MAXIMS OF IMAM AS-SADIQ
The following maxims and words of wisdom are related to Imam Abu Abdillah Ja’far bin Mohammed As-Sadiq (peace be upon him).
Imam As-Sadiq’s Commandment for Abdullah bin Jundab
It is related that Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
O Abdullah, the Shaitan has arranged his traps in this deceitful world to target our disciples only, but the world to come is too great in their eyes to seek a substitute for it. Oh, for hearts that are stuffed with illumination. For them, this world is as same as a poisonous snake and an outlandish enemy. They found amiability with God and they found strange that with which the luxurious ones found amusement. They are surely my disciples. They uncover every seditious matter and relieve every misfortune.
O son of Jundab, tt is obligatory upon every Muslim, who claims of knowing us, to maintain judgment with his deeds everyday; if he notices that he has done a good deed, he should do it increasingly, and if he notices that he has committed an evildoing, he should seek God’s forgiving it so that he will not be disgraced on the Day of Resurrection. Blessed be the servant - of God- who does not envy the wrongdoers for their having the worldly pleasures. Blessed be the servant who sought the world to come painstakingly. Blessed be him who is not cheated by the false expectations. God’s mercy be upon those who were lanterns and lights. They advocated us through their deeds and all efforts. They are unlike him who divulges our secrets.
O son of Jundab, the true faithful believers are those who fear God and work hard so as the guidance they have been given will not be taken from them. If they remember God and His grace, they feel apprehensive and fearful. If God’s Verses are recited before them, they will increase their faith due to the power that He shows, and they depend upon their Lord.
O son of Jundab, in the old time, ignorance was erected and based. This is because they betook God’s religion playfully and jokingly to the degree that he whoever did something for God’s sake was intending someone else. Those are surely the unjust.
O son of Jundab, if our Shias - adherents- opt for righteousness, the angels will shake hands with them, they will get provisions from above - the heavens- and below - the earth-, and God will respond to all their supplications.
O son of Jundab, speak only good wording about the sinful people of your sect. You should supplicate to God importunately to guide them and accept their repentance. He whoever proposes us, follows us, shuns our enemies, says only what he knows, and says nothing about what he ignores or deems it problematic will be in Paradise.
O son of Jundab, decline is the result of him who depends upon his acts. He who commits sins and depends totally upon God’s mercy will not be saved. The safe are those who are in a situation between hope and fear, whose hearts are as if they are in a claw of a bird due to their eagerness for the reward and fear from the penalty.
O son of Jundab, he who is pleased that God will give him the women of Paradise in marriage and crown him with the light should please his faithful brother.
O son of Jundab, sleep little at night and speak little in day. The less thankful organs are the eye and the tongue. Mother of Solomon the prophet (peace be upon him) instructed him, saying: “O son, beware of sleeping. It make you needy on that day when people will be in importunate need for their deeds.”
O son of Jundab, the Shaitan has some traps with which he traps the others. Keep yourselves safe against his snares and traps.
(Abdullah bin Jundab related) I asked, “O son of the messenger of God, what are these traps and snares?” Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) answered:
The trap of the Shaitan is withholding from doing charity to the friends, while his snare is sleeping away the settlement of the obligatory prayers. Certainly, no worship is preferred to walking for visiting and providing charity to the friends. Woe to those who are inadvertent against their prayers, sleep inattentively, and mock at God and His marks. They shall be weightless on the Day of Resurrection, andGod will not speak to them nor will He look at them on the Day of Judgment nor will He purify them. They will face a painful torment.
O son of Jundab, God will ease him who begins his day thinking only how to save himself from Hell and seeking few profits from his Lord. God will make Hell the lodge of him who cheats, debases, and aggresses his friend. Like salt dissolving in water, faith will dissolve in the hearts of those who envy a faithful believer.
O son of Jundab, he who makes efforts for settling his friend’s need is as same as that who roams between Safa and Marwa
. He who settels the need of his friend is regarded as same as those whose blood was shed in the battles of Badr and Uhud for God’s sake
. God did not punish a nation before they had disregarded the rights of the poor among them.
O son of Jundab, inform our Shias - adherents- not to be highly tranquil. Pursuance to our leadership is not obtained without piety, painstakingness, and consoling the brothers for God’s sake. He whoever oppresses people is not within our adherents.
O son of Jundab, the characters of our Shias are many: they are generosity, openhandedness with the friends, and offering fifty rak’as in day and night (seventeen rak’as of the obligatory prayers and thirty-three rak’as of the nafilas). Our Shias neither shout like dogs nor are they avaricious like crows. They never lodge next to our enemies and never beg him who hates us even if they starve. Our Shias never have the meat of eel and never pass their hands over their slipper during the ritual ablution. They keep up the offering of the Dhuhr - midday- Prayer and do not drink any intoxicant.
(Abdullah bin Jundab related) I asked, “God make me your sacrifice, where can I find such Shias?” Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) answered:
You will find them on the summits of mountains and in outskirts. Whenever you are in a city, you will know the faithful by asking about the one whom the people of the city do not neighbor nor does he neighbor them. That is the faithful believer. This is in the Holy Quran. God says: “A man came running from the farthest part of the city.
”
That was Habib the carpenter. He was the only faithful believer.
O son of Jundab, all sins are forgivable except mistreating the people of your sect. Every charity is acceptable except that which is done for showing off.
O son of Jundab, love (others) for God’s sake. Cling to the firmest handle. Stick on the guidance so that your deeds will be accepted. God says:
I am All-forgiving to the righteously striving believers who repent and follow the right guidance.
Hence, nothing except faith will be accepted, no faith without deed, no deed without conviction, and no conviction without submission. The master of all these is guidance. The deeds of him who follows the right guidance will be accepted and ascended to the Divine Realm.
God guides to the right path whomever He wants.
O son of Jundab, if you desire for neighboring the Glorified God and residing in the Elevated Paradise in His vicinity, you should demean the worldly pleasures, regard death permanently, and spare nothing for tomorrow. You should know that you will get the reward of whatever you precede - in charity- and get the punishment of whatever you delay.
O son of Jundab, he whoever deprives himself of enjoying his earnings is collecting for others. He whoever complies with his passions is complying with his enemy. For those who trust in Him, God will settle their worldly affairs as well as the affairs of the world to come and keep for them whatever they miss. He who does not choose steadfastness for facing every misfortune, thanks for every grace, and easiness for every complexity will surely be too short to continue. Be broad-minded whenever a misfortune inflicts you, whether in your son, wealth, or other matters. The fact of every misfortune is that God receives his loan and takes his gift back so as to test your tolerance and thanking. Trust in God in a way that you will not dare to disobey Him. Fear Him in a way that you do not despair of His mercy. Do not believe the saying and praise of the ignorant so that you will not be arrogant, tyrant, and esteem your deeds exaggeratedly. Adoration and modesty are the best of deeds. Do not waste your fortune and put up the others’ fortunes through what you are going to leave for them. Satisfy yourself with what God is giving you. Never look to what others have. Never expect (the good of) what you will not get. He who satisfies himself will surely attain self-sufficiency. He who is not pleased will never satiate. Take your share of the world to come. Never be arrogant when you are rich and intolerant when you are poor. Never be so crude that people desist from approaching you. Never be so humble that you will be disgraced by whoever knows you. Never quarrel with him who is higher than you. Never mock at him who is lower than you. Never dispute about a matter whose rightful owners are the opposite party. Never listen to the foolish. Never humiliate yourself before any person. Never depend upon anyone’s protection. Stop engaging yourself in a matter before you check it completely and realize its entrance and exit so as to avoid sorrow. Consider your mind as a kinsman whose opinion you seek. Consider your knowledge as the father that you follow. Consider your self as the enemy that you fight and the loan that you will defray. You are assigned as the doctor of yourself and shown the prescription of health, the malady, and the remedy. See how you will treat yourself. If you have done favor to someone, you should not violate it by mentioning it and showing the obligation on him. You should attach another favor to the previous. This will be more fitting for you and will make your reward in the world to come more fixed. Keep silent and you will be reckoned as indulgent whether you were knowledgeable or ignorant. Silence is an ornament before the scholars and a screen before the ignorant.
O son of Jundab, once, Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon them) asked his companions: “Supposing you pass by one of your friends and find that his dress was raised and a part of his genitals was shown. Will you screen him or reveal the genitals completely?” “We will surely screen him,” answered they. “No, you will reveal the genitals completely,” he replied. Hence, they realized that he had provided them a proverb. “O Spirit of God, How is that?” they asked. He (peace be upon him) explained, “As you notice your friend’s flaw, you do not cover him. I tell you truthfully that you will not get what you want unless you leave your desires. Likewise, you will not attain your hopes unless you become steadfast against matters that you hate. Beware of looking (at foreign women even one time), because it sets sexual appetite in the heart. This will sufficiently be sedition. Blessed are those whose sight is in their hearts not in their eyes. Do not go after people’s defects as if you are lords. You should inspect your defects like the slaves. People are either sick or healthy. Be kind to the sick and thank God for the health.”
O son of Jundab, regard him who ruptured relations with you, give him who deprived you (of his bestowals), treat kindly him who mistreated you, greet him who reviled at you, be just to him who disputed with you, and pardon him who wronged you in the same way you like others to pardon you. Take lessons from God’s pardoning you; do you not see that His sun is covering the pious and the licentious and His rain is falling on the virtuous and the wrongdoers?
O son of Jundab, do not give alms openly for the purpose of making people second you. If you do so, then you have taken your reward. You should not let your left hand know that your right hand has given alms. He to whom you are giving alms secretly will surely reward you openly before all people on the day on which it will not be harmful for you that people witness your almsgiving. Low you voice because your Lord, Who knows whatever you say secretly or openly, has already known your question before you ask it. When you fast, you should not backbite anybody. Do not oppress anyone while you are fasting. Do not be like those who fast for showing off; their faces are dusty, hair is disheveled, and mouths are dry just for making people know that they are fasting.
O son of Jundab, all the good and all the evil are in front of you. You will see the true good and the true evil after the world to come. God the Glorified put all the good in Paradise and all the evil in Hell, because they will persist. It is an obligation upon him whom God has gifted guidance, honored with faith, granted intelligence, supplied with a brain with which the graces are recognized, and given knowledge and wisdom with which the worldly and religious affairs are managed, it is an obligation on him to deem obligatory upon himself to thank God, never show ingratitude, never forget, obey, and never challenge Him. This obligation is for the old graces that the Lord considered perfectly, the new ones that He gave after creation, the great rewards that He promised, and the favor of imposing only the possible and guaranteeing to help do it. He also called man to seek His help to perform the fewest of what He imposed upon him. Nevertheless, man is ignoring and unable to do what God ordered him to do. He dressed the garb of belittling the bond between the Lord and him, pursued his whims, went on complying with his lusts, and preferred the world to the world to come; yet, he hopes to be in the Highest Paradise. You should never expect to have the ranks of the doers of charity while you practice the deeds of the evildoers. When the Falling Event will come to pass, the Resurrection will arise, the Great Predominating Calamity comes, the All-omnipotent will maintain the scale for judgment and the creatures will be resurrected for the Day of Judgment, only then you will realize whose is the honor and exaltation and whose is sorrow and disappointment. Hence, work in this world so that you will win in the world to come.
O son of Jundab, in one of His revelations, God, the Majestic the Glorified, said: “I will accept only the prayers of him who humiliates himself before My greatness, abstains from the pleasures for My sake, spends his day with referring to Me, never tyrannizes My creatures, serves the hungry, attires the naked, treats the injured kindly, and finds a place for the strange. The light of such people will shine like sunlight. I will give him light in the gloom and composure in the situations of ignorance. I will protect them by My might and assign My angels as their guards. I will respond when they call on Me and give when they ask Me. They are the like of the Highest Paradise; its fruits are unparalleled and it never changes.”
O son of Jundab, Islam is naked; pudency is its dress, decorum is its adornment, good deed is its personality, and piety is its pillar. Everything should have a basis. The basis of Islam is the adoration to us - the Prophet’s family.
O son of Jundab, God, the Blessed the Exalted, has a wall of light that is framed with aquamarine and silk and decorated with fine green silk. This wall is fixed between our enemies and our followers. When the brains will boil, the hearts will reach the throats, and the livers will be fired due to the long period of the situation of the Resurrection, the disciples of God will be taken into that wall. They will be under God’s security and protection. They will have whatever they desire and whatever their eyes find sweet. The enemies of God will be muffled by the sweat and thrilled by fear. They will look at what God will arrange for them and say: “Why is it that we cannot see men whom we had considered as wicked?”
Then, God’s disciples will look and laugh at them. This is God’s sayings:
We mocked at them. Can our eyes not find them?
On the Day of Judgment, the believers will laugh at the disbelievers, while reclining on couches and reviewing the bounties given to them.
At that time, God will take everyone who supported any of our disciples, even by a single word, to Paradise without judgment.
Imam As-Sadiq’s Commandment for Abu Ja’far Muhammad Bin Annu’man Al-Ahwal
Abu Ja’far said: Imam as-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said to me:
God the Glorified imputed dishonor to some people in the Quran because they divulged secrets.
Abu Ja’far said: “God make me your sacrifice, where is that (in the Quran)?” asked I. The Imam (peace be upon him) answered:
This is in His saying:
When they receive any news of peace or war, they announce it in public.
He (peace be upon him) then added:
The divulgers of our secrets are as same as those who unsheathe swords in our faces. God’s mercy be upon him who buries under the feet whatever he hears from our concealed issues. I swear by God, I know the evil among you more accurately than a veterinarian’s knowledge of his sick animals. The evil ones among you are those who recite the Quran only in public, offer the prayers in the final of their times, and do not control their tongues. When Al-Hasan bin Ali (peace be upon them) was stabbed and people mutinied, he conceded to Muawiya. Hence, his followers came to him and said: “Peace be upon you, disgracer of the believers!” He (peace be upon him) said: “I am not the disgracer of the believers. I am their consolidator. When I noticed that you were weaker than them, I conceded so that you, as well as I, would remain among them. This is the same reason that made the Scholar crack the ship so that it would be kept for its owners
.”
O son of Annu’man, as I say something to one of you, he relates it to me before others. This will make him deserve my curse and disavowal. My father used to say: “Nothing is more delightful than taqiyyah
. It is the shelter of the faithful believers. Without taqiyyah, God would not have been worshipped.” God says in this regard:
The believers must not establish friendship with the unbelievers in preference to the faithful. Whoever does so has nothing to hope for from God unless he does it out of fear or pious dissimulation - taqiyyah-.
O son of Annu’man, beware of contention, because it makes void your deeds. Beware of disputation, because it destroys you. Beware of quarrelsomeness, because it takes you away from God. Those who preceded you used to keep silence, while you are learning how to speak. If one of them wanted to dedicate his efforts to worship, he would have to learn keeping silent ten years before so. If he learnt it adequately, he would go worshipping. Otherwise, he would say: No, I am not fit enough for so.
