MAXIMS OF IMAM AL-KADHIM
The following maxims and words of wisdom are related to the honest Imam Abu Ibrahim (or Abul-Hasan) Musa bin Ja’far Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him)
Imam Al-Kadhim’s Commandment for Husham and the Depiction of the Mind
God the Elevated portends good to the people of reason and understanding in His Book. He says:
Give the glad news to those of Our servants who listen to the words and only follow the best ones. Tell them that they are those whom God has guided. They are the people of understanding.
O Husham bin Al-Hakam, God the Majestic has certainly submitted His arguments to people perfectly through minds, explained everything completely to them, and led people to His godhead through the guides. He says:
Your Lord is the only Lord. There is no God but He, the Beneficent and Merciful. The creation of the heavens and the earth, the alternation of nights and days, the ships that sail in the sea for the benefit of the people, the water that God sends from the sky to revive the dead earth where He has scattered all kinds of animals, the winds of all directions, and the clouds rendered for service between the sky and the earth are all evidence (of His existence) for those who use their reason.
O Husaham, God the Majestic provides the people’s having a Manager as the evidence on the acknowledgement of Him. He says:
God has made the day and the night, the sun and the moon, and all the stars subservient to you by His command. In this there is evidence of the truth for people of understanding.
God says:
Ha Mim. I swear by the illustrious Book. We have made it an Arabic reading text so that perhaps you may understand
.
God also says:
Also, of the evidence of His existence are His showing you lightening which gives you fear and hope and His sending water down from the sky, which revives the earth after its death. In this there is evidence (of the truth) for the people of understanding
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O Husham, God then preaches to the people of reason and makes them desirous to the world to come. He says:
The worldly life is but useless amusement and sport (compared to) the life hereafter, which is far better and is only for the pious. Will you not then understand?
God also says:
Whatever you (people) have been given are only the means for enjoyment and beauty of the worldly life, but the means of enjoyment (which you will receive from God) in the life to come will be better and everlasting. Will you then not take heed?
O Husham, God then warns the unintelligent against His chastisement. He the Majestic says:
Then We totally destroyed the others. You pass by (their ruined town) in the morning and at night. Will you then not understand?
O Husham, God then expounds that mind is always favoring knowledge. He says:
These are parables, which We tell to human being, but only the learned ones understand them
.
O Husham, God then dispraises those who are incapable of understanding. He says:
When some people are asked to follow the revelations of God, they say, "We would rather follow what our fathers have followed," even though their fathers had no understanding and could not find the true guidance
.
God says:
The wickedest beasts in the sight of God are the deaf and the dumb who have no understanding
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God says:
If you ask them, "Who has created the heavens and the earth," they will certainly say, "God has created them." Say, "It is only God who deserves all praise, but most of them do not know.
God then dispraises the majority. He says:
Most of the people in the land will lead you away from God's guidance if you follow them
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…But many of them are ignorant
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Hence, most of them have no feeling.
O Husham, God then praises minority. He says:
Very few of My servants are grateful
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… Except for the righteously striving believers who are very few
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No one believed in him, except a few
.
O Husham, God then mentions the people of the reasonable understanding in the best way of praise and describes them in the best wording. He says:
God gives wisdom to anyone whom He wants. Whoever is given wisdom, certainly, has received much good. Only people of reason can grasp this
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God also says:
This is a reminder for everyone who has a heart
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‘Heart’ in the previous Verse stands for the capability of understanding.
God also says:
We gave wisdom to Luqman
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‘Wisdom’ stands for understandability and intelligence.
O Husham, Luqman said to his son: “Show modesty before the right and you will be the most reasonable. O son, this world is a deep ocean in which many people have sunk. God-fearing should be your ship in this ocean, faith the cargo, depending upon God its sail, reason its captain, knowledge its guide, and patience the anchor.”
O Husham, everything has its evidence. The evidence of being intelligent is pondering (over things) and the evidence on pondering is silence. Likewise, everything has its pack animal, and modesty is the pack animal of the intelligent. It is sufficient ignorant to ride on that which you are told not to ride.
O Husham, if people tell that you have a pearl in your hand while you are sure it is a nut, not pearl, this should not advantage you. If people tell that you have a nut in the hand while you are sure it is a pearl, not nut, this also should not harm you.
O Husham, the main reason beyond God’s sending prophets and apostles is that people will understand the commandments of God and His apostles. The best responsive people will be the most understanding, the most knowledgeable of God’s commandments will be the most intelligent, and the most intelligent then will be the most high-ranking in this world and the world to come.
O Husham, for every servant (of God), there is an angel invested with full power over him. Whenever that servant shows modesty for the sake of God, the angel will elevate him, and whenever he shows arrogance, the angel will humiliate him.
O Husham, God has two arguments against people - one is explicit and the other is implicit. The explicit arguments of God are the apostles, prophets, and imams. The implicit arguments are the minds.
O Husham, the true intelligent is he whose legal-gotten provisions do not divert him from thanking God and whose illegal-gotten provisions do not divert him from being tolerant.
O Husham, as for those who extinguish the illumination of thinking with the long expectations, erase the novels of wisdom with the curious wording, and extinguish the lights of learning with the personal whims, they will back their whims to ruin their brains. Those who ruin their minds will surely devastate their worldly and religious affairs.
O Husham, how come do you expect that God will accept your deeds while you are involving your mind with matters that are away from God’s commandments and you are complying with your whims and letting them overcome your mind?
O Husham, the steadfastness against seclusions is a proof on willpower. He who understands the commandments of God, the Blessed the Exalted, will surely withdraw from the people of the worldly pleasures. He will also be desirous for that which God has promised and will regard God as the sociable in seclusion, the companion in loneliness, the fortune in poverty, and the supporter instead of the clan.
O Husham, the creatures have been formed for obeying God. No safety is obtained without obedience. The course of obedience is knowledgeability and the course of knowledgeability is learning. Learning is possible through mind. There should be a godly scholar who is the source of knowledge. Such scholars can be recognized through the mind.
