Introduction

God is One and Only

Abandoning the Present to Attain the Promised

Oppressive Characteristics

Characteristics Rooted in Love for Religion

One Characteristic for Five Characteristics

A Characteristic for a Characteristic

A Saving Characteristic

The Loftiest Characteristic of the Religion

No Two Things Combined which are Better than the Combination of Two Characteristics

A Characteristic that is the Honor of This World and the Hereafter

The Most Knowledgeable Person Is One who Combines One Characteristic with Another One

There Is One True Prosperity And One True Misery

A Characteristic for Which the People Deserve to be Rewarded or Punished

A Characteristic that Is the Noblest Holy War

The Hardest Thing is One Characteristic that Cannot Be Avoided Unless We Abandon Another Characteristic

A Believer’s Honor Is in One Characteristic and His Glory Is In Another Characteristic

One Characteristic Is the Key to All Evil

A Characteristic Due to Justice

A Characteristic Due to Which We Are Interested in How Others Judge About Us

Seek Nearness to God with One Characteristic

God Has Not Tested the Servants with Anything Harder Than One Characteristic

A Characteristic that Is the Result of Being Kind

A Characteristic that Stabilizes One’s Faith and One that Makes Him Lose His Faith

A Characteristic that Destroys a Believer’s Dignity

A Good Characteristic Which No Other Characteristic Is Better Than, and a Bad Characteristic That No Other Characteristic Is Worse Than

A Characteristic That Guarantees Who Will Not Become Poor

The Form of Chivalry of the Members of the Holy Household

A Characteristic Due to One’s Chivalry

A Characteristic that Is Not Good for a Dignified Man

God Loves One Characteristic and Despises One Characteristic

One Who has This Characteristic Would Not Be Thankful for Blessings

A Characteristic Due to Humbleness

A Characteristic that Is Close to Blasphemy and A Characteristic that Might Change Destiny

A Characteristic that Destroyed Previous Nations

Martyrdom Is Expiation for Every Sin Except for One’s Debt

God the Almighty Has Sent Muhammad (sw) and His Nation a Gift That He Has Not Given to Any Other Nation

A Characteristic that One Should Have If He Wants to Increase Goodness in His House

God Will Look at Whom He Likes. Once He Looks at Him, He Shall Grant Him One of Three Gifts

The Hereafter is the Wedding of the Pious Ones

A Characteristic That is Like its Opposite

The Most Wicked People Are Those Who Are Respected for Possessing One Characteristic

A Characteristic in This World is Abstinence, and a Characteristic That is Gratitude for all Blessings

Nothing Deserves to Be Restrained More Than the Tongue

Whoever Raises his Aspirations Does Wrong

Good Deeds Are Recorded for a Muslim as Long as He Remains Quiet

A Characteristic Having Which Will Result in God Saving You From the Fear of the Hereafter

The Most Intelligent Characteristic

The Most Pious, the Best Worshipping, the Most Ascetic and the Most Hard-Working People

Becoming Sorry Is the Same as Repenting

Whoever Earns More Than His Meals fom This World

A Characteristic That Deserves to Be Willed

A Characteristic That Causes One to Be Thrown Out and a Characteristic That Causes One to Be Joined

Lofty Characteristics and Bad Characteristics for the People of the World

There Is No Honor Except Through One Characteristic. There Is No Nobility Except Through Another Characteristic

When God Loves a Servant He Will Make Him Suffer from a Great Calamity

A Characteristic That Leads to Hemorrhoids

A Hand on Which There Is an Iron Ring Is Not Clean

Do Not Respond to Whoever Talks Before He Greets You

A Characteristic That if Practiced Implies Despise for Muhammad’s Religion

Only One of the Proverbs of the Prophets Has Remained

When God Wishes a Servant Well, He Will Expedite His Punishment in This World, and When He Wishes Someone Bad, He Will Procrastinate His Punishment

Be Patient with the Enemies of the Blessings

The Prophet (sw) and Ali Ibn Abi Talib Were Created from the Same Root

A Characteristic That is Gratitude for All Blessings

Religion Is the Same as Love

When Two Believers Shake Hands They Shall Depart from Each Other Void of Any Sins

A Characteristic That Revives the Hearts

A Characteristic That Revives the Affairs of the Almighty God’s Proofs

God the Almighty Has Not Created Anything More Delightful Than This Characteristic

