son, for those who dress the acts of disobedience to Allah in their meetings, Allah will cast humility on them. He who seeks studies will surely learn.

O son, lenience is the head of knowledge, and idiocy is its epidemic. Patience in misfortunes is one of the treasures of faith. Continence is the adornment of poverty. Thanking is the adornment of richness. Excessive visits create boredom. Tranquility is the opposite of prudence if it precedes awareness. Self-esteem refers to weak-mindedness.

O son, many views have brought sorrow, and many words have deprived of grace.

O son, there is no honor higher than Islam, no generosity more glorious than God-fearing, no fortress more protective than piety, no interceder more successful than repentance, no dress fitter than good health, and no wealth more sufficient than satisfaction with the sustenance. He who confines himself to the minimum necessity will have rest before others and will find himself a place in the tranquil life.

O son, acquisitiveness is the key to fatigue, the mount of exhaustion, and the leader to the commitment of sins. Avidity is the comprehensive of defects. The matters that you abominate from others should be sufficient discipliners for you. Your friend should enjoy the same rights that you enjoy. He who engages himself in an affair before examining the outcome will suffer misfortunes. Planning before working saves from sorrow. He who propounds the opinions will realize the places of errors. Patience is a protector against poverty. Niggardliness is the dress of misery. Acquisitiveness is the sign of destitution. A poor man who keeps good relations is better than a wealthy one who breaks his relations (with others). Everything has a food. Son of Adam - man- is the food of death.

O son, do not make a sinner despair. Many adopters of sins enjoy a happy end and many benevolent ones rupture their deeds and deserve Hell. Allah may protect us from Hell.

O son, many disobedient ones may be saved and many benevolent ones may fail. The provisions of those who adhere to honesty will be easily attainable. The good lies in defying the passions. Hours reduce the age. Woe to the aggressors, because of the presence of the best of judges and the knower of the hidden of those who hide.

O son, violence against the servants - of Allah- is the worst supplies to the world to come. Every dose has a choke and every meal has a lump in the throat. No grace can be obtained unless another is missed. Rest is very close to fatigue, misery is very close to bliss, death is very close to life, and illness is very close to health. Blessed be those who behave faithfully to Allah in action, knowledge, love, hatred, receipt, leave, speech, silence, deeds, and words. Excellent is the knowledgeable who acts seriously and gets ready as he fears death. He gives advice when he is asked, and keeps peace when he is neglected. His wording is true and his silence is an answer without exhaustion. Woe to those who suffer deprivation, disappointment, and disobedience. They satisfy themselves with what they hate from others and disgrace people for doing what they themselves do.

O son, you should know that the affection of those whose wording is lenient is obligatory.

May Allah guide you to your prosperity and reckon you with the people of his obedience, by the help of His potency. He is surely All-benevolent and All-generous.

Imam Ali’s Sermon of Wasila

We will have only a part of it that is necessary for our topics.

All praise is due to Allah who ceased the illusions to comprehend but His existence, and screened the intellects to imagine His essence because it is impossible for His essence to have a like or a form. His essence does not vary or divide like figures, due to His perfection. He parted with the things, not in places, adjoined them, not in a form of mixing, and knew them, not by an instrumentality that is the only means of knowing. There is no any other’s knowledge lying between the known things and Him, that He needs it to know them. If “was” is attached to Him, it should refer to the eternity of existence. If “still” is attached to Him, it should refer to the nullity of nonexistence. Glory be to Him, and highly exalted is He above the sayings of those who worshipped things other than Him and betook them as gods. We praise Him with the praise that He accepted from His servants and the praise that he imposed its acceptance upon Himself. I declare there is no god but Allah exclusively without any associate, and declare that Mohammed is His servant and messenger. These two declarations promote the word and put down the deed. The scale from which these two declarations are taken is flimsy, and the scale in which they are put is weighty. The obtainment of Paradise, the salvation from Hell, and the passing the Path successfully are gained through these two declarations. You will enter Paradise by the declaration, and attain the - divine- mercy by the prayer. Hence, give much of blessing your Prophet. “Surely Allah and His angels bless the Prophet; O you who believe, call for (Divine) blessings on him and salute him with a (becoming) salutation. ”[40]

O people, surely there is no honor higher than Islam, no generosity is more glorified than God-fearing, no stronghold is more protective than piety, no interceder is more beneficial than repentance, no dress is loftier than good health, no protection is more shielding than safety, and no wealth more defensive against poverty than satisfaction. He who confines himself to the minimum necessity will have orderly rest. Desire is the key to fatigue. Monopoly is the means of exhaustion. Envy is the epidemic of the religion. Acquisitiveness is the guide to inserting in sins as well as deprivation. Aggression drives into perdition. Gluttony is the comprehensive of the evilest defects. Greed often disappoints. Hope is often false. Wish often leads to deprivation. Commerce often ends with loss. He who engages himself in affairs without looking in their outcomes will suffer scandalous misfortunes. Debt is the worst necklace for the faithful believers.[41]

O people, surely there is no treasure more beneficial than knowledge, no glory more helpful than self-possession, no nobility more attainable than mannerism, no beauty better than intelligence, no acquaintance eviler than ignorance, no defect worse than falsehood, no guardian more preserving than silence, and no absent closer than death.

O people, he who notices his own flaws will give up chasing others’ flaws. He who satisfies himself with the endowments of Allah will not be sad for what is in the others’ hands. He who unsheathes the sword of aggression will be killed with it. He who digs a well for his brother will fall in it. The screens of the houses of those who tear others’ screens will be exposed. He who neglects his sin will see the others’ sins as great. He who prefers his opinion will deviate. He who clings only to his own views will make mistakes. He who uses arrogance with people will be humiliated. He who belittles people will be insulted. He who associates with the scholars will be respected. He who associates with the mean ones will be disgraced. He who overdoes will be exhausted.

O people, there is no wealth more favorable than the intellect, no poverty harsher than ignorance, no preacher more attainable than advice, no intelligence like planning, no worship like pondering, no support firmer than seeking consult, no loneliness more desolate than self-esteem, no piety like subsistence, and no self-possession like tolerance and silence.

O people, Man enjoys ten characters that the tongue reveals. Hence, the tongue is a witness that divulges the hidden, a judge that forms an opinion, a speaker that provides answers, an interceder by which the needs are settled, a describer by which things are recognized, a commander that enjoins good, a preacher that forbids evil, a consolatory that calms the grief, a thankful by which hatred is removed, and a soother that amuses the hearings.

O people, to keep silence in judgments and to speak ignorantly are worthless.

O people, you should know that he who does not control his tongue will be sorry, he who does not learn will be ignorant, he who does not possess himself will lose indulgence, he who does not stop - from doing evil- will not be intelligent, he who is not intelligent will humiliate, he who humiliates will not be respected, he who fears God will be saved, he who gets illegal property will spend it without reward, he who does not leave people when they respect him will be having to leave them while they debase him, he who does not give people when he is wealthy will be deprived when he is needy, and he who seeks glory dishonestly will be humble. Weakness is the companion of those who oppose the right. People revere those who seek studies and demean those who seek arrogance. No one will praise him who does not do well.

O people, death should be preferred to humility, tolerance to inertness, and grave to poverty. Blindness is better than much looks. Time is two days; one is yours and the other is against you. You should opt for endurance in the two, because both are tests.

O people, man’s most surprising organ is the heart. It has matters of wisdom and opposites. If hope occurs to him, greed will humiliate him. If greed excites him, acquisitiveness will perish him. If despair controls him, sorrow will kill him. If rage arises in him, fury will intensify in him. If he is pleased due to satisfaction, he will neglect preservation. If fear prevails him, grief will concern him. If security covers him, arrogance will rule him. If a grace comes to him, pride will restrain him. If some money moves toward him, richness will make him tyrannical. If poverty bites him, misfortune will engage him. If a catastrophe hits him, intolerance will uncover him. If intolerance fags him, weakness will disable him. If he overeats, dyspepsia will attack him. Any negligence harms him and every immoderation injures him.

O people, he whose charity is few will be humble. He who does well will dominate. He whose wealth is much will preside over others. He whose self-possession is high will be noble. He who thinks of Allah’s Essence will be atheist. He who gives much of something will be known of it. He who jokes much will be disrespected. He whose laughter is excessive will lose dignity. The ancestry of the impolite is of no value. The best deed is protecting the honor through wealth. He who associates with the ignorant is mindless. He who associates with the ignorant should prepare himself for receiving gossips. Neither the wealth of the rich nor will the poverty of the poor save them from death.

O people, hearts have witnesses that prevent from joining the negligent people. The accurate understanding of the admonitions leads to be on the lookout of falling in mistakes. Souls have imaginations of the fancy, while minds restrain and warn against - the ill deeds-. There is hidden knowledge in the experiments. Learning lessons - from things- drives into well-mindedness. The matters that you abominate from others should be sufficient discipliners for you. Your friend should enjoy the same rights that you enjoy. He who pursues his opinions exclusively is risking.

Planning before acting saves against regret. He who surveys the other opinions will recognize the situations of error. The minds will rectify the opinions of him who abstains from curiosity. He who contains his passions will protect his prestige. He who controls his tongue will be secured and will meet his needs. The inwardness of men is realized in the vicissitudes of time. Days show you the hidden secrets. The swift lightning cannot awaken him who plunges into gloom. Eyes of reverence and respect gaze at him who is well known of wisdom. The most honorable wealth is to neglect hopes. Tolerance is a shelter against poverty. Acquisitiveness is the sign of poverty. Niggardliness is the dress of destitution. Affection is an advantageous kinship. A poor man who regards his relations with you is better than a wealthy one who breaks his relations with you. Exhortation is a cave for him who retains it. The sorrow of him who releases his sight is very much. He who is impatient is unbearable by his family. He who gets will seek more and more. Hopes rarely come true. Modesty adorns with dignity. The treasures of sustenance lie in the good mannerism. The flaws of him whose dress is covered by timidity are hidden. Use reasonable words. The provisions become easily obtainable for those who seek reasonable words. Rationality lies in opposing the fancies. He who realizes the (vicissitudes of) time truly will not bypass readiness. Every dose has a choke and every meal has a lump in the throat. No grace can be obtained unless another is missed. Every breath of life has a provision and every seed has an eater. You are the food of death.

O people, you should know that everyone who walks on the surface of this earth will eventually go beneath it. Night and day are expediting in ruining the ages.

O people, ingratitude is meanness. Association with the ignorant is ill omen. Kind wording is generosity. Beware of cheating. It is the character of the mean. Not every sought matter can be gain and not every absent may come back. Never curry favor with him who forsook you. Often a remote one is in fact closer than the near. Consult the friend before adopting a course and the neighbor before taking a house. Cover your friend’s flaw that you have its like. Overlook your friend’s fault for this will help you on the day when your enemy overcomes you. He who is angry with him who cannot harm will have a long grief and hurt himself. He who fears his Lord will stop his wrongdoing. He who cannot distinguish good from evil is as same as an animal. Spreading the supplies is a form of lechery. The worldly misfortunes are so scanty if compared with the huge neediness of tomorrow. Your enmity is surely the reason of your much commitment of sins and acts of disobedience to God. Rest is very close to fatigue, and misery is very close to change. Any evil that is followed by Paradise is not a true evil, and any welfare that is followed by Hell is not a true welfare. Every comfort other than Paradise is valueless, and every misfortune other than Hell is a good health. The grand sins appear only when the conscience pricks. Sincerity in a deed is more laborious than the deed itself. Goodwill is more laborious than a long jihad. Unless it was piety, I would be the most cunning of the Arabs. I command you to fear Allah in richness and poverty, cling to the word of right in satisfaction and rage, use moderation in richness and poverty, be fair to your friends and enemies, work in activity and laziness, and satisfy yourselves with acts of Allah in crises and luxury. Much speech leads to much erring. Much erring leads to decreased pudency. Little pudency leads to decreased piety. Little piety deadens the heart. The dead-hearted will be in Hell. He who ponders over things will surely learn lessons. He who learns lessons will surely retire. He who retires will be in safe. He who neglects the passions will live in freedom. People will bear love to those who leave envy. The honor of the faithful believer is dispensing with people. Satisfaction is a never-ending treasure. He who mentions death frequently will satisfy himself with little worldly pleasures. He who realizes that his words are within his deeds will speak of nothing except what benefits him. How strange that who fears the punishment and does not cease - from doing evil- is! How strange that who wishes for the rewards and does not repent or work is! Intelligence casts on illumination. Inadvertence casts on gloom. Ignorance casts on deviation. The actual happy is that who learns lessons from others. Morality is the best heritage. The best friend is good mannerism. No growth can be expected from rupturing relations with relatives. No wealth should be waited from lechery. Good health is of ten parts, nine of which lies in silence except in situations of mentioning Allah, and one lies in neglecting associating with the ill-minded ones. Lenience is the head of knowledge, and idiocy is its epidemic. Patience in misfortunes is one of the treasures of faith. Continence is the adornment of poverty. Thanking is the adornment of richness. Excessive visits create boredom. Tranquility is the opposite of prudence if it precedes awareness. Self-esteem refers to weak-mindedness. Never make a sinner despair. Many adopters of sins enjoy a happy end. Many benevolent ones rupture their deeds and deserve Hell. Violence against the servants - of Allah- is the worst supplies to the world to come. Blessed be those who act faithfully to Allah in action, knowledge, love, hatred, receipt, leave, speech, silence, deeds, and words. A Muslim is not a true Muslim before he becomes pious. He cannot be pious before he becomes abstinent. He cannot be abstinent before he becomes prudent. He cannot be prudent before he becomes intelligent. The actual intelligent is only that who receives Allah’s commandments heedfully and works sincerely for the world to come. May Allah bless Mohammed the Prophet and his immaculate family.

Imam Ali’s Instructions to his Companions

Four Hundred Topics of Religious and Worldly Affairs

Cupping recovers the body and strengthens the mind.

To have the mustache cut is a part of cleanness and a part of the Sunna.

To odorize the mustache is an honor for the Recording Angels. It is also a part of the Sunna.

Oiling softens the skin, strengthens the mind and the brain, eases the organs of ablution, removes disheveling, and purifies the color.

Brushing the teeth pleases the Lord and freshens the mouth. It is a part of the Sunna.

Washing the head with the mud of rivers removes the dirt and purifies from uncleanness.

Rinsing water in the mouth and the nose during performing the ablutions purifies the mouth and the nose.

Using the sneezewort oil heals the head and cures the body as well as all sorts of headache.

Hair remover powders strengthen and purify the body.

Nail-clipping immunizes against the greatest disease and brings earnings affluently.

Tearing out the armpit hair removes malodor. It is a purifier and a part of the Sunna.

To wash the hands before and after eating increases the earnings.

Bathing in the eids purifies those who want to supplicate to God. It is observance of the Sunna.

Night worship heals the body, pleases the Lord, brings mercy, and it is adherence to the prophets’ ethics.

Eating apples perfumes the stomach.

Chewing gums strengthens the teeth, removes the phlegm, and stops the malodor of mouths.

To sit in mosques from dawn to sunrise brings earnings better than roaming around the world - for seeking earnings-.

Eating quince strengthens the weak hearts, cures the stomach, kindles the heart, gives courage to the coward, and gives beauty to the fetus.

Eating twenty-one red raisins every day before breakfast saves from all diseases except death.

It is recommendable for Muslims to copulate with their wives on the first night of Ramadan, for God’s saying:

It is made lawful for you, during the nights of fasting, to have carnal relations with your wives. [42]

Do not wear other than the silver rings on the fingers, for the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: “God will never purify the hand with iron ring.”

If you carve one of the Divine Names on the ring, you should shift it from the hand that you use for cleaning after defecation.

Whenever you look in the mirror, you should say: “All praise be to Allah Who created me perfectly, formed me perfectly, gave me perfect things that others have had imperfect, and honored me with Islam.”[43]

You should be in your best adornment when you meet your friends like that when you meet the strangers that you want to be in the best style before them.

To fast for three days every month, as well as for the month of Shaban, removes the doubts of the minds and the scruples of the hearts.

To clean the organs of defecation with cold water -after toileting- cuts the hemorrhoids.

The cleaning of dresses removes care and purifies for the prayers.

Do not tear out the gray hair because it is illumination.

Every single hair that grows gray in Islam will be illumination on the Day of Resurrection.

Muslims should never sleep while being ceremonially impure. They should sleep only after cleaning themselves. If water is absent, they may use the dry ablution[44] . In sleeping, the believers’ souls ascend to God to accept and bless them. If their time of death is falling, God will make that soul in the best form. If it is not, He will take them back with the angels in charge of this liability to the body.

Muslims should not spit in the direction of the kiblah. If they do it inattentively, they should seek God’s forgiveness.

You should not puff in the place of the prostration of the ritual prayers, nor in the food, drink, or amulet.

You should not excrete on the public ways or urinate on a roof or in flowing water. If you do so, you then should blame no one but yourselves if something bad occurs to you. Water, as well as air, has its people.

You should not swing with your urination or urinate against the wind.

You should not lie on the back[45] .

You should not offer the prayers when you are lazy and indolent.

You should stop engaging your minds when you stand before your Lord - in prayers-, since the accepted parts of your prayers are only those that are offered attentively.

Do not stop mentioning God in any place or situation.

Do not turn the faces in the prayers. God will say to the servant that turns his face in the prayer, “Be with Me, My servant, I am certainly better for you than that which you are turning to.”

Eat the food that is left beyond the dining tables, because it is the remedy of every malady, by God’s permission, for those who seek cure.

Dress cotton clothes, for it is the Prophet’s dress. He used not to dress wool or hairy clothes except when they are described as medicine.

Whenever you suck your fingers after having food, God the Majestic will say: Blessed be you.

God loves beauty and loves to see the traces of His graces on the servants.

Regard your relatives even by greeting. God says:

Have fear of God by whose Name you swear to settle your differences and have respect for your relatives.[46]

Do not spend your days with mentioning your deeds and with gossips. There are surely keeping angels with you.

Mention God in every situation.

Bless the Prophet and his family, because God will respond to your supplications when you mention the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) gently.

Do not have the hot food until it is cooled. As hot food was served to him, the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said, “Do not eat it until it is cooled and becomes eatable. God will not accept to feed us hot food when He put the blessings - advantage- in the cold food.”

Teach your boys the knowledge due to which God will benefit them, so that the apostates will not overcome them - in discussions-.

O people, control your tongues and submit to God completely.

Return and keep the deposits of everybody even the killers of the prophets.

Mention God very much when you are in marts and when people are engaged in their trades. The reference to God repeals the sins and increases the advantages.

Do not be with the inadvertent.

The servants (of God) should not travel when the month of Ramadan is approaching. This is for God’s saying:

Anyone of you who knows that the month of Ramadan has begun, he must start to fast.[47]

No taqiyah[48] -pious dissimulation- in drinking the intoxicants and passing the hand over the slippers - in the ritual ablution-.

Confess that we - the imams- are servants of God and say anything about our standings.

He who cherishes us should imitate our acts and seek the help of piety. It is surely the best helper in this world and the world to come.

Do not sit with anyone who reviles at us, and do not praise us in public lest the rulers will humiliate you because you show adoration to us.

Stick to honesty, because it is savior.

Seek importunately from God and work for obtaining His satisfaction and for carrying out the acts of obedience to Him painstakingly.

It is so hideous for the believers to be in Paradise after being bare.

Do not engage us in seeking intercession for you on the Day of Resurrection due to what you have committed.

Do not expose yourselves before your enemies on the Day of Resurrection.

Do not prove the opposite of your enjoying a great standing with God through your adherence to the valueless pleasures of this world.

Cling to the commandments of God. There is nothing standing between your pleasures and you but the arrival of God’s messenger - the angel of death- with the good tidings that delight you and make you eager to meet God. The means of enjoyment, which you will receive from God in the life to come, will be better and everlasting.

Do not disrespect your weak friends. God will surely disgrace him whoever disgraces a believer and will not gather them in the same place on the Day of Resurrection unless repentance is shown.

You should not make your brothers ask you for their needs if you have recently known them.

Exchange visits, treat each other mercifully, give each other, and do not be like the hypocrites who say what they do not do.

You should marry, because the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said:

“For those who desire for following my Sunna, they should marry. Marriage is a part of my Sunna.”

Sire many sons, because I will take pride in your great numbers.

Save your babies from the milk of the prostitutes and the mad women, because milk transmits the wet nurse’s - genetic- properties.

Save yourselves from having the meat of the birds that have no gizzard, back nail, or craw.

Avoid having the meat of every beast that has a canine and every bird that has a claw.

Do not eat the spleen because it is originated from the putrid blood.

Do not wear in black, because it is the fashion of the Pharaoh.

Beware of the glands in the meat, because they activate the artery of leprosy.

Do not use comparison in the religious affairs. The religion is out of comparison. There will come some people who will use comparison in the religious affairs. They are surely the enemies of the religion. The foremost in comparison was Eblis.

Do not wear acuminate slippers, because it is the Pharaoh’s shoe. The Pharaoh was the first man who acuminated such shoes.

Oppose the consumers of intoxicants.

Eat dates because it is the remedy of the maladies.

Pursue the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), who says:

“For those who open to themselves a door of beggary, God will open to them a door of poverty.”

Seek God’s forgiveness very frequently, because it brings about earnings.

Do charitable acts as much as possible and you will find their rewards in the day to come.

Beware of disputation, because it causes suspect.

Anyone who has a need to ask from God should choose one of three hours - one is on Fridays, one is in midday when the wind blows, the portals of the heavens are open, the mercy is descended, and the birds are singing, and one is the last hour of night when dawn emerges. In this hour, two angels are shouting (on behalf of God): Is there a repentant to be accepted? Is there a beggar to be given? Is there a seeker of forgiveness to be forgiven? Is there a seeker of a need?

Respond to the callers of God and seek earnings in the time between dawn and sunrise. To ask God for earnings in this time is better than wandering in lands - seeking for earnings-. It is also the very time in which God distributes the earnings of His servants.

Expect the Relief and never despair of receiving comfort from God. The most favorable act to God is the expectation of the Relief and the acts that are pursued steadily.

Depend upon God after performing the two rak’as of the Fajr Prayer. The demands are settled during that prayer.

Do not go to the Holy Precinct with your swords. Do not offer prayers while a sword is put before you, for the kiblah is security.

Encompass the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) during the hajj. To leave the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) is alienation. You are ordered not to alienate the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family).

Encircle the graves the rights of whose people are obligatory upon you, and visit them and seek earnings there, because the dead will be delighted if you visit them. You should ask your need near the graves of your parents after supplicating to God for them.

Do not disregard the insignificant sins when there is no way to commit the grand ones. The insignificant will be added to each other and reckoned with the grand ones.

Prostrate yourselves - to God- for long times. He who prostrates himself for a long time will obey God and, hence, will be saved.

Mention very much death, the day on which you will be taken out of your graves, and the day on which you will be stashed before your Lord, so that your misfortunes will be alleviated.

For those who suffer an ache in the eye, they should recite the Verse of Kursi[49] and believe that they will be cured. Inshallah, they will be cured.

Be wary of committing sins. The reason of any misfortune, lack of earnings, or even a scratch, injury or a wound is surely the commitment of a sin. God the Majestic says:

Whatever hardship befalls you is the result of your own deeds. God pardons many of your sins .[50]

Mention God very much during having food. Do not talk while you have food, because it is one of God’s graces and earnings for which you should thank and praise Him.

Associate with the graces properly before they vanish and testify against you.

As for those who are satisfied with the few earnings of God, God will surely accept their few deeds.

Beware of negligence, because it causes regret when regret is useless.

When you meet with your enemies, you should speak little, mention God very much, and avoid fleeing lest, you will enrage God and expose yourselves to His chastisement.

If you notice that one of your party is wounded, engaged in a trouble, or targeted by the enemy, you should strengthen him by your powers.

Do favor as much as possible, because it saves from violent death.

If you want to know your standings with God, you should first notice God’s standing with you when you commit sins.

The best domestic animal is the ewe. As for those who have one ewe in the house, the angels will sanctify them once a day. For those who have two ewes, the angles will sanctify them twice a day, and so on. Besides, God will bless them.

The unhealthy Muslims should have meat with yogurt. God has made power in meat and yogurt.

You should buy the needs of your journey to hajj yourselves. God the Blessed says:

Had they wanted to join you, they would have prepared themselves. [51]

Turn your backs to the sunlight, because it does away with the profound diseases.

In hajj, gaze at the Holy Hose of God very frequently, because God dedicates one hundred and twenty states of mercy to the Holy House, sixty of which are for the circumambulators - around the Kaaba-, forty for the offerers of prayers there, and twenty for the gazers.

Confess of your sins that you can remember at the Holy House of God. Regarding those that you do not retain, you should say: “O Lord, forgive us for the sins that you have recorded but we have forgotten.”[52] It will be incumbent upon God to forgive those who confess of their sins, mention them in details and seek His forgiveness in that place.

Advance with supplications before the falling of misfortunes. The portals of the heavens are open in six times - in rainfall, jihad, azan, recitation of the Quran, midday, and dawn.

It is obligatory upon those who touch a cold dead body to perform the obligatory bathing.

For those who wash corpses ceremonially, they should perform the ritual bathing after enshrouding the corpse. They should not touch the corpse lest, it will be obligatory upon them to perform the ritual bathing.

Except camphor, you should not use any perfume for the corpse. The corpse is as same as a garbing of the Hajj uniform.