O Husham, the few deeds of the intelligent will be accepted and doubled, while the many deeds of the followers of passions and the ignorant will be rejected.
O Husham, the true intelligent is that who agrees to have minimum worldly needs with wisdom. He does not agree to have little wisdom with all of the worldly pleasures. Therefore, his trade has been profitable.
O Husham, if you think it is fortunate for you to have only what suffices you then you will be sufficed with the least needs of this world. If you think it is not sufficient for you to have the minimum needs of this world then all the worldly pleasures will not suffice you.
O Husham, the intelligent have left the pleasures of this world. How is it then for the sins? The abstinence from the worldly surplus pleasures is recommendable while the desistance from committing sins is obligatory.
O Husham, the intelligent have abstained from the worldly pleasures and desired for the world to come because they have known that world, as well as the world to come, is demanding and demanded
. The world will surely trace the seeker of the world to come to give him his provisions perfectly. The world to come will trace the seeker of the worldly pleasures when death overcomes him to deprive him of the pleasures of this world and the world to come.
O Husham, as for those who desire for being rich without fortune, having peace of mind against envy, and enjoying safety of the religion, they are advised to beseech to God imploringly for granting them perfect intelligence, for the intelligent will surely satisfy themselves with only what is sufficient for them. Consequently, he who satisfies himself with only what is sufficient for him will be surely rich. Those who do not satisfy themselves with what is sufficient for them will never obtain richness.
O Husham, as describing the manners of virtuous people, God the Majestic mentions that they are used to saying:
Lord, do not cause our hearts to deviate from Your guidance, and grant us mercy. You are the Most Awarding One
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This is because they realized that hearts might be deviated or might regain their blindness and ruination.
He who does not understand God’s commandments will not fear Him. Similarly, he who does not understand God’s commandments will not have a mind that is founded on constant knowledge that he considers and finds its factuality. Except those whose words and implicit beliefs agree with their deeds and appearances, no one can enjoy the previous characters. God has referred to the implicit affairs of the mind only through indicative appearances.
O Husham, Amirul Muminin used to say: “The most favorable way of worshipping God is the intelligentness”
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Mind is not perfect for a man unless he enjoys many qualities: he should save people from his atheism and evil and make them expect his reason and good. His wealth should be offered and he should avoid useless wording. His food should be his share from the worldly pleasures. He should never stop seeking knowledge. He should prefer humility and modesty with God to credit and honor with others. He should regard any favor that he does as little and see all people better than him and he is the most vicious among them. The enjoyment of such qualities is surely the perfection of intelligence and the perfection of personality.
O Husham, the deeds of the truthful will be purified, the provisions of the well-meaning will be increased, and the age of those how treat their friends and folks charitably will be elongated.
O Husham, do not speak wording of wisdom before the ignorant so that you will not wrong it. Do not prevent the wise from receiving the wisdom lest you will wrong them.
O Husham, as they left wisdom for you, you should leave the worldly pleasures for them.
O Husham, those who lack personality are surely lacking the religion and those who are unintelligent are surely lacking personality. The most high-ranking people are those who disregard the worldly pleasures completely. Paradise is the only price of your bodies; do not sell them with anything other than Paradise.
O Husham, Amirul Muminin (peace be upon him) used to say: “No one should sit in the forefront of a session except those who can answer when they are questioned, speak when others cannot, and own the most successful opinion. He who does not enjoy these three characters and allow himself to sit in the forefront of a session is surely idiot.
Al-Hasan bin Ali (peace be upon him) used to say: ‘You should seek needs only from their proper people.’ ‘O son of the Messenger of God,’ some asked him, ‘Who are the proper people of needs?’ He (peace be upon him) answered:
They are those whom God mentions in His Book and says about them:
Only the people of reason take heed
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They are the owners of mind.
Ali bin Al-Hussein (peace be upon him) used to say:
To sit with the virtuous will invite to virtue, to sit with the scholars will increase the mind, the obedience to the just rulers is the perfection of honor, the investment of the wealth is the perfection of personality, to guide the seeker of counsel is fulfillment of the rights of favors, and the desistance from harm is a sign of the perfection of mind. It will, sooner or later, achieve physical relaxation.
O Husham, the intelligent should not talk to the individuals that they anticipate they will belie him, ask from individuals that they anticipate they will not give, promise of things that they cannot do, hope for things that harm them, or take the initiative in doing what they anticipate they will not be able to accomplish.
Amirul Muminin (peace be upon him) used to say to his companions:
I command you to fear God in secret and in public, be fair in both states of satisfaction and rage, earn provisions in richness and poverty, regard them who ruptured their relations with you, pardon them who oppressed you, and treat them who ignored you kindly. All your sights should be learning lessons, all your silence should be pondering over things, all your wordings should be mention of God, and all your nature should be generosity, for no stingy will be in Paradise and no generous will be in Hell.
O Husham, God will compassionate them who feel properly embarrassed from Him by keeping the head with what it contains (like the eye, the ear, and the tongue) and the abdomen with what is in it, retain death and misfortune, and realize that Paradise is surrounded by misfortunes and Hell is surrounded by the appetites.
O Husham, for those who abstain from engaging themselves in people’s honors, God will protect them from slipping on the Day of Resurrection. For those who save people from (the results of) their rage, God will save them from His wrath on the Day of Resurrection.
O Husham, the true intelligent should never tell lies even if it accords his whim.
O Husham, in the wisp of the Prophet’s sword, there is written:
The most insolent of people is that who beats other than the one who beat him and kill other than the one who killed him. He who votes for other than his true masters is disbelieving in what God has revealed to His Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him and his family). As for those who bring a heresiarch matter or shelter an originator of a heresy, God will not accept their remuneration or apology on the Day of Resurrection.
O Husham, after the acknowledgement of God, the best acts of the offertory to God are the prayers, piety to the parents, and evasion of envy, self-conceit, and pride.
