NARRATIVES of IMAM AL-BAQIR
The following maxims and words of wisdom are related to Imam Abu Ja’far Mohammed bin Ali Al-Baqir (peace be upon him).
Imam Al-Baqir’s Commandment for Jabir bin Yazid Al-Ju’fi
It is related that Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said to Jabir:
O Jabir, you should win five matters from the people of your time: They will not know you when you are present (in a gathering), they will not miss you when you are absent, they will not seek your consult when you witness a matter, and they will not listen to you when you provide an opinion.
I advise you to cling to five matters: you should not oppress him who oppressed you; you should not cheat him who cheated you; you should not be angry when you are belied; you should not be happy when you are praised; you should not be miserable when you are dispraised. Think of the dispraise that is said about you. If it is true, then it will be more catastrophic for you to be disregarded by God than being disregarded by people when you decline the right. If it was incorrect, then it will be a reward that you gained without exerting any effort.
You should know that if all the people of your region say unanimously that you are bad, this should not shake you, and if they all say unanimously that you are good, this should not please you and make you one of our followers. To be our follower, you should measure yourself according to the criteria of God’s Book. If you take its path, abstain from what it warns, desire for what it urges, and fear of what it cautions, then you should be stable and glad. In this case, whatever is said against you will not injure you. If you oppose the instructions of the Quran, then in what are you proud? The faithful believer should engage himself in fighting against his desires for overcoming his passions. Once, he wins and opposes his passion for God’s sake, and once his passions overcome him. Thus, he follows his whims, but he will live again as God grants him a new life and will remember as God pardons his flaws. As he seeks the refuge of repentance and God-fearing, he will be supplied with guidance and knowledge as much as he fears God. This is because God says:
Surely those who guard against evil, when a visitation from the Shaitan afflicts them they become intelligent, then lo! They see.
O Jabir, regard God’s few sustenance as very much so as to be able to thank Him suitably. Regard your many acts of obedience to God as few so as to lower yourself (before God) and seek His pardon. Refute the present evil by the present knowledge. Use the present knowledge for achieving honesty in your deeds. In the honesty of deeds, protect yourself against the great inadvertence through the tension of wakefulness. Bring the tension of wakefulness by the sincerity of fear. Beware of the contentedness of ornamentation with the presence of life. Be careful of the adventures of the whims by referring to the indications of the mind. Stop at the overcome of the whim by seeking the guidance of knowledge. Spare the well-intended deeds to the Day of Judgment. Push yourself into the fields of satisfaction by guarding against acquisitiveness. Refute the great acquisitiveness by the preference of satisfaction. Obtain the sweetness of abstinence through the disregard of hope. Cut off the causes of avarice with the coolness of despair. Block the path of arrogance with self-realization. Conclude to self-satisfaction by the sound commendation to God. Seek the physical relaxation through freedom from care. Obtain the freedom from care through fewness of mistakes. Attain soft-heartedness by the very much mentioning of God in seclusions. Get the illumination of heart from the continuance of sadness. Protect (yourself) against the Shaitan by the honest God-fearing. Beware of the false expectation, because it traps you in serious fear. Adorn for God through sincerity of deeds. Approach God by means of asking for meeting Him as soon as possible. Beware of negligence, because it is an ocean in which the unsuccessful ones will sink. Beware of inadvertence, because it is the source of hardheartedness. Beware of slowness in matters that are unexcused, because it is the path of the regretful. Remember the past sins through the tense sorrow and the plenty of seeking forgiveness. Meet God’s mercy and pardon by the good review with Him. Seek the aid of the well-intended supplications and the secret beseeching in darkness for achieving the good review with God. Reach the great thankfulness through regarding the little sustenance as great and regarding the many acts of obedience to God as few. Bring the increase of graces through the great thanking. Beg to the great thanking through fearing the vanishing of graces. Seek the continuance of honor through killing avarices. Refute the humility of greed by the honor of despair. Get the honor of despair from the strength of mind. Supply for yourself from this world through the disregard of hope. Take the initiative in seizing the opportunities whenever they are available. No opportunity like the leisure times with good health. Beware of trusting the dishonest. Evil is a custom such as the custom of having food.