Instruct your folks to speak only good wording near the corpse. As the harem of Bani Hashim asked her to poetize near her father’s corpse, Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), said, “Leave mourning and supplicate to God.”

Muslims should be the mirrors of each other. When you notice a flaw of your friend, you should guide, advise, and treat him leniently. You should not oppose him.

Beware of disagreement, because it is deviation.

Cling to moderation and treat each other kindly and mercifully.

Before you ride the riding animals for a journey, you should feed and water them. Do not whip the animals on their faces because they praise their Lord.

If you lose the way or fear something in journeys, you should cry, “O Virtuous, aid me.”[53] Some of your jinni brothers, if they hear you, will respond, lead the astray, and keep your riding animals for you.

If you anticipate beasts will attack you, your riding animals, or your sheep, you should draw a line around your animals and say: “O God, the Lord of Daniel, the Well, and every beast, Guard my sheep and me.”[54]

If you anticipate drowning, you should recite God’s sayings:

In God’s Name it will sail and in His Name it will cast anchor. [55]

They have not paid due respect to God. The whole earth will be gripped in His hands on the Day of Judgment and the heavens will be just like a scroll in His right hand. God is too Glorious and High to be considered equal to their idols. [56]

If you fear the sting of scorpion, you should recite God’s saying:

Peace be with Noah among all men in the worlds. Thus do We reward the righteous ones. He was one of Our believing servants. [57]

Offer a sacrifice to God on behalf of your male babies on the seventh day of their age. When you have their hair shaved, you should give silver alms as heavy as the weight of their cut hair. This is obligatory upon every Muslim. The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) did this to Al-Hasan and Al-Hussein.

When you hand over alms to a beggar, you should ask him to supplicate to God for you, because his supplication for you will be responded while his supplication for himself may not be responded because beggars often lie.

When you want to give alms, you should first kiss the alms because it reaches God’s hand before it is handed over to the beggar’s. God the Exalted says:

It is God who receives the welfare funds. [58]

Give alms at night, because the night alms extinguish the Lord’s wrath.

If you compare your words to your deeds, you will not speak but good wording.

Spend for the cause of God out of what He has provided to you. The spender enjoys the same rank of the mujahid supporting for the cause of God. He who is certain of the reward will surely spend generously.

You should keep on your conviction if suspicion occurs to you. Suspicion neither refutes nor repeals the conviction.

Do not perjure yourselves.

Do not sit to a table on which there is wine, because no one can guess the very hour in which his soul is grasped.

When you sit to have a meal, you should sit like slaves and eat on the ground. Avoid sitting cross-legged or putting one leg on the other. God surely hates those who sit cross-legged.

The prophets used to have dinner after darkness - of the night-. Hence, you should not leave dinner lest your bodies will be unhealthy.

Fever is the pioneer of death and the jail of God on the earth. God puts whomever He wills to His jail. Besides, it scraps off the sins like the hair of a camel’s hump when scrapped off.

The source of every malady is the interior of the body, except injuries and fever. They appear to the body.

Subside the heat of fever with viola and cold water. The source of the heat of fever is Hell; therefore, Muslims will be cured from it only after it overcomes their health.

Supplication obstructs the decisive act of God; hence, you should prepare well and persevere with supplications.

Ten advantages are the reward of ablution after cleaning the body. Keep your bodies clean.

Beware of laziness, because the lazy will not carry out God’s rights.

Remove malodors with water and keep your bodies clean, because God hates the servants to be dirty and having the malodor that hurts their associates.

You should not play with your beard or anything else during prayers so that your attentions will not be drawn away.

Take the initiative in doing charity before you become engaged in other acts.

The true believer should exhaust himself and give rest to people.

Your wording should be mainly concerning God.

Beware of sinning. A sin may cause the earnings to be obstructed.

Treat your sick folks with almsgiving.

Guard your wealth by defraying the zakat.

Prayer is the offertory of the pious.

Hajj is the jihad of the weak.

Correctitude with husbands is the jihad of women.

Poverty is the grandest death.

Fewness of dependants is one of the two facilities.

Moderation is half of the livelihood.

Care is half of senility.

Moderation protects from neediness.

Consultation protects from perdition.

Favors are worthless unless they are done to the highborn and the religious.

Everything has its fruit. The fruit of doing favor is to present it as soon as possible.

He who is certain of the reward will give generously.

As for those who beat the hand on the thigh in misfortunes, their rewards will be cancelled.

The best deed of the believers is expecting the Relief.

To depress the parents is impiety to them.

Seek earnings through almsgiving.

Stop the various sorts of misfortune by supplication to God.

Persist on supplicating to God before the falling of misfortunes. I swear by Him Who split the seed and created the soul, misfortunes are quicker to the believers than the falling of floods downward a hill and speedier than workhorses.

Supplicate to God to endow you safety from hardships. It surely causes the religion to vanish.

The true happy is that who learns lessons from others.

Subdue yourselves to the good manners. The faithful servant may attain the rank of the fasting worshipper through his good manners.

God will cause anyone who consumes wine intentionally to have from the mixture of blood and mud, even if he shows repentance.

Vows of acts of disobedience to God are invalid.

Oaths for rupture of relations are invalid.

The instructors who do not apply their instructions to themselves are like those who try to shoot without having a string.

Wives should beautify themselves for their husbands.

Those who are killed during defending the wealth are martyrs.

The offended are neither praised nor rewarded.

The oath of sons and wives regarding their fathers and husbands is void.

To keep silent for a whole day up to night is void.

Migration after the conquest of Mecca is void. Migration to the non-Muslim countries - after living in a Muslim country-is void.

Seek what is with God, because it will suffice you from what is in people’s hands.

God loves the honest craftsmen.

Prayer is the most favorable deed to God. The worldly pleasures should never engage you from offering the prayers in their proper times. God has censured those who disregarded the times of their prayers. He says:

Woe to the praying ones, who are unintelligent of their prayers. [59]

You should know that the best of your enemies are showing off before each other. This is because God the Majestic will never prosper them. He accepts only what is intended to Him exclusively.

Act of charity will never corrode and the guilt will never be forgotten.

God is certainly with the pious and the righteous ones. [60]

The believers should not dishonor, betray, accuse, disappoint, or disavow each other.

Accept your friend’s excuse. You should justify him if he is excuseless.

To move a mountain from its place is easier than trying to ruin a power in other than its deadline.

Seek help from God and exercise patience. The earth belongs to Him and He has made it the heritage of whichever of His servants He chooses. The final victory is for the pious ones. [61]

Do not exercise a matter before attaining its proper time lest, you will be regretful.

You should not have a great hope in your lives lest, you will be hardhearted.

Treat the weak mercifully and seek mercy from God the Majestic.

Beware of backbiting. True Muslims should never backbite each other, because God forbids this in His saying:

Would any of you like to eat the disgusting dead flesh of your brother? [62]

The believers should not put one hand on the other during standing erect in prayers like the disbelievers.

You should not drink water while you are standing erect, because this will causes you to be affected by the cureless malady, unless God gives health.

If you notice a stinging worm during offering a prayer, you should bury, spit, or hold it in the dress until you finish the prayer.

Notable turning invalidates the prayer. If you turn your face notably in prayers, you should restart with the azan, iqama, and takbir.[63]

He who recites suras ofTawhid andQadr and the Verse ofKursi ten times before sunrise will guard his wealth against any threatening matter.

He who recites suras ofTawhid andQadr before sunrise will not commit any sin even if Eblis exerts all efforts for driving him to commit sins.

Seek God’s guard against the overcoming of the debts.

The like of the Prophet’s family is the ark of Noah. He whoever fails to embark will certainly be losing.

To tuck up the clothes is purity for offering the prayers. God the Exalted says:

Cleanse your clothes. [64]

This means tuck up your clothes.

Licking the honey is healing. God says:

From out of their bellies comes a drink of different color in which there is a cure for the human being. [65]

Begin and end with salt in every meal. If people realize the benefits of salt, they will prefer it to the antidote. God will save him who begins and ends with salt in every meal from seventy unknown maladies.

Fast for three days every month, because this will be as if you are fasting all your days of life.

We fast two Thursdays - the first and the last Thursdays of the month- and one Wednesday between them, because God created Hell on Wednesday. Seek God’s protection against Hell.

If you have a need to settle, you should opt for early Thursday, because the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said, “O Allah, bless my people in the first hours of Thursdays.”

As soon as you leave your houses, you should recite God's saying: “The creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the day and the night are evidence (of the existence of God) for people of reason. It is these who commemorate God while standing, sitting, or resting on their sides and who think about the creation of the heavens and the earth and say, "Lord, you have not created all this without reason. Glory be to you. Lord, save us from the torment of the fire." Those whom You submit to the fire are certainly disgraced. There is no helper for the unjust. "Lord, we have heard the person calling to the faith and have accepted his call. Forgive our sins, expiate our bad deeds, and let us die with the righteous ones. Lord, grant us the victory that You have promised your Messenger and do not disgrace us on the Day of Judgment; You are the One who never ignores His promise. ”[66]

You should also recite the Verse ofKursi , suras ofQadr andFatihah , because the settlement of needs of this world and the world to come lies in the reciting of these Quranic Verses.

Dress thick clothes, because the religion of those who wear soft clothes will be weak.

You should not stand before your Lord the Majestic while you are wearing transparent clothes.

Repent to God and find yourselves a place in the adoration to Him. God surely loves the repentant and the pure. The believers should always refer to God and repent to Him.

If a believer grumbles in the face of his brother, their ties will be cut. If a believer ascribes atheism to his brother, one of them will be surely atheist. The believers should avoid accusing each other lest, their faith will be dissolving like salt when dissolved in water.

The portals of repentance are open for everybody. Hence, repent to God purely so that your Lord may forgive your sins.

Fulfill your pledges.

The reason of the removal of any grace or luxury of any people was surely the commitment of a sin. God is not unfair to the servants. Had they supplicated to God, their graces would not have been removed. Had they proceeded to God sincerely and intentionally without showing slowdown or excess, God would have certainly saved them from misfortunes and given them back what they had lost.

In troubles, Muslims should not complain about their Lord. They should complain to Him, because He possesses the keys and arrangements of matters in the heavens, the earth, and whatever is between them. He is surely the Lord of the Grand Throne. All praise is due to Allah the Lord of the worlds.

As soon as you wake up, you should say - before you leave the bed-: “Sufficient unto me is the Lord against he servants. Sufficient unto me is He. God is the Sufficient as the best Guardian.”[67]

If you wake at night, you should gaze at the terminal points of the sky and recite God’s saying:

The creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the day and the night are evidence (of the existence of God) for people of reason. It is these who commemorate God while standing, sitting, or resting on their sides and who think about the creation of the heavens and the earth and say, "Lord, you have not created all this without reason. Glory be to you. Lord, save us from the torment of the fire." Those whom You submit to the fire are certainly disgraced. There is no helper for the unjust. "Lord, we have heard the person calling to the faith and have accepted his call. Forgive our sins, expiate our bad deeds, and let us die with the righteous ones. Lord, grant us the victory that You have promised your Messenger and do not disgrace us on the Day of Judgment; You are the One who never ignores His promise. [68]

To look in Well Zamzam is a cure from maladies. Drink from its water from the corner of the Black Stone.

The Euphrates, the Nile, Sayhan, and Jayhan - these four rivers are within the rivers of Paradise.

Muslims should not participate in battles under the leadership of one that is not having full acquaintance of the Islamic laws and does not follow God’s commandments regarding the spoils of war. Muslims whom are killed in such battles are regarded as supporters of our enemies in the question of refraining from giving us our rights (of leadership) and shedding our blood. Moreover, they will be reckoned as those who died before Islam.

The reference to us; the Prophet’s family, is the cure of hesitation, diseases, and inspirations of suspect.

The adoration to us; the Prophet’s family, is the Lord’s assent.

He who rests upon our affairs, course, and sect will be with us in the garden of Paradise.

The expectant of our Event is as same as him who sacrifices himself for God’s sake.

As for those who stayed away from supporting us after they had heard our call for help in war, God will turn them on the nasals in Hell.

We are the door of Paradise when you will be resurrected and the situation will be too hard to find an exit. We are the door of forgiveness and peace. He who enters from that door will be saved, and he who lags will be perishing. God began the creation with us, and will seal it with us, too. For us, He cancels whatever He wills and by us, He saves against crises. For us, rainfall is descended. Do not let the Shaitan urge you against God.

When the advent of our Qa’im - Executor- will fall, the heavens will cause its drops to descend, the lands will grow its plants, the malice will disappear from the hearts of the servants, and animals and beasts will be harmless in such a way that a woman will walk from Iraq to Syria, putting the basket on the head and treading only on green lands, without fearing or being troubled by a beast.

You will be very delighted if you know your rewards for your residence among your enemies and steadfastness against the harm that you encounter.

After my passing, you will suffer harsh injustice, oppression, discrimination, depreciation in God’s rights, and insecurity to the degree that you will hope were you dead. When that will fall, you should cling to the bond of God and avoid discrepancy.

Adhere to patience, prayers, and taqiyah. You should realize that God hates the fickle servants.

Never leave the right and its people. He whoever prefers anything to us will surely suffer perdition, miss the worldly pleasures, and leave this world overburdened with sins.

Whenever you enter your houses, you should greet your folks. If there is nobody, you should say: “Peace of our Lord be upon us.”[69] You should also recite sura ofTawhid . This will save you from poverty.

Teach your boys how to pray. When they are eight year old, you should discipline them if they neglect the prayers.

Refrain from approaching dogs. You should wet your dress whenever dry dogs touch you. In case dogs are wet, you should wash the dress.

You should stop discussing our sayings that you do not understand[70] . When the right is proved, you should submit to it. Do not rush in broadcasting the news (Regarding out secrets). The exaggerative will be ascribed to us and the negligent will be attached to us.

He whoever adheres to us will catch up, and whoever lags behind will be crushed.

He whoever follows our course will be catching up, and whoever takes any other course will be trodden.

For our followers, there will be groups of God’s mercy, while our enemies’ are groups of God’s wrath.

Moderation is our course, and true guidance is our affair.

Inadvertence is illicit in the Watr Prayer, the first two rak’as of every obligatory prayer, including the Fajr and Maghrib Prayers, and every obligatory two-rak’a prayer even in traveling.

The intelligent should not recite the Quran unless he cleans himself - ceremonially- from impurity.

Give every sura its proper kneeling and prostration in prayers.

Men should not offer the prayers wearing a sash, because this was one of people of Sodom’s habits.

It is acceptable for men to offer the prayers wearing one dress by knotting the two margins on the neck. It is also acceptable to offer the prayers wearing a thick shirt by buttoning it up.

It is unacceptable for men to prostrate themselves on pictures or pictured rug. It is licit only when the picture is under the feet or covered by something.

It is unacceptable for men to put pictured dirhams in the pocket during offering the prayers. It is licit to put the dirham in a bag or a clear dress.

It is unacceptable for men to prostrate themselves on a bag of wheat or barley, an eatable thing, or bread.

When you go to toilet, you should first say: “In the Name of God. O Allah, take harm away from me and protect me from the cursed Shaitan.”[71] When you sit in the toilet, you should say: “O Allah, as you fed me and caused me to digest, save me from its harm.”[72] When you finish and look at your excretion, you should say: “O Allah, provide me with the legally gotten and save me from the ill-gotten.”[73] The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: “For every servant there is an angel the function of whom is twisting the neck down so that the servant’s eyes will fall on his excretion. Then he says to him, ‘O son of Adam, this is what you have exerted your efforts for. See how you have got it and what it has become.’ Therefore, you should ask God for the legally gotten provisions.”

For the ritual ablution, you should say before you touch the water: “In the Name of God. O Allah, join me with the repentant and the pure ones.”[74] When you finish the ablution, you should say: “I declare there is no god but Allah exclusively without any associate and declare that Mohammed (peace be upon him and his family) is His servant and apostle.”[75] Then you will deserve God’s forgiveness.

God will forgive those who offer the prayer with full recognition of its worth.

Avoid offering a recommendable prayer in the time of an obligatory one. You should also not leave offering the nafilas unless there is an accepted excuse. You may settle the missed nafilas afterwards. God the Majestic says:

…The constant in their prayers. [76]

The constant in their prayers are those who settle the prayers that they missed at night in days and settle the prayers that they missed in days at night.

Do not settle the nafilas in the time of the obligatory prayers. You should offer the obligatory prayers first and then offer any other prayer.

A single prayer in the two Precincts - Mecca and Medina- is equal to one thousand prayers in other places.

To spend one dirham as alms in (the season of) hajj is equal to one thousand dirhams (that are given as alms in other situations).

You should show reverence during offering the prayers. To show reverence in one rak’a means to have the whole prayer flawless.

Qunut should be practiced before the kneeling of the second rak’a of every two-rak’a prayer except the Friday Prayer, which has twoqunuts - one in the first rak’a and the other in the second. In the first rak’a of the Friday Prayer, you should recite suras ofFatihah andJumu’a . In the second, you should recite suras ofFatihah andMunafiqun .

After the twosajdas - of the prayers-, you should sit until your organs repose, then you may stand up. This is our practice.

With the commencement of the prayers, raise your hands to the chest.

When you want to stand before your Lord - in the prayers-, you should face the kiblah and stand erectly without bending.

When you finish your prayers, you should raise your hands upward for supplication and sit erectly.[77]

Ibn Saba asked, “O Amirul Muminin, it is true that God is everywhere, is it not?” “Yes, it is true,” answered Imam Ali (peace be upon him). “Why do we then raise our hands to the heavens?” wondered Ibn Saba. The Imam answered :
Recite God’s saying:In the heavens there is your sustenance and (it is) that which you were promised. [78]

We should seek the sustenance from its center. It is that of which God promises in the heavens.

The prayers will not be accepted unless their offerers ask God to place them in Paradise, protect them against Hell, and give them the women of Paradise in marriage.

You should regard any prayer as the last.

Smiling does not interrupt the prayers, while guffaw interrupts it.

If sleep overcomes the heart, the ablution will be obligatory.

If sleep overcomes you during the prayer, you should interrupt and take a sleep, because you may supplicate to God against yourself inattentively.

For those who loved us in secret, supported us by words, and fought with us with their hands, they will be with us in Paradise and will be given a rank as same as ours.

For those who loved us in secret but neither supported us by words nor fought with us, they will be one rank lower than the previous.

For those who loved us in secret, but neither supported us by words nor deeds, they will be with us in Paradise.

For those who hated us and disappointed us by words and deeds, they will be in the lowest point of Hell.

For those who hated us and disappointed us by words, not deeds, they will be one level of Hell higher than the previous.

For those who hated us but did not disappoint us by words or deeds, the will be in Hell.

The people of Paradise will look at the positions of our adherents - Shia- in the same way you look to the stars in the sky.

If you recite any part of the suras that begin withtasbih [79] , you should say: “Praise is due to my Lord the Highest.”[80]

If you recite God’s saying: “God showers His blessings upon the Prophet and the angels seek forgiveness for him. Believers, pray for the Prophet and greet him with, ‘Peace be with you,’ ”[81] you should say, “Peace be upon him and his family,” very frequently in prayers and other situations.

The less thankful organ of the body is the eye; therefore, do not respond to it so that you will not be diverted from mentioning God the Majestic.

When you finish reciting sura ofTin , say: “We also testify so.”[82]

When you recited God’s saying: “(Muslims), say: We believe in God and what He has revealed to us and to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, and their descendants, and what was revealed to Moses, Jesus, and the Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction among them and to God we have submitted ourselves, ”[83] you should say: “We believe in God and what He has revealed to us and to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, and their descendants, and what was revealed to Moses, Jesus, and the Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction among them and to God we have submitted ourselves.”

The following saying, in the lasttashahhud of the obligatory prayer, accomplishes the prayer properly even an invalidating event occurs afterwards. The saying is: “I declare there is no god but Allah exclusively without any associate, Mohammed is His servant and apostle, the Hour - of the Resurrection- is undoubtedly to come, and God will resurrect them who are in the graves.”[84]

Walking to the prayers is the best form of the worship of God the Majestic.

Seek welfare from the necks and feet of camels when they come and go.[85]

As an amount of raisin was presented to him from Ta'if[86] , the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) ordered to soak it in Well Zamzam so that its bitterness would disappear. Thus, it was called ‘siqaya ’. Do not drink it when it is mellowed.

If one of you takes all the clothes off, the Shaitan will look at him greedily. Hence, you should always screen your bodies. It is inappropriate for men to tuck the clothes up the knees when they sit with others.

If you have eaten any of the bad smell food - such as onion and garlic-, you should not attend in mosques.

In prostration of the prayers, raise your backs up.

If you want to wash yourselves, begin with the arms.

If you offer a prayer alone, you should raise your voices with theqira’a [87] ,takbir , andtasbih , so that you can hear them.

Take the right side when you finish from offering the prayers.

Supply yourselves with God-fearing, because it is the best supply in this world.

It is incumbent upon God to cure him who conceals his ailment for three days and complains about it to God only.

The remotest servants from God are those whose main concern is to satisfy the belly and the sexual appetite.

You should not travel when you anticipate an injury in your religious affairs.

In supplication, raise the voice in four matters - blessing the Prophet and his family, asking the Lord for Paradise, seeking His protection against Hell, and asking for marrying you women of Paradise. The supplication of those who ignore blessing the Prophet will be rejected. Paradise will hear the servant who asks it from God, and will ask God to respond to him. Hell will also hear the servant who supplicates to God to save him from it, and will ask God to protect that servant from it. Likewise, women of Paradise will hear the servant who asks God to give them to him in marriage, and will ask God to give him what he asks.

Singing is the mourning of Eblis for missing Paradise.

When you want to sleep, you should put the right hand under the right cheek and say: “In the Name of God. I put my side for God, on the belief of Abraham, the religion of Mohammed, and the leadership of those whose leadership is imposed on my by God. God’s will will only occur, and what He does not will will never occur.”[88] He who says so before sleep will be guarded against thieves and ruination, and the angels will ask God to forgive him until he wakes up.

As for those who recite sura ofTawhid before they sleep, God will assign fifty thousand angels for guarding them on that night.

You should not lie down for sleeping before you say:

“I seek the guard of God’s majesty, greatness, omnipotence, power, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, might, influence, unique Godhead, pillars, made, gathering, Apostle (peace be upon him and his family), and all-powerfulness on myself, family, religion, wealth, sons, results of my deeds, and my Lord’s authority and provisions against the evils of poisonous pests, vermin, jinn, mankind, whatsoever is walking on the surface of this earth, whatsoever is going out of it, whatsoever is descending from the heavens, whatsoever is ascending there, and every creature the destiny of which is under my Lord’s control. Surely my Lord knows the right path. He is All-Powerful over everything. All might and power belongs to God.”[89]

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) used to recite these words as amulets for Al-Hasan and Al-Hussein. He ordered us to do so.

We - the Prophet’s family- are the keepers of God’s religion and the lanterns of knowledge. Whenever a great figure of us passes away, another will appear. He whoever follows us will never deviate, and whoever denies us will never be guided, and whoever supports our enemies against us will never be saved, and whoever disappoints us will never be aided, and whoever prefers the pleasures of this deserted world to us will not find tranquility. As for them who prefer the worldly pleasures to us, their regret will be very great on the Day of Resurrection. This is proved through God’s saying:

Turn to God in repentance before a soul says, "Woe to me because of my failure to fulfill my duties to God. Woe to me for mocking God's guidance!" [90]

Clean your babies from the fats. The Shaitan smells the fats and causes your babies to cry in sleep. Moreover, the two recording angels disgust the babies’ fats.

Your first look at - strange- women is overlookable. You should not add another. Beware of charm.

God will treat the alcoholics as same as the idolaters.

“O Amirul Muminin,” asked Hujr bin Edi, “Who are the alcoholics?” The Imam (peace be upon him) answered:

The alcoholics are those who consume intoxicants whenever they find some.

For forty nights, the prayers of those who consume intoxicants will not be accepted.

God will detain anyone who intends to despise a Muslim’s personality by a saying, unless he submits an excuse, in the mixture of clay and blood.

Men should not sleep together under one cover. Women also should not sleep together under one cover. Doctrinal lashing is the chastisement of committing so.

Eat calabash, because it broadens the brain. Besides, the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) liked calabash.

Eat citron before and after meals. The Prophet’s family (peace be upon them) used to eat citron.

Pear purifies the heart and alleviates its troubles by God’s permission.

When you ready yourselves for offering a prayer, the Shaitan comes to look at you enviously for he notices how God’s mercy is covering you.

The worst of matters are the most recent.

The best of matters are those that achieve God’s satisfaction.

He who adores to the worldly pleasures and prefers them to the world to come will suffer insalubrious end result.

If the offerers of prayers are aware of God’s mercy that cover them, they will not come to the end of the prayers and will not accept to raise the head after being prostrate.

Beware of negligence of your duties. You should do them as soon as possible.

The sustenance that is decided for you will reach you even if you are weak, and you will never stop the misfortune that is decided for you even if you exert all efforts.

Enjoin good and forbid evil.

When you put your feet in the stirrup, you should recite -God’s saying-:

Glory belongs to Him who has made it subservient to us when we would not have been able to do so ourselves. To our Lord we shall all return. [91]

Before you begin a journey, you should say:

“O Allah, You are the companion in journeys, the helper in transport, and the guard of the wife, property, and sons.”[92]

When you reside in a place, you should say:

“O Allah, grant me a blessed landing. You are the One who provides the safest landing.”[93]

When you are in marts for shopping, you should say:

“I declare there is no god but Allah uniquely without any associate, and declare that Mohammed is His servant and messenger. O Allah, I seek Your safety from losing deals and perjury, and seek Your safety from stagnancy.”[94]

Anyone who waits for the prayer time after the Asr Prayer is visiting God. It is appropriate for God to honor His visitors and meet their needs.