O Husham, get ready for your coming days and prepare the answers for them. You will be inevitably judged and interrogated. Learn lessons from this world and its people. This life is surely long and short. You should act as if you can see the rewards of your acts in your hands, so that you will be urged acting so more importunately. Understand God’s commandments and learn from the changeability of this world and its manners. The coming days of this world are certainly as same as those which passed away; therefore, you should take examples from these days.
Ali bin Al-Hussein (peace be upon him) used to say:
All things that are under the sunlight in the east and west, in oceans and lands, and plains and mountains; all these are just like a shadow for the true disciples of God and the people of the acknowledgement of Him. Is there no free man who will leave this valueless world to its people? Paradise is the only price of your bodies; hence, you should avoid selling them with any other price. He who satisfies themselves with the worldly pleasures is surely satisfying himself with the worthless.
O Husham, all people look at the stars, but no one can realize their ways and places except those who have full acquaintance with astronomy. In like fashion, you all study wisdom, but no one can benefit by it except those who apply it practically.
O Husham, the Christ (peace be upon him) said to his disciples:
O bad servants, the height of a palm tree terrifies you as you remember its thorns and the difficulty of climbing it, but you forget its good fruits and benefits. The same thing is said about the world. As you remember the supplies of the acts of the world to come, you remember its long time and forget the bliss, illumination, and fruits that you will obtain there. O bad servants! To find the sweetest taste of wheat, you should first cull its grains, clean, and mill them properly. The same thing is said about faith. To find the best taste of faith and to benefit by its results, you should first have it as sincere and perfect as possible.
Truly I say to you: If you have found a torch the fuel of which is tar, in a gloomy night, you will surely seek its light disregarding its malodor. In a like manner, you should receive the wisdom from anybody with whom you find it, disregarding the scope of his desire for it.
Truly I say to you, O slaves of this world! You will not attain the honor of the world to come unless you abstain from whatever you desire. Never postpone repentance to tomorrow. Before tomorrow, there is a day and a night during which God’s act is coming and going.
Truly I say to you: Those who are not indebted are surely less grievous than the indebted even if they defray their debts properly. In the same way, those who avoid committing sins are more relaxing and less grievous than the committers of sins even if they purely repent and return to God. The insignificant sins are the traps of the Shaitan who persuades you to disregard such sins until they are amassed and surround you.
Truly I say to you: In wisdom, people are of two kinds; one is that who says the wisdom utterly and applies it to his deeds, and the other is that who says it utterly but wastes it through his evildoings. How difference between the two! Blessed are the scholars by deeds. Woe to the scholars by words.
O bad servants! Betake the mosques of your Lord as prisons of your bodies and foreheads. Make your hearts the residences of God-fearing. Do not make them the shelters of lusts. The most intolerant against misfortunes will be certainly the fondest of the worldly pleasures, and the most tolerant is the most abstinent.
O bad slaves! Do not behave like the swift gledes, the sly foxes, the perfidious wolves, or the wild lions with their preys. Your conducts with people are in this form. You hurry to some, cheat others, and betray others.
Truly I say to you: It is useless to have a sound physique while the interior is corrupted. Hence, your sound bodies should not admire you when your hearts are tainted. It is also useless to purify your skins when your hearts are dirty. Do not be like sieves that let the good flour pass and hold the bran. Likewise, you should not speak of wisdom while treason is filling in your hearts.
O slaves of this world! Your like is the lamp when it gives light to others and burns itself.
O sons of Israel! Compete with each other in attending the scholars’ sessions even if you will have to kneel. God will surely enliven the dead hearts by the illumination of wisdom like the rainfall when it enlivens the derelict lands.
O Husham, the following is written in the Bible:
Blessed be those who treat each other mercifully, for they will be treated mercifully on the Day of Resurrection. Blessed be the makers of peace between people, for they will be exclusively favored on the Day of Resurrection. Blessed be the pure-hearted, for they will be the pious on the Day of Resurrection. Blessed be the modest in this world, for they will be scaling the pulpits of majesty on the Day of Resurrection.
O Husham, fewness of wording is a great wisdom. You should keep silent, for it is a good charity, a little burden, and a lightness of the sins. Fortify the door of self-possession because patience is the door of self-possession. God the Majestic surely hates those who laugh motivelessly and those who walk aimlessly. The rulers should be acting like the shepherds whose eyes are not turned away from their herd. They also should not treat their subjects arrogantly. Be ashamed of God in secrets in the same way you feel ashamed from people in public. You should know that the wording of wisdom is the believers’ lost. Adhere to the knowledge before it is removed. The removal of knowledge is the absence of its people.
O Husham, learn whatever you ignore and teach the ignorant your knowledge. Respect the scholars for their knowledge and avoid disputing with them, and disrespect the ignorant for their ignorance and do not dismiss them. You should approximate and teach them.
O Husham, the favors that you do not thank God for them are as same as the sins for which you will be punished. Amirul Muminin (peace be upon him) said:
There are the slaves of God whose hearts are broken due to fearing Him. Hence, they keep silent while they are eloquent and intelligent. They compete with each other on offering the pure deeds to God. They do not content with their many deeds and do not accept for themselves the few deeds. They see themselves as vicious while they are good and virtuous.
O Husham, pudency is a part of faith and faith is a part of Paradise while obscenity is a part of aversion and aversion is in Hell.
O Husham, speakers are one of three: winning, safe, or perishing. The winning speakers are those who mention God. The safe speakers are those who keep silent. The perishing speakers are those who are engaged in bad wording. God has certainly forbidden Paradise from including the impudent speakers of bad wording who do not care for what they say and what is said about them.
Abu Tharr (God please him) used to say:
O seeker of knowledge, the tongue is the key to both good and evil. You should seal your mouth as you seal your gold and currencies.
O Husham, the worst servants (of God) are those who are two-faced and two-tongued. They are those who praise their friends when they meet them and backbite them when they are absent. They envy their friends who obtain graces and disappoint them when they are suffering a misfortune.