Know that no knowledge like seeking safety no safety like the safety of heart, no intelligence like opposing the whims, no fear like the fear of him who avoid sinning, no hope like the hope of the supporter, no poverty like the heart poverty, no richness like self-sufficiency, no strength like overcoming the whims, no illumination like the illumination of conviction, no conviction like belittling the worldly pleasures, no knowledge like self-realization, no grace like good health, no health like supporting for prosperity, no honor like willpower, no abstinence like disregard of hope, no diligence like competition for (attaining) the (highest) ranks, no justice like fairness, no aggression like prejudice, no prejudice like accordance with the whims, no obedience like performing the obligatory rites, no fear like grief, no misfortune like unintelligence, no unintelligence like littleness of conviction, no littleness of conviction like loss of fear, no loss of fear like littleness of grief for loss of fear, no misfortune like belittling the sin and satisfying with the current conditions, no virtue like jihad, no jihad like struggling against the whims, no power like stopping the rage, no disobedience like love of survival, and no humility like the humility of greed.
Beware of the negligence of given opportunities, because it is a field of loss.
Another Words of Imam Al-Baqir with Jabir
Jabir narrated: one day, Imam al-Baqir (peace be upon him) went out saying, “O Jabir, by God, I am grieved and my heart is so engaged.” “What grieves you and in what is your heart engaged? May God make me your sacrifice. Is it for the world?” I asked.
He (peace be upon him) answered:
No, Jabir, It is the grief for the care of the world to come. He whose heart is occupied by the pure reality of faith will be far away from the worldly pleasures. The adornment of this world is only playing and fun. The Last Lodge is the true life.
O Jabir, The faithful believer should not incline and feel secure with the adornment of the world. You should know that the seekers of the worldly affairs are people of inadvertence, deception, and ignorance, while the seekers of the life to come are the faithful believers, who work and abstain from this world’s pleasures. They are the people of knowledge, jurisprudence, pondering, learning lessons, and test. They never tire of mentioning God.
You should know, Jabir, that the true rich men are the God-fearing people. They are sufficed with the little worldly means. Their burdens are light. They remind you, if you forget, of charity, and help you do it. They postponed their lusts and desires and preferred the acts of obedience to their Lord. They looked for the course of charity and the loyalty to the disciples of God; they loved, pursued, and followed them.
Consider this world as a lodging in which you reside for one hour only and then you will leave, or as a funds that you got in dream and made you happy, but when you woke up it was nothing. I exemplified for you so that you will be intelligent, as you will practice it, if God prospers you. Retain, O Jabir, these matters of the religion and the Lord’s words of wisdom that I am entrusting with you. Offer advice for yourself and look in the standings that God has deposited with you with you in your life. In the same way, you will find your pledge with Him when you will be returned to Him. See if the world is the opposite of what I have described for you, you should shift to the lodging of the blame, today. It happens that one gets what he desires from the worldly affairs, but it becomes the source of misfortune and unhappiness for him. Likewise, it happens that one disliked a matter of the world to come, but when he got it, it was the source of happiness for him.
Imam Al-Baqir’s Description of Swords
As a man of his adherents asked him about the battles of Imam Ali Amirul Muminin, peace be upon him, Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
God sent the Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him and his family, with five swords three of which are unsheathed until wars are ceased. Wars will not ceased unless the sun will rise from the west. When this will fall, all people will be secured. On that day, “Its faith shall not profit a soul which did not believe before, or earn good through its faith.
”
The fourth sword is detained. The fifth is unsheathed; others unsheathe it and we judge in it.
The three unsheathed swords are as follows:
One is unsheathed against the Arab polytheists. God the Glorified says:
Slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush.
But if they repent - i.e. they believe- and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, they are your brethren in faith.
These people are either killed or convert to Islam. Their fortunes are regarded as spoils. Their progenies are captives according to the practices of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). He captured, overlooked, and accepted atonement.
The second sword is against the Dhimmis. God the Praised says:
And you shall speak to men - i.e. the Dhimmis- good words.
This Verse was repealed afterwards by God’s saying:
Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.
Nothing will be accepted from the Dhimmis, who are enjoying the protection of the Islamic state, except the tribute otherwise, they are killed, their fortunes taken as spoils, and their progenies as captives. If they accept to pay the tribute, it will be prohibited to take them as captives and to seize their fortunes. In addition, it will be lawful to marry from them. For those who declare war against us, it is lawful for us to capture them and seize their fortunes. In addition, it is prohibited to marry from them. Nothing will be accepted from them except converting to Islam, paying the tribute, or being fought to death.