Hajjis and performers of Umrah are the delegations to God. It is appropriate for God to honor His delegation and favor them with forgiveness.

For those who serve undiscerning boys wine, God will detain them in the mixture of clay and blood, unless they provide a justifiable excuse.

Almsgiving is a great shelter. It sets a screen between the believers and Hell. For the disbelievers, almsgiving saves their fortune from loss, advances the remuneration, and saves the body from diseases while they - the disbelievers- will have nothing on the Day of Resurrection.

Because of their tongues, people of Hell will be in Hell and people of the graves will have light. Keep your tongues and engage them in the reference to God.

The makers of pictures will be asked about them on the Day of Resurrection.

You should say those who solve your problems: “God may move away from you whatever you detest.”

Answer those who address to you, “Nice bathing,” after bathing, with: “God may comfort your mind.” For those who address to you, “God greet you with peace,” you should answer them: “God may greet you with peace and lodge you in the eternal residence.”

Asking should follow praising; therefore, praise and extol God the Exalted before you ask Him for meeting your needs.

O suppliant, do not supplicate to God for matters that are impossible.

To congratulate for having a male baby, you should say: “God may bless His gift, cause him to attain maturity, and bestow upon you with his goodness.”

When you welcome somebody who has just arrived from Mecca - hajj-, you should kiss his eyes and mouth with which he kissed the Black Stone, which the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) had kissed. You should also kiss his organ of prostration and his forehead.

To congratulate the fresh hajji, you should say: “God may accept your rites, appreciate your efforts, recompense your expenditures, and give you another opportunity to visit the Holy House of God.”

Beware of the lowly, because they do not fear God the Majestic.

As God examined the creatures, He selected us and selected our adherents - Shia- who support us, become happy when we are happy, unhappy when we are unhappy, and offer their fortunes and souls for our cause. They are from us and are attached to us.

Any Shiite who commits a sin against which we had warned will not die before he is inflicted by a misfortune in his fortune, sons, or himself, so that he will meet God guiltless. If such misfortune does not meet all his sins, death will be very violent for him until all the sins are erased.

The dead Shiite is veracious and martyr, because he believed in our affairs, loved, and hated for our sake, seeking God’s favors purely and believing in God and His Apostle.

For those who publicize our secrets, God will expose them to the sharpness of swords.

Circumcise your male babies on their seventh day of age. Do not excuse for hot or cold weather, because circumcision purifies the body. Moreover, the land on which an uncircumcised individual urinates calls for the help of God noisily.

Drunkenness is of four kinds: they are drunkenness of youth, drunkenness of fortune, drunkenness of sleep, and drunkenness of power.

I like for the believers to use the hair remover powders once every fifteen days.

Reduce having fish, because it dissolve the body, causes much phlegm, and blocks normal breathing.

To drink milk in doses is the cure of every malady except death.

Eat pomegranate with its inner tissues. This will strengthen the stomach, refresh the heart, and save from the Shaitan’s evil inspirations.

Eat endive. Every morning, a drop of Paradise covers each grain of endive.

Drink from rainfall, because it purifies the body and saves from diseases. God the Majestic says:

“He showered water from the sky over you to clean you and remove satanic wickedness from you.”[95]

Black cumin has a share in the remedy of every malady, except death.

Beef is a malady the remedy of which is milk and fats of cows.

The best food for the expectants is ripe dates. God says:

“If you shake the trunk of the palm tree, it will provide you with fresh ripe dates.”[96]

Use dates for the backbones of your babies, because the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) did this to Al-Hasan and Al-Hussein.

If you want to copulate with your ladies, you should wait until they have the same desire that you have.

If your eyes fall on a charming woman, you should come to your lady and copulate with her, because all women have the same. You should also avoid allowing the Shaitan to control you in any way. Finally, turn your sight away from charming women. If you are bachelor, you should offer a recommendable two-rak’a prayer and thank God a lot.

In copulation with your lady, you should speak as little as possible, because speaking during copulation may cause deafness.

Do not look inside your lady’s vagina, because this may cause leprosy.

Before you touch your lady, you should say:

“O Allah, I have her vagina legal for me due to Your commandment and have accepted her by Your security. If You decide to give us a son, make him a sound male baby and do not let the Shaitan have a share in its composition.”[97]

Injection is one of the four medicines that the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) mentioned. It is the best medicine you ever use. It extends the belly, cures from internal illnesses, and strengthens the body.

Use viola for the nasal troubles. The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: “If people are aware of what is there in viola, they will take it in doses.”

In the first and middle nights of the - Hijri- months, do not copulate with your ladies, because the Shaitan search for sons in such times.

Avoid cupping on Wednesdays and Fridays. One of the hours of Wednesdays is continuous ill omen. Besides, Hell was created on Wednesday. Likewise, he whoever applies cupping in a definite hour on Fridays will surely die.

Imam Ali’s Document of Instructions for Malik Al-Ashtar When He Appointed Him as the Governor of Egypt and the Surroundings

This is what Allah’s servant Ali Amirul Muminin has ordered Malik bin al-Harith al-Ashtar in his instrument for him when he appointed him as the governor of Egypt for the collection of its revenues, fighting against its enemies, seeking the good of its people and making its cities prosperous.

He has ordered him to fear Allah, to prefer obedience to Him, and to follow what He has commanded in His Book out of His obligatory and elective commands, without following which one cannot achieve virtue, nor (can one) be evil save by opposing them and ignoring them, and to help Allah the Glorified, with his heart, hand and tongue, because Allah takes the responsibility for helping him who helps Him, and for protecting him who gives Him support. He is Strong and Mighty.

He also orders him to break his heart off from passions. Most surely, (man's) self is wont to command (him to do) evil, except such as my Lord has had mercy on; surely, my Lord is Forgiving, Merciful. He also orders him to refer to Allah’s Book in situations of seditious matters. It explains clearly everything, and it is a guidance and mercy and good news for those who believe. He orders him also to seek God’s satisfaction and avoid enraging Him and insisting on disobeying Him. It is surely there is no escape from God except at Him.

Then, know O Malik that I have sent you to an area where there have been governments before you, both just as well as oppressive. People will now watch your dealings as you used to watch the dealings of the rulers before you, and they (people) will criticize you as you criticized them (rulers). Surely, the virtuous are known by the reputation that Allah circulates for them through the tongues of His creatures. Therefore, the best collection with you should be the collection of good deeds through being moderate in what you collect and in the way of treating your people. So, control your passions and check your heart from doing what is not lawful for you, because checking the heart means detaining it just half way between what it likes and dislikes.

Habituate your heart to mercy for the subjects and to affection and kindness for them. Do not stand over them like greedy beasts who feel it is enough to devour them, since they are of two kinds, either your brother in religion or one like you in creation. They will commit slips and encounter mistakes. They may act wrongly, willfully, or by neglect. So, extend to them your forgiveness and pardon, in the same way as you would like Allah to extend His forgiveness and pardon to you, because you are over them and your responsible Commander (Imam) is over you while Allah is over him who has appointed you through what He has given to you of the knowledge of His Book and the practices of His Prophet (peace be upon him and his family).

Do not set yourself to fight Allah because you have no power before His power and you cannot do without His pardon and mercy. Do not repent of forgiving or be merciful in punishing. Do not act hastily during anger if you can find way out of it. Do not say, “I have been given authority, I should be obeyed when I order,” because it engenders confusion in the heart, weakens the religion, and takes one near ruin. Seek God’s guard against the lowest rank of despondency. If the authority in which you are placed produces pride or vanity in you then look at the greatness of the realm of Allah over you and His might the like of which might you do not even possess over yourself. This will curb your haughtiness, cure you of your high temper, and bring back to you your wisdom, which had gone away from you.

Beware of comparing yourself to Allah in His greatness or likening yourself to Him in His power, for Allah humiliates every claimant of power and disgraces every one who is haughty.

Do justice for Allah and do justice towards the people, as against yourself, your near ones and those of your subjects for whom you have a liking, because if you do not do so you will be oppressive, and when a person oppresses the creatures of Allah then, instead of His creatures, Allah becomes his opponent, and when Allah is the opponent of a person He tramples his plea; and he will remain in the position of being at war with Allah until he gives it up and repents. Nothing is more inductive of the reversal of Allah’s bounty or for the hastening of His retribution than continuance in oppression, because Allah hears the prayer of the oppressed and is on the look out for the oppressors. For those who opt for such a way, they will be the hostage of ruin in this world and the world to come.

The way most coveted by you should be that which is the most equitable for the right, the most universal by way of justice, and the most comprehensive with regard to the agreement among those under you, because the disagreement among the common people sweeps away the arguments of the chiefs can be disregarded when compared with the agreement of the common people. No one among those under you is more burdensome to the ruler in the comfort of life, less helpful in distress, more disliking of equitable treatment, more tricky in asking favors, less thankful at the time of giving, less appreciative of reasons at the time of refusal, and weaker in endurance at the time of the discomforts of life than the chiefs. It is the common people of the community who are the pillars of the religion, the power of the Muslims, and the defense against the enemies. Your leanings should therefore be towards them and your inclination with them. Seek the most beneficial and the most prosperous results. All power is God’s.

The one among the people under you who is furthest from you and the worst of them in your view should be he who is the most inquisitive of the shortcomings of the people, because people do have shortcomings and the ruler is the most appropriate person to cover them. Do not disclose whatever of it is hidden from you because your obligation is to correct what is manifest to you, while Allah will deal with whatever is hidden from you. Therefore, cover shortcomings so far as you can; Allah would cover those of your shortcomings, which you should like to remain under cover from your subjects. Unfasten every knot of hatred in the people and cut away from yourself the cause of every enmity. Accept the excuses and ward off the suspected matters by the doctrinal punishments. Feign ignorance from what is not clear to you. Do not hasten to second a backbiter, because a backbiter is a cheat although he looks like those who wish well.

Do not include among those you consult a miser who would keep you back from being generous and caution you against destitution, nor a coward who would make you feel too weak for your affairs, nor a greedy person who would make beautiful to you the collection of wealth by evil ways. This is because although miserliness, cowardice, and greed are different qualities, yet they are common in having an incorrect idea about Allah.

The worst minister for you is he who has been a minister for mischievous persons before you, who joined them in sins, and managed their affairs in the country. Therefore, he should not be your chief man that they participate in carrying the trusts of which you are bound. They had taken part in the authority of others and annihilated them or led them to violent ends. They are abettors of sinners, brothers of the oppressors, and the centers of every greed and injustice. You can find good substitutes for them who will be like them in their views and influence, who tested the entire affairs and had the ability of distinguishing the good from the bad. They will give you the least trouble and the best support. They will be most considerate towards you and the least inclined towards others. They have never assisted an oppressor in his oppression or a sinner in his sin. They had not had previous conducts that oppressed the Muslims and the Dhimmis. Therefore, make them your chief companions in privacy as well as in public.

Then, more preferable among them for you should be those who openly speak better truths before you, who are the fairest to the weak people, and who support you least in those of your actions, which Allah does not approve in His friends, even though they may be according to your wishes. They lead you to the right and make you see what benefits you. Associate yourself with the God-fearing, the truthful, the intelligent, and people of high ancestry; then educate them, so that they should not praise you or please you by reason of an action you did not perform, because excess of praise produces pride and drives you near haughtiness. Inclination to these matters causes God’s hatred.

The virtuous and the vicious should not be in equal position before you because this means dissuasion of the virtuous from virtue and persuasion of the vicious to vice. Keep everyone in the position that is his. You will benefit your supporters and yourself by doing so.

You should know that the most conducive thing for the good impression of the ruler on his subjects is that he should extend good behavior towards them, lighten their hardships, and avoid putting them to unbearable troubles. You should therefore, in this way follow a course by which you will leave a good impression with your subjects, because such good ideas will relieve you of great worries. Certainly, the most appropriate for good impression of you is he to whom your behavior has not been good. The most appropriate for having bad impression of you is he to whom your behavior has been ill. If you realize this state for and against you, you will be more cognizant in doing good and having good impression with people in addition to what God will reward you in the world to come.

Do not discontinue the good lives in which the earlier people of this community had been acting, by virtue of which there was general unity and through which the subjects prospered. Do not innovate any line of action, which injures these earlier ways because (in that case) the reward for those who had established those ways will continue, but the burden for discontinuing them will be on you. Keep on increasing your conversations with the scholars and discussions with the wise to stabilize the prosperity of the areas under you, and to continue with that in which the earlier people had remained steadfast. This will steady the right and refute the wrong. It is surely a sufficient evidence and example. The right lines of action are the course to obedience of God.

Know that the people consist of classes who prosper only with the help of one another, and they are not independent of one another. Among them are the army of Allah, then the secretarial workers of the common people and the chiefs, then the dispensers of justice, then those engaged in law and order, then the payers of head tax (Jizya ) and land tax (kharaj ) from the protected unbelievers and the common Muslims, then there are the traders and the men of industry and then the lowest class of the needy and the destitute. Allah has fixed the share of every one of them and laid down His precepts about the limits of each in His Book and the Sunna of His Prophet by way of a settlement, which is preserved with us.

Now the army is, by the will of Allah, the fortress of the subjects, the ornament of the ruler, the strength of the religion and the means of peace. The subjects cannot exist without them while the army can be maintained only by the funds fixed by Allah in the revenues, through which they acquire the strength to fight the enemies, on which they depend for their prosperity, and with which they meet their needs. These two classes cannot exist without the third class namely the judges, the executives, and the secretaries who pass judgments about contracts, collect revenues, and are depended upon in special and general matters.

These classes cannot exist except with the traders and men of industry, who provide necessities for them, establish markets, and make it possible for others not to do all this with their own hands. Then is the lowest class of the needy and the destitute support of and help for whom is an obligation, and every one of them has (a share in) livelihood in the name of Allah. Every one of them has a right on the ruler according to what is needed for his prosperity. The ruler cannot acquit himself of the obligations laid on him by Allah in this matter except by striving and seeking help from Allah and by training himself to adhere to the right and by enduring on that account all that is light or hard.

Put in command of your forces the man who in your view is the best well-wisher of Allah, His Prophet, and your Imam. The chestiest of them in heart, the highest of them in endurance, and the most learnt of knowledge and policy is he who is slow in getting enraged, accepts excuses, is kind to the weak, and is strict with the strong; violence should not raise his temper and weakness should not keep him sitting.

Also associate with considerate people from high families, virtuous houses, and decent traditions, then people of courage, valor, generosity, and benevolence, because they are repositories of honor and springs of virtues. They guide to having good idea of Allah and believing in His act. Strive for their matters as the parents strive for their child. Do not regard anything that you do to strengthen them as big nor consider anything that you have agreed to do for them as little (so as to give it up), even though it may be small, because this will make them your well-wishers and create a good impression of you. Do not neglect to attend to their small matters, confining yourself to their important matters, because your small favors will also be of benefit to them while the important ones are such that they cannot ignore them.

That commander of the army should have such a position before you that he renders help to them equitably and spends from his money on them and on those of their families who remain behind so that all their worries converge on the one worry for fighting the enemy. You should make them know your preferring them to yourself, caring for their affairs, and promising of more endowments, and materialize so by your good deeds, evidences, and kindness. Your kindness to them will turn their hearts to you. The most pleasant thing for the rulers is the establishment of justice in their areas and the manifestation of the love of their subjects, but the subjects’ love manifests itself only when their hearts are clean. Their good wishes prove correct only when they surround their commanders (to protect them). Do not regard their positions to be a burden over them and do not keep watching for the end of their tenure. Do not give your army only their shares of the spoils. Moreover, you should give each a share of the public treasure. Thus, you will guarantee their help, and they will be motivated for supporting God and His religion. Treat the distinctive courageous men exclusively by endowment and praise. Continue praising them and recounting the good deeds of those who have shown such deeds, because the mention of good actions shakes the brave and rouses the weak, if Allah so wills.

You should appoint the most trustful and the righteous of them as secret agents so that they will inform of the behaviors of each. Hence, they will realize that you have full acquaintance with their performance. Appreciate the performance of every one of them, do not attribute the performance of one to the other, and do not minimize the reward below the level of the performance. The high position of a man should not lead you to regard his small deeds as big, nor should the low position of a man make you regard his big deeds as small. A sudden flaw or an ill speech should not deform the picture of a man of previous good performance. Might is God’s; He gives it to whomever He wishes, and the good result is the God-fearing one’s.

If one of your soldiers or distinctive warriors is martyred, you should treat his family as same as a kind trusted custodian’s treatment, so that they will not show any sign of loneliness. This will bring about the hearts of your people to you and they will feel it is important to obey you and will make it easy for them to encounter misfortunes during your governorship.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) practiced some actions with the polytheists. We have practices some with the wrong ones, who turned their faces towards our kiblah and recorded themselves in the record of our religion, after him. Addressing the people whom Allah the Sublime, wishes to guide, He said:

O you who believe, obey Allah and obey the Prophet and those vested with authority from among you; and then if you quarrel about anything refer it to Allah and the Prophet if you believe in Allah and in the Last Day of Judgment. [98]

He also said:

…and if they had referred it to the Apostle and to those in authority among them, those among them who can search out the knowledge of it would have known it, and were it not for the grace of Allah upon you and His mercy, you would have certainly followed the Shaitan save a few. [99] Referring to Allah means to act according to what is clear in His Book, and referring to the Prophet means to follow his unanimously agreed Sunna - traditions- in regard to which there are no differences. We are the Prophet’s people who extract the decisive matters from the Book and distinguish the allegorical ones and know the repealing that Allah has repealed and canceled its burden.

Deal with your enemies in the same way that we had with our enemies. Keep on sending us letters in which you may inform us of every event so that we will send you a general commandment. Allah is the helper.

Look in the matters of judge among people in a good intention. The true judge is give back the rights of the oppressed from the oppressors, supporting the weak against the strong, and instituting God’s doctrinal provisions according to their proper ways and courses. This will make right God’s servants and lands.

For the settlement of disputes among people select him who is the most distinguished of your subjects in your view, and the fittest in fields of knowledge, pudency, piety, and generosity. The cases (coming before him) should not vex him, he should not insist on any wrong point, and should not grudge accepting the truth when he perceives it; he should not lean towards greed and should not content himself with a cursory understanding (of a matter) without going thoroughly into it. He should be most ready to stop (to ponder) on doubtful points, most regardful of arguments, least disgusted at the quarrel of litigants, most patient at probing into matters and most fearless at the time of passing judgment. Praise should not make him vain, elation should not make him lean (to any side), and propagation should not attract him. Appoint such people as the judges. Yet, they are very few.

Then, very often check his decisions and allow him so much money (as remuneration) that he has no excuse worth hearing (for not being honest) and there remains no occasion for him to go to others for his needs. Give him that rank in your audience for which no one else among your chiefs aspires, so that he remains safe from the harm of those around you. You should revere him when you associate with him, favor him in sessions, agree to his judge, implement his rulings, support him, and choose the best of his matches as his supporters. They should be jurisprudents and people of piety and advise for the sake of God and His servants. He may argue with them in any doubtful question, refer to them in what he dos not attend, and they should be witnesses on his settlement of disputations, God willing.

You should do the best for inspect the reporters of judge. They should not disagree nor dispute regarding the judgment of God and the traditions of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). Disagreement is waste of justice, inadvertence in the religion, and cause of divergence. God has shown what to do, what to spend, and ordered to refer to those with whom God has entrusted the knowledge of His Book and authorized for issuing rulings, in the unfamiliar questions. Divergence of judges occurs when tyranny controls them and each depends on his own opinion without referring to those whose leadership is imposed by God. Neither the religion nor will its followers be righteous by such behaviors. Judges should issue verdicts according to what they know from the Prophet’s traditions and practices. If it is impossible for them to judge in a question, they should refer to the people of judging. If people of judging are absent, they should discuss the question with the Muslims’ jurisprudents. They should not refer to other categories of people. Two judges should never issue different rulings regarding one question before they file it before the Leader. Hence, the Leader will judge in the question according to his knowledge that he received from God. The two judges then should agree on the Leader’s ruling whether it corresponds or differs their opinions. You should have a piercing eye in this matter because this religion has formerly been a prisoner in the hands of vicious persons when action was taken according to passion, and worldly wealth was sought. Write letters to the judges of your regions ordering them to provide before you any question of judgment about which they dispute. You should look in these rulings and authorize any ruling that you find accordant to God’s Book, the Prophet’s traditions, and the Imam’s indication, and order the judges to follow. Regarding matters that you suspect, you should gather the jurisprudents before you and discuss the matter with them. Authorize what they agree upon unanimously. Each matter about which the subjects dispute should be referred to the imam. The imam should seek God’s aid and do his best for instituting the doctrinal provisions and imposing the subjects to follow his commandment. No power can be obtained unless through God.

Look into the affairs of your executives. Give them appointment after tests and do not appoint them according to partiality or favoritism, because these two things constitute sources of injustice, treachery, and injuring people. Matters cannot be amended through unfairness. Elect people of piety, knowledge, and policy for managing your affairs. Select among them those who are people of experience and modesty, hailing from virtuous houses, having been previously in Islam, because such persons possess high manners and untarnished honor. They are the least inclined towards greed and always have their eyes on the ends of matters.

Give them an abundant livelihood (by way of salary) because this gives them the strength to maintain themselves in order not to have an eye upon the funds in their custody, and it would be an argument against them if they disobeyed your orders or misappropriated your trust. You should also check their activities and have people who report on them who should be truthful and faithful, because your watching their actions secretly will urge them to preserve trust with and to be kind to the people. Be careful of assistants. If any one of them extends his hands towards misappropriation and the reports of your reporters reaching you confirm it, that should be regarded enough evidence. You should then inflict corporal punishment on him and recover what he has misappropriated. You should put him in a place of disgrace, blacklist him with (the charge of) misappropriation and make him wear the necklace of shame for his offence.

Look after the revenue (land tax) affairs in such a way that those engaged in it remain prosperous because in their prosperity lies the prosperity of all others. The others cannot prosper without them, because all people are dependent on revenue and its payers. You should also keep an eye on the cultivation of the land more than on the collection of revenue because revenue cannot be had without cultivation and whoever asks for revenue without cultivation, ruins the area and brings death to the people. His rule will not last only a moment.

Gather people of revenue all over the regions under your dominion, and order them to inform you of the manners of their regions including ways of prosperity and collection of the revenues. Then you should ask the experts about what they had informed. If they complain of the heaviness (of the revenue) or of diseases, or dearth of water, or excess of water or of a change in the condition of the land either due to flood or to drought or pestilence, you should remit the revenue to the extent that you hope will improve their position. If they seek help in prospering what they can do it with their fortunes, you should satisfy its provisions. The result of your satisfying the provisions is their prosperity. The remission granted by you for the removal of distress from them should not be grudged by you, because it is an investment which they will return to you in the shape of the prosperity of your country and the progress of your domain in addition to earning their praise, well intentions, and happiness for meeting out justice to them. The land tax cannot be gotten through fatigue and exhaustion, yet it is knots upon which you depend. If a matter occurs, you can depend upon their strength because of the investment made by you in them through catering to their convenience, and can have confidence in them because of the justice extended to them by being kind and fair to them and their realizing your excuses. Circumstances may so turn that you may have asked for their assistance, when they will bear it happily, for prosperity is capable of bearing whatever you load on it. The ruin of the land is caused by the poverty of the cultivators, while the cultivators become poor when the officers concentrate on the collection (of money), having little hope for continuance (in their posts) and deriving no benefit from objects of warning. Thus, you should behave like him who desires to spare the praise of the subjects, the reward of God, and the satisfaction of the Imam. No power can be obtained except through God.

Then you should take care of your secretarial workers. You should recognize the manners of each of them regarding what each needs. Classify them into different ranks. Put the best of them in charge of your affairs. Entrust those of your letters, which contain your policies and secrets, to him who possesses the best character, who is the fittest for consulting in the big matters among people of good opinions, advice, and intelligence, the best keeper of the secrets, and is not elated by honors lest, he dares speak against you in common audiences. He should also not be negligent in presenting the communications of your officers before you and issuing correct replies to them on your behalf and in matters of your receipts and payments. He should not make any damaging agreement on your behalf and should not fail in repudiating an agreement against you. He should not be ignorant of the extent of his own position in matters because he who is ignorant of his own position is (even) more ignorant of the position of others. Appoint for the lower positions, including the records of the taxes and the army, the people that you strive in electing them because these positions are the most comprehensive in the benefits of your subjects and you. Your selection of these people should not be on the basis of your understanding (of them), confidence, and your good impression, because people catch the ideas of the officers through affectation and personal service and there is nothing in it which is like well-wishing or trustfulness. You should rather test them by what they did under the virtuous people before you. Take a decision in favor of one who has a good name among the common people and is the most renowned in nobility and trustworthiness, because this will be a proof of your regard for Allah and for him on whose behalf you have been appointed to this position (namely your Imam). Then order them to use their positions fairly and to be lenient. Establish one chief for every department of work. He should not be incapable of big matters, and a rush of work should not perplex him. Then inspect their manners that you missed as well as the affairs of the needy and those whose messengers come to you frequently. You should also inspect the manner of their office and how they accept their leader and argument. Most of the secretaries are known of grumbling, loftiness, and self-esteem except him whom God protects. People have no way other than seeking their needs. Whenever there is a defect in your secretaries, which you overlook, then you will be held responsible for it, and any good behavior of them will be attributed to you in addition to the great reward that you will win from God.