Charity is the foremost in rewarding and oppression is the foremost in punishment. The most vicious slaves of God are those whom you hate to sit with for their obscenity.
Except the harvest of the tongues, nothing overturns people on their noses in Hell.
To leave what does not concern you is a sign of the proper Islam - submission to God-.
O Husham, you will not be true believer unless to are fearful (of God’s punishment) and hopeful (for God’s reward). You will not be true fearful and true hopeful unless you avoid what you fear and work for what you hope.
O Husham, God the Majestic says:
I swear by My majesty, glory, might, potency, magnificence, and elevation, for the servants who prefer My biddings to their biddings, I will install opulence in their minds, make the world to come their concern, take the charge of saving their livelihood, make their provisions in the heavens and the earth, and guarantee their shares of profits in every transaction.”
O Husham, anger is the key to every evil. The most perfect faithful believers are the most well-mannered. If possible, you should associate only with those whom you have done favors.
O Husham, lenience is felicity and clumsiness is evil portent. Lenience, charity, and well mannerism boom the lodgings and increase the provisions.
O Husham, God says:
Can any thing else be a response to a favor but a favor?
This holy saying is applicable to the believers and the disbelievers and the charitable and the lecherous.
He whom has been done a favor should reward for it. To do favor to that who did you favor is not a suitable reward, because he will have the merit of commencing with doing the favor before you.
O Husham, the like of this world is the snake - it is soft to the touch but bearing poison in the interior. The intelligent men fear the snake while the boys hurry to take it by the hands.
O Husham, be tolerant in the acts of obedience to God and be steadfast against the acts of disobedience to Him. This world is no more than an hour. You will not find the pleasures of what has passed away and you will not be able to recognize what is coming. Be patient in that hour and you will attain bliss.
O Husham, the like of this world is the seawater - it leads the thirsty to more thirst until it kills him.
O Husham, beware of arrogance. He who feels arrogant, even if as small as a grain of mustard seed, in the heart will not see Paradise. Pride is God’s dress and God will surely overturn those who try to take off His dress on the faces in Hell.
O Husham, he who does not settle an account with himself every day, so that he would seek more of the good deeds and seek God’s forgiveness and acceptance of repentance for the bad deeds, is not one of us.
O Husham, the world came to the Christ (peace be upon him) in the form of a blue lady. He asked her, ‘How many men did you marry?’ ‘Many,’ answered the world. ‘Did they all divorce you?’ asked the Christ. ‘No,’ she replied, ‘I killed all of them.’ the Christ said, ‘Woe to the rest of your husbands. Why do they not learn lessons from the past ones?’
O Husham, the light of the body is in the eyes. If the sight is luminous, the whole body will be bright. The light of the spirit is in the brain. If the servant is intelligent, he will be having acknowledgement of his Lord. If he has acknowledgement of his Lord, he will see his religion obviously. If he ignores the affairs of his Lord, he will be having no religion. Like the body that does not live without a living soul, the religion does not live without the true intendment. The true intendment is proved through mind only.
O Husham, plants grow in plain, not rocky, lands. In the same way, wisdom will grow in the hearts of the modest, not the arrogant, because God has made modesty the instrument of the mind and made arrogance the instrument of ignorance. Do you not notice that he who raises the head to the ceiling will have his head broken? Likewise, he who hands down will enjoy the shades and the protection of the ceiling. Similarly, God will disgrace those who do not behave humbly to Him and will exalt those who humble themselves for Him.
O Husham, how ugly poverty after richness is! How ugly the commitment of sins after religiousness is! Moreover, to leave the adoration of God after worship is uglier than the previous.
O Husham, except for either a heedful listener or a speaker of knowledge, life is surely worthless.
O Husham, God has not distributed among the servant anything better than intelligence. The sleep of the intelligent is preferred to the staying up of the ignorant. God specified intelligence as a qualification of the prophets so that their minds will be preferred to all of the efforts of the diligent ones together. A servant will not fulfill any of God’s rights before he understands it.
O Husham, the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said:
You should approach the silent believer, because he will surely provide you with wisdom. The faithful believer should talk very little and act very much. The hypocrite talks very much and acts very little.
O Husham, God the Exalted revealed to David the prophet (peace be upon him):
Ask My servants not to make between them and Me scholars that are seduced by the worldly pleasures. They will surely preclude the servants from mentioning Me and block the way to My adoration and supplication. Such scholars are the bandits of My servants. The least thing that I will do to them is that I will take the charm of My adoration and supplication from their hearts.
O Husham, the angels of the heavens and the angels of the earth will curse those who feel self-conceit. He who treats his friends arrogantly and haughtily is certainly opposing God. He who claims falsely is dragging himself away from his good.
O Husham, God the Exalted revealed to David the prophet (peace be upon him):
O David, warn and advise your companions against the fondness of passions. The hearts of those who are fond of passions are certainly screened from Me.
O Husham, beware of showing pride to my disciples and using your knowledge against them lest, God will hate you and, then, neither your world nor will your world to come stead you. Regard this world as a temporary lodging that you are waiting for leaving it.
O Husham, to sit to the religious is the honor of this world and the world to come and to counsel with the intelligent and the well-wishers is good omen, blessing, rationality, and success from God. Beware of opposing the advise of the intelligent and the well-wishers so as to avoid perdition.
O Husham, beware of associating with everybody except the intelligent and the trustful. You should be friendly with these two persons only. You should escape the others like escaping from beasts. The intelligent should be too ashamed from God to associate others in the intent of his deed, because God is the only endower of the graces. If you encounter two matters that you ignore which of them is the most correct and acceptable, you should leave the matter that is more favorable to the whim. The very much rightness lies in opposing the whims. Beware of challenging the wisdom and giving it to the people of ignorance.
Husham said: I asked the Imam (peace be upon him), ‘What should I do if I find somebody seeking wisdom but his mind is too narrow to receive it?’ He answered:
You should, in this case, deliver wisdom to him so kindly. If his heart is too narrow to receive it, you should avoid seditious matters. You should also avoid the answers of the arrogant. Knowledge will be disgraced if it is given to the unconscious.