Only he who keeps silent against obscenity and tolerates harm in the unjust state will be saved. These are the chaste, the pure, and the true disciples. Moreover, they are the faithful believers. The most hated to me are the distributors of the news, the gossiping, and those who envy their friends. They are not from me and I am not from them. My disciples are only those who submit to our affairs, pursue our tracks, and rest upon us in every matter. I swear by God, if you provide gold as much as this earth for God’s sake and then envy a believer, you will be ironed with that gold after it will be heated in Hell.
O son of Annu’man, the divulger of our secrets is more sinful than him who kills us with his sword. He is surely more sinful. He is surely more sinful.
O son of Annu’man, he whoever relates a narrative to us is murdering us intentionally, not unintentionally.
O son of Annu’man, in the shadows of the unjust ruling regime, you should receive everybody that you fear warmly. He who opposes the unjust government is killing and destroying himself. God says:
Do not push yourselves into perdition.
O son of Annu’man, the Shaitan is still attaching to us -the prophet’s family- those who are neither with us nor with our religion. When such an individual is raised and regarded by people, the Shaitan will order him to fabricate lies against us. Whenever such an individual goes, another will come forth.
O son of Annu’man, he who says, ‘I do not know,’ if he does not find the answer of a question is behaving fairly to knowledge. The faithful believers who bear malice in a situation should get rid of that malice as soon as that situation ends.
O son of Annu’man, the scholar
cannot tell you of everything he knows, because he is God’s secret that He revealed to Gabriel the angel. Gabriel revealed it to Mohammed (peace be upon him and his family), and he revealed to Ali (peace be upon him) who revealed it to Al-Hasan (peace be upon him). Al-Hasan revealed to al-Hussein (peace be upon him) who revealed to Ali (peace be upon him). Ali (peace be upon him) revealed it to Mohammed (peace be upon him) who revealed it to someone. Do not be hasty. This issue
was about to be come forth three times, but it was postponed because you declared it publicly.
Your enemies are more acquainted with your secrets.
O son of Annu’man, Keep yourself safe. You have disobeyed me. Do not divulge my secrets. Al-Mughira bin Saeed forged lies against my father and divulged his secrets; therefore, God caused him to suffer the heat of iron. Likewise, Abul-Khattab forged lies against me and divulged my secrets; therefore, God caused him to suffer the heat of iron. For those who conceal our affairs, God will adorn them with our affair in this world and the world to come, give them their shares, and guard them against the heat of iron and the narrow detention.
Once, the Israelis were inflicted with such a harsh famine that their animals and children perished. Hence, Moses the prophet (peace be upon him) supplicated to God to save them. God said: “O Moses, they have made public fornication and usury, constructed the churches, and wasted the almsgiving.”
Moses said: “O Lord, be merciful to them out of your compassion. They do not understand.”
Thus, God told Moses that He would send rainfall on them and test them for forty days. But they publicized this matter; hence, God ceased rainfall for forty years. In the same way, as your issue was about to come forth, you publicized the matter in your sessions.
O Abu Ja’far, what is your business with people? Leave them alone and do not call anyone to this matter. I swear by God, if the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth support each other on deviating a servant whom God wants to guide, they will not be able to do it. Let people alone and do not say this is my brother, uncle, or neighbor. When God the Glorified wants the good of somebody, He will make his soul so fertile that he accepts any good matter and refuse any evil. Then God will strike his heart with a word that corrects his matter totally.
O son of Annu’man, if you want your friend to keep your friendship, you should not joke or dispute with him, show him pride, or mistreat him. Do not inform your friend of all of your secrets except those which will not harm you if your enemy knows them, because it is possible that your friend becomes your enemy someday.
O son of Annu’man, a servant will not be a faithful believer before he learns three characters; one from God, one from His Messenger, and one from the Imam. The character that he should learn from God is the concealment of secrets. God the Glorified says:
He knows the unseen and He does not allow anyone to know His secrets…
The character that he should learn from the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) is that he should treat people courteously.
The character that he should learn from the Imam (peace be upon him) is to be steadfast against situations of misfortune and crises until relief comes about.
O son of Annu’man, eloquence is neither the sharpness of the tongue nor the much speaking. It is targeting the meaning and going for the evidence.
O son of Annu’man, he whoever sits with those who revile at God’s disciples is disobeying God. He whoever suppresses his rage for our sake since he cannot show it will be with us on the Highest Peak. God will cause to suffer the heat of iron and the narrow detention those who begin their days with divulging our secrets.
O son of Annu’man, do not seek knowledge for showing off, pride, and disputation. Do not leave it for the desire of ignorance, belittlement of knowledge, and feeling shy of people. The protected knowledge is the like of a covered torch.
O son of Annu’man, when God the Glorified wants to do good to a servant, He situates a white mark in his heart. Hence, the heart will be in search of the right. Then he will be as hasty as a bird going back to its nest for achieving your affair.
O son of Annu’man, God causes the adoration to us - the Prophet’s family- to descend from the heavens. It is situated in warehouses, like those of gold and silver, under the Divine Throne. He descends it in limited quantities and gives it to the best of His creatures only. It is in a cloud similar to that of rain. When God wants to give it exclusively to whom He loves, he permits that cloud to pour. It then pours, like rainfall, on the fetuses in their mothers’ wombs.
Imam As-Sadiq’s Message to a Group of His Adherents and Companions
Ask God for good health. Adhere to courtesy, decorum, tranquility, and pudency, and promote yourselves against what the virtuous ones among you promote themselves against. Remark favorably on the wrong people: be steadfast against their oppression, beware of opposing them, and use taqiyyah of which God ordered you when you sit, associate, and discuss with them. You have to sit, associate, and discuss with them. They will surely hurt you if they notice that you deny their beliefs. They will surely subjugate you unless God protect you against them. Their hearts bear malice and hatred against you more than what they show. You have to associate with them.
The servant that God created as faithful believer will not die before he hates and go away from evil. He whom God causes to hate and go away from evil will be saved from arrogance and pride. Hence, his mannerism and features will be well and his face will be smiling. He will acquire the decorum, tranquility, and reverence of Islam, keep himself away from matters that God forbids, and evade matters that enrage God. Moreover, God will endow him with people’s affection and courtesy and save him from boycotting people and engaging in disputations.
The servant that God created him as disbeliever will not die before he loves and favors evil. He whom God causes to love and favor evil will be arrogant and proud. Hence, he will be hard-hearted, vicious, rude-faced, famed of vulgarity, and shameless. God will dishonor him as nothing will prevent him from committing the prohibited matters and the acts of disobedience to God. He will hate obedience to God and its people. Far away are the believers’ manners from the disbelievers’. Ask God for good health and seek it from Him. All power and might belong to God.
Supplicate to God very frequently. He loves the servants who supplicate to Him. He promised them of response. On the Day of Resurrection, God will change the believers’ supplications into deeds due to which their ranks of Paradise will be added. Refer to God very much in every hour of every day and night. He ordered to mention Him frequently and He will mention the believers who mention Him. God will remember graciously every believer who mentions Him.
Keep us the prayers in general and the middle prayer in specific, and stand up while offering prayers in obedience to God, as God ordered the faithful believers before you in His Book. You should love the poor Muslims. He whoever debases and humbles them will deviate from God’s religion and God will debase him. Our father the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said:
“My Lord ordered me to love the poor Muslims.”
You must know that God will throw hatred and belittlement upon him whoever humiliates any of the Muslims, so that people will hate him intensely. Fear God in regard to the poor Muslims; your brothers. It is obligatory upon you to love them, since God ordered His Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) to love them. He whoever dislikes those whom God ordered His Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) to love is disobeying God and His Messenger. He who disobeys God and His Messenger to death will be reckoned as one of those who returned into a rebel.
Beware of pride and arrogance, because arrogance is God’s dress, and He will surely subdue and humiliate him whoever tries to take His dress.
Beware of oppressing each other, because this is not a character of the virtuous. God will make the results of any oppression against the originator of that oppression and will give His victory to the wronged party. He whom is given God’s victory will surely overcome and prosper.
Beware of envying each other, because it is the origin of atheism.
Beware of standing against the wronged Muslim, because God will respond to him when he supplicates to Him. Our father the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said:
“The supplication of the wronged Muslim is responded.”
Beware of desiring for anything that God forbids. God will deprive those who violate the prohibited matters of Paradise and its pleasures, delights, and everlasting awards.
Imam As-Sadiq’s ‘Dispersal of Gem’
Some of the Shias name the following words of Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) as ‘dispersal of gems’:
1-
Inconsiderate judgment causes discrepancy, criticism causes enmity, lack of tolerance causes scandal, divulgement of secrets causes meanness, generosity causes cleverness, and niggardliness is inadvertence.
2-
To adhere to God, satisfy with His act, and trust Him - these three matters gather the good of this world and the world to come for him whoever holds fast to them.
3-
He who neglects three characters will be deprived: they are to ask from the generous, associate with the scholars, and attract the attention of the powerful.
4-
Religiousness, modesty, and generosity - these three matters bring about the affection of others.
5-
He who disavows three will attain three: he who disavows evil will attain dignity; he who disavows arrogance will attain nobility; he who disavows niggardliness will attain honor.
6-
Three characters bring about hatred: hypocrisy, oppression, and self-conceit.
7-
He who does not have one of three characters is not regarded as noble: they are a mind that beautifies him, a fortune that dispenses him of people, or a clan that supports him.
8-
Envy, talebearing, frivolity - these three matters cause degradation.
9-
Three characters are not known only in three situations: the clement are known only in situations of rage, the courageous are known only in wars, and brothers are known only in situations of neediness.
10-
He whoever enjoys three characters is certainly hypocrite even if he offers prayers and fasts: he who lies when he speaks, breaches his promises, and violates the trusts.
11-
Beware of three categories of people: the traitor, the oppressor, and the talebearer. He who betrays others for your sake will surely betray you, he who oppresses others for your sake will surely oppress you, and he who bears others’ news to you will surely bear your news to others.
12-
No one should be regarded as trustful before he keeps three things: funds, secrets, and honors. He who keeps two and betrays a third is not trustful.
13-
Do not consult the foolish, seek the help of the liar, or trust in the affection of the weary. The liar brings near the remote and makes the near remote, the foolish does his best for you but cannot attain anything, and the weary disappoints you in your most reliable matter and breaks your most associated matter.
14-
Four things do not have sufficiency with four matters: the land never has its sufficiency from rainfall, the eye never has its sufficiency from looking, the female never has its sufficiency from the male, and the scholar never has his sufficiency from knowledge.
15-
Four conducts bring old age before its time: they are eating dried meat, sitting on wetlands, scaling the stairs, and copulating with old women.
16-
Women are of three categories: one is for you, the other is for you and against you, and the third is against you. The one that is for you is the virgin. The one that is for you and against you is the non-virgin. The one that is against you is the mother of sons of another man.
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He who enjoys three characters is surely a master: they are suppression of the rage, pardoning the wrongdoings, and regard (others) by means of soul and property.
18-
Three things will inevitably suffer three matters: the horse will inevitably suffer a stumble, the sword will inevitably suffer a false strike, and the wise will inevitably suffer a slight fault.
19-
Eloquence is in three matters: to approach the intended meaning, evade surplus wording, and explain big meanings with little words.
20-
Safety lies in three matters: controlling the tongue, extent of the house, and feeling sorry for the faults.
21-
Ignorance is in three matters; change of the friends, unproved seclusion, and spying on unconcerned affairs.
22-
He who enjoys three characters will suffer from their bad turns: they are evil plots, breach, and rebellion. This is proved through God’s sayings:
Evil plots only affect the plotters.
Consider the result of their plot. We destroyed them and their people altogether.
As for those who disregard their pledge, they do so only against their own souls.
People, your rebellion will only harm yourselves. You may enjoy the worldly life.
23-
Three matters stop man from seeking rise: they are lack of self-determination, lack of management, and lack of opinion.
24-
Determination should be in three matters: they are serving the powerful, obeying the father, and submission to the master.
25-
Amiability is found with three individuals: they are the compliant wife, the pious son, and the good friend.
26-
He whom is given three characters will obtain three things: satisfaction with what is given, despair of what is in people’s possession, and avoidance of curiosity.
27-
Generosity is worthless unless three characters are done: being openhanded in situations of prosperity and dearth, giving to the deservers, and believing that the thanks that he received from those whom he endowed is more valuable than what he had given to them.
28-
Man is not excused in three matters: counseling with the well-wishers, treating the envious courteously, and showing affection to people.
29-
Intelligence cannot be attained unless three matters are achieved: submission to the right whomever its party is, acceptance for people whatever is accepted for oneself, and treating the wrongdoer considerately.
30-
Favors will not remain unless three characters are enjoyed: knowledge of matters that is incumbent for God the Praised in regard to the favors, showing gratitude for them, and avoidance of finding faults with them.
31-
If you are inflicted with one of three matter, you will hope were you dead: ceaseless, scandalous indignity, and overcoming enemy.
32-
He who refuses three will be inflicted with three: he who refuses safety will be inflicted with disappointment, he who refuses a favor will be inflicted with sorrow, and he who refuses having many friends will be inflicted with loss.
33-
It is obligatory upon everyone to avoid three matters: associating with the evildoers, talking with women, and sitting to the heretic people.
34-
Generosity is proved through three matters: well mannerism, suppression of anger, and turning the sight - from the forbidden views-.
35-
He who trusts three is cheated: he who believes the impossible, depends upon the distrustful, and acts greedily upon what he does not possess.
36-
He who uses three characters is spoiling his religion and his world: he who mistrusts everything, believes every matter he hears, and accepts to be controlled by his wife.
37-
The best kings are those who enjoy three characters: kindness, generosity, and justice.
38-
Kings should never neglect three matters: protecting the borders, looking closely into the affairs of the subjects, and selecting the virtuous for the official jobs.
39-
Three matters are obligatory upon the kings’ friends and subjects: the obedience to them, advising them in their presence and absence, and supplicating to God to give them victory and goodness.
40-
Three matters are obligatory on the rulers for both the chiefs and the subjects: they must reward the doers of charity perfectly so that they will be urged doing charity increasingly, cover up the wrongdoers’ deeds so that they will repent and stop bad behavior, and combine all the subjects with fairness and justice.
41-
Three kinds of people will surely worsen if the kings neglect them: a mischievous lazy individual who strays from the commons, a caller to a heresy whose slogan is enjoining good and forbidding evil, and people of a city who vote for a chief who prevents the king from applying the laws on them.
42-
The intelligent should not underestimate anybody. The most people whom should never be underestimated are three: the scholars, the rulers, and the friends. He who underestimates the scholars will spoil his religion, he who underestimates the rulers will spoil his worldly pleasures, and he who underestimates his friends will spoil his personality.