Now take some advice about traders and industrialists. Give them good counsel whether they be settled (shop-keepers) or traders or physical laborers because they are sources of profit and the means of the provision of useful articles. They bring them from distant and far-flung areas throughout the land and sea, plains or mountains, from where people cannot come and to where they do not dare to go, like the countries of your enemies. They are the craftsmen, by whose hands God has made the professions operative. Keep their sanctity, secure their paths, and give them back their rights, for they are peaceful and there is no fear of revolt from them.

Their most favorable affairs are the most secure and the most profitable. Look after their affairs before yourself or wherever they may be in your area. Know, along with this, that most of them are very narrow-minded, awfully avaricious. They hoard goods for profiteering and fix high prices for goods. This is a source of harm to the people and a blot on the officers in charge. Stop people from hoarding, because the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) has prohibited it. The sale should be smooth, with correct weights and prices, not harmful to either party, the seller or the purchaser; whoever commits hoarding after you prohibit it, give him exemplary but not excessive punishment, because the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) did so.

Fear Allah and keep Allah in view in respect of the lowest class, consisting of those who have few means: the poor, the destitute, the penniless and the disabled; because in this class are both the discontented and those who beg. Take care for the sake of Allah of His obligations towards them for which He has made you responsible. Fix for them a share from the public funds and a share from the crops of lands taken over as booty for Islam in every area, because in it the remote ones have the same shares as the near ones. All these people are those whose rights have been placed in your charge. Therefore, a luxurious life should not keep you away from them. You cannot be excused for ignoring small matters because you were deciding big problems. Consequently, do not be unintelligent of them, nor turn your face from them out of vanity. Be modest for the sake of God and God will exalt you. Treat the weak ones modestly, and deal with them as if you are in need of them. Take care of the affairs of those of them who do not approach you because they are of unsightly appearance or those whom people regard as low. Appoint for them some trusted people who are God-fearing and humble. They should inform you of these people’s conditions. Then deal with them with a sense of responsibility to Allah on the day you will meet Him, because of all the subjects these people are the most deserving of equitable treatment, while for others also you should fulfill their rights so as to render account to Allah.

Take care of the orphans and the aged who have no means (for livelihood) nor are they ready for begging. Arrange salaries for them. They are the servants of God. Seek God’s favors through acting sincerely to those people and keeping them in their proper positions in provisions and rights. Deeds are regarded sincere when they are well intended. People, or some of them, will not be tranquil even if you settle their needs and fulfill their rights completely; therefore, they will ask you for their needs openly. This is heavy on the officers; in fact, every right is heavy. Allah lightens it for those who seek the next world and so they endure (hardships) upon themselves and trust on the truthfulness of Allah’s promise to them. Be one of those people and seek God’s help. Fix a time for complainants wherein you make yourself free for them, and sit for them in common audience and feel humble therein for the sake of Allah who raised you. (On that occasion) you should keep away your army and your assistants such as the guards and the police so that anyone who likes to speak may speak to you without fear, because I have heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) say in more than one place, “The people among whom the right of the weak is not secured from the strong without fear will never achieve purity.” Tolerate their awkwardness and inability to speak. Keep away from you narrowness and haughtiness; Allah would, on this account, spread over you the skirts of His mercy and assign the reward of His obedience for you. Whatever you give, give it joyfully, but when you refuse, do it handsomely and with excuses.

Then there are certain matters, which you cannot avoid performing yourself. For example, replying to your officers when your secretaries are unable to do so, disposing of the complaints of the people when your assistants shirk them, and being acquaintance of whatever reaches the secretarial workers. Do not neglect or postpone such tasks. Appoint for each affair one who discusses it with the officers in charge so that your heart and mind will be quite tranquil. Whenever you want to determine a matter, you should do it after you have discussed it completely, reviewed it, and sought the consult of those to whom it may concern, without shyness or inclining to an opinion the opposite of which will prevail. Finish every day the work meant for it, because every day has its own work. Keep for yourself the better and greater portion of these periods for the worship of Allah, although all these items are for Allah provided the intention is pure and the subjects prosper thereby. The particular thing by which you should purify your religion for Allah should be the fulfillment of those obligations, which are especially for Him. Therefore, devote to Allah some of your physical activity during the night and the day. God has imposed the extra worship - nafila- exclusively on His Apostle. He said:

Say your special (tahajjud) prayer during some part of the night as an additional (obligatory) prayer for you alone so that perhaps your Lord will raise you to a highly praiseworthy position. [100]

In other words, this is a special matter that God has imposed exclusively on His Apostle as honor. For others, it is optional. God says:

And whoever does good spontaneously, then surely Allah is Grateful, Knowing. [101]

Spare what you have provided for the sake of God and His honor, and whatever (worship) you perform for seeking nearness to Allah should be complete, without defect or deficiency, whatsoever physical exertion it may involve. When you lead the prayers for the people it should be neither (too long as to be) boring nor (too short as to be) wasteful, because among the people there are the sick as well as those who have needs of their own. When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) sent me to Yemen I enquired how I should offer prayers with them and he replied, “Say the prayers as the weakest of them would say, and be considerate to the believers.”

Then, do not keep yourself secluded from the people for a long time, because the seclusion of those in authority from the subjects is a kind of narrow-sightedness and causes ignorance about their affairs. Seclusion from them also prevents them from the knowledge of those things, which they do not know and as a result they begin to regard big matters as small and small matters as big, good matters as bad and bad matters as good, while the truth becomes confused with falsehood. After all, a governor is a human being and cannot have knowledge of things which people keep hidden from him.

No writ is big on the face of truth to differentiate its various expressions from falsehood. Protect yourself against breaching people’s rights by using transparent seclusion. Then you can be one of two kinds of men. Either you may be generous in granting rights; and then why this hiding in spite of (your) discharging the obligations and good acts that you perform? Or you are a victim of stinginess; in that case people will soon give up asking you since they will lose hope of generous treatment from you. In spite of that there are many needs of the people towards you, which do not involve any hardship on you, such as the complaint against oppression or the request for justice in a matter. Let the matters that I have described for you be very useful for you. Surrender yourself only with what achieves guidance and prosperity for you, God willing.

Further, a governor has favorites and people of easy access to him. They misappropriate things, are high-handed and do not observe justice in matters. You should destroy the root of evil in the people by cutting away the causes of these defects. Do not make any land grants to your hangers on or supporters. They should not expect from you the possession of land, which may cause harm to adjoining people over the question of irrigation or common services whose burden, the grantees place on others. In this way, the benefit will be rather theirs than yours, and the blame will lie on you in this world and the next.

Cling to fairness in judgment when you are in charge. Allow rights to whomsoever it is due, whether near you or far from you. In this matter, you should be enduring and watchful even though it may involve your relations and favorites, and keep in view the reward of that which appears burdensome on you because its reward is handsome.

If the subjects suspect you of high-handedness, explain to them your position openly and remove their suspicion with your explanation, because this would mean exercise for your soul and consideration to the subjects while this explanation will secure your aim of keeping them firm in truth.

D o not reject peace to which your enemy may call you and wherein there is the pleasure of Allah, because peace brings rest to your army and relief from your worries and safety for your country. But after peace there is great apprehension from the enemy because often the enemy offers peace to benefit by your negligence. Therefore, be cautious and guard yourself against any fearful matter. In God is the trust in every matter.

If you conclude an agreement between yourself and your enemy or enter into a pledge with him then fulfill your agreement and discharge your pledge faithfully. Place yourself as a shield against whatever you have pledged because among the obligations of Allah there is nothing on which people are more strongly united despite the difference of their ideas and variation of their views than respect for fulfilling pledges. Besides Muslims, even unbelievers have abided by agreements because they realized the dangers, which would come in the wake of violation (thereof). Therefore, do not breach your pledge. Do not break your promise. Do not deceive your enemy, because no one can offend Allah save the ignorant. Allah made His agreement and pledge the sign of security, which He has spread over His creatures through His mercy and an asylum in which they stay in His protection and seek the benefit of nearness to Him. Therefore, there should be no deceit, cunning, or duplicity in it.

If an agreement of Allah involves you in hardship do not seek its repudiation, because the bearing of hardships through which you expect relief and a handsome result is better than a violation whose consequence you fear, and that you fear that you will be called upon by Allah to account for it and you will not be able to seek forgiveness for it in this world or the next.

You should avoid shedding blood without justification, because nothing is more inviting of Divine retribution, greater in (evil) consequence, and more effective in the decline of prosperity and cutting short of life than the shedding of blood without justification. On the Day of Judgment Allah the Glorified, will commence giving His judgment among the people with the cases of bloodshed committed by them. Therefore, do not strengthen your authority by shedding prohibited blood because this will destroy and shift the authority. Beware of encountering God’s wrath. God has appointed a custodian for the killed, and given him wide authority. He says:

And whoever is slain unjustly, We have indeed given to his heir authority, so let him not exceed the just limits in slaying; surely he is aided. [102]

You cannot offer any excuse before Allah or before me for willful killing because there must be the question or revenge in it. If you are involved in it by error and you exceed in the use of your whip or sword, or are hard in inflicting punishment, as sometimes even a blow by the fist or a smaller stroke causes death, then the haughtiness of your authority should not prevent you from paying the blood price to the successors of the killed person.

You should avoid self-admiration, having reliance in what appears good in yourself, and love of exaggerated praise, because this is one of the most reliable opportunities for Shaitan to obliterate the good deeds of the virtuous.

Avoid showing (the existence of) obligation on your subjects for having done good to them, praising your own actions, making promises and then breaking them, or speaking badly to them, because showing (the existence of) obligation destroys good and self-praise takes away the light of truth. Allah the Glorified says:

Most hateful is it unto Allah that you say what you yourselves do it not. [103]

Avoid haste in matters before their time, slowness in their proper time, insistence on them when the propriety of action is not known or weakens when it becomes clear. Assign every matter its proper place and do every job at the appropriate time.

Do not appropriate to yourself that in which the people have an equal share, nor be regardless of matters, which have come to light with the excuse that you are accountable for others. Shortly, it will be taken from you and given to others, and the curtains of all matters will be raised from your view and you will be required to render redress to the oppressed. Have control over your sense of prestige, any outburst of anger, the might of your arm, and the sharpness of your tongue. Guard against all this by avoiding haste and by delaying severe action. Raise your sight to the heavens when anything of this controls you so that your anger subsides and you gain your self-control. You cannot withhold yourself from this unless you bear in mind that you have to return to Allah.

If God wills for you guidance and prosperity, you should know that I have collected for you in this commandment variety of matters that I expect they will guide you. You should recall how matters went with us, including a just government, a great tradition, a precedent of our Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), or the obligatory commands contained in the Book of Allah. Your leadership should depend upon these matters. Then you should follow them as you have seen us acting upon them and should exert yourself in following that I have enjoined upon you in this document in which I have exhausted my pleas on you, so that if your heart advances towards its passions you may have no plea in its support. Except Allah the Praised, nothing protects against evil and leads to welfare. Within the commandments of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) that he had aid to me was his assertion of performing the prayers, paying the poor-rate and treating the bondservants kindly. I will finish my commandment with these matters.

I ask Allah through the extent of His mercy and the greatness of His power of giving a good inclination that He may prompt me and you to advance a clear plea before Him and His creatures in a manner that may attract His pleasure along with handsome praise among the people, good effect in the country, an increase in prosperity and a heightening of honor; and that He may allow me and you to die a death of virtue and martyrdom. Surely, we have to return to Him. Peace be on the Messenger of Allah (May Allah show His blessings and plentiful salutation on him and his pure and chaste descendants) and that is an end to the matter.

Imam Ali’s Sermon of Dibadge

All praise is due to Allah the Maker of the creatures, the Creator of mornings, the Enlivener of the dead, and the Resurrector of the inhabitants of graves. I declare there is no god but Allah uniquely without any associate, and Mohammed is His slave and apostle, peace be upon him and his family.

O servants of God, the best means by which seekers of nearness to Allah the Glorified the Exalted seek nearness is the belief in Him and His Prophet and what they brought, fighting in His cause, for it is the high pinnacle of Islam, and (to believe) in the expression of Divine purification for it is just nature and the establishment of prayer for it is the basis of community, payment of zakat for it is a compulsory obligation, fasting for the month of Ramadan for it is the shield against chastisement, the performance of Hajj of the House of Allah and its Umrah for these two acts banish poverty and wash away sins and imply Paradise, regard for kinship for it increases wealth and length of life and multiplication of numbers, to giving alms secretly for it covers shortcomings and extinguishes the Lord’s wrath, giving alms openly for it protects against a bad death and extending benefits (to people) for it saves from positions of disgrace.

Go ahead with the remembrance of Allah for it is the best remembrance security from hypocrisy, release from Hell, reminding of its sayer whenever there is a distribution of welfare that God the Majestic decides. It has a boom under the Divine Throne. Long for that which God has promised to the pious, for His promise is the truest promise. Whatever He has promised will inevitably fall as exactly as He has promised. Tread the course of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) for it is the most distinguished course. Follow the Sunna of the Prophet for it is the most right of all behaviors. Learn the Book of God - the Quran- for it is the fairest of discourses and the most far-reaching admonition, and understand it thoroughly for it is the best blossoming of hearts. Seek cure with its light for it is the cure for hearts. Recite it beautifully for it is the most beautiful narration.

Whenever the Quran is recited (to you), listen to it quietly so that you may receive mercy. [104]

If you are guided to its knowledge, you should apply what you know of it so that you may be successful. You should know, O servant of God, certainly a scholar who acts not according to his knowledge is like the off-headed ignorant who does not find relief from his ignorance, but on the learned the plea of Allah is greater and grief more incumbent, and he is more blameworthy before Allah. However, both the ignorant and the learnt are perplexed, negligent, deviant, engaged in sedition, having ill consequence, and encountering void practices.

O servants of God, do not hesitate so that you will not suspect. Do not suspect so that you will not disbelieve. Do not disbelieve so that you will not be regret. Do not be forbearing with yourselves so that you will not overlook excessively and, consequently, you will perish as your mildness towards things will misguide you to the courses of the wrongdoers. If you realize the right, you should never disregard it so that you will not suffer a clear loss.

O servants of God, it is a part of determination to fear God, and it is firm to avoid exceeding the limits of depending upon God.

O servants of God, the most self-sincere is the most submissive to God, and the most self-deceitful is the most rebellious to God.

O servants of God, certainly he who obeys God will be secured and delighted, and whoever disobeys will be disappointed, regretful, and unsafe.

O servants of God, ask God for conviction, for it is the head of the religion, and beseech to Him for good health for it is surely the best grace; therefore, seize it for settling your worldly and religious affairs. Beseech to Him for success for it is a firm pillar. Know that conviction is the best comrade of the heart. God-fearing is the best of conviction. The best affairs of the right are the determined, and the evilest of it are the most recent. Every recent change is heresy, and every heresy is deviation. Heresies ruin the Sunna.

The true unlucky is that who maltreats his religion, while the lucky is that whose religion is steady and conviction is sound. The true happy is that who learns lessons from others. The true unhappy is that whose whims cheat him.

O servants of God, know that little showing off is polytheism. Conviction is the sincerity of doing. Passions lead to Hell. Sitting with people of evil amusement causes the Quran to be forgotten and invites the Shaitan. Postponement of the sacred months is an increase of atheism. Acts of disobedience to God bring about the wrath of the Beneficent. The wrath of the Beneficent drives to Hell. Conversation with women causes misfortunes and deviates the hearts. Secret gazing at women extinguishes the illuminations of the hearts. Glimpse of eyes are the traps of the Shaitan. Sitting with the unjust rulers kindles the fires of Hell.

O servants of God, be honest, because God is certainly with the honest, and avoid speaking lies because this is the opposite of faith. The honest is lying on the honor of safety and dignity, while the liars are lying on the edge of deep wholes and perdition. Say the right so that you will be ascribed to it and practice it so that you will be with its people. Return the deposits of everybody so properly. Regard your kinship even if your kinsmen disregard you. Do favors to those who maltreated you. Fulfill your pledges. Be fair when you are arbiters. Be tolerant when you are oppressed. Pardon and overlook him who wronged you as same as you desire to be pardoned and overlooked. Do not take pride in your fathers.

Let not anyone of you defame another. How terrible is the defamation after having true faith. [105]

Do not mock each other, do not enrage each other, and do not take pride against each other in your affairs.

Do not backbite each other. Would any of you like to eat the disgusting dead flesh of your brother? [106]

Do not envy each other, for envy consumes the faith like fire when consumes wood. Do not bear malice against each other, because malice is the shaver - of the good attributes-. Meet people with salaams. Respond others’ greetings in a way better than its addressing. Treat the widows and the orphans mercifully. Help the weak, the oppressed, the indebted, in God’s cause, the wayfarer, the beggar, the slave, the contractee slave, and the poor. Support the oppressed ones, defray the obligatory taxes, and strive yourselves for God’s sake so suitably for God is surely harsh in punishment. Strive for God’s sake, receive the guests hospitably, perform the ritual ablution properly, and offer the five obligatory prayers in their times because they occupy a remarkable standing with God.

Good deeds performed on one's own initiative will be rewarded. [107]

God is All-knowing and Fully Appreciative. [108]

Co-operate with each other in righteousness and piety, not in sin and hostility. [109]

Have fear of God as you should and die only as Muslims having submitted to the will of God. [110]

O servants of God, you should know that hope rescinds the mind, breaks the promise, urges on inadvertence, and causes regret. Disdain hope for it is deception and the adherents to it will be sinful. Act in situations of hope in the same way you act in situations of fear of God. You should thank when an act that you hope for comes to you, and add another hope to it, because God has promised the Muslims of good rewarding and promised to multiply for the thankful. I have surely not seen a coveter for Paradise asleep nor have I seen a dreader from Hell to be asleep. I have not seen a thing more profitable than saving supplies for the day on which the hidden will be revealed. He whom right does not benefit must suffer the harm of the wrong, and he whom guidance does not keep firm will be led away by misguidance towards destruction, and he whom conviction does not benefit must suffer doubt. Beware, you have been ordered insistently to march and been guided how to provide for the journey. Surely, the most frightening thing, which I am afraid of about you, is to follow desires and to widen the hopes.

So now, surely this world has turned its back and announced its departure while the next world has appeared forward and proclaimed its approach. Today is the day of preparation while tomorrow is the day of race. The place to proceed to is Paradise while the place of doom is Hell. Surely, you are in the days of hopes behind which stands hastening death. Whoever acts during the days of his hope before approach of his death, his action would benefit him and his death would not harm him. But he who fails to act during the period of hope before the approach of death his action is a loss and his death is harm to him.

O servants of God, hurry up to erect the pillars of your religion through offering the - obligatory- prayers in their times, defraying the zakat in its proper times, invocation and submission - to God-, regard of the kinship, fear of the day to come, giving the beggars, showing respect to the weak, learning and applying the Quran with its instructions, telling truth only, fulfilling the pledges, and keeping the deposits till you give them back to their owners.

Work desirably for obtaining God’s reward, and fear His chastisement. Offer your wealth and souls for God’s sake. Equip yourselves with effects as many as saving you. Do the good so that you will be rewarded with it on the day when the doers of good will win the good. As I come to the end, I seek God’s forgiveness for you and me.

Imam Ali’s Maxims and Words of Encouragement, Warning, and Admonition

So now, surely slyness and cheating will be in Hell. Fear God and be cautious of His power. God does not accept to surprise the servants with destructions before He warns them. From this cause, a servant slackens the efforts until he forgets the pledge - God’s warning- and thinks he is doing well. Thus, a servant sinks in guess, hope, and inattentiveness of what has come to him. He ties himself in many knots, destroys himself through exerting all efforts while God grants him a respite for the pledge between them. He falls with the mindless, walks with the sinful, disputes the believers about their obedience to God, and prefers the falsification of the indifferent. These are the people whose hearts are open for doubts. They dare forge lies against others and regard their deeds as a way of seeking God’s favor, because they pursued their whims and changed and distorted the words of the wise people ignorantly and blindly, seeking reputation and showing off, without right paths, circulating indications, or familiar marks of their final hours or final point of their lives. When God discloses the reward of their policies and strips their cloaks of inadvertence, they welcomed that which will fade away and turned the backs to that which is to come. They could not get use of the wishes and demands when they attained them and did not benefit by the times that they have had. Moreover, this was changed into misfortunes for them. Now, they are escaping what they were seeking.

I warn you against this slippery ground and order you to fear God other than whom nothing is helpful. The honest should help themselves if they are truly honest. The true perceptive is that who listens, ponders, thinks, understands, learns lessons, takes clear course that saves him from falling behind, evades the path of misguidance, and does not give any opportunity for the seducers to control him by means of abusing the right, speaking incorrectly, or changing a truth. All power belongs to God.

Say only what is said to you, submit to what is narrated to you, and do not impose on others what is not imposed upon you, because the result will be against you due to your own deeds, words, and intentions. Beware of doubt, because it was arranged for testing you. Seek ease. Use good deeds and words for each other. Opt for submission - to God-. Feel fearful and subservient to God. Treat each other modestly, fairly, generously, and calmly. This is God’s commandment. Beware of envying each other or bearing malice, because they are the traditions of the pre-Islamic era (Jahilism).

A soul must see what it has done for the future. Have fear of God for He is All-aware of what you do. [111]

You, O people, should know certainly that God will not permit a servant to do more than what has been counted to him in the Wise Reminder, even if he exerts excessive efforts, finds more ways, and practices exaggerative endeavors. Likewise, God will never preclude what has been counted in the Wise Reminder for a servant despite his weakness and lack of practice.

O people, neither skill nor will idiocy add or reduce a single atom of one’s (previously decided) lot. He who realizes this fact and acts upon it will surely be the calmest in profits, while he who disregards this fact will be the weariest in loss. It often happens that he whom is bestowed with graces is waylaid through that bestowment, while he whom people see as unlucky is in fact fortunate.

Sober up, O listener, from your inebriety, wake up from your inadvertence, slow down your haste, and ponder over God’s words that are not reneged and that are inescapable and unavoidable. Then forsake your pride, leave your arrogance, take heed, and remember your grave and abode, because it will be your passage and destiny. You will be treated as you treat and you will harvest only what you sowed, and whatever you did will be done to you. Tomorrow, you will indisputably find only (the results of) what you did. Benefit by considering the admonition that has been provided to you. Understand what you have listened to and what you have been promised, because, through this, you will be undoubtedly engaged in one of two matters - either to obey God and follow what you have heard, or to have God’s claim instituted against you and you should submit to it according to your knowledge.

Beware, and keep up seriousness.

Not one can tell you the truth in the way that an expert reporter can do. [112]

One of the firm decisions of Allah in the Wise Reminder upon which He bestows reward or gives punishment, and through which He likes or dislikes is that it will not benefit a man, even though he exerts himself and acts sincerely if he leaves this world to meet Allah with one of these acts without repenting, namely that he believed in a partner with Allah during his obligatory worship, or appeased his own anger by killing an individual, or declared an act but he opted for another, or sought fulfillment of his needs from people by introducing an innovation in his religion, or met people with a double face, or moved among them with a double tongue, or using arrogance or pride. Understand this because an illustration is a guide for its like.

Beasts are concerned with their bellies. Carnivores are concerned with assaulting others. Women are concerned with the adornments of this ignoble life and the creation of mischief herein. On the other hand, believers are humble, admonishers and afraid of Allah.

Imam Ali’s Admonition and Description of the Negligent

Do not be like him who hopes for (bliss in) the next life without action and delays repentance by lengthening desires, who utters words like ascetics in this world but acts like those who are eager for it. If he is allowed something from it he does not feel satisfied. If he is denied he is not content. He is not grateful for what begets and covets for increase in whatever remains with him. He refrains others but not himself. He commands others for what he himself does not do. He loves the virtuous but does not behave like them. He hates the vicious but he himself is one of them. He dislikes death because of the excess of his sins but adheres to that for which he is afraid of death. He says: why do I work and get tired? I should repose and wish. He wishes for forgiveness, but preserves in disobedience. He attained an age quite enough for remembrance. He says about what he missed: had I worked painstakingly, it would have been better for me. But he wastes time bravely and inadvertently. If he falls ill he feels sorry for his past negligence. When he recovers from illness he feels vain about himself; when he is afflicted he loses hope. His whims overcome him in the suspected questions, but he does not overcome his whims in the certain questions. He is not satisfied with his provisions and does not trust what is guaranteed for him. He does not perform the imposed acts - of worship-. He doubts himself. If he becomes wealthy he becomes self-conscious and falls into vice. If he becomes poor he despairs and becomes weak. He has many sins and graces. He seeks more but does not show gratitude. He regards the sins of others as big but considers the same things for himself as small. When passion overtakes him he is quick in committing sin but delays repentance, and he does not how that will fall. His desire does not satisfy him, and his caution does not stop him. He goes too far when he is begging and he is too negligent in actions. He is tall in speaking but short in action. He hopes for winning the prizes of deeds that he did not do and is disregards the punishment of the ill deeds that he did. He aspires for - worldly- things that will perish and ignores things that will last for good. He fears death but does nothing in its anticipation. He deems excessive people’s acts of obedience but he deems insignificant his acts of disobedience that are greater than people’s. If he does something in obedience to Allah he considers it much but if others do the same he considers it small. For others he is afraid of small sins, but for himself he expects more reward than his performance. He therefore rebukes others but flatters himself. He fulfills the obligations only when he is healthy and pleased, but he betrays when he is displeased and inflicted by misfortunes. If he is cured, he thinks that his repentance was accepted, but when a misfortune befalls him, he thinks he is punished. He delays fasting and hurries to sleep. He does not spend the night with worship and does not spend the day with fast. In morning, he cares only for the breakfast while he did not stay up last night. In evening, he cares only for the dinner while he was fasting. He seeks God’s protection against them who are less powerful than him, but does not seek God’s protection against the more powerful. He wants others to obey him but he himself disobeys God. Entertainment in the company of the wealthy is dearer to him than remembrance of God with the poor. He is angry when he is given little sustenance, but he commits many sins. He prefers himself to others but never prefers others to himself. He wants others to obey him and never disobey. He seeks fulfillment of obligations towards himself but does not fulfill his obligations towards others. He guides others and misguides himself. He fears the people and acts for other than his Lord and does not fear his Lord in his dealings with the people. He deems his wrongdoing and good and deems his good deeds as wrong. He neither praises his Lord for His graces nor thanks Him for the increase. He neither enjoins good nor forbids evil. He lives in confusion. If he is ill, he acts sincerely and shows repentance. If he is cured, he behaves severely and returns to his acts of disobedience. He always against himself and is never with it. He does not know where will his ill deeds take him. How long and until when will he be in such manners? O Allah, make us rear You.