The third sword is against the non-Arab polytheists, like the Turks, Daylam, and Khazar. In the beginning of the sura in which He mentions the affairs of the atheists, God says:
If you encounter the disbelievers in a battle, strike-off their heads. Take them as captives when they are defeated. Then you may set them free
- after capture-as a favor to them, with or without a ransom
- between the Muslims and them-, when the battle is over.
Nothing will be accepted from these people except being killed or converting to Islam. It is unlawful for us to marry from them as long as they are in state of war against us.
The detained sword is that against people of rebel and interpretation. God says:
If two parties among the believers start to fight against each other, restore peace among them. If one party rebels against the other, fight against the rebellious one until he surrenders to the command of God.
When this Verse was revealed, the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: “One of you will fight for the interpretation of the Quran in the same way I fought for its revelations.” As he was asked about that one, he (peace be upon him and his family) said: “He is the repairer of the slippers - Imam Ali Amirul Muminin (peace be upon him)-.”
Ammar bin Yasir said: “I fought under this pennon three times with the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family). This is the fourth. By God I swear, if they beat us to take us back to Hagar - a region-, we will be sure that we are the right party and they are the wrong.”
With these people, Amirul Muminin (peace be upon him) followed the same practices that the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) with the people of Mecca when he conquered it. He did not capture their families. The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: “He who closes his door and keep himself indoors will be safe. He who disarms himself will be safe.” In the same way, Amirul Muminin (peace be upon him) instructed his army - after the victory in the battle of Jamal- not to capture any one, kill any wounded, or chase any absconder. He who disarmed himself would be safe.
The unsheathed sword is that of retaliation. God the Glorified said:
Capital punishment for the murder of a person; an eye for an eye…
The custodians of the victim (the killed person) unsheathe this sword while the judge is ours.
These were the swords with which God sent Mohammed (peace be upon him and his family). He who denies them or even one of them or anything of their narration or rulings will be reckoned as disbelieving in that which God the Elevated revealed to His Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him and his family).
Admonition
One day, Imam al-Baqir (peace be upon him) was instructing and warning a group of his adherents, who were encompassing him, while they were absent-minded. The Imam (peace be upon him) felt angry; therefore, he nodded the head down, then raised it and said:
Had a small part of my wording fallen in the heart of one of you, he would have been surely dead. You are only soulless ghosts and lightless wicks. You are like propped up hollow trunks of wood and manufactured statues. Why do you not extract gold from stones? Why do you not take light from the brightest illumination? Why do you not take the gem from the sea? Take the good wording from him who said it even if he does not apply it to himself. God says:
Those who listen to the word, then follow the best of it; those are they whom Allah has guided.
Woe to you, deceitful persons, why do you not thank Him Who gives you the everlasting while you give Him the passing? One dirham will pass away, while it will be compensated with ten dirhams up to seven hundred folds that are doubled by the All-generous the All-openhanded. God gave you in remuneration while it is He Who feeds you, waters you, dresses you, heals you, protects you, and guards you against him who chases you. Moreover, He shields you in day and night, answers you in misfortunes, and intends to guide you through tests. It seems you have forgotten the nights of your pains and fears. You supplicated to Him and He responded. This obliges you to show Him gratitude for His good deeds. Although, you forgot Him while He is the only worthy of mentioning, and violated His orders. Woe to you, you are only a thief among the thieves of sins. You hurry for committing any passionate act or sin that is shown before you. Due to your ignorance, you commit the sins as if you are not in God’s sight or as if God is not watching you.
O seeker of Paradise, Your sleep is too extended, your riding animal is too tardy, and your determination is too feeble. What sort of seeker and sought you are!
O avoider of Hell, your riding animal is taking you hastily to Hell and you are acquiring that which drives you into it rapidly. Look at the graves. Their structures are near to each other while their inhabitants are very far from each other. They constructed then destructed, achieved tranquil then felt lonely, lodged then were troubled, and lived then left. Except people of the graves, have you ever heard of remote neighbor, near isolated, destructed former, troubled resident, and leaving inhabitant?
You are the son of three days; your birthday, the day on which you will be taken to your grave, and the day on which you will be resurrected to meet your Lord. That will be surely a horrible day.
O you owners of admirable masses and camels kneeling near the springs! Why do I notice that your bodies are constructive while your hearts and destroyed? By God I swear, if your sights fall on what will you unquestionably meet, you will say: “Would that we could return to the worldly life. We would never reject any of our Lord's revelations and we would be true believers.”