A Characteristic That Constitutes Nine-Tenths of Religion

Whoever is Pleased with His Destiny or is Displeased with it

A Characteristic for Which Even Red-Haired Camels Are Not Loved

A Characteristic That Increases the Daily Bread

A Characteristic That Leads to Hypocrisy and Poverty

The First Gift Given to a Believer Due to a Characteristic

A Characteristic for Which One Who Has No Good Deeds is Forgiven on the Resurrection Day

A Characteristic That is the Root of All Sins

How Awkward It Is If a Man Enters Heaven Having Lost His Honor

A Characteristic Doing Which Will Cause the Almighty God to Have Mercy Upon You

A Characteristic Doing Which Will Cause Increased Good for One’s House

On Him Whose Health Has Overcome His Illness but He Treats Himself and Dies

A Characteristic Which a Believer Avoids

Nothing Ruins Faith as Much as One Characteristic Does

One Who Lives to See his Successor Is Prosperous

A Believer’s Honor is More Than That of the Ka’ba

It Suffices for a Believer to See God’s Aid in the Form of His Enemies Engaged in the Almighty God’s Disobedience

A Gift Will Eliminate Animosities

Prosperous Be the One Who is Indifferent

A Characteristic That Will Make One Poor in the Hereafter

A Group of People Who Are the Masters of Heaven

God’s Prophet Made His Ablutions One Organ at a Time

The Characteristic That Is the Best Goodness

The Prophet Put off His Special Prayer for One Characteristic

A Characteristic That is the Best Form of Worshipping and a Characteristic That is the Noblest Form of Being Religious

What Is A Lot but Its Doers Are A Few

A Characteristic That Constitutes Half of the Religion

A Characteristic That is the Best Thing Given to a Muslim

The Prophet and Ali Ibn Abi Talib Were Created from One Light

A Servant’s Well-Being Depends Upon the Well-Being of One of His Organs

10-58 حدثنا أحمد بن زياد بن جعفر الهمداني، والحسين بن إبراهيم بن أحمد ابن هشام بن المؤدب، وعلي بن عبد الله الوراق، وحمزة بن محمد بن أحمد بن جعفر بن محمد بن زيد بن علي بن الحسين بن علي بن أبي طالب عليهم السلام قالوا: حدثنا علي بن إبراهيم بن هاشم سنة سبع وثلاثمائة قال:حدثني أبي، عن أبي أحمد محمد بن زياد الازدي وأحمد بن محمد بن أبي نصر البزنطي جميعا، عن أبان بن عثمان الاحمر، عن أبان بن تغلب، عن أبي جعفر محمد بن علي الباقر عليهما السلام أنه قال: في قوله عز وجل: "حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمْ الْمَيْتَةُ وَالدَّمُ وَلَحْمُ الْخِنزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ اللَّهِ بِهِ وَالْمُنْخَنِقَةُ وَالْمَوْقُوذَةُ وَالْمُتَرَدِّيَةُ وَالنَّطِيحَةُ وَمَا أَكَلَ السَّبُعُ إِلاَّ مَا ذَكَّيْتُمْ وَمَا ذُبِحَ عَلَى النُّصُبِ وَأَنْ تَسْتَقْسِمُوا بِالأَزْلاَمِ ذَلِكُمْ فِسْقٌ الْيَوْمَ يَئِسَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ دِينِكُمْ فَلاَ تَخْشَوْهُمْ وَاخْشَوْنِي الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمْ الإِسْلاَمَ دِينًا فَمَنْ اضْطُرَّ فِي مَخْمَصَةٍ غَيْرَ مُتَجَانِفٍ لإِثْمٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ ."قال: الميتة والدم ولحم الخنزير معروف "وَما أهل لغير الله به" يعني ماذبح للاصنام، وأما المنخنقة فإن المجوس كانوا لا يأكلون الذبايح ويأكلون الميتة وكانوا يخنقون البقر والغنم فإذا اختنقت وماتت أكلوها، "والمتردية" كانوا يشدون أعينها ويلقونها من السطح فإذا ماتت أكلوها،"و النطيحة" كانوا يناطحون بالكباش فإذا ماتت أحدها أكلوها، "وماأكل السبع إلا ما ذكيتم" فكانوا يأكلون مايقتله الذئب والاسد، فحرم الله ذلك "وما ذبح على النصب" كانوا يذبحون لبيوت النيران، وقريش كانوا يعبدون الشجر والصخر فيذبحون لهما "وأن تستقسموا بالازلام ذلكم فسق" قال كانوا يعمدون إلى الجزور فيجزونه عشرة أجزاء ثم يجتمعون عليه فيخرجون السهام ويدفعونها إلى رجل، والسهام عشرة سبعة لها أنصباء وثلاثة لا أنصباء لها، فالتي لها أنصباء: الفذ، والتوأم، والمسبل، والنافس، والحلس والرقيب، والمعلى.والفذ له سهم، والتوأم له سهمان، والمسبل له ثلاثة أسهم، والنافس له أربعة أسهم، والحلس له خمسة أسهم، والرقيب له ستة أسهم، والمعلى له سبعة أسهم. والتي لا أنصباء لها: السفيح، والمنيح، والوغد. وثمن الجزور على من لا يخرج له من الانصباء شيء وهو القمار فحرمه الله عز وجل