Imam Ali’s Description of the God-Fearing

All praise and gratitude are due to God.

The God-fearing in this world are the people of distinction. Their speech is to the point, their dress is moderate and their gait is humble. They submit to God with obedience. They keep their eyes closed to what Allah has made unlawful for them, and they put their ears to knowledge. They remain in the time of trials as though they remain in comfort due to their satisfaction with the act of God. If there had not been fixed periods of life ordained for each, their spirits would not have remained in their bodies even for the twinkling of an eye because of their eagerness for the reward and fear of chastisement. The greatness of the Creator is seated in their heart, and so, everything else appears small in their eyes. Thus, to them, Paradise is as though they see it and are enjoying its favors. To them, Hell is also as if they see it and are suffering punishment in it.

Their hearts are grieved, they are protected against evils, their bodies are thin, their needs are scanty, their souls are chaste, and their supporting Islam is great. They endured hardship for a short while, and in consequence they secured comfort for a long time. It is a beneficial transaction that the Generous Lord made easy for them. The world aimed at them, but they did not aim at it. It captured them, but they freed themselves from it by a ransom.

During a night they are upstanding on their feet reading portions of the Quran and reciting it in a well-measured way, creating through it grief for themselves and seeking by it the cure for their ailments. Their griefs are stirred as they weep for their sins and the pains of their wounds and injuries. If they come across a verse creating eagerness for Paradise they pursue it avidly, and their spirits turn towards it eagerly, and they feel as if it is in front of them. And when they come across a verse, which contains fear of Hell they bend the ears of their hearts towards it, and feel as though the sound of Hell and its cries are reaching their ears. They bend themselves from their backs, prostrate themselves on their foreheads, their palms, and their toes, and beseech Allah the Sublime for their deliverance. During the day they are wise, learned, virtuous and God-fearing. Fear of Allah has made them thin like arrows. If any one looks at them he believes they are sick, although they are not sick, and he says that they have gone mad. In fact, great concern (i.e., fear) has made them mad. If they remember the sublimity of God the Exalted and the stability of His omnipotence, in addition to the mention of death and the horrors of the Day of Resurrection, their hearts are dreaded, their views are agitated, and their minds are bewildered. If they feel fearful, they hurry to God through good acts.

They are not satisfied with their meager good acts, and do not regard their major acts as great. They always blame themselves and are afraid of their deeds. When anyone of them is spoken of highly, he says: “I know myself better than others, and my Lord knows me better than I know. O Allah do not deal with me according to what they say, and make me better than they think of me and forgive me those shortcomings which they do not know. You are the All-Knowing of the unknown.”

The peculiarity of anyone of them is that you will see that he has strength in religion, determination along with leniency, faith with conviction, eagerness in seeking knowledge, courtesy in lenience, clemency in almsgiving, understanding in awareness, knowledge in forbearance, moderation in riches, devotion in worship, gracefulness in starvation, endurance in hardship, mercy for the exhausted, fulfillment of the right, leniency in earning, desire for the lawful, pleasure in guidance, hatred from greed, piety in straightforwardness, and abstinence in appetites. The approval of him who ignores him does not deceive him. He does not stop judging his deeds. He performs virtuous deeds but still feels afraid. In the evening he is anxious to offer thanks to Allah. In the morning his anxiety is to remember Allah. He passes the night in fear and rises in the morning in joy - fear lest night is passed in forgetfulness, and joy over the favor and mercy received by him. If his self refuses to endure a thing, which it does not like, he does not grant its request towards what it likes. The coolness of his eye lies in what is to last forever, while from the things of this world that will not last he keeps aloof. He transfuses knowledge with forbearance, and speech with action.

You will see his laziness aloof, his activity uninterrupted, his hopes simple, his shortcomings few, heart fearing, his spirit contented, his ignorance absent, his affairs simple, his religion safe, his desires dead, his anger suppressed, his mannerism pure. He does not brief about what is kept secret with him. He does not conceal the testimony against he enemies. He does not do any practice ostentatiously. He does not leave anything shyly. Good alone is expected from him. Evil from him is not to be feared. Even if he is found among those who forget Allah he is counted among those who remember Him. He forgives him who is unjust to him, and he gives to him who deprives him. He behaves well with him who behaves ill with him.

His forbearance is not absent. He does not neglect what adorns him. Indecent speech is far from him, his utterance is lenient, his evils are non-existent, his virtues are ever present, his good is ahead, and mischief has turned its face from him. He is dignified during calamities, patient in distresses, and thankful during ease. He does not commit excess over him whom he hates, and does not commit sin for the sake of him whom he loves. He does not claim the possession of things that are not his. He does not deny others’ rights that are obligatory upon him. He admits truth before evidence is brought against him. He does not misappropriate what is placed in his custody. He does not call others bad names. He does not oppress or threaten others. He does not cause harm to his neighbor, he does not feel happy at others misfortunes. He hurries to the right. He fulfills the trusts. He is slow in ill deeds. He enjoins good and forbids evil. He does not enter into the worldly pleasures wrongly and does not go out of right.

If he is silent his silence does not grieve him, if he laughs he does not raise his voice. He satisfies with what is his. Malice does not agitate him. Whims do not overcome him. Stinginess does not prevail him. He does not desire for what is not his. He associates with people so as to learn. He keeps silent so as to be safe. He asks so as to understand. He does not listen to the good wording so that others will not find themselves neglectful in comparison with him. He does not speak of his good actions so as to avoid taking pride in it before others. If he is wronged he endures till Allah takes revenge on his behalf. His own self is in distress because of him, while the people are in ease from him. He puts himself in hardship for the sake of his next life, and makes people feel safe from himself. His keeping away from others is by way of asceticism and purification, and his nearness to those to whom he is near is by way of leniency and mercifulness. His keeping away is not by way of vanity or feeling of greatness, nor his nearness by way of deceit and cheating. He follows the example of the past men of virtue and he is the example of the coming people of virtue.

Imam Ali’s sermon of faith

In this sermon, Imam Ali (peace be upon him) refers to faith and its supports and aspects, and atheism and its supports and aspects.

When God began the matters, He chose for Himself what he willed and extracted what He liked. Within the matters that He liked was faith. He accepted it; therefore, he derived the name of faith from His Name and gifted it with whomever He loved among His creatures. He then showed it. Hence, He made its springs within reach for whoever wants to have it and made its supports difficult for the opposites to penetrate. He also made faith the fort of him whoever is loyal to it, the security of him whoever wants to enter into it, the guidance of him whoever betakes himself to it, the adornment of him whoever wants to have its beauty, the religion of him whoever braces it, the refuge of him whoever seeks its refuge, the bond of him whoever clings to it, the evidence of him whoever speaks of it, the honor of him who knows it, the wisdom of him whoever utters it, the light of him whoever seeks light from it, the proof of him whoever discusses about it, the claim of him whoever advances it as plea, the knowledge of him who understands, the narration of him who relates, the rule of him who judges, the forbearance of him who recounts, the reason of him who ponder over things, the understanding of him who meditates, the conviction of him who recognizes, the insight of him who determines, the sign of him who scrutinizes, the lesson of him who learns lessons, the salvation of him who believes in it, the Lord’s love for him who is virtuous, the nearness of him who seeks nearness, the confidence of him who depends (upon God), the rest of him who entrusts (with God), the color of him who does charitably, the welfare of him who takes haste steps (toward God), the shelter of him who endures, the dress of him who fears (God), the purification of him who seeks right guidance, the safety of him who submits (to God), and the spirit of the honest.

Faith is the principal of right. Right guidance is the way of the principal of right. Righteousness is its quality and glory is its feat. The course of faith is bright. Its signpost is brilliant. Its lights are luminous. Its extreme is high. Its racetrack is easy. Its milking is ready. Its prize is very precious. Its people are old. Its knights are noble. The virtuous deeds are its signboard. Chastity is its lights. Death is its extreme. The world is its racetrack. The Resurrection is its milking. Paradise is its prize. Hell is its punishment. God-fearing is its equipage. The charitable are its knights. By way of faith, the virtuous deeds are shown. By way of the virtuous deeds, the understanding is gained. By way of understanding, death is feared. Death is the seal of the world. Through the world, the other life is approached. Through the Resurrection, Paradise is loomed. Paradise is the regret of the people of Hell. Hell is the admonition of God-fearing. God-fearing is the origin of charity. God-fearing is a purpose the follower of which will never lose. Likewise, he who applied God-fearing to himself will never be regret because it is the course through which the winners achieved triumph. The losers were beaten because of disobedience. Will the intelligent learn and the God-fearing ones remember?

Faith stands on four supports: on endurance, conviction, justice, and jihad.

Endurance again has four aspects: eagerness, fear, abstention (from the world) and anticipation (of death). So, whoever is eager for Paradise will ignore the passions; whoever fears the Fire (of Hell) will refrain from prohibited acts; whoever abstains from the world takes hardships lightly; and whoever anticipates death will hasten towards good deeds.

Conviction also has four aspects: prudent perception, intelligence and understanding, drawing lessons from instructive things and following the precedents of past people. So, whoever perceives with prudence, wise knowledge will be manifest to him, and to whomsoever wise knowledge becomes manifest he appreciates instructive objects, and whoever appreciates instructive objects he is just like past people.

Justice also has four aspects: keen understanding, deep knowledge, good power of decision and firm forbearance. Therefore, whoever understands comes to acquire depth of knowledge; whoever acquires depth of knowledge drinks from the spring of judgment; and whoever exercises forbearance never commits evil actions in his affairs and leads a praiseworthy life among the people.

Jihad also has four aspects: to ask others to do good, to keep away others from doing evil, to fight (in the way of Allah) sincerely and firmly on all occasions, and to detest the vicious. So, whoever asks others to do good provides strength to the believers; whoever desists others from evil humiliates the unbelievers; whoever fights sincerely on all occasions discharges all his obligations; and whoever detests the vicious and becomes angry for the sake of Allah, then Allah will be angry in favor of him and will keep him pleased on the Day of Judgment.

Unbelief stands on four supports: on lechery, exaggeration, doubt, and sedition.

Lechery has four aspects - coarseness, blindness, inadvertence, and rebellion. The coarse will disgrace the believers, hate the jurists, and insist on guilt. The blind will disregard the remembrance, have ill mannerism, challenge the Creator, and be stirred by the Shaitan. The inadvertent will aggrieve themselves, turn over their backs, regard their seductions as rightness, be deceived by expectations, be befallen by regret, be uncovered, and will suffer what he has not supposed. He who rebels against God will doubt. God will exalt on anyone who doubts. Then He will humiliate him by His power and disgrace him by His Majesty. This is because he neglected and disregarded the Generous Lord.

Exaggeration has also four aspects: hankering after whims, mutual quarrelling, deviation from the truth, and dissension. So, whoever hankers after whims does not incline towards right. Except sinking in the whims, he will not obtain anything more. Whenever a seditious matter leaves him, another will cover him. He is living in confusion. He whoever quarrels and disputes will be befallen by failure and his affairs will be ragged. He whoever deviates from truth, for him good becomes evil and evil becomes good and he remains intoxicated with misguidance. He whoever makes a breach (with Allah and His Messenger), his path becomes difficult, his affairs become complicated, and his way of escape becomes narrow. He who takes a course other than the believers will surely be apostatizing his religion.

Doubt has also four aspects: unreasonableness, fear, wavering, and undue submission to every thing. So, about which of the bounties of your Lord can the disputers persistently dispute? He who is afraid of what befalls him has to run on his heels. He who wavers in doubt the tardy will left him behind, the last will catch up with him, and the Shaitans will trample him under their feet. He who submits to the destruction of this and the next world will perish in them both. Only the bearers of conviction may be saved.

Sedition has four aspects: fondness of the adornment, self-enticement, crooked interpretation, and confusion of the right and the wrong. Adornment will preclude evidence. Self-enticement leads to passion. Crookedness takes its adopter to a twisted inclination. Confusion is complicated groups of darkness. This is atheism and its supports and aspects.

Hypocrisy stands on four supports: whims, carelessness, rancor, and greed.

Whim has four aspects: oppression, aggression, passion, and insubordination. For those whoever oppress, their problems will be increasing and they will be disappointed and defeated. For those who aggress against other, they will not be secured against misfortunes, and their hearts will not be sound. He who does not stop against his whims will plunge into griefs. He who disobeys (God) will be intentionally deviating lacking any excuse or evidence.

The aspects of carelessness are arrogance, pride, negligence, and excessive expectation. Arrogance takes away from the right. Taking pride in the present leads to negligence of the coming. Negligence is an involvement in blindness. Because of expectation, man will have knowledge of the account of his present manners. If he knows the account of his present manners, he will die secretly due to the horror and fear that he concludes.

The aspects of rancor are conceit, boast, zeal, and tribalism. The conceited will fall behind. The boastful are dissolute. The zealous are stubborn. The tribalist is unfair. How bad is the matter that is lying among falling behind, dissolution, and stubbornness.

The aspects of greed are complacency, fun, disputation, and haughtiness. Complacency is abominated for God. Fun is vanity. Disputation is misfortune for it drives to sinning. Haughtiness is ill amusement, play, engagement, and substituting the bad for the good.

That was hypocrisy with its supports and aspects.

God is prevailing over His servants. His mentioning is exalted, His authority is upright, His power is firm, His blessing is widespread, His wisdom is luminous, His claim is evident, His religion is pure, His word is accurate, His ranks are present, His attribution is wholesome, His scales is fair, His messages are conveyed, and His keeping angels are attendant. He then made the sin as guilt, the guilt as sedition, and the sedition as profanity. He also made kindness as profit, apology as repentance, and repentance as purity. He whoever repents to God will be guided. He whoever follows seditious matters will surely be deviant unless he repents to God, confesses of his guilt, and believes in the kindness. God will not ruin except the perishing.

What great is God! How extensive are his repentance, mercy, good tidings, and forbearance! How intense are the fetters, fire, power, omnipotence, and vengeance the He has! He whoever wins obedience to God will choose for His honor, and he whoever is keeping himself in disobedience to Him will taste the harsh torture of His punishment. There is lying the blissful end.

Imam Ali’s Words to Kumayl bin Ziyad

O Kumayl, these hearts are containers. The best of them is that which preserves (its contents). So, preserve what I say to you. People are of three types: One is the scholar and divine. Then the seeker of knowledge who is also on the way to deliverance. Then (lastly) the common rot who run after every caller and bend in the direction of every wind. They seek not light from the effulgence of knowledge so as to be guided, and do not take protection of any reliable support so that they will be saved.

O Kumayl, knowledge is better than wealth. Knowledge guards you, while you have to guard the wealth. Wealth decreases by spending, while knowledge multiplies by spending. Knowledge is the ruler while wealth is ruled upon.

O Kumayl, adoration to the knowledgeable is belief, which is acted upon. With it man acquires obedience during his life and a good name after his death. The benefit of wealth vanishes when wealth vanishes. Those who amass wealth are dead even though they may be living while those endowed with knowledge will remain as long as the world lives. Their bodies are not available but their figures exist in the hearts. Look, here is a heap of knowledge (and Amirul-Muminin pointed to his bosom). I wish I could get someone to bear it. Yes, I did find (such a one); but either he was one who could not be relied upon. He would exploit the religion for worldly gains, and by virtue of Allah’s favors on him he would domineer over the people and through Allah’s pleas he would lord over His devotees. Or he was one who was obedient to the hearers of truth but there was no intelligence in his bosom. At the first appearance of doubt he would entertain misgivings in his heart.

So, neither this nor that was good enough. Either the man is eager for pleasures, easily led away by passions, or is covetous for collecting and hoarding wealth. Neither of them has any regard for religion or wisdom and conviction in any matter. The nearest example of these is the loose cattle. This is the way that knowledge dies away with the death of its bearers.

O my Allah, Yes; but the earth is never devoid of those who maintain Allah’s plea either openly and reputedly or being afraid. As hidden in order that Allah’s pleas, proofs, and relaters of His Book should not be rebutted. Where are they? By Allah, they are few in number, but they are great in esteem before Allah. Through them Allah guards His pleas and proofs till they entrust them to others like themselves and sow the seeds thereof in the hearts of those who are similar to them. Knowledge has led them to true understanding and so they have associated themselves with the spirit of conviction. They take easy what the easygoing regard as hard. They endear what the ignorant take as strange. They live in this world with their bodies here but their spirits resting in the high above.

O Kumayl, they are the trustees of God on His creatures, and the vicegerents of Allah on His earth, His lamps in His countries, and callers to His religion. Oh, oh, how I yearn to see them! I seek God’s forgiveness for you and me.

Imam Ali’s Brief Commandment for Kuayl bin Ziyad

1- O Kumayl, begin every day with mentioning God’s Name and saying, “All might and power belong to God.”[113] Depend upon God. Mention us, utter our names, and seek God’s blessings for us. With the previous sayings, encircle yourself and whatever is under your custody so that you will be saved from the evil of that day.

2- O Kumayl, God educated the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family); he educated me and I educate the believers and leave behind me the good education to the honorable people.

3- O Kumayl, I am the originator of every aspect of knowledge and Al-Qa’im (peace be upon him) will be the sealer. O Kumayl, we are the offspring of one another. God is All-hearing and All-seeing. O Kumayl, follow no one but us, and you will be one of us.

4- O Kumayl, you need knowledge in every movement.

5- O Kumayl, before you have food, mention the Name of Him whose Name bans every malady and presents remedy for any ailment.

6- O Kumayl, share others with you on dining tables generously, because you will never endow anything to people. If you do so, God will reward you widely. When others sit with you for a meal, use good traits, relieve your sitter, and do not blame your servant.

7- O Kumayl, when you are on a dining table, take as long as possible time so that your companion will have his sufficiency and others will be bestowed from your food.

8- O Kumayl, when you have enough food, praise God for His provisions to you raising your voice, so that others will imitate you and your reward will be doubled.

9- O Kumayl, do not fill in your stomach with food, and leave a place for water and flatus. Do not leave a meal unless you still covet it. This will bring you health, since the source of physical health is few food and water.

10- O Kumayl, blessing is in the wealth of him who defrays zakat, offers to the believers what they need, and regards the relatives.

11- O Kumayl, give your faithful relatives more than what you give to the other faithful believers. In addition, treat them more compassionately and more kindly. Give alms to the poor.

12- O Kumayl, never disappoint a beggar. Give him even a grain of grapes or a half single date. With God, the almsgiving are growing.

13- O Kumayl, modesty is the best dress of the believers, chastity is his best beauty, learning is his honor, and negligence of gossips is his dignity.

14- O Kumayl, there is a degree of superiority with every people. Beware of discussing with the lowly even if they invite you to a discussion. Be tolerant and be one of those whom God describes in His saying: “When addressed by the ignorant ones, their only response is, ‘Peace be with you. ’”[114]

15- O Kumayl, say the truth in every situation. Cherish the God-fearing ones, desert the sinful ones, avoid the hypocrites, and dissociate with the traitors.

16- O Kumayl, do not knock the doors of the unjust for associating with them and earning from them. Beware of respecting them or attend their sessions for God’s wrath will befall you. If you have to attend there, you should mention God uninterruptedly, depend upon Him, and seek His guard against them. Turn the head down, deny their deeds secretly, and glorify God openly so that you will be supported and saved against their evils.

17- Chastity, tolerance, and patience are the most favorable characters that the servants offer to God after their faith in Him and His vicegerents.

18- O Kumayl, do not show your poverty to people. Forbear it for God’s sake dignifiedly and secretly.

19- O Kumayl, you can inform your brotherly friend of your secret. Who is your true brotherly friend? He is that who does not disappoint you in misfortunes, does not leave you alone in troubles and sins, does not wait until you ask him for help, and does not let you inform him of your problem. You may lead him to straightforwardness when he is leaning.

20- O Kumayl, the believers should be the mirrors of each other; when they look at others, they should meet the needs and settle the problems.

21- O Kumayl, the believers are brothers. Brothers should never prefer anything to each other.

22- O Kumayl, if you do not like your brother, then you are not his brother. The true believer is he who follows our sayings. He who fails to reach him is acting imperfectly to us. He whoever acts imperfectly to us will not catch up with us. He whoever is not with us will be in the lowest class of Hell.

23- O Kumayl, every concealed matter should be divulged in some way. If we divulge one of our secrets to you and order you to keep it, you should never show it to others. If you do so, then no repentance will promote you. When no repentance will promote you, your fate will be Laza - a class of Hell-.

24- O Kumayl, the divulgement of the secrets of Mohammed’s family (peace be upon them) is unforgivable and intolerable. Except the faithful believers, do not narrate their sayings to anyone.

25- O Kumayl, in problems, say: “All might and power belong to God,”[115] so that they will be solved. In graces, say: “All praise is due to God,”[116] so that they will be doubled for you. If your sustenance is slowed, you should seek God’s forgiveness so that it will be increased to you.

26- O Kumayl, by being loyal to us, save yourself from letting the Shaitan have a share in your wealth and sons.

27- O Kumayl, faith is either steady or shaky. Beware of having shaky faith. You will have steady faith only if you fit tightly to the patent path that will not lead you to a bend and will not take you away from the course.

28- O Kumayl, in obligatory acts, there is no permission. In recommendable acts, there is no force.

29- O Kumayl, your sins are more than your good deeds. Your oblivion is more than you reference to God. God’s graces to you are more than your deeds.

30- O Kumayl, there is no single piece in you empty of God’s graces and bestowment of good health. You should never neglect commending, glorifying, praising, thanking, and mentioning Him in every situation.

31- O Kumayl, do not be one from them about whom God says:
They forget about God. He will make them forget themselves. [117]
Hence, He ascribes sinfulness to them. He says:
These are the sinful people. [118]

32- O Kumayl, the high ranks will not be obtained through offering the prayers, fasting, and giving alms. The most important is to offer the prayer with pure intendment, acceptable act, and sound submission. You should regard when and what for you are offering the prayer. If it is not offered correctly and legally, it will not be accepted.

33- O Kumayl, the tongue receives from the heart, and the heart supplies the soul. Consider that with which you feed your heart and body. If the source is illegal, God will not accept your praising and thanking Him.

34- O Kumayl, you should realize and know that we do not permit anybody to breach the trust of anybody. He whoever relates that I have permitted anybody to breach the trust is surely wrong and sinful and his result will be Hell. I swear I heard the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) say to me frequently just one hour before his death: “O Abul-Hasan, give back what you are entrusted to its owner, whether he is pious or sinful, in big and small things even if it is a thread or a needle.” He repeated this thrice each time he said it.

35- O Kumayl, jihad should be only under the leadership of the just imam and spoils are legal only if a virtuous imam gives.

36- O Kumayl, without the advent of a prophet, the advocacy to God of any person including the pious believers will be either right or wrong. Moreover, it will be surely wrong unless God selects him for such an advocacy.

37- O Kumayl, the religion is God’s; therefore, He does not accept for anyone to call for it except the apostles, prophets, and successors of prophets.

38- O Kumayl, God is certainly generous, clement, great, and merciful. He attracts our attentions to His traits and orders us to follow them and invite people to adopt them. We did perform without slackness, put them into practice without hypocrisy, believe in them without disloyalty, and accept them without doubt.

39- O Kumayl, by God I am not slavish flatterer so as to be obeyed, I am not awakener of desires so as not to be disobeyed, and I am not coveting the food of the Bedouins - money of zakat- so as to be called and given the name of ‘Amirul-Muminin’ (Leader of the believers).

40- O Kumayl, the seekers of the worldly pleasures will gain a vanishing and ending life, while we will gain a steady and continuous life.

41- O Kumayl, the all will be to the next life. We only hope for God’s assent and the high ranks of Paradise that He gives to the God-fearing only.

42- O Kumayl, he who will not live in Paradise will surely suffer a painful agony and permanent shame.

43- O Kumayl, thank God for His giving you success and for everything.

Imam Ali’s Commandment for Mohammed bin Abi Bakr when assigned him as governor of Egypt

This is the commandment of Ali Amirul-Muminin to Mohammed bin Abi Bakr when assigned him as the governor of Egypt.