Husham said: ‘What should I do if I cannot find a person who asks about wisdom properly?’ said I to the Imam (peace be upon him), and he answered:
You should take the opportunity of the ignorance of wisdom so as to be saved from the seditious wording and the great sedition of the answer. You should also realize that God did not elevate the modest people measure of their modesty, but He elevated them according to the measure of His might and glory. He did not secure the fearful according to their fear, but He secured them out of His compassion and mercy. What do you think about the Compassionate the Merciful Who curries favor with those who harm His disciple? How will He then behave to those whom are hurt due to their adherence to Him? What do you think about the Oft-Returning the Merciful Who accepts the repentance of His enemies? How will He then behave to those who accept Him and suffer people’s enmity for His sake?
O Husham, the fear of the world to come will remove from the hearts of those who favor the worldly pleasures. He who favors the worldly affairs whenever he receives more knowledge will be remoter and remoter from God and God will consequently intensify His wrath on him.
O Husham, the true intelligent is that who avoids what he cannot do. Most of correctitude lies in opposing the passions. For those who depend upon hopes, their deeds will be worse.
O Husham, if you consider the march of the death, you will be diverted from hopes.
O Husham, beware of greed. Never expect having what is in people’s hands. Deaden your expectation from the creatures. Certainly, greed is the key to humiliation. It reduces the mind, kills the acts of personality, soils the honors, and cancels knowledgeability. Abide by adherence and depending upon God. Strive your whims so as to prevent your essence from ruination. This is as obligatory as striving the enemies.
Husham said: I asked the Imam (peace be upon him) about the kind of enemies whom should be striven before others. He answered:
You should begin with the nearest to you, the most inimical, the most harmful, the most aggressive, and the most hidden despite his closeness to you. It is Eblis who is instigating your enemies against you and the source of the hearts’ ill inspirations. You should regard him as the most antagonistic enemy and you should be more tolerant in striving him than him as he is trying to lead you to perdition. He is surely less supported than you are and less harmful despite his great evil, provided that you cling to God so as to be guided to a straight path.
O Husham, God is surely doing great favors to those whom He endows with a mind that controls their whims, knowledge that controls their ignorance, and opulence that controls their poverty.
O Husham, beware of this world and its people. People are four classes: one is falling behind as he is embracing his whims, one is self-conceited due to his knowledge and the more he learns, the more arrogant he becomes. He towers up conceitedly before the less knowledgeable due to his being more learned. One (of the four classes) is ignorant worshipper who looks disgracefully to the less dutiful and desires for being respected and reverenced. The fourth is heedful, knowledgeable, and knowing, but he cannot drag people to the straight path because he is either powerless or beaten. He is also grievous because he cannot practice his knowledge. This one is the most ideal and the most intelligent of people.
O Husham, discern the mind and its soldiers and the ignorance and its soldiers and you will be guided.
Husham said: I said, ‘May God make me your sacrifice. We will not know unless you instruct us. Hence, the Imam (peace be upon him) answered:
O Husham, the first thing of the mystical creatures that God created was the mind. He was on the right side of the Divine Throne. As God asked him to go, he went. As He asked him to come, he came. Hence, God the Majestic said: I created you as great and preferred you to all of My creatures.
Then God created ignorance from the gloomy salty ocean and asked it to go, and it went. But when God asked him to come, it refused. Hence, God cursed it because it had behaved arrogantly.
God then arranged seventy-five soldiers for the mind. The ignorance, seeing what God had given honorably to the mind, felt malicious and said: O God, this is a creature as same as I, but you honored and supported him while I, its opposite, am powerless. Support me with soldiers like him.
God the Exalted answered: Yes, I will, but if you disobey Me, I will take your soldiers and you out of My mercy.
As the ignorance agreed to the condition, God gave it seventy-five soldiers.
Within the seventy-five soldiers of the mind was goodness, which is the supporter of the mind. In the other side, God made evil as the supporter of the ignorance.
The soldiers of the mind and the ignorance are faith and disbelieving, belief and unbelief, sincerity and hypocrisy, hope and despair, justice and prejudice, satisfaction and displeasure, thanks and ingratitude, moderation and greed, trust and acquisitiveness, compassion and rudeness, knowledge and ignorance, chastity and profligacy, abstinence and desirousness, lenience and clumsiness, self-respect and taunt, modesty and arrogance, deliberation and rashness, composure and imprudence, silence and chatter, submission and challenge, compliance and defiance, pardon and malice, mercy and coarseness, conviction and suspect, forbearance and bigotry, overlooking and revenge, opulence and neediness, pondering and inadvertence, consciousness and oblivion, relation and alienation, contentment and avidity, giving and deprivation, amicability and enmity, loyalty and betrayal, obedience and disobedience, succumbing and daring, affluence and scarcity, understanding and idiocy, recognition and denial, humoring and nastiness, purity and cheating, concealment and divulging, piety and irreverence, factuality and falseness, favor and bad turn, circumspection and publicizing, fairness and injury, God-fearing and envy, cleanness and dirtiness, pudency and insolence, temperance and excess, rest and fatigue, ease and difficulty, good health and ailment, sufficiency and overindulgence, wisdom and capriciousness, sense of worth and levity, pleasure and grief, repentance and insistence, attention and negligence, supplication and disdain, activity and laziness, delight and discontent, harmony and disagreement, and courtesy and foolishness.
O Husham, these good attributes cannot come together in a personality other than the personalities of the prophets, their successors, or faithful believers who passed God’s exam of faith. The other believers should have some of the soldiers of the mind so that they will have a perfect intelligence and get rid of the soldiers of ignorance. Only then, they may catch the highest rank of the prophets and their successors. God may lead you and us to His obedience.
Imam Al-Kadhim’s Words of Wisdom
It was related that Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) had said:
The nafilas are the offertories of every believer to God.
Hajj is the jihad of every weak.