10-58 Ahmad ibn Zyad ibn Ja’far al-Hamedany, al-Hussein ibn Ibrahim ibn Ahmad ibn Hisham ibn al-Mo’adab, Ali ibn Abdullah al-Var’raq, Hamzih ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Ja’far ibn Muhammad ibn Zayd ibn Ali ibn al-Hussein ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib (MGB), on the authority of Ali ibn Ibrahim ibn Hashim who in the year 307 A.H. (919 A.D.) narrated that his father quoted Abi Ahmad Muhammad ibn Zyad al-Azodi, Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Nasr al-Bazanty, on the authority of Aban ibn Uthman al-Ahmar, on the authority of Aban ibn Taqlib, on the authority of Abi Ja’far Muhammad ibn Ali al-Baqir (MGB) who said the following regarding the following verse from the Honorable the Exalted God, “Forbidden to you (for food) are: dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which hath been invoked the name of other than God; that which hath been killed by strangling, or by a violent blow, or by a headlong fall, or by being gored to death; that which hath been (partly) eaten by a wild animal; unless ye are able to slaughter it (in due form); that which is sacrificed on stone (altars); (forbidden) also is the division (of meat) by raffling with arrows: that is impiety. This day have those who reject faith given up all hope of your religion: yet fear them not but fear Me. This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion. But if any is forced by hunger, with no inclination to transgression, God is indeed Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”The Imam (MGB) replied, “What ‘dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine’ refer to here are well-known already. However, ‘that on which hath been invoked the name of other than God’ refers to what has been slaughtered as an offering for the idols. And ‘that which hath been killed by strangling, or by a violent blow, or by a headlong fall, or by being gored to death’ refers to the fact that the Magians did not eat the meat of animals whose head was cut off. Rather they killed it unlawfully and ate it. They choked cows and sheep and ate them when they died. Sometimes they placed a cloth in front of the animal’s eyes and threw it down from the roof and ate it when it died. At other times they made the ewes fight with each other with their horns, and ate the one that got killed. And ‘that which hath been (partly) eaten by a wild animal; unless ye are able to slaughter it (in due form);’ refers to the fact that sometimes they ate what has been attacked by wolves and lions. God forbade eating such things. And ‘that which is sacrificed on stone (altars);’ refers to what the people used to sacrifice in a fire-house. The Quraysh used to worship trees and rocks and slaughtered for them. Thus ‘(forbidden) also is the division (of meat) by raffling with arrows’ refers to the practice of the Quraysh who divided up a slaughtered camel’s corpse into twenty-eight shares, gathered around it, drew lots with ten arrows, and gave it to men. There were ten lottery arrows. Seven of them had shares and three of them had no shares. The seven that had shares had the names Fach; Tawam; Musbil; Nafis; Hilis; Raqib; Mu’alli. Fach had one share; Tawam had two shares. Musbil had three shares. Nafis had four shares. Hilis had five shares. Raqib had six shares. Mu’alli had seven shares. The last three arrows which did not have any shares were called Samih, Manih, and Waghd, had no share at all. Those who got the arrows which did not have any shares had to pay for the camel. This is considered to be gambling and the Honorable the Exalted God forbade it.”

Al-Khiṣāl

Book 11, Chapter 43