Fear God and obey Him secretly and openly. Devote to God in unseen and public situations. I order you to treat Muslims leniently, the sinful intensely, and Dhimmis fairly. I also order you to give back the wronged their rights, punish the wrong severely, pardon people, and do charitably as much as possible. God will reward the charitable and will punish the sinful.

I order you to call people who are under his power to obey God and accede to union. If they do so, they will gain good health and reward that are too great to be estimated or realized.

I order you to behave with people modestly, give them the same estimation and meet them in the same way, regard the close and the remote equally, judge among people with fair, avoid pursuing the whims, and avoid caring for any blame for God’s sake. God will surely be with him who fears Him, prefers obedience and commandment of Him to anything else.

Abdullah bin Abi Rafi’ was the writer of this commandment.

Amirul Muminin, peace be upon him, then wrote to the people of Egypt the following commandment (We will refer to it briefly):

From: God’s slave; Ali Amirul Muminin.

To: Mohammed bin Abi Bakr and people of Egypt:

Peace be upon you.

So now, I have received your missive, understood your question, admired your interest in that of which it is obligatory upon you to take care and except which nothing will be the most appropriate for the Muslims, and believed that it was a well intention and innocent opinion that had driven you to ask such a question.

Cling to God-fearing in your standing, sitting, secret, and public affairs. If you judge among people, you should treat them with gentleness, treat them leniently, relax your face before them, and use equal looks at them so that the chief will not expect your injustice for their sake and the weak will not despair of your fairness with them. Ask the claimant for evidence and the defendant to oath. Pass the reconciliation of two persons unless it includes the ban of a legal matter or the allowance of a prohibited matter. Favor the jurists, the honest, the faithful, the diffident, and the pious to the lecherous, the liars, and the cheaters. Betake the virtuous pious ones as brothers and the lecherous cheaters as enemies. The most favorable of my friends is the best engaged in mentioning God and the most fearful of Him. I hope I would be one of them, inshallah.

I command you to fear God regarding the questions about which you will be asked and which you will be inevitably facing. God, in His Book, says:

Every soul will be in captivity for its deeds. [119]

He also says:

God warns you about Himself. To God do all things return. [120]

He also says:

By the Lord, We will hold them all responsible for what they have done. [121]

Thus, adhere to God-fearing because it joins goodness together to you in an unprecedented way, and is the means of catching up with the whole good of this world and the world to come in a distinctive way. God says:

The pious ones will be asked, "What did your Lord reveal to you?" They will reply, "He revealed only good." The share of the righteous ones is virtue in this world and greater virtue in the life to come. How blessed will be the dwelling of the pious ones! [122]

Know, O creatures of Allah, that the God-fearing have shared the joys of this transient world as well as the coming world, for they shared with the people of this world in their worldly matters while the people did not share with them in the matters of the next world. God the Majestic says:

Ask them, "Who has made it unlawful to maintain beauty and to eat the pure foods which God has created for His servants? They are made for the believers in this world and are exclusively for them in the life hereafter." Thus do We explain Our revelations to the people who have knowledge. [123]

They lived in this world in the best manner of living and ate the choicest food.

Know, servants of Allah, if you fear God and respected His Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) by way of regarding his family, then you will worship Him the best worship, refer to Him in the best mentioning, thank Him in the best way of thanking, pursue the best of tolerance and thank, practice the best diligence, even if others are offering prayers that are longer than yours, fasting during days more numerous than these during which you fast, and giving alms more than yours. This is because you are more loyal to God and more well-wisher to God’s disciples and the people of authority among the family of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family).

Therefore, O creatures of Allah, be afraid of death and its imminence, dilemmas, and agonies. Keep ready all that is needed for it. It will come as a big event and a great affair, either as a good in which there will never be any evil, or an evil in which there will never be any good. Who is nearer to Paradise than he who works towards it, and who is nearer to Hell than he who works for it? Refer to death as much as possible whenever your souls drag you away from it. I heard the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) say: “Mention the remover of the pleasures very often.” You should know that for those whom God will not forgive and treat mercifully, what is after death will be bitterer than death itself.

O Mohammad (bin Abi Bakr), know that I have given you charge of Egypt, which is my biggest force. So you are duty-bound to oppose your passions and serve as a shield against your religion even though you may get only an hour in the world; and do not enrage Allah for pleasing others because (Allah) is such that He may take the place of others, but others cannot take the place of Allah. Use severity with the oppressors and stop them. Be lenient to the charitable, draw them near to you, and select them as retinue and brothers.

Evaluate your prayer, because you are imam - leader of collective prayers-. The responsibility of any flaw that occurs in the prayers of the followers (of an imam) will be on their imam. Likewise, the imam will gain the same rewards of the imperfect or perfect performance of the followers’ prayers, and they will receive their rewards completely. Evaluate your ablution, because it is the complementary of the prayers. The prayers of those whose ablution is rejected are rejected, too. Remember that every act of yours is dependent on your prayer. You should know also that he whoever neglects his prayer will surely neglect the other obligatory rites of Islam.

O people of Egypt, try your bests to apply your words to your deeds and your secret beliefs to your public deeds, and let your tongues not oppose you actions. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) has said: “In respect of my people I am afraid neither of a believer nor of an unbeliever. As for the believer, Allah will afford him protection because of his belief, and as for the unbeliever, Allah will humiliate him because of his unbelief. But I am afraid about every one of you who is hypocrite in his heart and learned of speech. He speaks what you hold good but does what you dislike.” He is very clear. The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) also said: “The true believer is he who feels pleased for his good deeds and feels unhappy for his ill deeds.” “The hypocrites will not have two characters together: good humor and knowledgeability of a prophetic tradition.”

You should also know, O Mohammed bin Abi Bakr, that the best of understanding is piety in God’s religion and exercise the acts of obedience to God. God may help you and us to thank and mention Him, fulfill His obligatory acts, and exercise the acts of obedience to Him. He is surely All-Hearing and Near.

You should know that this world is the place of misfortune and extinction, while the life to come is the place of continuity and reward. If you can prefer what will remain to what will extinct, then do it. God may give us the ability to see what He shows us and understand what He makes us to understand so that we will not show shortcoming towards His commandments and will not commit what He forbids. You will inevitably gain your share from this world, but you need your share of the next life more. If you have to choose one of two matters - either a worldly affair or an affair regarding the next life, you should begin with the affair of the next life. If you can have a great desire for doing favors with pure intention, then do it. God surely gives a servant according to his intention if he likes charity and its people. If he cannot do it, then may God regard him as the doers of charity, if He wills.

I command you to fear God and other nine characters that are the comprehensive of Islam: fear God and do not fear people in questions related to God, the best wording is that which is confirmed by deeds, do not issue two different rules in the same case lest your affairs will be contrary and you will diverge from the right, like for your subjects whatever you like for yourself and household, settle the plea with God and lead your subject to righteousness, engage yourself in adversities for the sake of the right, do not fear any blame for the sake of God and perform God’s duties, offer advise to the Muslim who seeks your counsel, be the example of the near and the remote Muslims, andmake others do good. Prevent them from doing evil. Be patient in hardship. Patience comes from faith and determination. [124]

Peace and God’s mercy and blessings be upon you.

Imam Ali’s Words of Asceticism and Dispraise of this World and its Present Pleasures

I warn you against this world because it is sweet and dewy. It is surrounded by passions, preferred for its immediateness, built with hopes, and adorned with deceit. Its joy is impermanent and its disasters are befalling without any expectation. It is surely deceitful, harmful, transient, fleeting, destructive, and traitorous. In its ultimate nearness to those who desire and are satisfied with it, it is no more than being as God the Majestic says about it:

This world resembles the (seasonal) plants that blossom by the help of the water which God sends from the sky. After a short time all of them fade away and the winds scatter them (and turns them into dust). God has power over all things. [125]

Nevertheless, if it gives joy to somebody it will follow it up with distress. If it faces with ease it will turns the back with difficulty. If it comes with a drizzle of comfort, it will shock with a downpour of misfortunes. If it gives victory in the morning, it disappoints in the evening. If one side of it becomes sweet and pleasing, the other side will be bitter and unpleasing. If it covers somebody with security, it will put him under the most horrible fear. It is surely deceptive and everything in it is deception. It is surely passing and everything in it will pass away. Except God-fearing, nothing of its supplies is advantageous. He who takes as few as possible of its affairs will be having as much as possible security. He who takes much of its pleasures will not have them continuous and they will vanish shortly. Many were those who trusted the world, but it disillusioned them. Many were tranquil with it, but it defeated them. Many were cautious of it, but it cheated them. Many were masters in it, but it humiliated them. Many were proud in it, but it famished and impoverished them. Many were crowned in it, but it overthrew them. Its power is humility, its living is gloomy and grimy, its freshness is salty, and its sweetness is bitter. The alive in it is in the target of death, the healthy in it is in the target of ailment, and the secure in it is in the target of wronging and injustice. Its authority is usurped. The well-fortified in it is overpowered. Its security is ill-fated. Its fellow is beaten. After all, there is the death struggle, agonies of death, the horror of the resurrection, and the standing before the Just Judge so that “God will recompense the evil doers for their deeds and reward the righteous ones for their deeds. ”[126]

Are you not occupying the houses of those who were older, more far-reaching, more numerous, more powerful, and more stubborn than you? They worked for the world so excessively and preferred it so extremely to anything else. Then they had to leave it with their humility. Do you prefer this one? Or do you care for it? Or do you trust in it? God says:

Those who choose the worldly life and its pleasures will be given proper recompense for their deeds in this life and will not suffer any loss. Such people will receive nothing in the next life except Hell fire. Their deeds will be made devoid of all virtue and their efforts will be in vain. [127]

How bad this lodging is for those who are not watchful and do not beware of it! You should know - yet, you do know- that you will unquestionably be leaving it. It is just like God’s saying:

The worldly life is only a game, a temporary attraction, a means of boastfulness among yourselves and a place for multiplying your wealth and children. [128]

Learn lessons from those who used to build on every height a monument out of frivolity and make strong fortresses that perhaps they may live forever and those who said: “Who is more powerful than we are?” In addition, learn lessons from your friends whom you have noticed how they are taken to their graves; no one offer to reach them and put to the ground and no one offer to receive them as guests. Their graves are their houses, dust is their coffin, and the mortal remains are their neighbors. They are surely neighbors who do not answer a call, protect against aggression, or exchange visits. They became clement as their rancor went away and became ignorant as their malice faded away. Their evil is not anticipated and their support is not expected. They became as if they had not existed. They are just as God says about them:

Those are their homes which were not inhabited thereafter except for a short time. Only We were their heirs. [129]

They substituted the interior of the earth for its surface, the narrowness for the extent, the strangers for their family, and the darkness for the light. They left the world as same as they came to it; barefooted and naked. They moved away from it with their deeds to the permanent life and endless eternity. God the Most High says:

We roll up the heavens as if it were a written scroll and bring it back into existence just as though We had created it for the first time. This is what We have promised and We have always been true to Our promise. [130]

Imam Ali’s Sermon When Some People Protested Against His having Distributed Booty Equally Among People

So now, O people, we praise our Lord; Allah and the source of our clear and unknown boons, which we obtain not for our efforts and endeavors, but for His favor and grace so as to test us whether we would thank or show ingratitude. He will give more to those who thank, while He will punish him whoever shows ingratitude. I declare there is no god but Allah uniquely without any associate. He is One and Absolute. I also declare that Mohammed is His servant and messenger. God sent him as mercy for the slaves, lands, beasts, and animals. He offers this mercy out of His grace and favor. Peace and blessings be upon Mohammed and his family.

O people, the best of people with God are the most regardful for Him, the most submissive to His commandment, the most painstaking in the obedience to Him, the best follower of the Sunna of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), and the best compliant with God’s Book. No one of God’s creature has a preference to another except through the obedience to God and His Apostle and the compliance with God’s Book and the Prophet’s Sunna. This is God’s Book among us. The Prophet’s commandments and traditions are with us. Only the ignorant, apostate, and rebellious, no one is unaware of them. God says:

People, We have created you all male and female and have made you nations and tribes so that you would recognize each other. The most honorable among you in the sight of God is the most pious of you. [131]

He who fears God is the true honorable, dignified, and favored. The same thing is said about the obedient to God and His Apostle. God says:

If you love God, follow me. God will love you and forgive your sins. God is All-forgiving and All-merciful. [132]

Tell them, "Obey God and the Messenger." If they turn away (let it be known) that God does not love the unbeliever. [133]

Then Amirul Muminin (peace be upon him) shouted:

O Muhajirs, Ansar, and Muslims, do you think God owes you a great deal for your embracing Islam? It is surely you who owe God and His Apostle a great deal if you are truthful.

We will apply the rules of the Quran and the shares of Islam to everyone who turns the face towards our kiblah, has only the meat of the animals that are slaughtered according to our rites, and declares there is no god but Allah and Mohammed is His servant and messenger. Except by the means of fearing and obeying God, no one is preferred to another. God may reckon you and us with the God-fearing ones, His disciples, and His dears who will not be subjected to fear and will not be aggrieved.

Certainly, this world for which you desire and covet while it admonishes and discards you is not your home or house for which you were created and invited. It will not last for you and you will not stay in it forever. Do not be deceived by its immediate pleasures after you were warned against it, it was described for you, and you did try it. Thus, you are not expecting for it a good end. Vie with each other - God’s mercy may be upon you- to reach your abodes, which you are ordered to construct, because they are the constructive that will never ruin and the never-ending that will never fade away. God has aroused your interests in these abodes, invited you to them, and settled your rewards there.

O Muhajirs, Ansar, and people of God’s religion, consider the attributes that are ascribed to you in God’s Book, the rank that you attained with the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), and the efforts that you exerted for the sake of God. Do you think you have won so because of your ancestry and lineage? Or was it because of your efforts and acts of obedience to God? Seek the perfection of God’s graces upon you - God’s mercy may be upon you- through preserving yourselves and keeping God’s Book that He ordered you to keep. If you carry out God’s commandments and adhere to God-fearing, nothing of the humiliation of your life will harm you. If you do not abide by God-fearing, then nothing of the worldly pleasures that you pursue will benefit you. O servants of God, adhere to submission to God’s commandment, satisfaction with His act, and steadfastness against His misfortunes.

Regarding this booty, no one should enjoy precedence in the shares of the booty. God the Majestic has completed its distribution. It is God’s possession, and you are the Muslim servants of Him. This is the Book of God; we recognize it, declare it, and submit to it. Our Prophet’s covenant is with us. Hence, submit to the matter - God’s mercy may be upon you- because he whoever does not yield to this matter may leave us in any way he chooses. He whoever acts upon God’s obedience and judges according to God’s rules will not feel alone. They will have neither fear nor grief. Those are the successful. We beseech to our Lord and God to include you and us with the people of His obedience and dedicate your and our desires to His rewards. In the end, I seek God’s forgiveness for you and me.

Imam Ali’s Wording about Equal Distribution of Wealth

As they noticed how Muawiya gave those who joined his army generously, some of the soldiers of Amirul Muminin - in the battle of Siffine- suggested to him to offer assets to the chiefs and the individuals that he anticipated their mutiny and flight exclusively. When matters would be settled, he would return to his course of equal distribution. As Imam Ali (peace be upon him) heard this suggestion, he spoke:

Do you command me that I should seek support by oppressing those over whom I have been placed? By Allah, I will not do so as long as the world goes on and as long as one star follows another in the sky. Even if it were my property, I would have distributed it equally among them, then why not when the property is that of Allah.

He then paused for a while, and went on:

I warn them who have a property against corruption. Certainly, that giving of wealth without any right for it is wastefulness and lavishness. It honors him before people, but disgraces him with Allah. If a man gives his property to those who have no right for it or do not deserve it, Allah deprives him of their gratefulness, and their love too would be for others. Only the slavish flatterers and the liars will show him false gratitude. These two individuals do so only for obtaining the same previous gifts. Then if he fell on bad days and needed their help, they would prove the worst comrades and ignoble friends. They will address to him the sayings of the ignorant as long as he gifts them while he closes the hand with God. Is there then any fate more ill-omened than this? And is there such a profitless and losing favor? He who receives some money should use it for regarding the relatives, receiving the guests hospitably, releasing the pauper and the prisoners, and relieving the indebted, the wayfarers, the poor, and the emigrants. He should also be clement for winning the rewards and the rights. If he follows so, he will win a good reputation in this world and the rewards of the world to come.

Imam Ali’s Description of the World for the God-Fearing

Jabir bin Abdillah al-Ansari related: We were mentioning the defects of this world when Amirul Muminin (peace be upon him) came to us, after midnight, and asked about our question of discussion after he had finished from fighting his enemies in Basra. As he knew we had been dispraising this world, he said:

All praise and thanks be to God.

So now, why are some people dispraising this world? Is it for they pursued asceticism from it? This world is the lodging of honesty for them who act honestly with it. It is the lodging of good health for them who understand it. It is the lodging of richness for them who supply themselves with it. It is the place of the prostration of God’s prophets (peace be upon them), the place of the descend of God’s revelation, the place of the Angels’ prayers, the house of the God’s adorers, and the place of the trade of God’s disciples. In this world, the disciples acquire God’s mercy and win Paradise. Who can then offend this world, Jabir? It declared its departure, informed of its discontinuity, announced its vanishing, exhibited its misfortune in the exhibition of misfortune, urged pleasure through its pleasure, ended its day with a misfortune, and began it with grace and good health as a signs of frightening and attraction of desires. Some people are dispraising it after they felt sorry. It served them honestly, reminded them and they remembered, admonished them and they learned, frightened them and they feared, and attracted their desires and they were desirous.

O you who dispraise the world but you are deceived by its deception, in which situations did the world deserve your dispraise? In which situations did it attract your desire towards it? Was it when your forefathers were changed into tatter? Or was it when your foremothers laid their heads on dust? Very often you were the nurse of many people as you watched for their cure, prescribed medicine for them, and fetched them physicians. But you could not achieve your request, and your hopes did not come true. In fact, the world represented the truth for you in the situation of such people and presented that your manner would be like them when your dearest people will not benefit you, your calls will be not answered. This is when agonies of death attain their climax when moaning is useless and wailing is ineffectual. When the mediastinum presses them forcibly and the throat suffocates with them. Then, no call you will hear and no tune will terrify. How long grief will occur when the deadline falls. Then you will be carried in a casket by four hands to settle in the grave forever in a narrow place. Thus, the power has gone, the period - of life- come to end, the kind people left, and the amicable brothers interrupted. In addition, the close friends have no longer approached, the visitors have no longer attended, the house has no longer extended. The practices are no longer possible and the news are no longer available. The heirs hurried to have their shares of the heritage, the woe is falling, and the sins are encircling. If you did good acts during your life, your prize will be pleasant. If you did evil, then the result will be anguish. How is it useful for souls to settle when death is the inevitable result and grave is the inevitable house? This is surely a sufficient admonisher.

Jabir said: Then Amirul Muminin (peace be upon him) asked me to visit the graves. There, he spoke:

O occupants of dust, O occupants of strangeness, your houses have been abided, your heritage has been distributed, and your wives have been married. There are the news that we carry for you. What are the news that you have for us?

The Imam spoke after a considerable while:

I swear by Him Who raised the heavens and they were exalted, and extended the earth and it was extended, if they are permitted to speak, they will say: We found that the best supplies is God-fearing.

O Jabir, you may return.

Imam Ali’s Sermon of Faith, Spirits, and Variety of Spirits

A man said to Imam Ali , peace be upon him: There are some people claiming that faithful servants will not commit fornication, drink intoxicants, use usury, or shed forbidden blood. I could not accept so. It is surely difficult for me to claim that the servant, who offers prayers and will burry me when I die and I will burry him when he is dead, is unfaithful just because he committed an insignificant sin. Imam Ali, peace be upon him, said:

Yes, it is. This is true. I heard the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) say: “God created people on three characters, and made them three classes.” This is God’s saying:

The people of the right hand. How happy they will be! The people of the left hand. How miserable they will be! The foremost ones will be the nearest ones to God. [134]

The foremost ones to whom God refers are the prophets - whether messengers or not-. God supplied them with five spirits: spirit of holiness, spirit of faith, spirit of power, spirit of passion, and physical spirit. With the spirit of holiness, they were sent as prophets and messengers. With the spirit of faith, they worshipped God exclusively without betaking any associate with Him. With the spirit of power, they fought their enemies and made their livings. With the spirit of passion, they enjoyed the sweetness of food and drink and married women legally. With the physical spirit, they grew up and took their courses. Those are forgiven and their sins are overlooked. For them, God says:

We gave some of Our Messengers preference over others. To some of them God spoke and He raised the rank of some others. We gave authoritative proofs to Jesus, son of Mary, and supported him by the Holy Spirit .[135]

About them, God also says:

… And supported them by a Spirit from Himself. [136]

By this spirit, God honored and favored them to the others. They are forgiven.

God then refers to the people of the right hand. They are the faithful believers. God supplied them with four spirits: spirit of faith, spirit of power, spirit of passion, and physical spirit.

A servant is still keeping these four spirits perfectly until he encounters some manners.

“What are these manners?” asked the man.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him) answered:

The first manner is that to which God refers in His saying:

Some of you will grow to an extremely old age and lose your memory. God is All-knowing and Almighty .[137]

Thus, all the spirits will disappear due to such an extreme old age. However, he does not desert faith, because it is God who caused him to encounter such an extreme old age due to which he could not recognize the times of prayers, practice the night worship, or fast during days. This is a reduction of the spirit of faith although it will not harm, God willing.

The spirit of passion is also reduced to the degree that even if the most beautiful woman passes by him he will not any desire towards her. The physical spirit, by which he moves and advances in age until death overcomes, only remains. This is the good manner, because it is God who does this to him. He may pass by manners in his power and youth. When he intends to commit a sin, the spirit of power encourages him, the spirit of passion makes it attractive, and the physical spirit leads him to commit the sin. If he commits it, he will separate from faith and faith will separate from him. He will not regain the faith unless he repents. If he repents and recognizes the (obligatory) loyalty - to the Prophet and his family-, God will accept his repentance. If he commits the sin again, he then will be in Hell because he will be disloyal - to the Prophet and his family-.

The people of the left hand are the Jews and the Christians. God the Majestic says:

Those to whom We have given the Book (Bible), know you - i.e. they know the obligatory loyalty to the Prophet and his family that is recorded in the Torah and the Bible-just as a well as they know their sons - in their houses-. It is certain that some of them deliberately hide the truth. Never doubt that the essence of truth comes from your Lord. [138]

When they denied what they had known, God punished them for so. He seized the spirit of holiness from them and made their bodies carry three spirits only: spirit of power, spirit of passion, and physical spirit. God then attached them to the animals. He says:

They are like cattle… [139]

This is because animals carry things with the spirit of power, eat with the spirit of passion, and walk with the physical spirit.

“You have surely enlivened my heart,” said the asker.

Imam Ali’s Commandment for Ziyad bin Annadr when assigned him as the commander of his army in the Battle of Siffine

Fear God in every morning and evening. Be cautious of being deceived. Do not feel secured from misfortunes. You should know that if you do not deprive yourself of many of your desires, as fear of the bad result, your whims will drive you into many injuries until you move away. Prevent yourself from oppression, tyranny, aggression, and hostility. I have given you the commandment of this army. Do not humiliate them or use arrogance against them. Certainly, the best of you is the most God-fearing. Acquire knowledge from the scholars among them, teach the ignorant among them, and show clemency to the foolish. You will gain welfare only through knowledge and abstinence from harm and ignorance.

The Imam (peace be upon him) then sent another missive of commandment and admonition:

You should know that the vanguards are the overseers, and the overseers are the front. If you leave your country and approach your enemy, you should not feel weary from addressing the front to every side and to some of the defiles, woods, and secret places as well as every area so that your enemies will not raid or trap you. Do not give the orders of directing the battalions and tribes from morning to evening unless there are covering powers beyond them. If a matter occurs or a trouble befalls you, you will have covering powers. If you raid your enemies or if they raid you, your camp should be on the heights, versants of mountains, or in rivers so that they will form fortresses for you and will prevent your enemies from reaching you. Your fighting should be in one and two faces. Order the overseers to settle on the summits of mountains, heights, and on the edges of rivers. They should oversee for you so that the enemies will not attack you from an expected or secured place. If you want to reside, you should reside collectively, and when you want to continue your march, you should continue collectively. When you reside at night, you should encompass your camp with spears and armors. The archers should protect the carriers of armors so that you will not be taken surprisingly or inattentively. Guard your army yourself. Beware, you should not sleep unbrokenly and should not pass a night with deep sleep. You should keep up this tradition until you meet your enemy. You should be slow in fighting. You may hurry only when a good opportunity is granted for you. Do not fight before the enemy attacks you or you receive my order. Peace and God’s mercy and blessings be upon you.

Imam Ali’s Description of the Relaters of Narratives

Sulaim bin Qais said to Amirul Muminin (peace be upon him): I have heard Salman, Abutharr, and al-Miqdad speaking of matters regarding the exegesis of the Quran and the sayings and narratives of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). Then I hear you testifying so. I also noticed many other matters regarding the Quranic exegeses and the prophetic narratives in people’s hands, but they opposed them while others were forging lies willfully and interpreting the Quran out of their own impressions. What is the reality of this matter?