God the Majestic says:
Whatever they had concealed will be revealed to them. If they were to return to (the worldly life), they would again worship idols, for they are liars.
Short Maxims of Imam Al-baqir
1-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Use kind words with the hypocrite, love the faithful believer sincerely, and regard your association with (even) the Jew who sits with you.
2-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
No mixture is better than the mixture of clemency and knowledge.
3-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
The whole perfection is knowledgeability of the religious affairs, steadfastness against misfortunes, and moderation in living.
4-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
By God (I swear), the arrogant is trying to strip God.
5-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him), one day, asked the attendants, “What is personality?” Each of them provided his own opinion. Afterwards, he (peace be upon him) said:
Personality is to avoid greed so as not to be humble, avoid begging so as not to be disgraced, avoid niggardliness so as not to be insulted, and avoid ignorance so as not to be opposed.
“Who can do all these?” wondered they. He (peace be upon him) answered:
He who wants to be like him who looks into the pupil of the eye, the musk in an odor, and enjoys the same standing of a present caliph - king- will be able to do so.
6-
Before Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him), a man said: “O Allah, make us do without people.” The Imam instructed:
Do not say such a statement; you should say: O Allah, make us do without the evil ones. A faithful brother cannot do without his brother.
7-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Do the right and seclude from whatever does not concern you. Avoid your enemy. Beware of your friend except the honest ones who fear God. Never accompany the sinful and never show him your secrets. Seek the consult of those who fear God.
8-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
A twenty-year friendship is kinship.
9-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
You would better deal with no one except him whom you did a favor.
10-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Three manners are the charities of this world and the world to come: they are to pardon him who oppressed you, regard him who ruptured relations with you, and possess yourself when one’s ignorance inflicts you.
11-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Oppression is of three sorts; a sort God will not forgive, another God will forgive, and a third God will not overlook it. Regarding the first one, it is polytheism. The second is the secret oppression of oneself. The third is the servants’ oppressing each other.
12-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
The servant (of God) who abstains from supporting his brother and exerting efforts for settling his need will suffer from exerting efforts for settling a need that causes him to commit a sin and deprives him of the reward. The servant who abstains from spending alms that pleases the Lord will spend many folds of those alms in a field that displeases God.
13-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Anything of God’s act is good for the faithful believer.
14-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
God dislikes people who beg each other importunately, but he loves it for Himself. Hence, God the Glorified likes people to beg Him and ask for what He has in possession.
15-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
People’s admonitions will not benefit him whom God does not make him learn lessons of admonition from his own self.
16-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
The scale of him whose outer appearance is more preferable than his conscience is weightless.
17-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
It happens that you address to a man, ‘May God fling your enemy,’ while that man’s only enemy is God.
18-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Three categories of people should not say salaam: they are those who are in their ways for offering the (congregational) Friday Prayer, those who walk in a funeral, and those who sit in a public bathroom.
19-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
A scholar whose knowledge is advantageous (for people) is better than seventy thousand worshippers.
20-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
A servant will not be scholar before he gets rid of envying those who precede him and belittling those who are less than him in (grade) of knowledge.
21-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
He who disobeys God does not know Him.
He (peace be upon him) then recited the following poetic verses:
You disobey the Lord and show his love.
This is surely strange deed.
If your love is sincere, you will obey Him.
Certainly, the lover obeys the one he loves.
22-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
The need for him who has newly been wealthy is like a dirham in a snake’s mouth; you need it but you fear the snake.
23-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
The bearers of three ill characters will not die before they suffer the consequence of such characters: they are oppression, disregard of the relatives, and perjury against God. The reward of the regard of the relatives is the most hastened. Even the sinful people will be enriched and wealthy when they regard each other (by means of good mutual relations). Perjury and disregard of the relatives change countries into deserted wastelands.
24-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Deeds without knowledge are not accepted. Knowledge is valueless unless it is matched to deeds. Knowledge guides its bearers to act (good deeds). The deeds of the unknowing persons are worthless.
25-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
God has appointed a group of His creatures for doing favors. He made them love favors and love practicing them. He also guided the seekers of favor to seek it from them, and facilitated doing favors for them in the same way He made the rainfall drop on the barren lands to enliven its people as well as them. He also has appointed a group of His creatures for opposing the favors. He made them hate favors and hate practice them. He banned the seekers of favor from reaching them and banned them from doing favors in the same way He bans rainfall from reaching the barren lands in order to kill its people and them. However, God overlooks very much.