Everything has its tax and the tax of the body is the recommendable fasting.
After the acknowledgement of God, the best worship is expecting the Relief.
He who supplicates to God before he praises Him and blesses the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) is as same as throwing an arrow without the existence of a string.
He who is certain of the reward will give generously.
The moderate will never be needy.
Moderation is the half of the livelihood.
Amicability is half of the intelligence.
Very much care drives into senility.
Hastiness is the true clumsiness.
Fewness of the dependants is one of the two facilities.
To depress the parents is impiety to them.
As for those who beat the hand on the thigh or strike the hands together in misfortunes, their rewards will be cancelled.
No one will gain the reward of suffering a misfortune unless he who forbears it and says: We are Allah’s, and to Him we will return
.
Favors are worthless unless they are done to the highborn or the religious.
God aids inasmuch as the need and endows with steadfastness inasmuch as the misfortune.
The graces will persist for the moderate and the satisfied.
The graces will be removed from the immoderate and the exaggerative.
The fulfillment of the trusts and honesty bring earnings, while treachery and fabrication cause poverty and hypocrisy.
When God wills to punish a worm, He gives it two wings so that it will fly and a bird will kill it.
The believers’ favors are worthless unless they are disregarded, veiled, and provided as soon as possible. He who disregards his favors is surely revering his friend to whom he has done the favor, he who considers his favors is surely disgracing his friend to whom he has done the favor, he who covers up the favors that he does is surely honoring his deeds, and he who fulfills his promises as soon as possible is surely giving pleasant gifts.
Imam Al-Kadhim’s Wording to Harun ar-Rashid
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) visited Harun Ar-Rashid
who had intended to arrest him for accusations that were forged against the Imam.
Ar-Rashid gave the Imam (peace be upon him) a long roll that contained many sayings that were falsely ascribed to Shiism.
After he had read the content, the Imam (peace be upon him) spoke:
O Amirul Muminin, we are the household who had to face fabricated lies. Our Lord is forgiving and coverer. He does not accept to reveal the secrets of His servants before the day when He will settle the account with them. “The day on which property will not avail, nor sons. Except him who comes to Allah with a heart free from evil
.”
My father told me that his father told him that Ali told that the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: “When two individuals of the same family touch each other, their kinship will be stirred up and them relax.” Now, Amirul Muminin can cause our kinship to stir up by shaking hands with me.
As soon as he heard these words, Ar-Rashid jumped from his seat and extended his hand to the Imam (peace be upon him). Then he took him from the right hand, embraced him, and asked him to sit to his right. He then spoke, “I declare that you are honest, your father was honest, your grandfather was honest, and the Messenger of God (peace be upon him and his family) was honest. When you first visited me, I was the most malicious and enraged with you because of what has been said to me about you. But when you uttered your words and shook hand with me, I was relieved and my rage was changed into satisfaction.
After a while, Ar-Rashid said to the Imam (peace be upon him), “I would like to ask you why was Ali preceded to Al-Abbas
in the matter of the heritage of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), while Al-Abbas was the Prophet’s uncle and his father’s brother. The Imam asked the caliph to release him from answering this question. “No,” insisted the caliph, “By God, I will not allow you avoid answering this question. You should answer it, now.” Therefore, the Imam said, “If you will not free me from answering this question, will you then guarantee my safety?” “Yes,” said Ar-Rashid, “I guarantee your safety.”
The Imam (peace be upon him) spoke:
The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) did not bequeath those who did not migrate (to Medina) while they were able to migrate. Al-Abbas, your father, believed but did not migrate, while Ali believed and migrated. God says:
The believers who did not leave their homes are not your guardians until they too leave their homes.
The color of Harun’s face changed. Hence, he asked, “Why are you not ascribed to Ali your father, but ascribed to the Messenger of God (peace be upon him and his family) who is your grandfather?”
The Imam (peace be upon him) answered:
God ascribes Jesus to Abraham the intimate (peace be upon them) from the side of his mother the Virgin Mary - whom was never touched by any human being-. This is clear in God’s saying:
We gave (Abraham) Isaac and Jacob. Both had received Our guidance. Noah received Our guidance before Abraham and so did his descendants: David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses, and Aaron. Thus is the reward for the righteous people. We also gave guidance to Zechariah, John, Jesus, and Elias, who were all pious people.
God ascribes Jesus to Abraham from the side of his mother only. In the same way, God ascribes David, Solomon, Job, Moses, and Aaron to Abraham from the side of both their fathers and mothers so that God will give Jesus an exclusive characteristic and an elevated standing for his mother alone. This is in God’s saying about Mary (peace be upon her):
"Behold," the angels told Mary, "God had chosen you, purified you, and given you distinction over all women
.
God gave Mary distinction over all women by the Christ who was born without the means of a father.
Likewise, our Lord chose Fatima (peace be upon her), purified her, and gave her distinction over all women by Al-Hasan and Al-Hussein (peace be upon them), the masters of the youth of Paradise.
Harun was confused by what he had heard. Therefore, he asked the Imam, “How do you claim that an illegitimacy may occur on the part of women or fathers to the man who does not settle the Khums?” The Imam (peace be upon him and his family) said:
Except you, no ruler, including Taim (Abu Bakr), Edi (Omar), and the Umayyads at all asked such a question. No one of my fathers was asked about such a question; therefore, do not cause me to divulge it.
Harun threatened, “I will cancel my pledge of safety to you if I know that you have divulged it.” “I agree,” said the Imam (peace be upon him).
Harun asked, “Numbers of the miscreants are increasing in Islam. The miscreants whom are brought to us are ascribed to you. For you, the Prophet’s family, what is the miscreant?” The Imam (peace be upon him) answered:
The miscreants are everyone who rejects God and His Messenger. They are those who oppose God and His Messenger. God says:
You will not find any people of faith in God and the Day of Judgment who would establish friendship with those who oppose God and His Messenger, even if it would be in the interest of their fathers, sons, brothers, and kinsmen. God has established faith in their hearts and supported them by a Spirit from Himself.