43-
The clique of the rulers is of three classes. One is charitable. It is the blessing of the ruler as well as the subjects. The second is caring for guarding what is in their hand only. They are neither praised nor dispraised. Yet, they are nearer to censure. The third is the vicious. They are doomed. The ruler is dispraised because of the existence of such a class.
44-
All people require three things: security, justice, and fertility.
45-
Three persons disturb the life: the unjust ruler, the bad neighbor, and the bad-tongued wife.
46-
Residence is valueless without three things: gentle wind, profuse fresh water, and a productive land.
47-
Three matters result in sorrow: boasting, pride, and competition in power.
48-
Three characters are stuck to son of Adam: envy, acquisitiveness, and appetite.
49-
If one of three characters is found in an individual, he will have them all in his excellence, solemnity, and beauty. They are piety, clemency, and bravery.
50-
He whom is given three characters will be perfect: intelligence, beauty, and eloquence.
51-
Safety will be the share of three categories until they attain their purpose. They are women until they give birth, kings until they die, and the absent until they return.
52-
Three characters beget deprivation: insistence in beggary, backbiting, and mockery.
53-
The end of three matters is bad: the heroes’ attack during wars in inappropriate opportunities even if they triumph, to have medicine while enjoying good health even safety is gained, and to ask the ruler even if they settle the needs.
54-
Every man claims accuracy of three matters: his religion, his whim that overcomes him, and his policy of life.
55-
People are of three classes: obeyed masters, equal individuals, and opposed people.
56-
The pillars of this world are three: fire, salt, and water.
57-
He who seeks three things wrongly will be deprived of three things fairly: he who seeks the worldly pleasures wrongly will be deprived of the world to come fairly, he who seeks leadership wrongly will be deprived of obedience fairly, and he who seeks fortunes wrongly will be deprived of having it permanently fairly.
58-
Strong-minded individuals should not do three matters: they should not have poison as an experiment even if they will be saved, should not tell their envious kinsmen of their secrets even if they will not divulge, and should not work in seas even if their richness lies there.
59-
People of any town should not dispense with three individuals for seeking their opinion regarding the affairs of their living and religion. If they lack the existence of such individuals, they will be regarded as uncivilized. Those are a pious knowledgeable jurist, an obeyed virtuous ruler, and a trustful erudite physician.
60-
A friend is tested through three matters. If he does them then he is a true friend, otherwise he is false. You should ask him for some money, deposit some money with him, and cause him to participate in an unfavorable matter.
61-
If people are saved from three things, they will be saved comprehensively: the obscene tongues, the bad hands, and the bad deeds.
62-
A master will never feel quiet if his servant does not enjoy anyone of three characters: a religion that guides him (to the right), mannerism that makes him polite, and fear that precludes him (from committing evildoings).
63-
Man needs three characters in order to live peacefully in his house with his dependants. He should stick himself to them even if they are not his nature: nice association, moderate affluence, and reasonable jealousy.
64-
Every craftsman requires three characters without which he will not get earnings: skillfulness of his craft, fulfillment of the trusts, and attracting the customers.
65-
The mind of him who suffers one of three misfortunes will surely be missing: a departing grace, an immoral wife, and a disaster in a dear person.
66-
Courage depends upon three characters each of which has an advantage that the others do not have: generosity of souls, refusal of humility, and seeking fame. If a hero has these characters together, he will be the unbeatable champion and the most famous intrepid. If he enjoys them all in different degrees, he will be more courageous and more intrepid.
67-
Three matters are obligatory upon sons regarding their parents: showing gratitude to them for any situation, obeying them in every matter they order or warn against except acts of disobedience to God, and advising them secretly and openly.
68-
Three matters are obligatory upon the fathers regarding their sons: choosing good mother, choosing good name, and exaggerative discipline.
69-
Brothers are in need of three characters so that their fraternity will endure lest, they will differ and hate each other: treating each other fairly, treating each other mercifully, and avoiding envy.
70-
Relatives will surely suffer weakness and schadenfreude of their enemies if they ignore three matters: they should avoid envying each other so that they will not be various parties and, accordingly, lack unity, should exchange visits so that they will enjoy intimacy, and should cooperate so as to gain strength.
71-
Husbands should never dispense with three matters in the course of their relations with their wives: they should use adaptability so as to gain the wives’ compliance, amiability, love, and morality, should use good demeanor as a means of gaining their love, and should improve their livelihood.
72-
Wives should never dispense with three characters in the course of their relations with their good-natured husbands: they should guard themselves against any filth so that they win their husbands’ confidence in good and bad situations, should take care of them so that this will save them when they make a fault, and should show love to them through coquetry and good appearance.
73-
Favor is not perfect without three matters: it is not perfect unless it is done as early as possible, regarded as little even if it is much, and not regarded as an obligation on the one to whom it is done.
74-
Pleasure is in three matters only: in loyalty, fulfillment of rights, and offering help in misfortunes.
75-
The evidence on judiciousness of views is three matters: good reception, good listening, and good response.
76-
Men are three: intelligent, foolish, and wicked. The intelligent is that who replies when he is addressed, is right when he speaks, and understands when he listens. The foolish is that who rushes when he speaks, stuns when he talks, and does evil when he is incited. The wicked is that who betrays when he is entrusted and insults when he talks.
77-
Brothers are on three categories: one is like food that you need every time. This is the intelligent. The other is like the malady. This is the foolish. The third is like remedy. This is the shrewd.
78-
Three things confirm the status of their chooser: the messenger shows the status of his selector, the gift shows the status of its chooser, and the book refers to the status of its writer.
79-
Knowledge is three: a decisive Verse, a fair duty, and a practiced tradition.
80-
People are of three categories: an ignorant that refuses learning, a scholar whose knowledge weakened him, and a intelligent who works for this world as well as the world to come.
81-
Strangeness is absent in three characters: good mannerism, abstinence of harm, and evasion of suspect.
82-
Days are three: one is past and unattainable, another is present and should be used, and the third is not coming yet, and people have its hope only.
83-
Faith will not promote those who do not enjoy three characters: clemency with which ignorance is refuted, piety prevents from seeking the prohibited things, and ethics with which people are treated courteously.
84-
Faith of those who enjoy three characters is perfect: they are those whose rage does not take them out of the right, whose satisfaction does not take to the wrong, and who pardon when they are powerful.
85-
People of this world need three characters: luxury without tiredness, abundance with satisfaction, and courage without laziness.
86-
The intelligent should never forget three things: the expiry of this world, the change of conditions, and the unexpected disasters.
87-
Faith, intelligence, and painstaking are three matters that are not perfect in anybody.
88-
Brothers are of three kinds: one is that who offers his soul for you and the other offers his wealth for you. These two kinds of brothers are genuine. The third is that who takes from you what he wants and needs you for enjoyment. You should not reckon him with the trustful (friends).
89-
The servants will not attain the reality of faith before they enjoy three characters: knowledge of religion, moderation of livelihood, and steadfastness against misfortunes. All power belong to God the High the Great.
Imam As-Sadiq’s Wording of the Quality of Adoration to the Prophet’s Progeny, Monotheism, Faith, Islam, Atheism, And Evil
Imam as-Sadiq (peace be upon him) asked the man who attended before him about his manner. ‘I am one of your followers and adherents,’ answered the man. Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
God will surely accept the servant whom He loves and will surely give Paradise to him whom He accepts.
‘Which class of our followers are you?’ asked the Imam (peace be upon him). The man found no answer. Sadir intruded to ask the Imam (peace be upon him), ‘How many classes are your followers, son of the Prophet?’ Imam as-Sadiq spoke:
Our followers are three classes. A class is those who pretend themselves our followers while the reality is the opposite, a class is those who cherish us secretly and do not follow us in public, and a class is those who cherish us openly and secretly. They are the highest group. They drank from the fresh water and had knowledge of the interpretation of the Book (of God), the distinction between the right and the wrong, and the causes of everything. Therefore, they have become the highest group. Poverty, destitution, and the varieties of crises are hastier than racehorses to them. They have suffered hardship and damage and they have been shaken and tested. Hence, they have been wounded and slain, scattering in the remote countries. Through them, God heals the ailed and richens the deprived. Moreover, you gain victory, rainfall, and earnings only through them. They are the fewest, but the owners of the greatest standings with God. The third class is the lowest group. They loved us in public, but they pursued the kings’ practices. Their tongues are with us while their swords are unsheathed in our faces. The second class is the middle group. They loved us secretly and ignored us openly. I swear if they love us secretly not openly, they are the fasting in days and the worshippers at night. The signs of seclusion are shown on their faces. They are peaceful and submissive people.
The man declared, ‘I am one of those who love you secretly and openly.’ The Imam (peace be upon him) said:
Our followers in secret and openness enjoy a number of indications with which they are realized.
As the man asked about these indications, the Imam (peace be upon him) said:
These are certain characters the first of which is that they knew monotheism perfectly, they excelled in the rules of God’s oneness, and finally they believed in God’s oneness and its description. Then they recognized the outlines, facts, provisions, and interpretation of faith.
Sadir intruded, ‘O son of God’s messenger, I have never heard you describing faith in such a form before.’ The Imam (peace be upon him) answered: Yes, Sadir. The asker should not ask about faith before he knows the One in Whom he must believe.’ ‘O son of God’s messenger,’ asked Sadir, ‘Would you please explain what you have said?’ The Imam (peace be upon him) spoke:
He who claims that he knows God due to the imprint of the heart is polytheist. He who claims that knows God by name, not meaning, is declaring the contrary, because the name is new (created). He who claims that he worships the name and the meaning is associating others with God. He who claims that he worships the meaning by the description, not realization, is referring to something absent. He who claims that he worships the description and the described is nullifying God’s oneness because description is something other than the described. He who claims that he adds the described to the description is belittling the great. They have no true respect of God.
‘What is the course to the true believing in God’s oneness, then?’ some asked. He (peace be upon him) said:
The door of search is opened and the pursuit of the exit is existing. The knowledge of the present should precede his description while the knowledge of the description of the absent should precede the knowledge of him.
‘How can we know the witness before we know his descriptions?’ they asked. He (peace be upon him) answered:
You should first know him, know his knowledge, and know yourself through him. You should not know yourself through yourself. You should also know that whatever he has is to him and through him. As an example of this is Joseph’s brothers when they addressed to him, ‘Are you Joseph?’ He said, ‘Yes, I am Joseph and this is my brother.’ They knew him through him. They neither knew him through others nor did they know him by themselves due to the imprints of their hearts. God says:
You could not even plant one tree.
This means that you should not appoint a leader for yourselves out of your whims and wills. As for three categories, God will not speak to them, will not look at them on the Day of Resurrection, will not second them, and will arrange for them a painful chastisement. They are those who plant a tree that God did not plant, i.e. those who appoint a leader for themselves out of their own whims, those who deny a leader that God appoints, and those who claim that those two persons have anything to do with Islam. God says:
Your Lord creates and chooses to whomever He wants. They do not have the choice to choose whatever they want.
The Quality of Faith
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The meaning of the quality of faith is the declaration, submission to God and seeking His favors through the declaration, and the fulfillment to Him through having knowledge of every obligatory matter, whether big or small, beginning with the outline of God’s oneness up to the last chapter of obedience without missing anyone. All this should be connected and matched up to each other. If a servant fulfills what is imposed upon him according to what we have recently explained, he will then deserve the quality of faith and will deserve the reward duly. This is because the meaning of faith is the declaration and the meaning of declaration is the sincerity of obedience. This proves that obedience as a whole is related to each other. A believer loses the quality of faith only when he ignores the matters due to which he deserved to have that quality. He deserved the name and meaning of belief meritoriously only when he fulfilled the grand duties connectedly and neglected and avoided the disobediences. He also will not abandon the quality of faith when he commits insignificant acts of disobedience to God and ignores the insignificant acts of obedience. God says:
If you avoid the grand violating that which has been prohibited, your sins will be forgiven and you will be admitted into an exalted dwelling.
This holy saying proves the fact that we have recently indicated. Accordingly, forgiveness is obtained when the grand sins are avoided. If a grand sin is committed, all of the acts of disobedience, whether grand or insignificant, will be taken in the consideration of judgment. Hence, castigation and penalty of all the acts of disobedience (to God) will fall. This is the quality of faith and the quality of a believer who deserves the reward duly.
The Quality of Islam
The meaning of the quality of Islam is the submission and fulfillment of all the acts of obedience whose judgment is clear. If one declares the all acts of obedience publicly, even if he does not believe with the heart, he will deserve the name and meaning of Islam, warrant the public friendship, his testimony will be accepted, the rulings of inheritance will be valid for him, and he will enjoy the rights and obligations of the Muslims. This is the quality of Islam. The difference between the believer and the Muslim is that the latter will be believer when he is obedient intentionally along with his public declaration. If he obeys publicly only, he will be Muslim. If he obeys publicly and intentionally, he will be believer provided that submission and seeking favors through knowledge will be present. It happens that a servant is Muslim but not believer. No one can be believer unless he is Muslim.
The Quality of Quitting Islam
Quitting Islam occur when one of five matters, all of which are similar and familiar, falls. These five matters are atheism, polytheism, deviation, immorality, and commitment of the grand sins.
Atheism is every deed by which God is disobeyed due to renouncement, denial, disparagement, and underestimation, whether that deed is small or big. The doer of such deeds is atheist and bears the quality of atheism. Everyone, regardless of the religion or the sect, who commits disobedience of such characters, is atheist.
Polytheism is every act of disobedience that is committed and taken as a creed, whether small or big. The doer of such an act of disobedience is polytheist.
Deviation is the ignorance of the obligatory matters. It stands for ignoring one of the grand acts of obedience, without which faith is not materialized, despite the existence of proofs and evidences. The neglector of such an act is neither denying such acts’ being obligatory nor betaking the denial of such obligatory acts as creed. He neglects them due to laziness, inadvertence, and engagement in other affairs. He is deviant and swerving from the course of faith due to ignorance and misguidance. Thus, he deserves the name and meaning of deviation as long as the previous description applies to him. If the doer inclines to any aspect of disobedience desirably due to denial, belittlement, and negligence, he will be regarded as atheist. If he inclines to betake his own interpretations, pursuance, submission, and acceptance of the words of the fathers and forefathers as creed, he then will be regarded as polytheist. A man that pursues a deviation will rarely get rid of the inclination whimsically to having some of the above-mentioned qualities.
Immorality is every grand act of disobedience that is committed due to appetite, lust, and prevailing desire. The doer of such acts is regarded as immoral and swerving from the course of faith due to his immorality. He would be regarded as atheist if he kept on such immorality until he came under the forms of negligence and belittlement.