26-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
You can realize the love that your brother bears for you through the love that you bear for him.
27-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Faith is love and hatred.
28-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Our adherents - Shia- are only those who fear and obey God. Their signs are modesty, piety, fulfillment of the trusts, very much reference to God, fasting, offering prayers, piety to (their) parents, aiding the neighbors especially the poor, the destitute, the indebted, and the orphans, truth, reciting the Quran, and avoiding mentioning people except for praising. In addition, they are the most trustful of the people of their tribes.
29-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Four characters are within the treasures of charity: they are the concealment of neediness, secret almsgiving, suppression of pains, and containment of misfortunes.
30-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
The deeds of the truthful are chaste. The provisions of the well-intended ones are increasable. The ages of those who are benevolent to their wives are addable.
31-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Beware of laziness and tedium. They are the keys to every evil. The lazy will not fulfill the rights (that are incumbent upon them) and the tedious will not submit to the right.
32-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
For those who establish good relations with somebody for the sake of God and their friendship is depended upon believing in God and being loyal to their friends - all in the cause of seeking God’s satisfaction, they will obtain a glimmer of the illumination of God, security from His punishment, an argument that make them happy on the Day of Resurrection, an enduring honor, and a growing praise. The faithful believer is neither connected nor detached to God the Exalted.
As he was asked about an explanations, Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
‘Connected’ means that the faithful believer is not a part of (the essence of) God, and “detached” means that he is not a part of another thing.
33-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
It is quite sufficient self-cheating for a man to notice people’s flaws that he himself enjoys, vilify someone for a defect that he himself cannot abandon, or hurt his associates by intruding in matters that do not concern him.
34-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Modesty is to accept to sit in a place other than the first row of a session, to greet whomever you meet, and to avoid disputation even if you are right.
35-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
The (faithful) believers are brothers of each other. They should not insult, deprive, or mistrust each other.
36-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said to his son:
Submit the right, for he whoever refrains from giving something in its right way will give its two-folds in a wrong way.
37-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Faith will be screened from him who is given idiocy.
38-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Certainly, God hates the speaker of obscene language.
39-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
God punishes physically and mentally, such as harsh livelihood and incapability of worshipping. However, no punishment is harsher than hardheartedness.
40-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
On the Day of Resurrection, an angel will shout, ‘Where are the tolerant ones?’ Few people will stand up. Then, he will shout, ‘Where are the withholders?’ Few people will stand up
(The reporter of this narration:) “What are the tolerant and what are the withholders?” I asked. The Imam (peace be upon him) answered:
The tolerant ones are those who put up with performing the obligatory rituals. The withholders are those who withhold themselves from committing the prohibited matters.
41-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
God says: O son of Adam, if you avoid what I have made unlawful, you will be the most pious of people.
42-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
The best adoration is the chastity of the belly and the genitals.
43-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Good-humouredness and bright-facedness achieve the others’ affection and approaches to God. Bad-humouredness and gloomy-facedness achieve the others’ hatred and take away from God.
44-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
I will surely attach my favor with another so that the latter will keep the previous. To prevent from doing new favors is to cut off the thanks for the previous ones. My prestige has never allowed me to ignore settling the fresh needs.
45-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Pudency and faith are knotted in one bind; whenever one (of them) goes, the other will follow.
46-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
This world is given for the good and the evil, while God dedicates this religion to certain people.
47-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Faith is declaration and act. Islam is declaration without act. Faith is the concern of the heart. Islam is the laws of marriage, legacy, and stopping bloodshed. Faith is a part of Islam while Islam is not necessarily a part of faith.
48-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Those who teach a field of knowledge will be rewarded with the same gifts of those who act upon it without any shortage in their rewards. In the same way, those who lead to a theme of deviation will undergo the same penalties that the followers of such a theme will undergo without any lack of their penalties.
49-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Flattering and envy are not within the faithful believers’ traits unless they are used for the sake of seeking studies.
50-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Only the scholars are permitted to say, ‘God is the most knowledgeable,’ when they cannot answer a question.
According to another narrative:
Only the scholars are permitted to say, ‘I do not know,’ when they cannot answer a question so that the asker will not doubt.