They are also the apostates who deviated from monotheism into atheism.
Harun asked the Imam about the first one who apostatized and became an atheist. The Imam (peace be upon him) answered:
The first one who apostatized and became an atheist in the heavens was Eblis the cursed. He showed arrogance and took pride in himself against Adam (peace be upon him) the choice and confidant of God. The cursed said - as it is mentioned in the Quran-:
I am better than Adam, for You have created me out of fire and Adam out of clay.
Thus, he rejected the Lord’s orders and became atheist. His offspring inherited atheism from him.
Harun wondered whether Eblis has offspring. The Imam (peace be upon him) answered:
Eblis has offspring. Listen to God’s saying:
When We told the angels to prostrate before Adam they all obeyed except Eblis. He was a jinn and he sinned against the command of his Lord. Why do you (people) obey him and his offspring instead of Me, even though they are your enemies? How terrible will be the recompense that the wrong doers will receive! I did not call (the unjust) to witness the creation of the heavens and earth nor to witness their own creation nor did I want to be helped by those who lead people astray.
They mislead the offspring of Adam through their false vanities and lies. Meanwhile, they declare that there is no god but Allah. God describes them in His following saying:
If you ask them, "Who has created the heavens and the earth," they will certainly say, "God has created them." Say, "It is only God who deserves all praise, but most of them do not know."
This means that they declare so only with their tongues because they used to say so as one of their customs. He who does not believe, even if he declares with the tongue, will be suspicious, envious, and resistant. The Arabs therefore used to say: “He who had no knowledge of something will antagonize it, and he who cannot attain something will dishonor and disbelieve in it.” This is because he is ignorant, not knowledgeable.
Then Harun Ar-Rashid requested, “By the right of your forefathers I beseech you, brief for us comprehensive statements regarding what we have discussed.” The Imam agreed. An inkwell and papers were fetched. The Imam (peace be upon him) recorded:
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
All the matters of the religions are gathered in four forms:
First, there is the unanimous matter. It is the consensus of the umma on the necessary matters that they have to face.
Second, there are the generally accepted narrations. All the suspicious matters are advanced to such narrations, and every result is extracted from them, for they are the consensus of the umma.
Third, there is the matter that may be doubted or denied. Such a matter should be treated through providing evidence, from the Book of God, provided that its interpretation is unanimous, or evidence from the Prophet’s tradition provided that it is unanimously accepted.
Fourth, there is the law that the intelligent accede to its justice and neither the scholars nor the ordinary people can suspect or deny it. These two matters relate to the question of monotheism and whatever comes below and the question of the retaliation of a scratching and whatever comes above. The previous has been the matters to which the religious affairs are advanced. You should opt for only what is proved evidently and should shun what is suspected or obscure. Any of these three matters (the Book of God, the Prophet’s tradition, and the logical law) is the final authority to which God refers in His saying:
Say, "Final authority belongs only to God. Had He wanted, He would have given you all guidance.
The final authority is attained by both the ignorant through his ignorance and the knowledgeable through his knowledge. This is because God is Just and He will never treat anybody wrongly. He provides to His creatures attainable arguments and call them to what they know, not ignore or deny.
Harun Ar-Rashid offered gifts to the Imam (peace be upon him)…
Short Maxims of Imam Al-Kadhim
1-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
Anyone who acknowledges God should not complain when his earnings are delayed and should not accuse God of His acts.
2-
As a man asked him about conviction, Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) answered:
The conviction is to depend upon God, submit to Him, consent to His acts, and entrust Him with the affairs.
3-
Abdullah bin Yahya said: Within the supplication that I wrote to Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him), there was the sentence, ‘Praise be to God as much as the utmost of His knowledge.’ The Imam answered my missive saying:
Do not say, ‘the utmost of His knowledge,’ because His knowledge has no limits. You may say, ‘the utmost of His satisfaction.’
4-
As a man asked him about the munificent, Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) answered:
Your question has two references. If you refer to the created munificent, I can tell you that he is the one who fulfills what God has imposed upon him, while the miserly is the one who withholds what God has imposed upon him. If you refer to the All-munificent God, I can tell you that He is the All-munificent whether He gives or not. If He gives, He gives you what is not yours, and if He does not give, He deprives you of what in not yours.
5-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said to one of his adherents:
Fear God and say the truth even if it will cause you to perish, for your salvation lies in telling the truth. Fear God and leave the wrong even if it will save you, for your perdition lies in telling the wrong.
6-
As his agent swore he had not betrayed him, Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said to him:
To betray me and waste my wealth are the same. However, betrayal is more harmful for you.
7-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
Beware of depriving anyone in fields of obedience to God lest, you will lose two folds in fields of disobedience to God.
8-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
The believer is like the two pans of a balance - the more faith he enjoys the more misfortunes he faces.
9-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said as he stopped near a grave:
It is quite proper to leave the first of a matter the end of which is this (grave). It is also quite proper to fear the end of a thing the first of which is this (grave).
10-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
He who speaks in the Essence of God will perish, he who seeks power will perish, and he who feels self-conceited will perish.
11-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
The supplies of this world and the religion are difficult. Whenever you extend your hand towards any source of the worldly supplies, you will found out that a sinful has preceded you there. When you intend to obtain a source of the religious supplies, you will not find anyone helping you.
12-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
Four deeds are originated from extreme solicitude. They are eating soil, crumbling the clay, clipping the nails with the teeth, and biting the hair of the beard. Looking at three things improves the sight. They are verdure, flowing water, and handsome faces.
13-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
Good neighborhood is not abstinence from harm. It is to tolerate the harm (of the neighbors).
14-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
Do not take liberties with your friend. You should keep any quantity of respect among you lest you will lose pudency.
15-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said to one of his sons:
O son, let not God see you committing an act of disobedience against which He warned you, and let Him not miss you in an act of obedience to Him of which He ordered you. Keep serious and do not convince yourself that you are worshipping and obeying God perfectly, because no one can achieve perfection in the fields of worshipping God. Beware of joking because it extinguishes the illumination of your faith and disgraces you personality. Beware of indolence and laziness because they both prevent you from receiving your shares of the pleasures of this world and the world to come.