The commitment of the grand sins that voids the faith is the engagement wholly in committing the grand acts of disobedience without denial, taking as creed, appetite, or lust, but it is only due to fanaticism and rage that makes one accuse, vilify, kill, seize fortunes, hold up rights, and commit the like grand sins that are perpetrated for reasons other than pursuance of appetite. Perjury, usury, and the like sins that are committed for motives other than pursuing the appetite, such as consuming intoxicants, fornication, and forbidden amusement. The committer of such grand sins violates his faith and swerves from it while he is not polytheist, atheist, or deviant. He deserves the quality of ignorance if the descriptions are applied to him. If he inclines to the qualities of what we have described, the quality will attach him.
Imam As-Sadiq’s Answers about the Kinds of People’s Livings
‘How many kinds of livings that people earn and deal with each other are there? What are the ways of expenses?’ a man asked Imam as-Sadiq (peace be upon him), who answered:
All the livings that people earn and deal with each other are four.
‘Are all these legal? Are they all illegal? Or are some legal and some illegal?’ asked the man. The Imam (peace be upon him) answered:
These four kinds may be legal from one side and illegal from another. These kinds are known and familiar. First of all, there is work in governmental offices. The first of this kind is the jobs of the rulers down to the least job of individuals. Then comes the trade including all sorts of deals, such as vending and purchase. Then come the industries along with all of their kinds. Then come the contracts of lease. All these kinds are legal from one side and illegal from another. God’s obligation on servants is to follow and practice the legal forms of these kinds only and avoid the illegal.
Explanation of Work in Governmental Offices
Work in governmental offices is of two forms. One is the office of the just authorities whom God ordered to assign as rulers and ordered people to follow them. Within them are their officials and administrators down to the least official. The other form is the office of the unjust people and their officials down to the least unjust official.
The legality of this kind is the office of the just rulers whom God ordered to recognize and elect as leaders, and working in their main and secondary offices by following God’s instructions to the just rulers without adding, reducing, distorting, or neglecting anything of His revelation. If such just rulers who meet the previous qualities exist, then work in their offices will be legal and it will be completely legal to work, support, and hold them. In addition, the gain from such jobs will be legal. Working with such rulers and their officials will enliven every rightful and fair matter and kill every wrong, injustice, and corruption. Therefore, to support, help, and work with such rulers is as same as calling to the acts of obedience to God and strengthening His religion.
The illegality of work in governmental offices stands for the leadership of the unjust rulers and their officials beginning with the chief down to the novice. Working with them and gaining earnings from them are prohibited and illegal. The workers and gainers of such earnings will suffer punishment, apart from the amount of the work or the earnings. Every act that is seen as support for the unjust rulers is a grand sin, because the rule of the unjust rulers kills the right wholly and enlivens the wrong wholly. It also spreads injustice, oppression, and corruption, stays the laws of the Divine Books, kills the prophets and believers, destroys the mosques, and distorts God’s norms and principles. Accordingly, it is prohibited to work with them, support them, and seek earnings from their leadership saving in cases of necessity that is similar to the necessity of having blood or meat of corpses.
Explanation of the commerce
Regarding the categories of vendition and the legal and illegal purchase and vendition, all the laws are arranged for saving the nourishment of the servants (of God) and achieving their prosperity concerning their food, drink, dress, marriage, property, and the dependent affairs. It is licit for them to traffic in all the profitable matters that are indispensable for them and achieve their prosperity. Vendition, purchase, possession, exploitation, endowment, and loan of the above-mentioned matters are licit.
The illegality of transaction includes every matter that is prohibited and causes corruption by way of eating, drinking, earning, marrying, possessing, using, endowing, or loaning it or any matter that causes corruption, such as usurious vendition, which causes corruption, and vendition of corpses, blood, pork, meat and skins of beasts including wild animals and birds, wine, or any other impure thing. These matters are illicit and prohibited. God has prohibited eating, drinking, dressing, possessing, using, and disposing of these things because this causes corruption. In other words, any disposition of such things is illegal. In addition, every vendition of illegal amusement is illegal. It is illegal and prohibited to vend, purchase, use, possess, endow, loan, or dispose in any prohibited substance that is used for seeking the favors of other than God or supporting atheism and polytheism by all ways of acts of disobedience or any way that supports any path of deviation or wrong or weakens the right, except in cases of necessity.
Explanation of Contracts of Lease
Contracts of lease include working as employee and hiring the property as well as those who are under guardianship, the animal, or the dress in a legal way of lease. It is licit to work as employee or let the house, the land, or one of the properties that is profitable. It is acceptable to be wageworker or give the son, slave, or hireling in lease provided that he himself is not the representative or the guardian on the guardian. It is also acceptable to work as employee or give the son, the kinsmen, the slave, or the representative in lease, because the previous categories are the representatives of the hireling. They are not the guardians of the guardian. As example of this is the porter who carries definite things to definite places; hence, he can port that thing - provided that it is legal- himself or by his servant or animal, or he himself does that act or hire his servant, kinsman, or hireling. These are the forms of contracts of lease. They are legal for all people, whether they were servants, populace, atheists, or believers. The lease and earnings of such ways of lease are legal. The examples of the illegal contracts of lease are to hire oneself for porting prohibited things, such as prohibited food, drink, and dress, or to manufacture, keep, or use such illegal things, or destroy mosques, or kill illegally, or carry pictures, statues, musical instruments, wine, pork, corpses, blood, or any feature of corruption that is prohibited on ways other than lease. It is illicit to hire oneself for any prohibited matter or any part of it except in cases of legal profits, such as employing for carrying a corpse so as to save oneself or others from its harm or the like profits. The difference between work in governmental offices and contracts of lease is that the previous means to work for the officials of the rulers and their officials as their representative out of their power following what they enjoin and what they forbid. It also stands for supporting and backing the rulers. Hence, the governmental official is the representative of his chief. They are considered as same as their masters who control people by killing and spreading injustice and corruption. The contracts of lease, on the other hand, stand for, as we have previously explained, hiring from others. Hence, the hirer will not have control over the hireling before he meets the regulations of lease. The contracts of lease are legal as we have previously shown.
Explanation of the Industries
Industries include every profession that the servants (of God) learn or teach others, such as writing, mathematics, trade, goldsmithery, saddlery, building, weaving, bleaching, dressmaking, the different sorts of picturing except picturing soulful creatures, and manufacturing the various instruments that people need and benefit. Doing, teaching, and working in all these varieties of industries are legal even if some instruments are used for corruption, acts of disobedience, and support for the wrong against the right, such as writing which may be used for supporting and backing the unjust rulers. The same thing can be said about knives, swords, and the like tools that are used for both good and evil. Hence, it is not unacceptable to learn, teach, take wages, and work in the good side of such industries. Likewise, it is forbidden to use these industries in evil and harmful ways. In this case, neither the master nor will the student be considered as sinful for using such industries in evil. The guilty will be those who misuse such industries. God has forbidden only the industries that are wholly illegal and that are harmful, such as the manufacturing of musical instruments, chess, every instrument of illegal amusement, crosses, statues, and the like industries in addition to the industries of forbidden drinks and those that produce illegal things purely without benefiting by any part of them. It is forbidden to teach, learn, work, and take wages for engaging in such industries as well as to manage any part of such industries.
Ways of Expenses
Ways of legal expenses are twenty-four: seven are for personal expenditure, five are socially obligatory, three are religiously obligatory, five are recommendable for building good relations, and four are favorable for amicability.
Regarding the seven ways of the personal expenditure, they are the expenditure for personal food, drink, dress, marriage, services, defraying the wages of the hirelings who keep or carry the personal belongings, and the expenditure of domestic needs or means of settling the personal needs.
Regarding the five ways of the socially obligatory expenditure, they are covering the needs of the sons, the parents, the wife, and the slaves whether in luxury or hardship.
Regarding the three ways of the religiously obligatory expenditure, they are the obligatory zakat that is defrayed annually, the expenditures of the obligatory hajj, and the expenditures of the jihad in its proper time.
Regarding the five ways of expenditure on building good relations, they are the expenditure for regarding the higher rank people, the relatives, and the believers and spending in almsgiving, charity, and manumission.
Regarding the four ways of amicable expenditure, they are settling the debts, loan, borrowing, and hospitability. These four matters are obligatory prophetic traditions.
The Legally Eatable food
It is lawful for man to have three kinds of food that the earth produces.
The first kind is the seeds. Wheat, barley, rice, and chickpea as well as the other kinds of sesame and the like - all these are legally eatable as long as they form food for people and strengthen the body. Except in cases of emergency, everything that harms the human body is illegal to have.
The second kind is all the kinds of fruits that form food for human bodies and strengths. All these kinds are legally eatable. The forbidden are only those that form harm.
The third kind is all classes of greens and plants that benefit human beings and form food for them. All these classes are legal to have. The other classes of greens that harm the human body, such as the poisonous legumes and oleander, are illegal to have.
The legally eatable meat is the meat of cows, sheep, camels and the other beasts except those having tusks or claws. Regarding the birds, the meat of every bird that has gizzard is legally eatable. Accordingly, the meat of every bird that does not have gizzard is illegal. No harm in having the different kinds of locust.
Every egg the edges of which are uneven is legally eatable, while the eggs the edges of which are equal are illegal.
Regarding the fish, it is legal to have the meat of every fish that has shells while it is illegal to have the meat of every fish that does not have shells.
Regarding the drinks, it is legal to drink any beverage provided that the much quantity of which will not preoccupy the mind. Thus, it is illegal to drink little quantity of the beverage the much quantity of which occupies the minds.
Regarding the dresses, it is acceptable to dress and offer the prayers while dressing any cloth that is made of plants. It is also acceptable to dress the clothing that is made of the skin, wool, or hair of the legally slaughtered animals that are legally eatable. It is acceptable to dress and offer the prayers dressing the clothing that is made of the wool, hair, or feather of the legally dead or slaughtered animals. It is illicit to offer the prayers or prostrate oneself (in the ritual prayers) on anything that is considered as food, drink, or dress. It is legal to prostrate oneself (in the ritual prayers) only on the fruitless plants of the earth before being yarns. Except in cases of necessity, it is illegal to prostrate oneself on spun plants.
Regarding the legal forms of matrimony, there are four forms of legal matrimony. They are the heritable matrimony - the permanent marriage-, the non-heritable matrimony - the temporary marriage-, the bond matrimony - marrying the bondwomen-, and the permitted bond matrimony - marrying a bondwoman by the permission of her master-.
Regarding the legal property, there are six ways of legal possession. They are the possession by spoils of wars, the possession by purchase, the possession by heritage, the possession by gift, the possession by loan, and the possession by lease.
The previous have been the various ways of the legal obligatory and recommendable expenditure.
Imam As-Sadiq’s Treatise re the Spoils of Wars and the Obligation of Khums
… I understand what you have mentioned concerning your interest in having knowledge of the conditions of God’s satisfaction and how the share of the Prophet’s relatives was withheld. Now, listen attentively and consider intelligently, then be fair with yourself. This will surely be saving you before your Lord whose instructions and warnings have been presented to you. May God prosper you and us.
You should know that Allah, your and my lord, has missed nothing.
Your Lord is not forgetful.
He has neglected nothing in the Book and He has provided everything in details. God the Exalted explained the obtaining of His riches as clearly as explaining the shares of these riches and the ways of expending them. Whenever God refers to the obligatory rules of this issue, He follows up with mentioning the ways without making any distinction between the rules and their ways. He made the shares obligatory for those to whom He referred. These shares will not become invalid or inoperative. The shares of the old men, the destitute and the wayfarers will be canceled when they become senile, rich, or return home, respectively. The obligation of the hajj was confirmed by means of instructions and this obligation was canceled for them who cannot perform it out of hardship or any other barrier. The alms were the first thing whose ways were manifested in details. God, the Majestic the Powerful, said:
Welfare funds (zakat) are only for the poor, the destitute, the tax collectors, those whose hearts are inclined (towards Islam), the slaves, those who cannot pay their debts, for the cause of God, and for those who have become needy on a journey. Paying zakat is an obligation that God has decreed. God is All-knowing and All-wise.
Through the previous Verse, God informed His Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) of they proper places of the alms and instructed him not to give them to anyone other than the above-mentioned classes. Meanwhile, God the Majestic saves His Prophet and his relatives from receiving the alms and dirt of people. This is for the alms.
Regarding the spoils of war, before the waging of war of Badr, the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) promised his army of precious gifts that would be taken as spoils for any killing or captivity. He also declared: “God has promised me to give my conquest over them and make me seize their equipments as spoils.”
When God defeated the polytheists and their spoils were gathered together, a man from Ansar stood up and said to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): “O God’s messenger, you ordered us to fight the polytheists importunately and promised to give certain gifts, from the spoils, to everyone who captures or kills one of their army. I killed two of them and took one as captive and I can prove it. Now, we demand with that which you promised us, God’s messenger.”
When the man sat down, Sa’d bin Ubada raised himself and said: “O God’s messenger, it was not a matter of cowardice at confronting the enemy or negligence of the money or the spoils that prevented us from gaining what those individuals had gained. In fact, we anticipated that the army of the polytheists might have attacked you if we would take positions that are away from you or that they might have injured you if they noticed that you were along. If you give such individuals the shares that you have promised, the other Muslims will return without gaining anything of the spoils.”
When he sat, the first man stood up and repeated his saying. When he finished, Sa’d stood up again and repeated his saying, each three times.
The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) was turning his face away from them. after a while, God the Majestic revealed:
They (the believers) ask you (Muhammad) about Al-Anfal: the booty captured (from the enemies) during a war.
Al-Anfal is a name comprising everything that the believers gained on that day, such as the things that are meant in God’s sayings:
Whatever God grants to His Messenger (out of the property)…
Know that whatever property you may gain…
God then said:
Tell them, "It belongs to God and the Messengers. If you have faith, have fear of God. Settle the disputes among yourselves and obey God and His Messengers.
On that account, God took the spoils from their hands and put it in the hands of His Apostle and His. He then said:
If you have faith, have fear of God. Settle the disputes among yourselves and obey God and His Messengers.
As soon as the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) arrived in Medina, God revealed to him:
Know that whatever property you may gain, one fifth belongs to God, the Messenger, the kindred, orphans, the needy and those who need money while on a journey. (This is the law) if you believe in God and what We revealed to Our Servant on the Day of Distinction (Badr) when the armies confronted each other.
God’s saying, ‘belongs to God,’ is similar to the ordinary saying, ‘this thing belongs to God and to you,’ but he does not dedicate anything to God.
The Messenger of God (peace be upon him and his family) divided the spoils into five shares. He took the share of God for himself and dedicated it to the reference of God, yet it would be inherited after him. A share was given to the Prophet’s relatives, namely sons of Abdul-Muttalib. Two shares were given to the Muslim orphans, one share to the poor, and one to the Muslim wayfarers whose journeys were not intended for commerce. These were the shares of the spoils on the battle of Badr, and this is the way of the spoils that are gained by fighting.