51-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
The first man whose tongue spoke the Arabic was Ishmael - the prophet- son of Abraham - the prophet- (peace be upon them). He was thirteen year old. Before so, he had spoken the language of his father and brother. He is the Slaughtered.
52-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
May I tell you of the thing that will take the unjust rulers and the Shaitan away from you if you do it?
Abu Hamza said: “Yes, you may, so that we will apply it (to out conducts).”
It is the almsgiving. Give alms as early as possible. Almsgiving blackens the Shaitan’s face and stops the unjust ruler’s resentment against you on that day. Cling to cherishing each other for the sake of God and helping each other in fields of charity. This will cut off the unjust ruler and the Shaitan. Persist on seeking God’s forgiveness because it erases the sins.
53-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
The tongue is surely the key to every good and evil. You should seal your tongues as you seal your money.
The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: “May God’s mercy be upon the faithful believer who withholds his tongue from saying any evil saying. This will be the like of giving alms to himself.”
No one will be saved from committing sins before he seals his tongue.
54-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
It is a sort of backbiting to mention your brother’s defects that God has concealed. It is not problematic to mention his explicit flaws, such as nervousness, hastiness, and the like. Falsehood is to accuse your brother of a character that he does not have.
55-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
He who describes the right course for people while he takes the other will be the most regretful on the Day of Resurrection.
56-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Abide by piety, diligence, honesty, and fulfillment of the trusts of the charitable as well as the sinful. If the killer of Ali bin Abi Talib (peace be upon him) deposits with me a trust, I will surely keep it for him.
57-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
The regard of the relatives purifies the deeds, increases the fortune, refutes the catastrophes, makes the judgment easy, and postpones the death.
58-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
O people! You are targets of the death in this world. You will not receive a new day of the age unless after the expiry of another (that takes you near of death). Which meal is empty of choking? Which drink is empty of throttling? Reform that which you are going to face by means of that which you are leaving behind. Today is profit while the owner of tomorrow is unknown. People of this world are travelers who open their luggage in other world. The principals that we are their branches fade away. How will the branches remain after their principals? Where are those whose ages were longer than ours and hopes were greater than ours? Surely will come to you, son of Adam, that which you will not be able to challenge, and went away from you that which you will not be able to regain. Never regard the incomplete living every pleasure of which approaches you to death and draws you near your expiry. You will soon be the missed beloved and the soulless body. Hence, you should take care of yourself only and leave whatever does not mean you. Seek God’s help and He will help you.
59-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
He who does the like of what was done to him is rewarding properly. He who doubles the favor is regarded as thankful, and he who thanks is regarded as generous. He who realizes that the favors that he has done were, first of all, for his good will not expect people’s gratitude and will not anticipate their affection to him. Do not expect that the others will thank what you have done for yourself to protect your prestige. You should know that he who asks you for a favor has not honored his face against asking you; therefore, you should honor your face against rejecting him.
60-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
God arranges hardships for the faithful servant like the traveler who arranges presents for his people. Likewise, He protects him against the worldly temptations like physicians who protect their patients.
61-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
God gives this worldly pleasures to whom He likes and whom He dislikes equally; but He gives the religion to whom He likes only.
62-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
The Shias - adherents- of Ali (peace be upon him) are surely those who meet the needs of each other for the sake of (their loyalty to) our leadership, love each other for the sake of our cherishment, and exchange visits for the sake of proclaiming our affairs. They do not oppress when they are enraged and do not exaggerate when they are pleased. They are blessing for their neighbors and peace for their associates.
63-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Laziness injures both the worldly and the religious affairs.
64-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Had the beggars realized the reality of beggary, they would not have begged for anything. Had those who do not settle others’ needs known the reality of their deed, they would have settled every need.
65-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Within the servants of God, there are the blessed who live simply and people live in their neighborhood. They are like rainfall for God’s servants. On the other hand, there are the accursed and inauspicious ones who neither live peacefully nor let people live peacefully. They are like locust for God’s servants. They ruin everything they meet.
66-
Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
Receive people with the best things with which you like to be received. God surely hates him who damns very much, vilifies, reviles at the faithful believers, speaks and spreads obscene language, and insists on beggary. God likes the bashful, the indulgent, the chaste, and the seeker of chastity.
67-
God surely likes exchanging salaams.
0%
Author: Al-Hasan bin Ali bin Al-Hussein bin Shu'ba Al-Harrani
