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

20-5 حدثنا أبي رضي الله عنه قال: حدثنا علي بن إبراهيم بن هاشم، عن أبيه، عن محمد بن أبي عمير، عن حماد بن عثمان، عن فضيل بن يسار، قال: كان أبوجعفر عليه السلام إذا كانت ليلة إحدى وعشرين وثلاث وعشرين أخذ في الدعاء حتى يزول الليل فاذا زال الليل صلى

20-5 (The compiler of the book narrated) that his father - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Ali ibn Ibrahim ibn Hashim quoted his father, on the authority of Muhammad ibn Abi Umayr, on the authority of Hammad ibn Uthman, on the authority of Al-Fuzayl ibn Yasar, “On the 21st and 23rd nights of the month of Ramazan, Abi Ja’far al-Baqir (MGB) said supplications from the beginning of the night until midnight, and then started to pray from midnight.”

20-6 حدثنا محمد بن الحسن بن أحمد بن الوليد رضي الله عنه قال: حدثنا الحسين ابن الحسن بن أبان، عن الحسن بن سعيد، عن سليمان الجعفري قال: قال أبوالحسن عليه السلام: صل ليلة إحدى وعشرين وليلة ثلاث وعشرين مائة ركعة، تقرأ في كل ركعة "الحمد" مرة، و"قل هو الله أحد" عشر مرات

20-6 Muhammad ibn al-Hassan ibn Ahmad ibn al-Walid - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Al-Hussein ibn al-Hassan ibn Aban quoted Al-Hassan ibn Sa’id, on the authority of Suleiman al-Ja’fari that Abul Hassan Al-Kadhim (MGB) said, “Say one-hundred units of prayers on the 21st and 23rd nights of the month of Ramazan. Say the Opening Chapter (Al-Fatiha ) once in each unit and say the Al-Ikhlas Chapter ten times in each unit of these prayers.”

20-7 حدثنا أبي رضي الله عنه قال: حدثنا محمد بن يحيى العطار، عن محمد بن الحسين بن أبي الخطاب، عن ابن فضال، عن أبي جميلة، عن رفاعة، عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام قال: ليلة القدر هي أول السنة وهي آخرها. واتفق مشايخنا رضي الله عنهم على أنها ليلة ثلاث وعشرين من شهر رمضان والغسل فيها من أول الليل وهو يجزي إلى آخره

20-7 (The compiler of the book narrated) that his father - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Attar quoted Muhammad ibn al-Hussein ibn Abil-Khat’tab, on the authority of Ibn Faz’zal, on the authority of Abi Jamileh, on the authority of Refa’at that Aba Abdullah as-Sadiq (MGB) said, “The Night of Power is the beginning of the next year and the end of the current year. Our elders - may God be pleased with them - all agree that the Night of Power is the night of the 23rd of the month of Ramazan. On that night ritual bathing may be performed from the beginning of the night up until the end of the night.”

20-8 حدثنا أبي رضي الله عنه قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، عن أحمد بن محمد ابن عيسى، عن علي بن الحكم، عن سيف بن عميرة، عن حسان بن مهران، عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام قال: سألته، عن ليلة القدر فقال: التمسها ليلة إحدى وعشرين وليلة ثلاث وعشرين

20-8 (The compiler of the book narrated) that his father - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Sa’ed ibn Abdullah quoted Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Isa, on the authority of Ali ibn al-Hikam, on the authority of Sayf ibn Umayrih, on the authority of Hisan ibn Mihran, “I asked Aba Abdullah as-Sadiq (MGB) about the Night of Power. The Imam (MGB) said, ‘Seek it on the nights of the twenty-first and the twenty-third of Ramazan.’”