Regarding the spoils for the gaining of which neither horses nor camels were exhausted, when Muhajirs, who were about one hundred individuals, arrived in Medina, Ansar gave them half of their properties, including houses. When the Prophet was given triumph against the clans of Quraizha and Annazheer and he could seize their properties, he (peace be upon him and his family) said to Ansar: “You may take Muhajirs out of your properties and houses and I will distribute these spoils among them exclusively. If not, I may distribute them among you all.” Ansar suggested: “You may give them these spoils exclusively and leave them enjoying our properties and houses.” Hence, God, the Blessed the Exalted, revealed:
Whatever God grants to His Messenger (out of the property) of the people of the towns…
This is an indication to the clans of Quraizha and Annazheer. “Since you did not have to exhaust your horses and camels…
”
They were living in Medina; hence, they were too near to need for horses and camels for invading them.
God then says:
The poor immigrants who were deprived of their homes and property, who seek favors and pleasures from God, and help Him and His Messenger will also have (a share in the said property). These people are the truthful ones.
Thus, God dedicated these spoils to the Koreishites who emigrated with the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and showed sincerity. Moreover, God excluded the emigrants of the other Arab clans. This is clear in His saying: “the immigrants who were deprived of their homes and property.
” The Koreishite chiefs used to confiscate the properties and homes of those who emigrated, but the other Arab clans did not do so with their members who emigrated.
Then God praised Muhajirs to whom He dedicated the khums and acquitted them of hypocrisy for they had believed in him. This is clear in His saying: “These people are the truthful ones.
”
After that, God praised Ansar as He referred to their distinctive deeds, affection to the emigrants whom they preferred to themselves without showing and sort of envy or malice towards them. Thus, God praised them so highly in His saying:
Those who established a community center and embraced the faith before the arrival of the immigrants love those who have come to their town. They are not jealous of what is given to the immigrants. They give preference to them over themselves - even concerning the things that they themselves urgently need. Whoever controls his greed will have everlasting happiness.
After the conquest of Mecca, some men were very malicious for the Muslims who overcame them in the battles and seized their properties, but when they converted to Islam with full loyalty, they sought God’s forgiveness for their previous polytheism. They also prayed to Him to clean their heart from such feelings of malice against those who preceded them to faith. They also supplicated to God to forgive those believers so that their hearts will be thoroughly clean and the two became brothers.
God, accordingly, praised those people exclusively. He said:
Those who came later say: Lord, forgive us and our brothers who preceded us in the faith, and clear our hearts of any ill will against the believers. Lord, You are Compassionate and All-merciful.
The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) gave the Koreishite muhajirs each according to his need that he estimated, because the spoils were not divided into five shares equally. He (peace be upon him and his family) gave all the spoils to the Koreishite muhajirs and two men of the Ansar, namely Sahl bin Hunayf and Simak bin Kharasha (Abu Dudgana) for their urgent need. He gave them out of his own share. He also dedicated seven gardens from the spoils of the clans of Quraizha and Annazheer, that no horses or camels were exhausted for capturing them, to himself. Fadak was one of these gardens which no horses or camels were exhausted for capturing it.
Khaybar was a city three-day walk away from Medina. It was within the properties of the Jews, but it was seized after a war. Therefore, the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) divided its properties as same as the distribution of the spoils of the battle of Badr. In this regard, God says:
Whatever God grants to His Messenger (out of the property) of the people of the towns, belongs to God, the Messenger, the kinsfolk, the orphans, the destitute and to those who may become needy while on a journey, so that it will not circulate only in the hands of rich ones among them. Take only what the Messenger gives to you and desist from what he forbids you. Have fear of God; God is severe in His retribution.
These were the ways of the distributions of the other kind of spoils.
Ali bin Abi Talib (peace be upon him) related:
We were receiving our shares that are decided in this Verse, which begins with instructions and ends with refraining, until the khums of Shush and Jundishapur
came to Omar. The Muslims, Al-Abbas, and I were there when Omar said to us: “You have received many shares of khums. Today, you are not in need for them while the Muslims are in urgent need. Borrow us your shares of this property and we will give it back to you as soon as God issues for the Muslims (additional) spoils.”
I did not want to answer him because I was afraid he, if we dispute with him about it, would say about our shares of khums the same thing that he had said about that which was greater than khums, namely the heritage of our Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) when we insisted on receiving it.
Al-Abbas said: “O Omar, do not violate our shares, because God confirmed it to us in a way more manifest than the shares of heritage.”
Omar said: “You are the foremost in showing kindness to the Muslims.” He also sought my intercession in this question so importunately until he could seize our shares. After that, we did not receive anything as a settlement of that loan until Omar was dead. After him, we could not demand with our shares.
God forbade His Apostle (peace be upon him and his family) to receive the alms. As compensation, He gave his a share in the khums. In like manner, it was illegal for the Prophet’s family exclusively to receive the alms. Therefore, their little and big, male and female, poor, attendant, and absent - all these have shares in the khums, because their kinship to the Prophet will not change or vanish.
All praise is due to God Who made the Prophet from us and made us from him.
The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) did not give anyone any share of the khums except us, our allies, and our adherents. This is because they are from us. He also gave some people a part of his share for the covenants that were concluded between them.
Previously, I have shown the ways of the fouranfal
(spoils of wars) that God manifested, ordered, and clarified by means of healing wording and luminous proof that was provided by the descended revelation and the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) applied.
He who distorts the words of God after he listened and understood, the sin will be afflicting only those who distort and God will be their adversary party in this regard.
Peace and God’s mercy and blessings be upon you.
Imam As-Sadiq’s Discussion With the Sufis Who Instruct People Not to Seek Earnings
Sufian Athawri related: As I saw Abu Abdillah (peace be upon him) putting dresses as white as eggs, I said: “This is not your dress.” The Imam (peace be upon him) answered:
Listen to me carefully so that you will be benefited in this world as well as the life to come if you depart this life keeping the true Sunna and right, not heresy. I tell you that the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) was in time of famine and poverty. In times of affluence, the pious not the vicious, the believers not the hypocrites, and the Muslims not the atheists, will be the most meritorious in enjoying the pleasures. What have you denied, Athawri? By God I swear, despite what you see, no single morning or evening has come to me and found me leaving one of God’s rights (that are incumbent upon me) without perfect fulfillment since I attained maturity.
After that, some people showing abstinence and calling people to be like them attended and said to the Imam (peace be upon him), ‘Our acquaintance could not answer you because his evidences were not present.’ ‘Well,’ said the Imam, ‘submit your evidences.’ ‘Our evidences are from the Book of God,’ said they. ‘Adduce them, then. Truly, they should be the most followed and practiced,’ said the Imam (peace be upon him). They said, ‘As he talks about the manners of some of the Prophet’s companions, God the Blessed says:
They give preference to them over themselves - even concerning the things that they themselves urgently need.
In another place in the Quran, God says:
They feed the destitute, orphans, and captives for the love of God.
We suffice with these two evidences.’
One of the attendants intruded, ‘We have not noticed you abstain from the delicious foods, however you order people to leave their fortunes so that you will have joy with them.’
Abu Abdillah (peace be upon him) spoke, ‘Leave the worthless wording.’ He then turned to the group and said, ‘You should tell me whether you have any knowledge of the distinction between the repealing and the repealed Verses of the Quran and the decisive and the allegorical ones, about which many deviated and many others perished.’ ‘We have some knowledge,’ answered they, ‘We do not have thorough knowledge.’ ‘So,’ said the Imam (peace be upon him):
This is the very point of refuting your evidences. Naturally, you do not have thorough knowledge of the Sunna, do you not? Regarding what you mentioned about God’s telling us of the good manners of those people, this question is concerning a matter that was allowed for them. They were not forbidden from doing such thing. They will obtain their prizes from God. After that, God the Glorified ordered to do the opposite of their deed. Hence, His order repealed their deed. God warned against following such deeds out of His mercy to the believers and so that they will not harm their dependants and themselves as long as there are, within their family members, the children, the juveniles, the senile men, and the old women. Those are too weak to tolerate hunger. They will surely perish if I, their breadwinner, give my only loaf of bread as alms and leave them starving. In view of that, the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: “The five dates, loaves of bread, dinars, or dirhams that are given as alms should be first provided to the parents, second to the dependants or oneself, third to the relatives and the faithful believing friends, fourth to the poor neighbors, and fifth for God’s sake, which is the less in rewarding.”
The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) also said about that dead man of Ansar who manumitted all his five or six slaves while he left his children living in destitution: “Had that you informed me of this deed, I would not have let you burry him with the Muslims.”
My father told me that the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) had said: “Begin - in expenditure- with your dependants according to their degree of closeness to you.”
In addition, the Book (of God) has also refuted your saying and warned against it. God, the Majestic the Wise, says:
…who in their spending are neither extravagant nor stingy but maintain moderation.
Have not seen that God the Elevated disgrace the act of preferring others that you are appealing to, and describe those who prefer others to themselves as excessive. In more than one occasion, God says in the Quran:
God does not love those who are excessive.
God warns against excessiveness and stinginess. He instructs to attain moderation. One should not give all what he has as alms and then pray to God to give him, because, in such cases, God will not respond to him. This is proved through the hadith that is related to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): “ Certain categories of people of my umma will not be answered when they supplicate (to God): a man who curses his parents, a man who curses him who took his property without (formal) contract and witnesses, a man who curses his wife while he can divorce her, and a man who sits in his house and pray to God to give him sustenance and avoid going out for seeking earnings. For such a man, God, the Majestic the Powerful, says: ‘O My servant, I have made it possible for you to take courses into seeking earnings, I have given you enough power, when I gave you sound organs, for roaming in lands (for working); therefore, you have no excuse to avoid seeking earnings and following my instructions, so that you will not be an additional burden on your folks. I may bestow upon you if I will and may deprive you if I will. Finally, you are not enjoying any obligation that is incumbent upon Me in this regard.’ Another category of people whose supplications are not answered is that man whom God had bestowed upon him with abundant sustenance, but he spent all of it as alms then he was praying to God to give him sustenance. For such a man, God says: ‘I have given you abundance sustenance. You should have dealt with your wealth moderately as I ordered you to do. You should not have been so exaggerative after I warned you against exaggeration.’
The last category of people whose supplication is not answered is those who supplicate to God in a matter that results in disregard of relations.”
After that, God instructed His Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) how to spend as alms.
The Prophet was not relieved as long as he was about to spend a whole night keeping an oke of gold in his house; therefore, he gave it as alms before morning. The next morning, a beggar came to him, but he did not have anything to give. The beggar then blamed him for so and he (peace be upon him and his family) felt depressed, because he was so merciful and compassionate. Hence, God instructed His Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) by saying:
Do not be stingy nor over generous lest you become empty handed and bankrupt.
This means that people usually ask from you and would not excuse you (if you have nothing to give them). If you give all of that which you have under your hands, you will have nothing to give.
The previous were the sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) that are testified by the Book (of God) that is testified by its faithful people.
When he was asked to bequeath, Abu Bakr, who was dying, said: “I bequeath the one-fifth although it is too much. God has satisfied with the one-fifth.”
Hence, he bequeathed the one-fifth while God permits him to bequeath the one-third. He would have bequeathed the one-third if he had known it would be better for him.
Similar acts were opted by such virtuous and abstinent men, such as Salman and Abu Tharr (pleased be them).
Salman used to devote his annuity from his share of the public treasures until he would receive his share of the coming year. Some asked him: “O Abu Abdillah, you are known of such incomparable abstinence and you do not know whether you will die this year or not; however, you are devoting your annuity.” He answered: “Why do you not hope for me to live for another year while you anticipate my death? O ignorant people, you should have known that the soul will be slow in responding to its owner if he does not secure for it a source of revenue enough for achieving its living. If the soul feels that its livings are secured, it will feel secure and tranquil.”
Abu Tharr had few she-camels and few ewes that he used to milk them and slaughter when his dependants craved for meat, guests visited him, or his neighbors suffered famine. In such cases, he used to distribute the meat among them equally and have a share for himself as same as theirs.
No one was more abstinent that those individuals about whom the Messenger of God (peace be upon him and his family) said all these (splendid) words. Nevertheless, they did not reach a state in which they had not possess anything at all while you are, now, instructing people to throw out their properties and possessions and prefer others to their dependants and themselves.
You, O group, should know also that I have heard my father relating on the authority of his fathers (peace be upon them) that the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: “The strangest thing that I have ever seen is the faithful believer: if he is severed with saws, it will be for his good and if he is given that whichever is between the east and west in possession is for his good, too. Everything that God does to the faithful believer is for his good.”
Now, will my explanations that I have previously submitted for you influence in your belief or should I provide more?
You should have known that God, the Majestic, imposed on every believer, in the beginning of Islam, to fight ten individuals of the polytheists and ordered them not to turn the backs, for he whoever absconds should find himself a place in Hell. Afterwards, God changed this decision out of His mercy and imposed upon each believer to fight only two individuals of the polytheists. That was a sort of alleviation. Hence, ten was repealed by two.
Likewise, tell me whether it was unfair for the judges to impose on husbands to cover the needs of their wives, for some of them may claim that they are abstinent and having nothing in possession? If you say it is unfair for them, then you are imputing injustice to the people of Islam. If you claim that it was fair for them, then you are contradicting yourselves. What should you say about the judges who refuse the bequeathal of those who dedicate more than one-third of their properties to the poor?
Supposing that all people are as abstinent as you are and dispensing with the others’ properties, to whom should the funds that are obligatorily defrayed as penances of breaking the oaths and vows and the alms of the zakat that is imposed upon those who possess (definite numbers of) camels, sheep, and cows as well as gold, silver, date-palm trees, raisins, and the others yields that are subjective to the zakat?
If your opinions are accurate, then it is inappropriate for anyone to have anything of the worldly affairs in possession even if he is in urgent need of that thing.
Very bad were your opinions to which you have called people out of your ignorance of the Book of God the Majestic and the traditions of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) as well as his hadiths that are testified by the Revealed Book. Similarly, very bad was your negligence of looking in the figurative questions of the Quran, including the exegesis of the repealing and the repealed, the decisive and the allegorical, and the orders and the warnings of the Quran.
Tell about Solomon son of David the prophets (peace be upon them) when he asked God to grant him a kingdom that no one after him can have the like of it. God (glorified be His Name) gave him that kingdom. Nevertheless, Solomon (peace be upon him) was calling to the right and acting its deed. Beside, neither God nor anyone of the believers criticized him for that kingdom. Before him, David the prophet (peace be upon him) had a great kingdom and power.
Joseph the prophet (peace be upon him) is another example. He said to the king of Egypt: “Put me in charge of the treasuries of the land. I know how to manage them.”
Hence, he was given the kingdom of the king and its surroundings to Yemen in responsibility. All people were seeking provisions from him when they suffered famine. Nevertheless, he (peace be upon him) was calling to the right and acting his deeds. Besides, no one blamed him for such a kingdom.