16-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
When injustice predominates over the right, it is unacceptable to expect good from anybody before investigation.
17-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
Kissing on the mouth is not acceptable except from the wife and the little child.
18-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
Try to divide your time into four parts. The first part should be dedicated to (secret) supplication to God, the second to seeking earnings, the third to associating with the friends and the trusty people who show you your defects and treat you sincerely, and the fourth to your legal pleasures. Through this part, you can manage the other three parts. Do not think of poverty and long age. He who thinks of poverty will be stingy and he who thinks of long age will be acquisitive. Offer a share of the worldly pleasures to yourselves by enjoying moderately the legal pleasures that do not injure your personality. Make such pleasures help you fulfill your religious duties perfectly. It is said that, “As for those who neglect the legal worldly pleasures completely and adhere to the religious duties or neglect the religious duties and adhere to the worldly affairs, they are not from us.
19-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
Learn the religious question, for jurisprudence is the key of intelligence, the perfection of worship, and the means to the high standings and the respectful positions in this world and the world to come. The priority of the knowledgeable over the worshipper is as same as the priority of the sun over the stars. God will not accept the deeds of those who avoid learning the religious questions.
20-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said to Ali bin Yaqttin:
The expiation of working with the (unjust) rulers is to treat the friends with kindness.
21-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
Whenever people perpetrate unprecedented sins, God will inflict upon them unexpected misfortunes.
22-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
In the time of the just ruler, you should thank and he will gain rewards. In the time of the unjust ruler, you should tolerate and he will burden the punishment of the sin.
23-
Abu Hanifa related: After I had performed the hajj I went to Medina to visit Abu Abdillah As-Sadiq (peace be upon him). I entered his house and sat in the entrance waiting for his permission. After a while, a male toddler went out. “O boy,” I asked, “where should the stranger excrete in your country?” The boy asked for a respite before he sat to a wall and spoke:
You should be away from riversides, places were fruits fall, yards of mosques, and roadbeds. You should also hide against a wall, lift up your dress, avoid turning the face or the back to the kiblah, and then you can excrete anywhere.
I was highly admired by the wording of that boy. I therefore asked about his name. “I am Musa bin Ja’far bin Mohammed bin Ali bin Al-Hussein bin Ali bin Abi Talib,” answered he. I then asked him about the source of the acts of disobedience to God. He answered:
The source of any sin is unquestionably one of three: either the God, the God and the servant, or the servant. If God is the source of sins - yet He is not-, then it is improper for Him to punish the servants for what they did not commit. If God and the servants are together the source of sin - yet this is not accurate-, then it is improper for the stronger partner to wrong the weak partner. If the servant is the source of the sins - and this is quite accurate-, then the Lord may pardon out of His generosity and liberty or punish for the commitment of such a sin.
After I had heard so, I left before I could meet Abu Abdillah since that wording was sufficient for me.
24-
Abu Ahmed Al-Khurasani asked Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) whether atheism preceded polytheism or the opposite. ‘You have not been accustomed to ask such questions,’ answered the Imam, ‘I do not know that you intrude yourself in the theological discussions.’ Abu Ahmed confessed that it had been Husham bin Al-Hakam who ordered him to put such a question before the Imam. The Imam, then, answered:
Atheism preceded polytheism. The foremost atheist was Eblis about whom God says:
He refused and he was proud, and he was one of the unbelievers - atheists-.
Atheism is one thing while polytheism is not. Polytheism is to believe in one (god) and associate others with him.
25-
As he noticed two men reviling at each other, Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) commented:
The first person to revile is the more wrongful. He should burden - the inconvenience- of his sin as well as the sin of the other unless the other was the aggressor.
26-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
On the Day of Resurrection, a caller will summon those whose rewards should be presented by God individually. Except those who forgave and reformed themselves, no one will attend.
27-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
The liberal well-mannered ones are in the shelter of God Who will not abandon them until they reside in Paradise. Prophets of God are all liberal. My father incessantly commanded me to hold on liberality and noble manners until he departed.
28-
As-Sindi bin Shahek
narrated: When Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) was dying, I offered to enshroud him. He answered:
We, the Prophet’s family, should cover the expenditure of our first pilgrimage, the dowries of our women, and our coffins from our legal fortunes.
29-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said to Fadhl bin Younus:
Convey the good, say the good, and do not be yes-man.
“What is yes-man?” asked Fadhl, and the Imam instructed:
Do not say, ‘I am with people,’ or ‘I am like others,’ for the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: “O people, they are only two ways - either good or evil. Do not prefer the way of evil to that of good.”
30-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) passed by an ugly villager, greeted him, sat with him, talked with him for a considerable time, and then asked him to settle his needs when he will be in need for him. Some said, “O son of God’s Messenger, how do you sit with this one and ask him to settle your needs while he is in need for you?” The Imam (peace be upon him) answered:
He was one of God’s servants, a brother in the Book of God, and a neighbor in the lands of God. He and we enjoy the same best father - Adam (peace be upon him) and the same best religion that is Islam. Perhaps, our need will someday be in his hand and we will have to sit modestly before him.
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) then recited a poetic verse:
We regard even those who do not deserve our regard so that we will not be friendless.
31-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
Asking for - financial- help is acceptable only in blood money that is imposed on an insolvent, heavy debts, and extreme poverty.
32-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
The best kind of almsgiving is to help the weak.
33-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
The astonishment of the ignorant at the intelligent is greater than the astonishment of the intelligent at the ignorant.
34-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
For the steadfast, the misfortune is one, while it is two for the impatient.
35-
Imam Al-Kadhim (peace be upon him) said:
Only the sufferers of injustice can realize its intensity.
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Author: Al-Hasan bin Ali bin Al-Hussein bin Shu'ba Al-Harrani