Imam Ali (peace be upon him) answered:

You have asked; so, listen to the answer. Certainly, what is current among the people are right and wrong, true and false, repealing and repealed, general and particular, definite and indefinite, exact and surmised. Even during the Prophet’s days false sayings had been attributed to him, so much so that he had to say during his sermon: “Whoever attributes falsehoods to me makes his abode in Hell.” However, many forged lies against him after his death. Those who relate traditions are of four categories, no more:

The hypocrite is a person who makes a show of faith and adopts the appearance of a Muslim; he does not hesitate in sinning nor does he keep aloof from vice; he willfully attributes false things against the Messenger of Allah - may Allah bless him and his descendants. If people knew that he was a hypocrite and a liar, they would not accept anything from him and would not confirm what he says.

Rather they say that he is the companion of the Prophet, has met him, heard (his sayings) from him and acquired (knowledge) from him. They therefore do not recognize his reality when they acceded to his knowledge. Allah too had warned well about the hypocrites and described them fully. He says:

“Their physical appearance attracts you when you see them and when they speak, you carefully listen to them.”

They have continued after the Holy Prophet as they spread in many countries. They gained positions with the leaders of misguidance and callers towards Hell through falsehoods and slanderings. So, they put them in high posts and judiciary positions, made them officers over the heads of the people, and amassed wealth through them. People are always with the rulers and after this world that they regard as their goal, except those to whom Allah affords protection. This is the first of the four categories.

Then there is the individual who heard (a saying) from the Holy Prophet but did not memorize it as it was, but surmised it. He does not lie willfully. Now, he carries the saying with him and relates it, acts upon it and claims that: “I heard it from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family).” If the Muslims come to know that he has committed a mistake in it, they will not accept it from him, and if he himself knows that he is on the wrong he will give it up.

The third man is he who heard the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) ordering to do a thing and later the Prophet refrained the people from doing it, but this man did not know it, or he heard the Prophet refraining people from a thing and later he allowed it, but this man did not know it. In this way he retained in his mind what had been repealed, and did not retain the repealing tradition. If he knew that it had been repealed he would reject it, or if the Muslims knew, when they heard it from him, that it had been repealed they would reject it. This is the third category.

The last, namely the fourth man, is he who does not speak a lie against Allah or against His Prophet. He hates falsehood out of fear for Allah and respect for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), and does not commit mistakes, but retains (in his mind) exactly what he heard (from the Prophet), and he relates it as he heard it without adding anything or omitting anything. He heard the repealing tradition, he retained it and acted upon it, and he heard the repealed tradition and rejected it. The traditions of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) are as same as the Quran in the face that some of them are repealed and some are repealing. Likewise, some of them are decisive and some are allegorical. Like the Quran, the wording of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) is of two kinds - one is particular and one is general. God the Majestic says:

Take only what the Messenger gives to you and desist from what he forbids you. [140]

Sometimes a man would hear him but he would not know what Allah, the Glorified, meant by it or what the Messenger of Allah meant by it. In this way the listener carries it and memorizes it without knowing its meaning and its true intention, or what was its reason. Among the companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) all were not in the habit of putting him questions and ask him the meanings, indeed they always wished that some Bedouin or stranger might come and ask him (peace be upon him) so that they would also listen.

I used to visit him once a day and he used to keep me alone with him to plunge in everything in which he plunged. All the companions knew that the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) did this only to me exclusively. Sometimes, he used to come to my house. Whenever I was before him, he used to ask the others to leave and ask his wives to let him alone. Whenever I asked, he answered me. Whenever I kept silent or had my questions finished, he opened a matter of discussion with me. Whenever a Verse was revealed to him, whether at night or daylight, in a heaven or the earth, in the world or the world to come, in Paradise or Hell, in a plain or a mountain, or in light or gloom, he used to recite it before me, teach me its interpretation, exegesis, repealing, repealed, decisive, allegorical, particular, and general matters. He also used to teach me where and what for was it revealed until the Day of Resurrection.

Imam Ali’s Wording of Grounds of Islam and the Reality of Repentance and Seeking Forgiveness[141]

Kumayl bin Ziyad related: I asked Amirul Muminin (peace be upon him) about the grounds of Islam. He answered:

The grounds of Islam are seven. The first of them is the mind on which tolerance is based. The second is the preservation of the honor and the truthfulness. The third is reciting the Quran properly. The fourth is to love and hate for God’s sake. The fifth is the recognition of the family of Mohammed (peace be upon him and his family) and the loyalty to their leadership. The sixth is the fulfillment of the friends’ rights and the protection of them. The seventh is to show good neighborhood with people.

Kumayl bin Ziyad said: I asked, “It happens that a servant - of God- commits a sin then seeks the forgiveness of God. What is the limit of seeking God’s forgiveness?” Imam Ali (peace be upon him) answered: “It is repentance, son of Ziyad.” “Only?” wondered I. “No,” answered he. “How then?” I asked. He answered, “When a servant commits a sin, he says, ‘I seek God’s forgiveness,’ by movement.” “What is that movement?” asked I. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) answered, “It is the movement of the two lips and the tongue. He should attach the reality to that movement.” “What is that reality?” I asked. “It is a certification in the heart and a determination of avoiding committing the sin from which it was repented,” answered the Imam. “If I do so, will I be regarded as one of the repentant?” asked I. “No,” answered the Imam. “How is that?” wondered I. “This is because you have not attained the origin yet,” explained the Imam. “What is the origin of seeking God’s forgiveness, then?” asked I. The Imam replied:

The origin of seeking forgiveness of God is to refer to the repentance from the sin from which you have sought God’s forgiveness. This is the first grade of the worshippers. The abandonment of sins and the seeking of God’s forgiveness have six indications. First is to feel sorry for the past deeds. Second is to determine not to commit that sin ever again. Third is to fulfill the rights of the other creatures that are obligatory upon you. Fourth is to fulfill the rights of God in every obligatory matter. Fifth is to dissolve the flesh, which was composed due to forbidden and ill-gotten things, until the skin touches the bones. Only then you may start to build new flesh. Sixth is to cause your body to suffer the pain of acts of obedience of God as harshly as that when you caused it to taste the pleasures of acts of disobedience to God.

Imam Ali’s Will to Al-Hasan His Son[142]

This is the will of Ali bin Abi Talib:

I advise the believers to declare that there is no god but Allah exclusively without any associate and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger. He sent him with guidance and the right religion so as to make it prevail all the other religions even if the polytheists detest it. Allah’s blessings and compliments be upon Mohammed. Then my prayer, sacrifice, life, and death are all for God, the Lord of the universe. Nothing is equal to Him. Thus are the commandments, which I have received and I am the first Muslim (submitted to the will of God.)

I advise you, O Hasan, as well as all my sons, family members, and every believer who receives this will, to fear Allah your Lord and do not die before you are Muslims. Cling to the tie of God altogether and do not be discrepant for I have heard the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) saying: “Settlement of mutual differences is better than the general prayers and fasting, while the true fatal thing, which is also the shaver of the religion, is the rupture of the mutual relations.” All power belongs to God.

Look after your relatives and build good relations with them and God will make your trial - on the Day of Resurrection- easy.

(Fear) Allah (and) keep Allah in view in the matter of orphans. So, they should not be ruined in your presence. I heard the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) saying: “For him whoever provides for an orphan till he attains independency, God will make Paradise his inevitable abode as He will make Hell the inevitable abode of those who wrongfully consume the property of orphans.”

(Fear) Allah (and) keep Allah in view in the matter of the Quran. No one should excel you in acting upon it.

(Fear) Allah (and) keep Allah in view in the matter of your neighbors, because they were the subject of the Prophet’s advice. He went on advising in their favor till we thought he would allow them a share in inheritance.

(Fear) Allah (and) keep Allah in view in the matter of your Lord’s House (Kaaba). Do not forsake it so long as you live, because if it is abandoned you will not be spared. The least thing that the pilgrim will gain after returning from hajj is the forgiveness of all his past sins.

(Fear) Allah (and) keep Allah in view in the matter of prayer, because it is the best of the deeds and the pillar of your religion.

(Fear) Allah (and) keep Allah in view in the matter of the zakat because it extinguishes the wrath of your Lord.

(Fear) Allah (and) keep Allah in view in the matter of fasting for the month of Ramadan because it is a protection against the fire of Hell.

(Fear) Allah (and) keep Allah in view in the matter of the paupers and the poor. You should make them have shares in your livings.

(Fear) Allah (and) keep Allah in view in the matter of jihad with the help of your property, lives and tongues in the way of Allah. Those who practice jihad are only two categories - either an imam of guidance or an obedient of an imam who pursues his guidance.

(Fear) Allah (and) keep Allah in view in the matter of the progeny of your Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). They should never let them be wronged among you when you are able to protect them.

(Fear) Allah (and) keep Allah in view in the matter of the companions of your Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) who neither commit a dissent nor did they succor a heretic. the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) ordered to keep them and cursed those who commit a dissent or succor a heretic whether among them or among others.

(Fear) Allah (and) keep Allah in view in the matter of your women and bondmaids. The last word of your Prophet was his saying: “I advise you to keep the two weak - women and bondmaids.”

Keep the prayers, keep the prayers, keep the prayers. Do not care for any blame from anybody in the sake of God so that God will protect you against whoever intends to hurt or wrong you. Use good wording with people as God ordered you. Do not give up bidding for good and forbidding from evil lest the mischievous gain positions over you, and then if you will pray to God against them, the prayers will not be granted.

O my sons, You should keep to a respect for kinship, spending for others, and mutual collaboration. Avoid turning away from one another, severing mutual relations, and discrepancy. Cooperate with each other in righteousness and piety, not in sin and hostility. Have fear of God; He is stern in His retribution. May God save you, as a household, and save your Prophet among you. I deposit you with God and recite upon you peace and God’s mercy and blessings.

He then kept saying: “There is no god but Allah,” till he passed away.

Imam Ali’s Preference of Knowledge

O people, you should know that the perfection of the religion is the seeking of knowledge and exercising it. The seeking of knowledge is more incumbent than seeking earnings. As a matter of fact, the earnings are already distributed among you and guaranteed for you. They were distributed and guaranteed by the Just One Who will unquestionably fulfill the distribution and the guarantee. Knowledge is hoarded with its people and you are asked to seek it from them. Seek it and know that the abundance of wealth will ruin the religion and harden the heart. The abundance of knowledge and its application will improve the religion and lead to Paradise. Expenditure reduces the wealth while knowledge increases when it is spent - carried to others-. The expenditure of knowledge is to reach it to its retainers and relaters.

You should know also that the association and the pursuance of the knowledgeable is a followed religion. As well, the obedience to the knowledgeable yields the good advantages and erases the bad advantages. It is also a supply for the believers as it raises them to a high rank during their lifetimes and grants them a good reputation after their death. Knowledge has many advantages. Modesty is its head, acquittal of envy is its eye, perception is its ear, truthfulness is its tongue, scrutiny is its memory, well intention is its heart, the recognition of the causes of things is its mind, mercy is its hand, safety is its determination, visiting the knowledgeable is its foot, piety is its wisdom, salvation is its settlement, good health is its captain, loyalty is its ship, nice wording is its weapon, satisfaction is its sword, courtesy is its string, discussion with the knowledgeable is its army, good mannerism is its wealth, avoidance of committing sins is its hoard, favor is its provisions, amicability is its succor, right way is its guide, and association with the pious is its companion.

Short Maxims of Imam Ali

1- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Piety, concealment of the good actions, steadfastness against disasters, and suppression of the misfortunes are within the treasures of Paradise.

2- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The best friend is good mannerism. It is the title of the believers’ record books.

3- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The true abstinent in this world is he whose tolerance is not overcome by the ill-gotten matters and whose gratitude is not engaged by the legal gotten matters.

4- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) wrote to Abdullah bin Abbas:
So then, a man becomes delighted if he catches up the things that he would never miss and becomes unhappy if he misses the things that he would never catch up. You should be delighted only for the things of the next life that you have caught up, and should be sorry only for the things of the next life that you have missed. Do not be excessively happy for gaining a worldly pleasure and do not be excessively unhappy for missing it. All your concern should be for that which will occur to you after death.

5- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said about the censure of this world:
It begins with hardship and ends with decline. Judgment will be set for its legally gotten things and punishment will be sentenced for its ill-gotten things. If somebody is healthy in it, he will feel secure, and if he becomes ill, he will be sorrowful. If he becomes wealthy, he will be seditious and if he becomes poor, he will be sad. He whoever runs for it will miss it, and he whoever disregards it will gain it. It will blind him whoever gazes at it and will teach him whoever looks at it properly.

6- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
When you cherish someone you should cherish him moderately for he may be your enemy someday, and when you hate someone you should hate him moderately for he may be your friend someday.

7- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
No wealth like intelligence and no poverty harsher than ignorance.

8- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The value of a man is what he does expertly.

9- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Fear is attached to disappointment, and pudency is attached to deprivation. Wisdom is the lost of the believer who should seek it even if it is found with the evil ones.

10- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Had the scholars carried knowledge properly, God and the angels as well as all people of obedience would have cherished them. Unfortunately, they carried knowledge for seeking worldly pleasures; therefore, God abominated them and people disgraced them.

11- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Tolerance, silence, and expecting the Relief are the best of worship.

12- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Each crisis has an end at which it will definitely fade away. If you are encountering a crisis, you should submit and be patient until it passes away. Any attempt to find a solution will not solve the problem. It will make it worse.

13- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said to Malik al-Ashtar:
O Malik, retain and understand the following wording: O Malik, the owners of weak conviction are disregarding their personality. He whoever takes greed as his slogan is disgracing himself. He whoever publicizes his problem is satisfied with humility. He whoever shows others his secrets is disrespecting himself. He whoever makes his tongue as his leader is perishing himself. Greed is the butcher of the personality. He who intrudes himself in various sorts of acts will surely be disappointed by his desire. Stinginess is dishonor. Cowardice is shortcoming. Piety is a shelter. Thankfulness is fortune. Patience is bravery. The poor is strange in his homeland. Poverty prevents the intelligent from providing his arguments. Satisfaction is the best comrade. Good manners are new garments. The rank of a man is his mind. A man’s chest is the store of his secrets. Verification is prudence. Thinking is a fine mirror. Forbearance is a virtuous character. Almsgiving is an effective medicine. The current actions will be in front of their doers later on. Learning examples is a good warner. Good humor is the trap of amiability.

14- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The rank of patience to faith is as same as the rank of the head to the body. Hence, the impatient are faithless.

15- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
You are in respite followed by a deadline. With you there is the hope that precludes you from acting - good deeds-. Seize the opportunity of respite, take the initiative to the deadline, distrust the hope, and do as much as possible. Is there an opportunity of avoidance, escape, getaway, shelter, or refuge or not? How are you then turned away?

16- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
I command you to adhere to God-fearing because it is surely the delight of the suppliant seeker - of God’s mercy and favors- and the confidence of the homeless seeker of asylum. Betake God-fearing as a hidden slogan and mention God so purely that you will have the best life and will be lead to the courses of safety. Look at this world with the eye of the abstinent that is about to leave it, because it surely dislodges the relaxed resident and distresses the secure luxurious. Whatever passes away from it is no longer expected and whatever is to come is not realized so that it will be awaited. Its comfort is connected to its trouble and its survival is connected to its bereavement. Its pleasure is mixed with grief and its survival is mixed with weakness and feebleness.

17- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Vanity comes from tyranny. Tyranny comes from arrogance. Arrogance comes from conceit. The Shaitan is a present enemy who promises falsely. Muslims are brothers. Do not disappoint each other and do not impute dishonor to each other. The canons of the religion are the same and its courses are clear. He who embraces these courses will catch up, he who departs them will surely fall behind, and he who leaves them will surely apostatize. A Muslim should never say untruth when he speaks, never breach when he promises, and never betray when something is deposited with him.

18- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Intelligence is the intimate friend of the believer, clemency is his supporter, clemency is his father, and lenience is his brother. The intelligent must enjoy three characters - he must think of his affairs, control his tongue (against saying bad wording), and realizes the nature of the time he is living in. Certainly, poverty is a branch of misfortune. Illness of bodies is harsher than poverty. Ill-heartedness is harsher than illness of body. Certainly, financial prosperity is one of the graces. Physical soundness is better than financial prosperity. The true God-fearing is better than physical soundness.

19- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
A believer should divide his time into three parts - he should supplicate to his Lord secretly in one, settle an account with himself in the second, and permit himself to enjoy the good and legal pleasures in the third. The intelligent should not be attentive except in three manners - when he tries to improve his livelihood, when he tries to step forward for the life to come, and when he tries to gain a lawful pleasure.

20- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Many are those whom are tempted by receiving graces, many are those whom are trapped by the concealment of their flaws, and many are those whom are cheated by wording of praise. God has never used a means of test more infelicitous than respite. God the Majestic says:
We only give them time to let them increase their sins. [143]

21- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
You should gather in your heart the need for people and the dispensing with them. You may have the need for people through showing good wording and good humor with them, and you may have the dispensing with them through the candor of your honor and the continuity of your power.

22- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Do not be angry and do not enrage others. Exchange greetings and use good wording.

23- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The generous becomes lenient when his clemency is beseeched, but the mean becomes more severe when he is treated kindly.

24- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
May I tell you of the true scholar? He is that who does not permit people to act disobediently to God and does not make them despair of His mercy, does not make them feel secure from God’s retribution and does not substitute anything for the Quran. Adoration without comprehension, knowledge without pondering (over things), and recitation without understanding - all these are valueless.

25- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
When God will gather people - for judgment- a caller will declare: O people, today, the most favorable to God will be the most fearful of Him. The most preferable to God will be the best doers of good acts. The closest to God will be the most desirous for gaining what He has in possession through acting. The most honorable to God will be the most God-fearing.

26- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
I wonder at those who protect themselves against having harmful food, how do they not protect themselves from committing sins so that they will be saved from Hell? I wonder at those who purchase slaves with their money, why do they not purchase the free through doing favors to them? Good and evil cannot be recognized with any means other than people. If you want to recognize good, you should do it so as to know its people, and if you want to recognize evil, you should do it so as to know its people.

27- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
For you, I am only afraid of two things - prolonged hope and pursuance of passions. The prolonged hope makes you forget the life to come, and the pursuance of passions precludes you from the right.

28- A man from Basra asked Imam Ali (peace be upon him) about the qualifications of friends. He answered:
There are two kinds of friends - friends of confidence and friends of grimace. The friends of confidence are the refuge, the wing, the folks, and the wealth. If you confide in your friend, you should provide your wealth and help to him. You should also befriend him who befriends him and antagonize him who antagonizes him. You should keep his secrets and defects and publicize his good conducts. You should know, O asker, that the friends of confidence are as scanty as red sulfur. Regarding the friends of grimace, you gain from them only your pleasure; therefore, you should not deprive them of your pleasure. Do not ask them for any further thing. Give them happy mien and good wording as long as they give you their happy mien and good wording.

29- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Do not befriend the enemy of your friend lest you become the enemy of your friend.

30- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Do not desert your friend due to suspicion and do not leave him before you blame him.

31- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
A Muslim should avoid befriending three categories of people: the sinful, the foolish, and the liars. The sinful shows you his evildoings as good deeds, wants you to be like him, and does not help you in the affairs of your religion and your life to come. It is rude and tough to befriend such an individual whose visit to you brings you dishonor. The foolish does not advise you of good and is not expected to save you from any problem even if he does his best. Moreover, he may harm you as he intends to benefit you. His death is better than his life, his silence is better than his words, and his remoteness is better than his closeness. The liar will deprive you of any pleasant life with him. He tells others of your conducts and relates to you the others’ conducts. Whenever he finishes from telling a lie, he invents another to the degree that even his true sayings cannot be believed. He sows enmity between people to plant malice in their hearts. Fear God and consider for yourselves.

32- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Do not care when you associate with the intelligent even if you are deprived of his generosity. You may benefit by his intelligence, but be cautions of his ill manners. Do not neglect associating with the generous even if you are deprived of benefiting by his intelligence. You may benefit by his generosity for your mind. Escape as remote as possible from the mean foolish individuals.

33- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Steadfastness is of three sorts - steadfastness against misfortunes, steadfastness in (performing) the acts of obedience to God, and steadfastness by the avoidance of the acts of disobedience to Him.

34- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
It will be quite worthy for those who are able to prevent themselves from enjoying the following four characters to be saved from encountering any detestable matter. These four characters are rashness, disputation, self-conceit, and indolence.

35- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Deeds are either obligatory, recommendable, or acts of disobedience. Regarding the obligatory deeds, the servants - of God- practice them under God’s order, will, satisfaction, knowledge, and arrangement. Hence, they save themselves - from God’s punishment- through carrying out such obligatory deeds. The recommendable deeds are not God’s order, yet they are done under His will, satisfaction, knowledge, and arrangement. As the servants act such deeds, they are rewarded for them. Regarding the acts of disobedience (to God), they are done not for God’s order, will, and satisfaction. Yet, they are done under His knowledge and arrangement. He arranges their times but the servants commit them optionally; therefore, God punishes them for committing such acts of disobedience. This is because God has warned the servants against them, but they did not obey.

36- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
O people, God enjoys a right (that is incumbent upon you) in every favor He bestows. He will increase them who thank Him (for that favor), while those who do not show gratitude are risking the removal of these favors and dragging God’s punishment nearer to them. You should show God that you are fearful of the removal of the favors and terrible for committing sins.

37- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
He who encounters poverty and does not believe that such a situation has been God’s favor to him is surely wasting an expected errand. He who is given wealth but does not believe that it has been a means of test is feeling secure from an alarmed matter.

38- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
O people, supplicate to God to provide you with conviction and beseech to Him to grant you good health. Good health is surely the best of graces, and Conviction is the best thing that perpetuates in the heart. The true wronged is that who wrongs his religion. The true happy is that whose conviction is proper.

39- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
No one can find the true taste of faith before he believes that whatever befalls him would never miss him and whatever missed him would never befall him.

40- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The harshest misfortunes that a believer may suffer are the deprivation of three things - the consolation with wealth, self-equity, and very much reference to God. I do not mean that you mention God by phrases such as ‘Praise to God’ and ‘Glory to God’, but you should refer to Him by adhering to the halal and refraining from the haram.

41- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
He who satisfies himself with only what suffices him from the worldly affairs will be sufficed with the least of it, but whoever is dissatisfied with what suffices him nothing at all will suffice him.

42- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Death is preferred to meanness and endurance is preferred to anxiety. This life consists of two days - one for you and one against you. On the day that is for you, you should not behave vainly, and on the day that is against you, you should not be grieved because both days are tests for you.

43- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Do favor to whomever you want and he will be your prisoner.

44- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Flattery and envy are not within the characters of a believer except when they are used for seeking studies.

45- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The supports of atheism are four. They are desire - for the worldly pleasures-, fear - from missing any worldly pleasure-, dissatisfaction - with the acts of God-, and anger.

46- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Patience is the key to the achievement, and success is the end result of the patient. For every seeker of a matter there is a definite time that is controlled by the destiny.

47- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Tongue is a measure that is lowered by ignorance and outweighed by mind.

48- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
For those who avenge themselves improperly, God will inflict humility upon them. Certainly, God is the enemy of whatever He detests.

49- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
He who seeks good will never feel perplexed and he who seeks - others’- consult will never feel sorry.

50- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Countries were constructed because of patriotism.

51- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
He who observes the following three matters will be happy: You should thank God for every grace that you gain, you should seek God’s forgiveness whenever your earnings fail to reach you, and you should say, ‘All power and might belong to God’[144] whenever a misfortune inflicts you.

52- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Sciences are three - jurisprudence for the knowledge of religions, medicine for the cure of the bodies, and grammar for the correction of the language.

53- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
God’s rights (that are incumbent upon His servants) in difficulty are satisfaction and patience, and His rights in ease are praise and gratitude.

54- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Avoidance of sins is easier than seeking (the acceptance of) repentance. Often a one-hour passion may bring about a time-consuming grief. Death is the sign of the scandal and valueless of this world. It did not leave any moment of happiness for the intelligent and did not leave any moment of pleasure for the attentive.

55- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Knowledge is the leader, act is the driver, and the soul is balky.

56- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
You should hope for the unexpected more than the expected. As he went for fetching a kindle of fire for his family, Moses (peace be upon him) was back with prophecy after God had spoken with him. As she went out, the queen of Sheba converted to Islam with Solomon the prophet (peace be upon him). Similarly, the sorcerers of the Pharaoh went for supporting the king, but they went back with faith.

57- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
People’s similarity to their rulers is more than their similarity to their fathers.

58- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
O people, you should know that he who is upset because of a false wording that is said about him is not intelligent, and whoever is satisfied with the praise of the ignorant is not wise. People are the sons of what they do expertly. The value of every man is what he does expertly. Discuss matters of knowledge so that your posts will be recognized.

59- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
God’s mercy be upon him who observes his Lord, abstains from committing sins, challenges his passions, distrusts his expectations, ties himself to God-fearing with reins, and binds himself to the fear of the Lord with bridles to lead it to the obedience with its reins and prevents it from committing acts of disobedience with its bridle. He raises his sight to the world to come, expects death in any moment, thinks ceaselessly, stays up for nights, abstains from the worldly pleasures, works hard for the life to come, and betakes patience as the pack animal of his safety and God-fearing as the provisions of his death and the remedy of his malady. As he pondered and measured, he knew the reality of this world and people. He learns for understanding and opting for straightforwardness. His heart is pierced by the mention of the world to come; therefore, he folded his bed and deserted his pillow. His desire for what is there with God is so great, and his fear from God is so intense. He shows less than what he conceals and suffices with less than what he knows. Such individuals are surely God’s deposits on the earth and the means by whom He saves the servants from misfortunes. They fulfill their pledges with God so perfectly. The last of their prayer is ‘All praise is due to Allah the Lord of the worlds.’

60- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Earnings are given the authority on foolishness, deprivation is bound to mind, and misfortune is bound to patience.

61- As a consolation for the death of Abdurrahman, Al-Ash’ath’s brother, Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said to him:
If you show impatience, then you are fulfilling the right of Abdurrahman (that is incumbent upon you). But if you show patience then you are fulfilling the right of God. Nevertheless, if you show patience, you will suffer the matter while you are praised, and if you show impatience, you will suffer it while you are dispraised.
Al-Ash’ath said: We are Allah’s and to Him we will return. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) asked: Do you know the interpretation of your saying? Al-Ash’ath replied: You are surely the utmost and best of knowledge. The Imam (peace be upon him) said:
Your saying, ‘We are Allah’s,’ is a confession of God’s possession - of everything-, while your saying, ‘To Him we will return,’ is a confession of death.

62- One day, Imam Ali (peace be upon him) rode a pack animal and some people walked with him. As he noticed so, he said:
Do you not know that walking with the rider ruins the - manners of- the rider and humiliate the walker? Leave me now.

63- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Matters are of three kinds: a matter the guidance of which is clear; hence, you should follow it, a matter the misguidance of which is clear; hence, you should avoid it, or a matter that is confused; hence, you should refer to those who can solve its confusion.

64- One day, Jabir asked Imam Ali (peace be upon him): “How was your morning, Amirul Muminin?” He answered:
We began this morning with the innumerable graces of our Lord while we have innumerable acts of disobedience to Him. We do not know whether we should first thank Him for the nice graces that He is dispersing on us or for our bad deeds that He is covering up.

65- As he consoled Abdullah bin Abbas for the death of one of his babies, Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
A misfortune that inflicts someone other than you while its reward is yours is better for me than a misfortune that inflicts you while its reward is another’s. Hence, the reward is yours not by you, and the consolation is said to you not because of you, and God may recompense you in the same way that He recompensed from you.

66- As he was asked about he pure repentance, Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
A pure repentance is feeling of sorrow in the heart, seeking forgiveness with the tongue (by utterance), and the intention not to do so ever again.

67- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
You have been created by ability and you have (been under the power of) the Lord compulsorily. You will inevitably lean in graves, become debris, be resurrected individually, and be condemned in judgment. God’s mercy be upon the servant who confesses of his commitment (of sins), acts due to his fear (of God), watches out and takes the initiative (in doing good deeds), notices the examples and learns lessons from them, listens to the warning and abstains (from doing evil), responds and returns (to God), seeks guidance and patterns (after the example), searches by means of seeking, escapes by means of running away, takes supplies, has relaxed conscience, readies for the day to come, equips himself for the day of his departure, direction of his course, manner of his need, and place of his poverty, and supplies himself with what he will need for his eternal abode. Arrange for yourselves. The people of the youth’s opulence should not wait for anything other than the bending of senility, people of good health should wait for nothing other than the mishaps of ailment, and people of survival should not wait for anything other than the surprise of termination, nearness of the deadline, and the imminence of doom.

68- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Fear God like the fear of him who disrobes everything and prepares himself for it, strives distinctively, shrinks leisurely, worries fearfully, and regards the unavoidable turn, the end result, and the consequence of the deeds. God is surely sufficient punisher and supporter, Paradise is sufficient reward and attainment, Hell is definite punishment and example, and God’s Book is sufficient arguer and adversary.

69- As a man asked Imam Ali (peace be upon him) about Sunna, heresy, discrepancy, and congruity, he answered:
The Sunna is the traditions of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). Heresy is whatsoever opposes the Sunna. Discrepancy is the wrong party regardless of their great numbers. Congruity is the right party regardless of their little number.
A servant - of God- should not hope for anything other than his Lord and should not fear anything other than his guilt. Scholars should not be embarrassed by saying, ‘God is the most knowledgeable,’ when they cannot find an answer for the question that is addressed to him. The rank of patience for faith is as same as the rank of the head for the body.

70- As a man asked him for an advice, Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said to him:
I advise you not to state a limit for the numerousness of deeds of charity and not to state a limit for the scantiness of acts of disobedience to God.

71- As a man asked him for an advice, Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said to him:
Do not think of poverty and longevity.

72- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The religious people enjoy certain distinctive features: truthfulness, custody of deposits, fulfillment of pledges, regard of the relatives, merciful treatment for the weak, lack of copulation - with their wives-, doing favors, good mannerism, broad-mindedness, and pursuance of knowledge as well as whatever brings near to God. They will receive abundant blessings and the best eternal dwelling.

73- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Long hope will unavoidably lead to the negligence of acting - good deeds-.

74- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The most similar thing to son of Adam - man- is the scales, since people are either imperfect due to ignorance or outbalancing due to knowledge.

75- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
To revile at the believers is defection, to fight them is atheism, and their wealth is as sacred as their blood (soul).

76- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Offer your soul and wealth to your friend, offer your equity and fairness for your enemy, and offer your courtesy and charity for people. Greet people so that they will greet you.

77- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
In this world, the masters of people are the openhanded, while in the world to come the God-fearing will be the masters.

78- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Definitely, I encounter one of two things. One is not mine. It was not given to me in the past and I will not hope for it in the future. The other thing is mine. I will never obtain it in other than its proper time even if I use the entire power of the heavens and the earth. Then, why should I cause my life to fade away for any of these two matters?

79- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The true believer is that who learns lessons from what he sees, ponders over things when he is silent, mentions God when he speaks, thanks (God) when he is rich, and becomes patient when a trouble befalls him. He is near to satisfaction and far from discontent. He is pleased with the few gifts of God and does not show frustration for the many troubles. His good intentions are too many to be applied. He intends a lot of good but can do only a part of them and sighs for the good deeds that he missed.
The hypocrite, on the other hand, is that who plays when he sees, omits when he is silent, talks nonsense when he speaks, exceeds the bonds when he is rich, and wails when a misfortune befalls him. He is near to discontent and far from satisfaction. He is displeased when he receives few gifts from God and is not satisfied with the much. He intends many evildoings but he can do only a part of them and sighs for the ill deeds that he missed.

80- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
This world and the next world are two hostile antagonists and two opposing courses. He whoever loves and accedes to this world will hate and antagonize the world to come. They are like east and west. He whoever walks between them will be remoter and remoter from one of them when he draws near to the other.

81- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
He who fears the threat - of God- will see the remote as close to him. He who is not satiated with the food of this world will not be sufficient with whatever he collects. He who runs after this world will surely miss it and whoever leaves it will surely catch it. This world is just like a shadow that is extended to a limited time. God’s mercy be upon the servant who comprehends the wording of wisdom that he listens to, draws near to the guidance to which he is called, clings to the neck of a true guide to save himself, provides well-intended deeds, acts good deeds, supplies for himself, avoids the inconvenience, hits the target, gains a remuneration, challenges his passion, distrusts his hope, takes patience as the pack animal of his safety and God-fearing as the equipment of his death, adheres to the venerable course and the clear way, seizes the opportunity, prepares or the time to come, and supplies himself with as much as possible deeds.

82- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) asked a man about his manner. The man answered, “We hope and fear.” The Imam (peace be upon him) spoke:
He who hopes for something should seek it, and whoever fears something should escape it. I do not know the reality of the fear of a man who does not neglect the passion that he faces and I do not know the reality of the hope of a man who does not show steadfastness against a misfortune that befalls him for the sake of obtaining what he hopes for.

83- Abaya bin Rab’i asked Imam Ali (peace be upon him) about the ability by which we can stand erect, sit, and do things. The Imam (peace be upon him) answered, “You asked about the ability. Do you possess it with or without God?” Abaya could not find any answer. The Imam then said, “If you claim you possess it without God, I will kill you. And if you claim you possess it with God, I will kill you, too.” “What should I say, then?” asked Abaya. The Imam said:
You possess it by the way of God who possesses it exclusively. If He gives you a part of it, then He is bestowing upon you, and if He seizes it from you, that will be a kind of His test. He is the possessor of the ability that He gives to you and He is the prevailing on the matters that you can do.

84- Al-Asbagh bin Nubata said: I heard Amirul Muminin (peace be upon him) saying, “I will speak of the wording that every Muslim should comprehend.” He then approached us and said:
Allah is too generous and glorious to punish anew the believer that He punishes in this world. Likewise, He is too generous and glorious to cancel the forgiveness that He provides for a believer in this world when He covers up his defect. God may strike a misfortune in the body, wealth, or family member.
He then recited God’s saying:
Whatever hardship befalls you is the result of your own deeds. God pardons many of your sins. [145]
Before he recited the last statement, Imam Ali (peace be upon him) contained his hands and repeated the statement three times.

85- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Shutting the mouth is the first stage of rupture of relations. Never feel sorry for the bored. The ugliest reward is the bad turn.

86- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The first of self-conceitedness is the ruin of the mind. He who can control his tongue will be safe from the problems that it originates. He who cannot amend his manners will suffer many defects. He whose manners are ill will be detested by his family members. A single word often spoils the grace. Thanks is a shelter against sedition. Dignity is the head of personality. Submission is the interceder of the guilty. The origin of determination is the avoidance of going into suspicious matters. The treasures of provisions lie in the broadness of mannerism.

87- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Misfortunes are distributed among the creatures equally. Do not despair because of your sin while the portals of repentance are open. Right guidance lies in the opposition of passions. Death is the history of hope. Looking at the stingy causes hard-heartedness. Looking at the foolish darkens the eye. Generosity is intelligence and meanness is inadvertence.

88- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Poverty is the grand death. Fewness of the dependants is one of the two facilities. It is the half of the livelihood. Care is the half of senility. The moderate will never be needy and the seeker of others’ consult will never fail. Favors are worthless unless they are done to the highborn or the religious. The very happy is that who learns lessons from others. The wronged is neither praised nor rewarded. Piety is everlasting and the sin will not be overlooked.

89- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Do favors and you will gain admiration. Carry gratefulness as slogan and the intelligent will perceive you. Avoid curiosity and the foolish will leave you. Respect your sitters and your sessions will be full (of attendants). Protect the foreigner and your neighborhood will be desirable. Treat people fairly and you will be trusted. Adhere to the high traits because they are exaltation. Beware of the mean manners because they humiliate the masters and ruin the glory.

90- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
S atisfy yourself and you will gain dignity.

91- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Patience is a shelter against poverty. Care is the sign of destitute. Moderation is the avoidance of indigence. Admonition is the haven of him who seeks its refuge.

92- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
He whose dress is chosen by knowledge will have his defects screened from people.

93- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The envious cannot enjoy nice life. The bored cannot be given amiability. The liars are lacking personality.

94- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Keep your dignity up by means of loneliness.

95- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Every powerful that is under - God’s- control is humble.

96- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
People perish due to two things - fear of poverty and seeking of pride.

97- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
O people, beware of fondness of this world, because it is the head of every sin, the door to every misfortune, the companion of every sedition, and the caller to every disaster.

98- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The whole good is gathered in three characters - consideration, silence, and wording. Every consideration that lacks learning lessons is inattention, every silence that lacks thinking is inadvertence, and every wording that lacks the mention of God is nonsense. Blessed are those whose consideration teaches them lessons, whose silence causes them to think, whose wording is mention of God, who weep for their sins, and save people from their evil.

99- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
How strange is this man! He becomes happy when he gains that which would never miss him, and becomes sad when he misses that which he would never catch. Had he thought, he would have realized that everything is planned and his earnings are predestined. He would have also sufficed with the available and would not have gone into the hard.

100- As he passed by marts, Imam Ali Amirul Muminin (peace be upon him) used to say:
O tradesmen, seek good from God before doing anything else, seek blessing by dealing with people leniently, come near to the purchasers, adorn yourselves with clemency, avoid swearing, avoid telling lies, be away from oppression, be fair with the oppressed, do not approach usury, give a full measure, weigh (things) with a right balance, do not wrong men of their things, and do not act corruptly in the earth, making mischief.

101- As he was asked about the best and the worst creations of God, Imam Ali (peace be upon him) answered:
Wording is the best and the worst thing that God created. By means of wording, some faces become white and by means of wording, some faces become black.

102- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Say good wording and it will be your distinctive feature. Do good deeds and you will be reckoned with its people.

103- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
When a misfortune befalls you, sacrifice your wealth for your souls. When a disaster befalls you, sacrifice your souls for your religion. You should realize that the very perishing one is that who causes his religion to spoil and the very usurped one is that whose religion is stolen from him. It is surely there will be no poverty after Paradise and no prosperity after Hell.

104- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
No one will find the true taste of faith before he neglects telling lies whether seriously or jokingly.

105- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
A Muslim should avoid associating with the liars, because the liars will not be believed even when they tell truths.

106- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The gravest sin is to seize the wealth of a Muslim wrongly.

107- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
He who fears retaliation will abstain from oppressing people.

108- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
I have never seen like the wrong envious who is most similar to the wronged.

109- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The wrongdoer, his supporter, and the one who desires for wrongdoing are three partners of the same evil.

110- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Steadfastness is of two forms: steadfastness against misfortunes. It is good and fair. Steadfastness that is better and fairer is the ability to avoid what God has forbidden for you. Similarly, the reference to God is of two forms. There is the mention of God when a misfortune befalls. It is surely good and fair. The mention of God that is better and fairer is to mention Him before matters that He has forbidden you to do. Therein, the mention of God will screen you from committing such deeds.

111- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
O Allah, do not cause me to need any of the evils. When I need, make my need with the most good humored, the most generous, the most eloquent, and the less referrer to the favor that he has done to me.

112- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Blessed are those who exchange intimate terms with people for the sake of obedience to God.

113- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
A form of the true faith is that a servant should prefer honesty until he stops telling lies totally even in situations when lie is helpful. A man should not say anything with which he does not have full knowledge.

114- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Keep the deposits even if their owners were the murderers of the prophets’ sons.

115- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
God-fearing is the origin of faith.

116- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The humiliation of obedience to God is more favorable than the honor of the disobedience to God.

117- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Wealth and sons are the harvest of this world, and the good deed is the harvest of the world to come. God has given some people the both.

118- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
O n a page of the Torah, the following words are inscribed:
He who begins his day with grief for a worldly affair is surely dissatisfied with God’s act. Any believer who complains a misfortune that befalls him to a person of another belief is surely complaining against his Lord to the enemies. Two thirds of the religion of him who behaves humbly before a rich man so as to get his prize. The dead reciters of the Quran whom are sent to Hell are certainly those who mock the Verses of God.
On another page (of the Torah), the following words are inscribed:
He who does not seek the advice of others will surely be sorry. He who prefers money to everything else is destroying himself. Poverty is the grand death.

119- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The core of a man is his tongue, his mind is his religion, and his personality is the situation that he chooses for himself. Earnings are distributed. Days are changeable. To Adam, all people return equally.

120- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said to Kumayl bin Ziyad:
Slow down and you will not suffer scandals. Hide your personality and you will not be mentioned. Learn and you will know. Keep silent and you will be safe. When God guides you to the religion, you should not care whether people know you or you know them.

121- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
He who does not humor those who he has to humor is not wise.

122- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
You should hope for no one other than the Lord, not fear anything other than your guilt, not be embarrassed to say, ‘I do not know’ when you do not know, and you should not feel too haughty to learn what you do not know. These four matters are so great that it is so easy for you to ride for long time so as to get them.

123- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) wrote to Abdullah bin Al-Abbas:
So then, seek only what concerns you and leave what does not concern you. Through leaving what does not concern you, you will get what concerns you. You will be tried for what you have done, not what you have left behind you. Opt for the deeds by the results of which you will benefit in the morrow. Peace be upon you.

124- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The best things that cause people love each other and remove hatred from the hearts of the enemies are showing good humor in meetings, asking about them when they are absent, and receiving them with happy miens when they are present.

125- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
No one can find the true taste of faith before he believes that whatever befalls him would never miss him and whatever missed him would never befall him.

126- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
O Lord, how unlucky is he whose eye and heart do not consider the greatness of Your royalty and power beside the greatness of Your royalty and power that his eye and heart did not see! The more unlucky is surely that whose eye and heart do not belittle Your royalty and power that he saw and did not see beside Your greatness and glory. Lord, You are the Only God Whom I glorify. I have certainly done wrong to myself.

127- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
This world is only termination, suffering, raids, and lessons. As a form of its termination is that you see that the bows of time are strung, its arrows are put to use, its spears are not missing the target, and its wounds are incurable. It hits the healthy with ailment and hits the alive with death. As a form of the suffering of this world is that man gathers while he will not have what he gathers and builds but he will not reside in what he builds. Then he leaves to God without being able to carry the wealth or use his building. As a form of the raids of this world is that you imminently see the lucky change into unlucky and the unlucky change into lucky. Between the two, there is nothing more than the luxury that vanished and the misery that befell. As a form of the lessons of this world is that a man becomes very near to achieve his expectation but suddenly death captures him. Thus, neither the expectation is achievable nor the hopeful is left free. Glory be to God! Its pleasure is so cheating, its satiation is so thirsting, and its shade is so unattainable, as if whatever is in it did not exist, and whatever will occur in it had already occurred. However, the life to come is the abode of the eternal residence and settlement where there is Paradise and Hell. Due to patience, the disciples of God will obtain their rewards and will achieve their hopes through their good deeds.

128- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The most favorable way to God is two doses: the does of ire that is refuted by clemency and the dose of grief that is refuted by patience. The most favorable way to God is two drops: a drop of tear in midnight and a drop of blood (that is offered) for God’s sake. The most favorable way to God is two steps: a step of the Muslim towards strengthening the rows of the fighters for God’s sake and a step to regard the relatives. This step is preferred to the first.

129- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
A true friend is that who regards in misfortunes, absence, and after death.

130- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The hearts of the ignorant are stirred up by greed, captured by hopes, and locked up by trickeries.

131- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
I will pardon him who enjoys a good character, but I will not pardon those who lose their mind or religion. This is because the loss of religion means the loss of security. Life with fear is worthless. Likewise, loss of mind means loss of life. Hence, the losers of life are compared only to the dead.

132- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
He who puts himself in situations of accusation should not blame those who doubt him. He who conceals his secrets will have his decisions in the hand.

133- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
God will punish the Arabs for their extremism, the lords for their arrogance, the rulers for their inequity, the scholars for their envy, the tradesmen for their fraud, and the villagers for their ignorance.

134- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
O people, fear God. The steadfastness in God-fearing is surely more acceptable than God’s punishment.

135- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The ascesis in this world is to neglect expectation, thank (God) for every grace, and refrain from whatever God has forbidden.

136- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
When things were combined, indolence and incapacity combined and produced poverty.

137- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Days are surely three. One passed and you do not hope for it, the second is present and you will unavoidably meet it, and the third is the day to come and you cannot trust it. Yesterday was admonition, today is a good opportunity, and tomorrow is unknown who will live for it. Yesterday was an accepted witness, today is faithful keeper, and tomorrow will leave you as soon as you catch it. Its absence will be long. It will come to you and you will not go to it.
O people, survival will certainly come after termination. It is just we have inherited those who preceded us and we will be inherited by the coming ones. By means of that which you will surely leave, reform that which you will surely come to encounter. Take the courses of good and do not feel lonely because of the fewness of the people who take such courses. Remember God’s good companionship in such courses. The loans should be given today so that the prizes will be gained tomorrow. We are only the branches of those origins that departed. How can the branches continue after their origins?
O people, if you prefer this world to the life to come you will take quick steps towards responding to the lowermost vanities, and the mounts of your hopes will take you to the endless point to water you from these springs which cause you sorrow and make you suffer the same pains of the past nations and the bygone ages who underwent the changes of manners and the punishments.

138- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Prayer is the offertory of the pious. Hajj is the jihad of the weak. Everything has its tax, and the tax of bodies is fasting. The best deed of a man is the expectation of the Relief. The instructors who do not apply their instructions to themselves are like those who try to shoot without having a string. He who is certain of the reward will give generously. Seek earnings through almsgiving. Protect your wealth by defraying the zakat. The moderate will never suffer neediness. Moderation is the half of livelihood. Amicability is the half of intelligence. Care is the half of senility. Fewness of dependants is one of the two facilities. To depress the parents is impiety to them. As for those who beat the hand on the thigh in misfortunes, their rewards will be cancelled. Favors are worthless unless they are done to the highborn or the religious. God endows with patience inasmuch as the (measure of) misfortune. God will endow the moderate with earnings and will deprive the squanderer of them. Keeping of the trusts brings about earnings and treachery brings about poverty. If God wants the good of an ant, He will not create a wing for it.

139- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The pleasures of this world are trash and its heritage is only a jumble. Subsistence in this world is better than amassment. To neglect it is safer than to feel secure of it. Poverty is the sentence of those who seek excessive pleasures from it. Rest is the result of those who desert it. It will cause blindness to anyone who is admired by its beauty, and will fill in the heart of anyone who feels fond of it with griefs that dance on the core of his heart like the dancing of butter on the edges of a water skin. He will suffer a grief that saddens him and another that engages him until he loses forbearance and the aortas of his heart are incised. Then he will be laid on the ground and it is surely easy for God to catch his soul and for the pious to find him a place of burial. The believer should look at this world with the eye of learning lessons, have from its food like the obliged, and lend it the ear of hatred.

140- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Show clemency, for it is the intimate friend and the supporter of the believer. Likewise, knowledge is his guide, lenience is his brother, intelligence is his comrade, and patience is the commander of his troops.

141- As he noticed a man who exceeded the limits of asceticism, Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said to him:
O you, have not heard God’s saying: “And proclaim the bounties of your Lord? ”[146] By God I swear, to thank God’s favors by means of deeds is certainly better than thanking them by means of words.

142- Imam Ali said to his son Al-Hasan (peace be upon them):
I command you to fear God, offer the prayers in their proper time, and defray the zakat in their proper forms. I also command you to pardon the wrong, control your anger, regard your relatives, possess yourself before the ignorant, learn the religious affairs, verify (matters), lean to the Quran, opt for good neighborhood, bid good, forbid evil, and avoid all the evildoings and the acts of disobedience to God.

143- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
This world rests upon four supports: a scholar who applies his knowledge (to himself), a rich man who does favors generously, an ignorant who is not too arrogant to learn, and a poor man who does not vend his life to come with others’ worldly pleasures. Woe are the scholars who suspend acting upon their knowledge, the rich men who withhold giving, the ignorant who feel arrogant against learning, and the poor men who vend their lives to come with others’ worldly pleasures.

144- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
It will be quite worthy for those who are able to prevent themselves from enjoying the following four characters to be saved from suffering any detestable matter. These four characters are rashness, disputation, self-conceit, and indolence.

145- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
O servants of God, you should know that God-fearing is a well-fortified garrison while wickedness is an unprotected garrison that is too short to defend its people or save anyone who seeks its succor. Through God-fearing, the stings of sins are healed, through steadfastness in the obedience to God, His rewards are attained, and through conviction, the furthest target is hit. O servants of God, as He attracted the attentions of His disciples to the ways of salvation, God has not banned them from attaining such ways. Likewise, He has not made them despair of His mercy for their commitment of acts of disobedience to Him if they show repentance to Him.

146- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Silence is wisdom, abstinence from speaking is safety, and concealment is a part of happiness.

147- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
All matters are submissive to the predestined until defect occurs to the management.

148- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
A man’s personality is imperfect before he learns the religious questions, manages the affairs of his livelihood moderately, tolerates the misfortunes that befall him, and finds sweet the bitterness of his friends.

149- As he was asked about personality, Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Personality is to avoid doing a matter secretly if you feel embarrassed to do it openly.

150- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Seeking God’s forgiveness along with the insistence on committing the sin - from which you seek forgiveness- are additional sins.

151- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Settle the acknowledgement of what you worship in yourselves so that the movements of your organs will benefit you in the worship of what you acknowledge.

152- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
For him who dedicates his religion to the obtainment of his worldly pleasures, his reward will be only that which he has benefited through his religion.

153- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Faith is accepted saying, applied action, and acknowledgement in the minds.

154- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Faith stands on four supports: they are dependence upon God, entrustment with God, submission to the decision of God, and satisfaction with the acts of God.
Disbelief stands on four supports: they are the desire for the worldly pleasures, fear from missing any worldly pleasure, anger, and passion.

155- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
As for those who abstain from receiving the worldly pleasures, show steadfastness against the worldly humiliation, and do not compete with others on the worldly reputation, God will guide them without the mediation of anybody, instruct them directly, fix wisdom in their hearts, and make them speak of wisdom.

156- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
There are the servants of God who acted with their Lord purely secretly; therefore, He thanked their efforts purely appreciatively. On the Day of Resurrection, the records of those groups will pass empty. Then they stand before God, He will fill in them with what they acted with Him purely secretly.[147]

157- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Master your manners by the high traits, drive them into the nobilities of character, familiarize them with clemency, be steadfast against preferring others to your selves in the things that you most like, do not doubt people while you deal with them, raise your personalities by means of negligence of the mean affairs, keep the weak barely alive by the means of your positions and your support if you are unable to supply them with what they hope from you, do not investigate the hidden lest many people will investigate what is hidden from your affairs, keep yourselves away from lying for it is the meanest manner. It is also a sort of evil and a form of meanness. Elevate yourselves against analyzing matters that do not concern you.

158- Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Term of death is certainly a sufficient protector. For every human being, God has assigned some angels to keep him so that he will not fall in a well, a wall will not fall on him, or a beast will not raven him. When his term of death falls, the keeping angels will leave him.