Zulqarnayn is another example. He loved God and God loved him, made everything easy for him, and granted him the kingdom of the east and the west of the earth. However, he was calling to the right and working its deeds. Besides, no one blamed him for such kingdoms.
Afterall, O group, imitate the moralities that God the Majestic instructed for the believers, stop at the matters that God ordered or warned, neglect the affairs that you doubt and do not know, commend knowledge to its proper people so that you will be rewarded and excused by God, the Blessed the Elevated, and study the knowledge of the repealing, the repealed, the decisive, and the allegorical texts of the Quran in addition to the distinction between the questions that God made halal in the Quran from these that are haram. This will surely make you near to God and take you away from ignorance. Leave unenlightenment to its people, for the people of ignorance are too many while the people of knowledge are too little. God said:
Over every knowledgeable person is one more knowing.
Imam As-Sadiq’s Wording about the Creation and Structure of Man
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Self-acknowledgment is realized through four natures, four supports, and four pillars. The natures are blood, bile, wind, and phlegm. The supports are intelligence parts of which are understanding and maintenance.
The pillars are light, fire, soul, and water. The feature of man is his nature. He could see through light, eat and drink through fire, copulated and moved through the soul, and found the taste of every tasted thing and food through water. This is the basis of man’s feature. A man whose intelligence is supported by light becomes knowledgeable, retainer, clever, shrewd, and thoughtful. He should also recognize the real situation that he is in, the source of his situation, the reason beyond his existence, and the fate that he will inevitably encounter, through the sincere belief of God’s oneness and the submission to the obedience (to Him).
The soul may move in him with its heat or coldness. When heat of the soul influences that man, he will behave evilly and arrogantly, feel comfortable, kill, rob, feel pleasant and dashing, commits sins and fornication, and spend lavishly.
When the soul covers that man with its coldness, he feels depressed, sad, submissive, withered, and oblivious. These are the symptoms that cause diseases. This coldness is originated only when the individuals commit a sin and have a drink or food in an hour that is not appropriate to that drink or food - all in the same time; therefore, this will create a certain pain.
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) explained the topic in other words. He said:
Man drinks, eats, and works through the fire; hears and smells through the wind; enjoys the taste of food and drink through the water; moves through the soul. Food and drink cannot be digested in the interior body without the existence of the fire in the stomach. Without the existence of the wind, the fire of the stomach cannot be flamed and the dregs cannot find an exit out of the abdomen. Without the existence of the soul, man cannot come and go; i.e. move. Without the existence of the cold water (in the stomach), the fire of the stomach would burn (man). Without the existence of light, man cannot sight or understand. Clay is his nature. The role of bones in the human body is as same as the role of trees on the surface of the earth. The hairs on the skin play the same role of the grass on the earth. The nerves of the human body play the same role of the bark on trees. The blood of the human body plays the same role of water on the earth. The earth cannot endure without water. In like fashion, the human body cannot endure without the blood. The brain is the fat and the foam of blood.
This is the human being who was created from matters of this world and matters of the world to come. If God combines these matters, man’s life will be on the surface of the earth, because he descended from the matters of the heavens to the world. When God disconnects these matters by means of death, the matters of the heavens go back to their source; the heavens. The life is on the earth and death is in the heavens by means of separating the soul from the body. The soul and the light are taken back to the foremost power and the body is left, because it is composed from matters of the world. The body disintegrates in this world because the wind dries water and the clay becomes debris and old and return to its first core. The soul moves in the breath whose movement is out of the wind. The breath of the believers is light that is supported by the mind while the breath of the disbelievers is fire that is supported by devilry. This is the nature of its fire and the earlier is the nature of its light. Death is God’s mercy from the believers and God’s punishment on the disbelievers.
God has two punishments; the soul is the source of one and people’s predomination on each other is the source of the other. Ailment and poverty are the punishments whose source is the soul while agony is the punishment whose source is people’s predomination on each other. This is indicated in God’s saying:
Thus do We make the unjust ones predominate one another because of their evil deeds.
These evil deeds are their sins.
The punishment of the sins whose source is the soul is ailment and poverty, while the punishment of the sins the source of which is people’s predomination on each other is the agony. All these are punishment and agony for the believers in this world. For the disbelievers, these are punishment in this world and harsh agony in the world to come. The reason for any punishment is a sin and the source of every sin is passion. The sins of the believers are flaws and matters of oblivion or compulsory and unendurable. For the disbelievers, their sins are intentional, denial, aggression, and envy. This is indicated in God’s saying:
Once you have accepted the faith, many of the People of the Book would love, out of envy, to turn you back to disbelief, even after the Truth has become evident to them. Have forgiveness and bear with them until God issues His order. God has power over all things.
Imam As-Sadiq’s Words of Wisdom
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The unintelligent is fit for nothing and the unknowledgeable is unintelligent. He who understands will be excellent and he who is clement will be triumphant. Knowledge is protection, honesty is glory, ignorance is humility, understanding is honor, openhandedness is success, and good mannerism achieves affection. The knowing of manners of his time will not be attacked by the mysteries. Judiciousness is the lantern of doubt. God is the custodian of him who knows Him and the enemy of him who ignores Him. The intelligent should be forgiver and the ignorant is treacherous. If you want to be respected, you should be lenient and if you want to be disrespected, you may be severe. The heart of him whose lineage is honorable is surely soft while he whose race is ignoble is surely hard-hearted. He who neglects will be engaged (in troubles). He who cares for the result will acts slowly in matters that he ignores. He who involves himself in a matter with which he does not have full acquaintance will debase himself. He who does not know will not understand, he who does not understand will not be safe, he who is not safe will not be respected, he who is not respected will feel disappointed, he who feels disappointed will be blamed, and he who is blamed will be worthy of regret. If you can hide your personality from people, do it. You should care if people do not praise you and you should not care if people disregard you when God honors you. Amirul Muminin (peace be upon him) used to say: “Life is worthless for everyone except two men: a man whose acts of charity are day by day increasable and a man who corrects his death
by means of repentance.” If you can keep yourself indoors, do it. When you go out (of your house), you should avoid backbiting, telling untruths, envying, showing off, flattering, and sweet-talking. The cell of the believer is his house where he detains himself, his sight, his tongue, and his genitals. He who acknowledges the favors of God in his heart before he expresses his gratitude by words deserves increase of God.
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) then added:
Many are those whom are tempted by receiving graces of God, many are those whom are trapped by the concealment of their flaws, and many are those whom are cheated by wordings of praise. I hope for everybody who acknowledges our rights (of the loyalty to our leadership that is incumbent upon people) except three: the friends of the unjust rulers, the followers of their whims, and the sinful who commit sins openly. For those who love the worldly pleasures and follow anyone other than us, they, by God I swear, do not love God. For those who acknowledge our rights and love us, they surely love God. Choose to be subordinate, not head. The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: “The fearful are unable to speak.”
Short Maxims of Imam As-Sadiq
1-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
He who treats people kindly will be accepted as arbiter.
2-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
To trust everybody in times of injustice and cheating is disability.
3-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
If problems are added to each other, they will give birth of relief.
4-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
To recognize the actuality of your friend, you should enrage him. If he keeps up his friendship, he is true friend lest, he is false.
5-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Do not appreciate one’s affection before you enrage him three times.
6-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Do not trust your friend perfectly, because the knockdown of the trustful is incurable.
7-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Islam is a definite rank. Faith is one rank higher than Islam. Conviction is one rank higher than faith. People have been given a rank lower than conviction.
8-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
To remove a mountain is easier than removing faith.
9-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Faith is in heart and conviction is a number of inspirations.
10-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The desire for the worldly pleasures causes grief and sadness. Abstinence from the worldly pleasures brings about the rest of both heart and body.
11-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Life is to rent a house and buy bread.
12-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
He who gains oppression is not gaining welfare. He who mistreats people should not complain when people mistreat him.
13-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
In homelands, exchanging visits is the means of association. In travel, correspondence is the means of association.
14-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
A believer is not perfectly virtuous unless he enjoys three characters - knowledgeability of the religious affairs, moderation in living, and steadfastness against misfortunes.
15-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
An actual believer is that whose sexual appetite does not overcome him and whose stomach does not shame him.
16-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
A twenty-year friendship is kinship.
17-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Favors should be done only to the highborn or the religious. Those who show gratitude are very few.
18-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Enjoining good and forbidding evil should be practiced with a faithful believer that he would learn a lesson, or an ignorant that he would earn. Enjoining good and forbidding evil become surely worthless when they are applied with the powerful tyrants.
19-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Those who enjoin good and forbid evil should enjoy three characters: they should be aware of the matters that they enjoin and the matters that they forbid, fair in the matters that they enjoin and the matters that they forbid, and lenient in the matters that they enjoin and the matters that they forbid.
20-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
He who suffers a misfortune due to obtruding upon an unjust ruler will be neither rewarded nor endowed with patience.
21-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
As some people showed ingratitude for God’s graces, He changed the graces into crises. As other people showed steadfastness against the misfortunes that inflicted them, God changed the misfortunes into graces.
22-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The prosperity of coexistence and association are three thirds: two thirds are acumen and one is overlooking.
23-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Revenging on the pauper is extremely ugly.
24-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) was asked about personality, he answered:
Personality stands for that God should not see you in situations against which He warned, and miss you in situations of which He ordered.
25-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Thank him who did you favor, and confer upon him who thanked you. Graces that are shown gratitide will not removed while those that are shown ingratitude will not persist. Thanks increase the graces and saves against poverty.
26-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
To miss a need is better than asking it from other than its people. Bad mannerism in a misfortune is more catastrophic than the misfortune itself.
27-
As a man asked him a short item of instruction that collects the welfare of this world and the world to come, the Imam, peace be upon him, said:
Never tell untruths.
28-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) was asked about eloqunece. He answered:
Eloquence is to express the idea in as few as possible words. The eloquent is that who attains his demand in the least effort.
29-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Debt is grief at night and humility in day.
30-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
If your worldly demands are attainable, you should check your religion.
31-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Treat your fathers piously so that your sons will treat you piously. Keep yourselves away from the strange women so that your harem will be chaste.
32-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
He who entrusts a betrayer with a deposit will be deprived of God’s warranty.
33-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said to Humran bin A’yun:
O Humran, look to him who is less powerful that you are and do not look at him who is more powerful so that you will be more satisfied with what God has allotted for you and will be a greater motive to deserve the Lord’s increase. Know that little permanent deed with conviction is more favorable to God than the many deeds that are lacking conviction. You should know also that no piety is more profitable than avoiding committing the prohibited matters and the abstinence from harming and backbiting the believers. No living is more pleasant than good mannerism, no fortune is more advantageous than satisfaction with the sufficient and the little, and no ignorance is more harmful than self-conceit.
34-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Pudency is of two faces - one is weakness while the other is power, submission, and faith.
35-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Negligence of others’ rights is humility. Certainly, the neglector of rights needs for forgery in this regard.
36-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
It is sufficient for one of the group to salute. Similarly, it is sufficient for one of the group to respond the salutation.
37-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Salutation is voluntary while responding is obligatory.
38-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Do not answer those who speak before they greet you.
39-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Shaking hands is the perfect greeting of the resident and embracement is the perfect greeting of the traveler.
40-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Shake hands, because this will confiscate malice.
41-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Fear God even if to some extent. Construct a screen between Him and you even if transparent.
42-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
As for those who control themselves in rage, desire, fear, and lust, God will prevent Hell from burning their bodies.
43-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Good health is a light grace; it is forgotten when found and mentioned when missed.
44-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
In good days, God endows with the grace of consent. In distress, He endows with the grace of purification.
45-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
It often happens that God endows a servant with a grace that he does not expect. It also happens that one hopes for something while his goodness is in its opposite. It also may happen that one is running for his doom, while he goes slowly for his goodness.
46-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
He who does not arrange show steadfastness agains every misfortune, show gratitude for every grace, and show easiness for every complexity will surely be too short to continue. Be broad-minded whenever a misfortune inflicts you, whether in your son, wealth, or other matters. The fact of every misfortune is that God receives his loan and takes his gift back so as to test your tolerance and thanking.
47-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Everything has limits. The limit of conviction is not to fear anything besides God.
48-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The (faithful) believer should enjoy eight characters; he should be venerable in shaking situations, steadfast against misfortunes, thankful in luxury, satisfied with what God has decided to him, avoid oppressing the enemies, avoid overtaxing the associates, should fatigue his body, and make people feel glad with him.
49-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Knowledge is the comrade of the faithful believer, clemency is his supporter, patience is the commander of his army, lenience is his brother, and charity is his father.
50-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said to Abu Ubayda who asked him to supplicate to God for saving him from making his earnings pass by the mediation of the servants:
God has arranged to make people’s earnings in other people’s hands. You should supplicate to God to make your earnings in the hands of the charitable people, because this is a sort of happiness, and not to make your earnings in the hands of the vicious, because it is a sort of despondency.
51-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
As for those who practice without guidance, they are like him who walks without choosing a definite path. The more he walks, the remoter he becomes.
52-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The meaning of God’s saying, “Have fear of God as you should be,”
is that God should be obeyed in such a way that He should not be disobeyed, mentioned in such a way that He should not be neglected, and thanked in such a way that He should not be shown ingratitude.
53-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
He who recognizes God accurately will fear Him. He who fears God accurately will disregard the worldly pleasures.
54-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The actual fearful is that who cannot speak due to the intensity of fear.
55-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) was asked about the manners of some people who were committing the acts of disobedience to God and claiming that they were desiring for the mercy of God and kept on doing so until death attacked them. He (peace be upon him) said:
As for those who act disobediently and claim expecting God’s mercy until they die, they are rocking on hopes. They are surely liars. They do not expect God’s mercy. He who expects something should seek it. Likewise, he who fears something should escape it.
56-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
We love those who are intelligent, knowledgeable, perceptive, expert, clement, courteous, patient, veracious, and loyal. God gave the noble characters exclusively to the prophets (peace be upon them). He who enjoys such characters should thank God for them. He who does not enjoy them should supplicate to God for them.
As he was asked about these noble characters, Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The noble characters are piety, satisfaction, patience, gratefulness, clemency, pudency, generosity, bravery, enthusiasm, veracity, charity, fulfillment of the trusts, conviction, good mannerism, and chivalry.
57-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The firmest handle of faith is to love, hate, give, and deprive - all for God’s sake.
58-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Nothing will follow a dead person except three things: an alms that God gave permanently in his life and it will follow him after death, a norm of guidance that others pursue, and a virtuous son that supplicates to God for his favor.
59-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Lying invalidates the ablution (for the prayers) and breaks the fasting.
The attendants said: “But we use to tell lies.” He (peace be upon him) said:
I do not mean lying due to garrulity, but I mean forging lies against God, His Apostle, and the Imams (peace be upon them).
The Imam (peace be upon him) then added:
Fasting is not abstaining from food or drink only. Mary (peace be upon her) said, -as the Quran reported- “I have promised the Beneficent God to fast.”