20-9 حدثنا أبي رضي الله عنه قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، عن إبراهيم بن هاشم عن الحسين بن الحسن القرشي، عن سليمان بن حفص البصري، عن عبد الله بن الحسين ابن زيد بن علي بن الحسين بن علي بن أبي طالب عليهم السلام، عن أبيه، عن جعفر بن محمد عن أبائه، عن علي عليهم السلام قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله:إن الله عز وجل كره لكم أيتها الامة أربعا وعشرين خصلة، ونهاكم عنها:كره لكم العبث في الصلاة، وكره المن في الصدقة، وكره الضحك بين القبور، وكره التطلع في الدور، وكره النظر إلى فروج النساء وقال: يورث العمى، وكره الكلام عند الجماع وقال: يورث الخرس يعني في الولد، وكره النوم قبل العشاء الآخرة، وكره الحديث بعد العشاء الآخرة، وكره الغسل تحت السماء بغير مئزر، وكره المجامعة تحت السماء، وكره دخول الانهار إلا بمئزر وقال: في الانهار عمار وسكان من الملائكة، وكره دخول الحمامات إلا بمئزر، وكره الكلام بين الاذان والاقامة في صلاة الغداة حتى تقضي الصلاة، وكره ركوب البحر في هيجانه،وكره النوم في سطح ليس بمحجر، وقال: من نام على سطح غير ذي محجر فقد برئت منه الذمة، وكره أن ينام الرجل في بيت وحده، وكره للرجل أن يغشى امرأته وهي حائض فإن غشيها فخرج الولد مجذوما أو أبرص فلا يلومن إلا نفسه،وكره أن يغشى الرجل امرأته وقد احتلم حتى يغتسل من احتلامه الذي رأى، فان فعل فخرج الولد مجنونا فلا يلومن إلا نفسه، وكره أن يكلم الرجل مجذوما إلا أن يكون بينه وبين المجذوم قد ذراع، وقال: فر من المجذوم فرارك من الاسد، وكره البول على شط نهر جاري، وكره أن يحدث الرجل تحت شجرة قد أينعت يعني أثمرت، وكره أن يتنعل الرجل وهو قائم، وكره أن يدخل الرجل البيت المظلم إلا أن يكون بين يديه نار، وكره النفخ في موضع الصلاة

20-9 (The compiler of the book narrated) that his father - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Sa’ed ibn Abdullah quoted Ibrahim ibn Hashim, on the authority of Al-Hussein ibn al-Hassan al-Qurashi, on the authority of Suleiman ibn Hafs al-Basry, on the authority of Abdullah ibn al-Hussein ibn Zayd ibn Ali ibn al-Hussein ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib (MGB), on the authority of his father (MGB), on the authority of Ja’far ibn Muhammad (MGB), on the authority of his forefathers (MGB), on the authority of Ali (MGB) that God’s Prophet (MGB) said, “O my nation! The Honorable the Exalted God dislikes twenty-four characteristics in you and admonishes you against them. He detests that you play when you pray; to mention it when you give charity; to laugh in the graveyards; to spy on houses; and to look at women’s genitals, for this may cause blindness . He detests that you talk when you make love, and said that it could lead to dumbness in the child. He detests that you dose off before the last night prayer. He detests that you talk after the last night prayer. He detests that you bathe in the open without a towel. He detests that you engage in sexual intercourse in the open. He detests that you go into the river without any clothes. He said that there are constructors and angels who reside in the rivers. He detests that you go into the bath without any clothes. He detests that you talk between the general and the specific calls to the morning prayer until after the prayers end. He detests that you sail at sea when it is stormy. He detests that you sleep on unfenced roofs and said, ‘No one is to be held responsible for whoever sleeps on unfenced roofs.’ He detests a man to sleep alone in the house. He detests a man to approach his wife while she is having her menstruation, since that would lead to a child who has leprosy or vitiligo and there would be no one but himself to blame. He detests a man who has had a wet dream to have intercourse with his wife before washing himself, since then a child might be born who is insane and then there will be no one but himself to blame. He detests a man to talk to a man infected with leprosy, unless there is a distance of an arms length between him and the infected man. He said, ‘Escape from a person infected with leprosy as you would escape from a lion.’ He detests that you urinate in a river or flowing creek. He detests building a toilet under fruit trees which bear fruits. He detests a man to put his shoes on while he is standing up. He detests a man to enter a dark house, unless he has a light to see his way. He detests blowing at the place of the prayer.”

Al-Khiṣāl

Book 21, Chapter 5