This means to keep silent. Thus, you should keep silent, turn the sights away (from whatever God has forbidden), and stop envying and disputing with each other. Envy consumes the faith like the fire when consumes the wood.
60-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The Divine Throne will be shaken when one makes God the witness of a false matter
.
61-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
God knew that sin is better for the believer than self-conceit lest, God will never test the believers through the commitment of sins.
62-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
He whose conducts are bad is tormenting himself.
63-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Favor is well-known. Except its reward, nothing is better than doing favor. It is God’s gift to the servants. Not everyone who likes to do people favor can do it, not everyone who desires for doing favor will be able to do it, and not everyone who can do favor will be permitted to do it. If God wills to offer a grace to a servant, He gathers the desire, ability, and permission to do favor for him. This is the perfect pleasure and honor for both the seeker and the doer.
64-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Nothing like thanks in increasing the favorable matters and nothing like patience in decreasing the unfavorable matters.
65-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The most effective soldiers of Eblis are women and rage.
66-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The world is the believer’s jail, patience is his fortress, and Paradise is his residence. The world is the disbeliever’s paradise, grave is his jail, and Hell is his residence.
67-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
God has not created doubtless conviction more similar to unspoiled doubt than death.
68-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Whenever you see a servant (of God) pursuing people’s flaws and neglecting his own flaws, you should then realize that he has been trapped (by the Shaitan).
69-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The server of food who thanks (God for so) will be rewarded as same as those who fast just for gaining the rewards of God, and the individual who is cured and thanks (God for curing him) will be rewarded as same as the diseased one who is steadfast against that disease (for the sake of God).
70-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Those who are not scholars should not be regarded as happy, those who are not amiable should not be regarded as laudable, and those who are not tolerant should not be regarded as perfect. Those who do not guard themselves against the scholars’ blame and censure should not be expected to gain the welfare of this world and the world to come. The intelligent should be veracious and thankful so that their sayings will be trusted and they will be given increasingly.
71-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
You should not trust the betrayer after you had tested him and you should not accuse him whom you trusted.
72-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) was asked about the people who are most respected by God. He answered:
The people who are most respected by God are those who mention and obey Him more than the others.
He, then, was asked about the people that are most disrespected by God, Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) answered:
The people that are most disprespected by God are those who accuse Him.
“Is there anyone who accuses God?” I asked. The Imam (peace be upon him) said:
He who seeks God’s decision and dissatisfies himself with it when it comes opposite to his will is accusing God.
“Who else?” asked I. He (peace be upon him) answered:
Then come those who complain against God.
“Is there anyone who complaimns against God?” I asked. The Imam (peace be upon him) said:
They are those who exaggerate in complaining about the misfortunes that they are suffering.
“Who else?” asked I. He (peace be upon him) answered:
Then come those who neglect showing gratitude when they are endowed with a grace and show intolerance when they are inflicted by a problem.
“Who are the most respected by God?” asked I. He (peace be upon him) answered:
The most respected people are those who show gratitude when they are given a grace and treat with their problems tolerantly.
73-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The weary are friendless and the envious are fortuneless. Much looking into wisdom pollinates the mind.
74-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Fear of God is sufficient knowledge and deceit is sufficient ignorance.
75-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The best adoration is to know God and behave humbly with Him.
76-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
One scholar is better than one thousand worshippers, one thousand ascetics, and one thousand hardworking persons in worship.
77-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Everything has its tax and the tax of knowledge is to teach its people.
78-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Judges are four categories three of whom will be in Hell while one only will be in Paradise. The judge who judges unjustly intentionally will surely be in Hell. The Judge who judges unjustly inadvertently will be in Hell. The judge who judges justly but unintentionally will be in Hell. The judge who judges justly intentionally will be in Paradise.
79-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) was asked about the character of decency. He said:
The decent is that who turns his sight away from the forbidden views, holds up his tongue from the ill wording, and abstains from oppressing others.
80-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
God will not ask people about things that are screened from them before He identifies them.
81-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
To put your hand to the elbow between the jaws of a dragon is better than asking those who have newly had fortune.
82-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The settlement of needs is God’s, but the ways are in the people’s hands. You should thank God for the settlement of your needs, and you should submit, accept, and tolerate if they are not settled. Unsettlement of a need may be for your good. God knows your good while you do not know.
83-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
A man’s begging from another man is an ordeal: if he gains what he asked for he will then thank the one who did not give him and if he is refuted, he will censure the one who did not refute him.
84-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
God has installed the whole goodness in leniency and courtesy.
85-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Beware of associating with the lowly, because the association with them will never lead to welfare.
86-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
As a man worries about a little humility, this may engage him into a greater one.
87-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The most advantageous thing is to precede people to the recognition of your own flaws. The heaviest thing is to hide your poverty. The less fortunate thing is to provide the advice to him who refuses it and to live next to an acquisitive individual. The most relaxing thing is to despair of people’s giving. Never be weary or obscure. Be modest by submitting to the opinions of him who is higher than you (in rank) and who did you favors when such opinions oppose yours. You have submitted to his being higher than you so as to avoid disagreeing with him. He who does not submit to anybody’s favor is surely self-conceited. You should know that he who does not humble himself before God will never gain pride and he who is not modest before God will never gain haughtiness.
88-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
To wear rings on the fingers is a prophetic tradition.
89-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The most favorable friend to me is that who shows me my flaws.
90-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Friendship is nil unless its limits are kept. He who does not keep these limits should not be regarded as friend. The first limit is that the inner self and the appearance should be identical. The second limit is that the friend should regard your goodness and his goodness and your evil as his evil. The third limit of friendship is that a position or fortunes should not change the friend’s relation with his friends. The fourth limit is that the friend should not deprive his friend of anything that he is capable of doing. The fifth limit - which is the most comprehensive-, is that the friend should never leave his friend alone in calamities.
91-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Comity is one third of the mind.
92-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The believers’ laughter should be only a smile.
93-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
There is no difference between depositing a trust with a betrayer or a negligent.
94-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said to Al-Mufaddel:
I instruct you to stick on six characters and relate them to my adherents - Shia-. You should fulfill the trust of him who entrusts you with anything. You should like for your brother whatever you like for yourself. You should know that every matter has an end; therefore, you should beware of the outcomes of matters. Similarly, every matter has a sudden event; hence, beware of the sudden events. Beware of climbing an easy mountain if its slope is uneven. Never promise your brother of a matter that you cannot fulfill.
95-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
God has not permitted people in three matters: they should treat the parents kindly whether they are righteous or wicked, abide by the pledge whether to the righteous or the wicked, and fulfill the trust whether to the righteous or the wicked.
96-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
I feel sympathetic to three classes of people. Anyhow, they should be treated mercifully. They are those who suffered humiliation after honor, those who became needy after having been wealthy, and the scholars whom have been belittled by their folks and the ignorant people.
97-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
He whosever heart is attached to the fondness of this world will be suffering three matters - an everlasting care, an unattainable hope, and an unachievable expectation.
98-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Lying and treachery are not within the ethics of the believers. Two characters are not found together in the hypocrites: they are good-looking and understanding of a tradition.
99-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
People are equal like the teeth of a comb. With the support of his brothers, a man can be regarded as great. No goodness is expected in the friendship of those who do not like for their friends whatever they like for themselves.
100-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Understanding is the ornament of faith, self-possession is the ornament of understanding, kindness is the ornament of self-possession, leniency is the ornament of kindness, and easiness is the ornament of leniency.
101-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
You should regard him who became angry with you three times without addressing any bad saying to you as a true friend.
102-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
People will live in a time when nothing will be dearer than a good friend and a legally gotten dirham.
103-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
He who intrudes in situations of accusation should never blame those who mistrust him. He who conceals his secrets will possess the options. Every secret that exceeds more than two persons will spread. Regard the best meaning of your brother’s saying and never search for an ill meaning in his saying if there is a probability of good intention. You should adhere to the veracious friends because they will be the allies in good days and the shelter in misfortunes. Regarding your affairs, you should counsel with those who fear God. You should regard your friends according to their God-fearing. Keep yourself away from the vicious women and beware of the good-natured ones. If they enjoin a good matter, you should oppose them so that they will not seek the evil for you.
104-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The hypocrites will surely forge lies if they relate something to God and His Apostle, will break their promises to God and His Apostle, and will betray God and His Apostle if they become rulers. This is God’s saying:
God will, for their disregard of their promise and their telling lies, place hypocrisy in their hearts which will not leave them until they face the consequences of their deeds.
Do not be surprised that they want to be dishonest with you; they have always been dishonest with God. However, He has power over them. God is All-knowing and All-wise.
105-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
It is a sufficient disgrace to wear a scandalous dress or ride on a scandalous aimal.
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) was asked about the scandalous riding animal. He said:
The scandalous riding animal is the piebald animal.
106-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
You will not attain the actual faith unless you love the remotest and hate the nearest all for God’s sake.
107-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
He who attributes the grace that he acknowledges to God is showing gratefulness properly even if he does not use the tongue (for verbal thanks). He who believes that God will punish him for the sin that he committed is seeking God’s forgiveness even if he does not say it orally.
The Imam (peace be upon him) then recited God’s saying:
God will call you to account for all that you may reveal from your souls and all that you may conceal. God will forgive or punish whomever He wants. God has power over all things.
108-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Beware of the two annihilating characters - they are issuing verdicts out of your own opinion and betaking what you do not know as creed.
109-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said to Abu Baseer:
O Abu Mohammed, do not spy on people’s beliefs lest you will become friendless.
110-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The gracious forgiveness is to stop punishing for a sin and the gracious patience is that which is empty of complaint.
111-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
He who enjoys veracity, pudency, good mannerism, and gratitude is a faithful believer even if he is fully sinful.
112-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
You will not be faithful believer before you become fearful and hopeful. You will not be fearful and hopeful before you work for what you fear and hope.
113-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Faith is not identified through outer appearances and hopes. Faith is that which is pure in the hearts and assured by deeds.
114-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
If a man is more than thirty year old, he is middle-aged. If he is more than forty year old, he is old man.
115-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Regarding monotheism, people are of three classes: believer, denier, and anthropomorphist. The denier is wrong, the believer is faithful, and the anthropomorphist is polytheist.
116-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Faith is declaration, practice, and intent. Islam is declaration and practice.
117-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Never break the respect between your friends and you. If respect is broken between you, pudency will vanish. Your amiability will endure as long as there is respect.
118-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
He who puts his friend to shame will be deprived of his relationship with him. He who grieves his friend will lose respect.
119-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) answered those who asked him about his seclusion in Wadi Aqeeq - a place- (or with one of his wives whose name was Aqeeq):
If you taste the good flavor of seclusion, you will feel an aversion for even yourself. At least, seclusion saves you from treating people punctiliously.
120-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Whenever God opens a door to the worldly pleasures, He will open two to acquisitiveness.
121-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The believer is strange in this world. He should not feel worry of its humility and should not compete with its people for gaining its honor.
122-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) was asked about he path of rest. He answered:
The path of rest is the opposite of whims.
The Imam (peace be upon him) then was asked when would the sertvants find rest. He answered:
The servants (of God) will find rest on the first day in Paradise.
123-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
God does not gather good-looking, understandability, and good mannerism for the hypocrites and the corruptive.
124-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The flavor of water is life and the flavor of bread is power. The source of the physical weakness and power is the fats of the kidneys. The place of the mind is the brain while severity and tenderness are in the heart.
125-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Envy is of two sorts: the seditious envy and the inadvertent envy. As an example of the latter sort is the angels’ saying to God, when He decided to choose a deputy on earth, “Are you going to appoint one who will commit corruption and bloodshed therein, even though we (are the only ones who) commemorate Your Name and glorify You?”
This means that they suggested that the deputy should be one of them. This suggestion was not out of seditious, rejecting, and denial envy to Adam. As an example of the previous sort of envy, which causes atheism and polytheism, is the Shaitan’s envying Adam (peace be upon him) and refuting God’s order when he rejected to prostrate (himself before Adam).
126-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Regarding the concept of fatalism and indeterminism, people opt three different opinions. Those who claim that everything is optional are belittling God’s predominance. They are wrong. Those who claim that God dragged the servants to disobey Him and charged people with what is over their capability are misjudging Him. They are wrong, too. There are also those who claim that God charged the servants with what they can do and did not oblige them to do what they cannot; hence, the servants thank Him when they do good and seek His forgiveness when they do wrong. These are surely the proper Muslims.
127-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Hasty walking removes the believers’ brightness and extinguishes their illumination.
128-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
God surely hates the oppressive wealthy man.
129-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Rage eliminates the intelligence of the wise. He who cannot control his rage will not be able to control his mind.
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Al-Fudhayl bin Ayadh related: Abu Abdillah (As-Sadiq) (peace be upon him) asked me, ‘Do you know who is the avaricious?’ ‘The avaricious is the niggardly,’ I answered. He (peace be upon him) said:
The avaricious is eviler than the niggardly. The niggardly withholds what is in his hand, while the avaricious resents people to gain something and withholds what is in his hand. He wishes he would gain whatever is there in people’s possession whether legally or illegally. Moreover, the avaricious is never satisfied and never profits by what God gives.
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Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The niggardly is that who gains wealth illegally and spends it unsuitably.
132-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) asked one of his adherents about the reason why one of his friends had been complaining against him. The man said, ‘He complained just because I had demanded him with my rights wholly.’ The Imam (peace be upon him) became angry as he said:
Do you think that demanding with the whole rights is not offense? Have you seen those people about whom God said, “They fear the bad judgment?”
Do they fear that their Lord may oppress them? No, at all. They fear that their Lord will demand with the rights perfectly. Hence, He named it, ‘the bad judgment’. Surely, demanding with the whole rights is offense.
133-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Muchness of the ill-gotten properties will eradicate the earnings.
134-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: Misdemeanor is embittered life.
135-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Faith is one rank higher than Islam and God-fearing is one rank higher than faith. However, they are parts of one another. It happens that a believer speaks some bad wording of which God did not threaten Hell. God says:
If you avoid violating the grand sins that which has been prohibited, your sins will be forgiven and you will be admitted into an exalted dwelling.
It also happens that another believer, who is more quick-witted, is more sinful. However, both are believers. Conviction is one rank higher than God-fearing. Conviction is the most difficult thing ever given to people. Some people are more certain than others. Some are more steadfast against misfortunes, poverty, ailment, and fear than others.
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Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Richness and dignity are touring. Whenever they notice a place of depending on God, they reside there.
137-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Good mannerism is a part of the religion. It increases the earnings.
138-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Morals are of two forms: one is intent while the other is nature.
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) was asked, ‘Which of them is better than the other?’ He answered:
The intentional morals are better than the natural, because the owner of natural morals cannot change them, while the owner of the intentional morals is preserving the acts of obedience (to God).
139-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The hearts of the pious harmonize with each other as velocious as the mixture of the water of rivers and the rainfall, even if they do not show harmony. The hearts of the irreverent disagree with each other like the animals when they show conflict after eating in one manger, even if they show agreement.
140-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The actual generous charitable individual is that who spends his wealth for fulfilling the rights of God.
141-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
O people of faith and deposits of concealment! Ponder over things and remember when the oblivious are inadvertent.
142-
Al-Mufaddel bin Omar said: I asked Abu Abdullah (peace be upon him) about ancestry, generosity, and sovereignty. He (peace be upon him) said:
Ancestry is the fortune, generosity is God-fearing, and sovereignty is openhandedness. Have you not noticed that Hatem
became the master of his people because he was not the most generous?
143-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Personality is of two sorts. The personality of residence is the recital of the Quran, presence in mosques, association with the good people, and studying the jurisprudence. The personality of traveling is to offer victuals, joke in matters other than these which cause God’s satisfaction, reduce disagreement with the companions, and reduce accusing them of bad things when you leave them.
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Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
You should know I will fulfill the trust of even the killer of Ali (peace be upon him) if he deposits something with me or seeks my advice or consultation.
145-
Sufian said: I asked Abu Abdullah (peace be upon him) whether it is acceptable to praise oneself or not. He answered:
It is acceptable to praise oneself in cases of necessity. Joseph the prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Put me in charge of the treasuries of the land. I know how to manage them.”
The virtuous servant (of God) also said: “I am a trustworthy advisor for you.”
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Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
God revealed to David the prophet (peace be upon him): O David, you will and I will. If you satisfy yourself with that which I will, I will provide you with what you will. If you reject that which I will and seek that which you will, I will exhaust you without gaining what you will, and there will be only that which I will.
147-
Mohammed bin Qays said: I asked Abu Abdullah (peace be upon him) whether it is acceptable to sell weapon to the two parties both of whom is wrong. He (peace be upon him) said:
Sell to them only defensive weapons: armors, shields, helmets, and the like.
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Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Four characters are invalid in four situations: treachery, seizing excessive shares, stealth, and usury are invalid in hajj, umrah, jihad, and almsgiving.
149-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
God gives the worldly pleasures to those whom He loves as well as those whom He dislikes, while He gives the faith only to whom He selects among the creatures.
150-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
He who declares himself as the leader while there is someone who is more knowledgeable is heresiarch and deviant.
151-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) was asked about the commandment of Luqman. He answered:
In the commandment of Luqman for his son, there were the marvels. The most marvelous statement of that commandment was his saying to his son: “Fear God so intensely as if He will punish you even if you provide the good deeds of all people and all jinn, and trust Him so perfectly as if He will be merciful to you even if you burden on your back the sins of all people and all jinn.”
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) then said:
Every believer inevitably has two illuminations in the heart: one is the illumination of fear and the other is the illumination of hope. These two illuminations are so equal that one will never be heavier than the other in any amount.
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Abu Basseer related: I asked Abu Abdullah (peace be upon him) about faith and Islam. He answered:
Faith is the avoidance of acts of disobedience to God. Islam is to practice our rites and slaughter animals as we do.
153-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
He whosever word of guidance is followed will be gaining the same reward of those who follow it. He whosever word of deviation is followed will be charged of the same punishment of those who follow it.
154-
As some mentioned that the Christians claim that Jesus (peace be upon him) was born on the twenty forth of December, Imam as-Sadiq (peace be upon him) commented:
They lied. Jesus the Christ was born in the middle of June. Day and night become equal in the middle of March.
155-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Ishmael was five years older than Isaac. He was ‘the slain’. Listen to the saying of Abraham (the prophet, peace be upon him):
Lord, grant me a righteous son.
This means that Abraham is supplicating to God to give him a righteous son. God says in Sura of As-Saaffat:
We gave him the glad news of the birth of a forbearing son.
This refers to Ishmael. Then God says:
We gave him the glad news of the birth of Isaac, one of the righteous prophets.
Hence, he who claims that Isaac was older than Ishmael is belying what God revealed in the Quran.
156-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Piety, openhandedness, steadfastness against misfortunes, and administration of the believers’ rights - these four characters are within the ethics of the prophets.
157-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
You should not regard a misfortune against which you are granted steadfastness and due to which you are rewarded as a true misfortune. The true misfortune is that which you are deprived of its reward and prize.
158-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
There are definite servants of God on this earth to whom people beseech for settling their needs of this world and the world to come. They are the true faithful believers. They will be secured on the Day of Resurrection. Certainly, the most favorable believers to God are those who meet the living needs of the poor believers and those who support, benefit, and protect the believers against evil.
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Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Exchanging visits with the relatives and charity will make the Judgment easier and guard against sins. Hence, Build good relations with your brothers and treat them charitably by good greeting and response at least.
160-
Sufian Athawri related: I visited As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) and asked for a commandment that I would apply on myself after him. ‘Will you surely apply it, Suffian?’ wondered Imam as-Sadiq (peace be upon him). ‘Yes, son of the Prophet’s daughter, I will,’ answered I. The Imam (peace be upon him) spoke:
O Sufian, the liars enjoy no personality, the envious are persistently restless, the kings keep no fraternity, the proud keep no friends, and the ill-mannered should not enjoy leadership.
As the Imam stopped, I asked for more. He (peace be upon him) added:
O Suffian, trust in God and you will be knowing. Satisfy yourself with that which God has allotted for you and you will be rich. Associate with others in the same way they associate with you and you will have more faith. Do not accompany the lecher so that they will not teach you matters of their lechery. Seek the advice of those who fear God the Glorified.
As the Imam stopped, I asked for more. He (peace be upon him) said:
O Suffian, he who searches for honor without sovereignty, might without need of brothers, and dignity without possessing wealth should shift from the humility of the acts of disobedience to God to the nobility of His obedience.
As he stopped, I asked for more. He (peace be upon him) said:
O Suffian, my father instructed me three matters and warned me against three. He instructed me that whoever associate with the vicious will not be saved, he who does not opt for good wording will regret, and he who intrudes himself in bad matters will be indicted.
O son of the Prophet’s daughter,’ I asked, ‘What about the three against whom your father warned you?’ He (peace be upon him) spoke:
My father warned me against associating with the envious, those who rejoice at others’ misfortunes, and the talebearers.
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Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Bad-temperedness, bad humor, envy, obduracy, and oppression - these six characters should never be in the believers’ behavior.
162-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The believer should live between two fears - the past sin that he does not know what God will do about it and the remaining days that he does not know what misfortunes he will encounter through them. Thus, the believer begins his day fearfully and ends his day fearfully. Except fear, nothing mends the believer.
163-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
God will accept the few deeds of those who satisfy themselves with the little sustenance. He who satisfies himself with the few legal gotten sustenance will have light burdens and pure earnings and will be released from the frame of incapability.
164-
Suffian Athawri related: I attended before Abu Abdullah (peace be upon him) and said, ‘O son of the prophet’s daughter, how is your morning?’ He answered:
Truly, I am grieved and my heart is engaged.
I asked, ‘What made you grief and what engaged your heart? He (peace be upon him) answered:
O Athawri, he whose heart is occupied by the purity of the decency of God’s religion will surely be distracted from everything. O Athawri, what is the world? What is its reality? Is it more than a meal that you had, a dress that you put on, or a pack animal that you rode? The believers do not trust the world and always expect the imminent coming of the world to come. This world is the place of the fated lapse while the world to come is the place of the eternal settlement. The people of this world are the people of inadvertence. The God-fearing ones are the people of the lightest burden and the most supportive. When you are oblivious, they remind you and when they remind you, they lead you to knowledge. You should regard this world as a lodging that you are temporary taking and you will sooner or later leave it, or as a fortune that you got in dreams, but when you woke up you found nothing of it in your hands. It often happens that the matters for which the desirous have often longed would distress them. It also happens that the neglectors of matters will find happiness with them when they have them effortlessly.
165-
The Imam (peace be upon him) was asked about the evidence on the existence of the One God. He answered:
The evidence is the need of the creatures to Him.
166-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
You will not be regarded as (true) believers before you see the misfortunes as graces and the luxury as disaster.
167-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The possession of four thousand dirhams is fortune. The possession of twelve thousand dirhams is treasuring up. Twenty thousand dirhams cannot be amassed by legal ways. The possessor of thirty thousand dirhams will surely be suffering perdition. The possessors of one hundred thousand dirhams are definitely not reckoned with our adherents - Shia-.
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Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The signs of the accuracy of a Muslim’s conviction is to avoid pleasing people by means that enrage God, thanking them for receiving God’s sustenance, and blaming them for matters that God has stopped. The earnings of the Muslims cannot be driven into them due to somebody’s acquisitiveness and cannot be stopped due to somebody’s refutation. If you try to escape getting your earnings as same as you escape from death, it will surely catch up with you as same as death when it will unquestionably catch up with you.
169-
Imam as-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Among our adherents - Shia- are those whose voices do not exceed their hearing and whose detestation does not exceed their bodies
. They avoid praising us declaratorily, regarding those who hate us, disputing with our supporters, and sitting with those who revile at us.
Mihzam asked: “What about those who claim being Shia?” The Imam (peace be upon him) answered:
They will be distinguished, discriminated, and inflicted by misfortunes. In few years, they will be perishing, suffering plague, which will kill them, and encountering disagreements that will scatter them. Our true adherents do not bark like dogs, covet like craws, or beg even if they starve.
Someone asked: “Where can I find such adherents?” The Imam (peace be upon him) answered:
You will find them living in the outskirts. Their living is hardly sufficient. Their dwellings are roving. When they are present, they are not recognized. When they are absent, they are not missed. When they are ailed, nobody visit them. When they betroth, nobody agree to them. When they noticed an evil, they show displeasure. When the ignorant dispute with them, they say, ‘salaam’ (or use nice wording with them). When the needy seek their support, they treat mercifully. When death comes near to them, they do not show grief. Although they live in different countries, their hearts will not be different.
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Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
He who desires for enjoying a long age should do things precisely. He who desires for having his burdens - sins- lightened should put the screen of pudency. He who desires for being praised and estimated should hide his beliefs.
171-
Imam as-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
The best deeds of the servants are three: they are to treat the believers fairly, to console the friends, and to mention God in every situation.
Some asked: “What is the meaning of mentioning God in every situation?” The Imam (peace be upon him) answered:
This means to mention God when you want to commit a sin so that He will prevent you from committing it.
172-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Hamza -A symbol in the Arabic script representing the glottal stop-is an addition in the Quran
.
173-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Beware of joking, because it causes rancor and drives into malice. Joking is the lesser revilement.
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Al-Hasan bin Rashid reported: Abu Abdillah (peace be upon him) said:
When a misfortune inflicts you, you should not complain about it to the embracers of other sects. You should complain about it to your brothers. You will certainly gain one of four: you will either find a solution, get a financial help, win a responded supplication, or have a counsel of wisdom.
175-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Do not roam in marts frequently. Do not buy the minute things yourself. It is abominable for the religious and the highborn to buy the minute things themselves except in three states: buying the real estates, the slaves, and the camels.
176-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Do not discuss matters that do not concern you. Leave discussing most of the matters that concern you until you find the appropriate time. It often happens that the rightful discusser of a matter that concerns him will be exhausted because he uses improper time. Do not dispute anyone; whether foolish or clement. The clement overcomes you and the ignorant embarrass you. Mention your absent friends in the same way you like him to mention you when you are absent. This is the true action. When you act, you should be certain that you will be rewarded for good deeds and punished for evildoings.
177-
Younus related: Before Imam as-Sadiq (peace be upon him) I said: “My loyalty to you - the Prophet’s family- and recognition of your rights are most favorable to me than this world with all of its insides.” I noticed the Imam was enraged. After a while, he (peace be upon him) said:
“O Younus, you have evaluated us in an improper measurement. What is the world and what are its insides? It is no more than relief of a trouble or screening of a defect. By loyalty to us, you are gaining the endless life.
178-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
O adherents of Mohammed’s family, for those who do not possess themselves in rage, those who do not respect the companionship and association and compromise of their companions and associates and parties, and those who do not oppose others in a peaceful way, all these are not belonging to us. O adherents of Mohammed’s family, exert all your efforts in fearing God. All might and power belong to God.
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Abdul-A’la reported: Abu Abdillah (peace be upon him) asked me whether I had been associating the people of Medina. I answered affirmatively. He told me to inform him of their news. I told that once I was sitting among people of Medina when they were talking about openhandedness. A man, named Abu Dukein, spoke, ‘It is surely Ja’far except that he is like this.’ He then closed his hand. As he listened to this story, the Imam (peace be upon him) commented:
Woe to Abu Dukein! His like is the feather; the wind flights it whenever it blows.
After a pause, he (peace be upon him) added:
The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: “Any favor is charity. The best alms is that which does not influence one’s expenditure of his family members. Begin, when you give alms, with those whose provisions are obligatory upon you. The hand of the giver is better than the hand of the receiver. God does not censure for the minimum sustenance.” Do you think that God is ungenerous or there is something more generous than Him? The true generous and master is that who carries out God’s rights correctly. He who gains money illegally and spends it unrightfully is not generous. Most surely, I desire for meeting God without taking anything that is illicit for me. I have fulfilled the rights of God entirely. I passed no single night without defraying God’s rights in my fortune.
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Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Suckling after weaning is void. Continuous fasting is void. Orphanage after maturity is void. Keeping silent a 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. Divorcement before marriage is void. Manumission before slavery is void. The oath of sons, slaves, and wives regarding their fathers, masters, and husbands is void. Vow of an act of disobedience (to God) is void. Oath of rupturing relations is void.
181-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
No one can attain good livelihood - even if he is so lucky- without passing through misfortunes. Days will usurp the opportunities of those who waste today’s opportunity due to their expectation of tomorrow’s opportunities. Days’ custom is the usurpation of opportunities and the habit of time is wasting them.
182-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Doing favors is the tax of graces, intercession is the tax of the power, diseases are the tax of bodies, and forgiveness is the tax of success. Everything whose tax is defrayed will be guarded against loss.
183-
In misfortunes, Imam as-Sadiq (peace be upon him) used to say:
All praise is due to Allah Who did not make my misfortune in my religious affairs. All praise is due to Allah Who could, if He willed, make my misfortune more catastrophic than what it is now. All praise is due to Allah for the matter that He willed to be, and it was as He willed.
184-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
God says: For him who saves a confused individual, I will consider him as thankful and will lodge him in My Paradise.
185-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
If the world advances to some people, it will garb them with the others’ charms. If it leaves some people, it usurps their own charms.
186-
Imam As-Sadiq (peace be upon him) said:
Daughters are advantages and sons are graces. You will be rewarded for the advantages and asked about the graces.
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Author: Al-Hasan bin Ali bin Al-Hussein bin Shu'ba Al-Harrani
