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

22-15 حدثنا محمد بن الحسن بن أحمد بن الوليد رضي الله عنه قال: حدثنا محمد ابن الحسن الصفار عن علي بن إسماعيل، عن عبيد الله الدهقان قال: أخبرني موسىبن إبراهيم المروزي، عن أبي الحسن عليه السلام قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله: من حفظ من امتي أربعين حديثا مما يحتاجون إليه من أمر دينهم بعثه الله يوم القيامة فقيها عالما22- 16 أخبرني أبوالحسن طاهر بن محمد بن يونس بن حيوة الفقيه فيما أجازه لي ببلخ قال: حدثنا محمد بن عثمان الهروي قال: حدثنا جعفر بن محمد بن سوار قال: حدثنا علي بن حجر السعدي، قال: حدثنا سعيد بن نجيح عن ابن جريج، عن عطاء بن أبي رباح، عن ابن عباس، عن النبي صلى الله عليه وآله قال: من حفظ من امتي أربعين حديثا من السنة كنت له شفيعا يوم القيامة

22-15 Muhammad ibn al-Hassan ibn Ahmad ibn al-Walid - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Muhammad ibn al-Hassan al-Saffar quoted Ali ibn Isma’il, on the authority of Ubaydullah al-Dihqan, on theauthority of Musa ibn Ibrahim al-Marvazy, on the authority of Abil Hassan (MGB) that God’s Prophet (MGB) said, “On the Resurrection Day, God shall raise anyone in my nation as a learned scholar who remembers forty traditions in order to fulfill the needs of the people relating to their religious deeds.”

22- 16 أخبرني أبوالحسن طاهر بن محمد بن يونس بن حيوة الفقيه فيما أجازه لي ببلخ قال: حدثنا محمد بن عثمان الهروي قال: حدثنا جعفر بن محمد بن سوار قال: حدثنا علي بن حجر السعدي، قال: حدثنا سعيد بن نجيح عن ابن جريج، عن عطاء بن أبي رباح، عن ابن عباس، عن النبي صلى الله عليه وآله قال: من حفظ من امتي أربعين حديثا من السنة كنت له شفيعا يوم القيامة

22-16 The jurisprudent Abul Hassan Tahir ibn Muhammad ibn Yunus ibn Hayat - narrated in Balkh that Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Haravy quoted Ja’far ibn Muhammad ibn Sawar, on the authority of Ali ibn Hijr al-Sae’di, on the authority of Sa’id ibn Najih, on the authority of Ata ibn Abi Ribah, on the authority of Ibn Abbas that God’s Prophet (MGB) said, “I would intercede on behalf of whoever from my nation who memorizes forty traditions.”

22-17 أخبرني أبوالحسن طاهر بن محمد بن يونس قال: حدثنا محمد بن عثمان الهروي قال: حدثنا جعفر بن محمد بن سوار قال: حدثنا عيسى بن أحمد العسقلاني قال: حدثنا عروة بن مروان البرقي قال: حدثنا ربيع بن بدر، عن أبان، عن أنس قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله: من حفظ عني من امتي أربعين حديثا في أمر دينه يريد به وجه الله عز وجل والدار الآخرة بعثه الله يوم القيامة فقيها عالما

22-17 Abul Hassan Tahir ibn Muhammad ibn Yunus narrated that Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Haravy quoted Ja’far ibn Muhammad ibn Sawar, on the authority of Isa ibn Ahmad al-Asqalani, on the authority of Urwah ibn Marvan al-Barqy, on the authority of Ribah ibn Badr, on the authority of Aban, on the authority of Anas that God’s Prophet (MGB) said, “On the Resurrection Day, the Honorable the Exalted God shall raise anyone in my nation who remembers forty traditions regarding his religious affairs for the sake of God and the Hereafter as a learned scholar.”

22-18 حدثنا أحمد بن محمد بن الهيثم العجلي، وعبد الله بن محمد الصائغ، وعلي ابن عبد الله الوراق رضي الله عنهم قالوا: حدثنا حمزة بن القاسم العلوي قال: حدثنا الحسن بن متيل الدقاق قال: حدثنا أبوعبد الله علي بن محمد الشاذي، عن علي بن يوسف، عن حنان بن سدير قال: سمعت أبا عبد الله عليه السلام يقول: من حفظ عنا أربعين حديثا من أحاديثنا في الحلال والحرام بعثه الله يوم القيامة فقيها عالما ولم يعذبه

22-18 Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Haysam al-Ajali, Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Sa’eq and Ali ibn Abdullah al-Var’raq - may God be pleased with them - narrated that Hamzih ibn al-Qasim al-Alavi quoted Al-Hassan ibn Matil al-Daq’qaq, on the authority of Abu Abdullah Ali ibn Muhammad al-Shazi, on the authority of Ali ibn Yusuf, on the authority of Han’nan ibn Sadeer that he had heard Aba Abdullah as-Sadiq (MGB) say, “On the Resurrection Day, God shall resurrect as a learned scholar whoever memorizes forty traditions regarding what is forbidden and what is allowed and shall not punish him.”

22-19 حدثنا علي بن أحمد بن موسى الدقاق، والحسين بن إبراهيم بن أحمد ابن هشام المكتب، ومحمد بن أحمد السناني رضي الله عنهم قالوا: حدثنا محمد بن أبي عبد الله الاسدي الكوفي أبوالحسين، قال: حدثنا موسى بن عمران النخعي، عن عمه الحسين ابن يزيد، عن إسماعيل بن الفضل الهاشمي، وإسماعيل بن أبي زياد جميعا، عن جعفر ابن محمد، عن أبيه محمد بن علي، عن أبيه علي بن الحسين، عن أبيه الحسين بن علي عليهم السلام قال: إن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله أوصى إلى أمير المؤمنين علي بن أبي طالب عليه السلام وكان فيما أوصى به أن قال له: يا علي من حفظ من امتي أربعين حديثا يطلب بذلك وجه الله عز وجل والدار الآخرة حشره الله يوم القيامة مع النبيين والصديقين والشهداء والصالحين وحسن أولئك رفيقافقال علي عليه السلام: يا رسول الله أخبرني ما هذه الاحاديث فقال: أن تؤمن بالله وحده لا شريك له، وتعبده ولا تعبد غيره. وتقيم الصلاة بوضوء سابغ في مواقيتها ولا تؤخرها فان في تأخيرها من غير علة غضب الله عز وجل. وتؤدي الزكاة. وتصوم شهر رمضان. وتحج البيت إذا كان لك مال وكنت مستطيعا. وأن لا تعق والديك، ولا تأكل مال اليتيم ظلما. ولا تأكل الربا. ولا تشرب الخمر ولا شيئا من الاشربة المسكرة. ولا تزني ولا تلوط. ولا تمشي بالنميمة. ولا تحلف بالله كاذبا.و لا تسرق. ولا تشهد شهادة الزور لاحد قريبا كان أو بعيدا. وأن تقبل الحق ممن جاء به صغيرا كان أو كبيرا. وأن لا تركن إلى ظالم وإن كان حميما قريبا. وأن لا تعمل بالهوى. ولا تقذف المحصنة. ولا ترائي فان أيسر الرياء شرك بالله عز وجل. وأن لا تقول لقصير: يا قصير، ولا لطويل: يا طويل تريد بذلك عيبه. وأن لا تسخر من أحد من خلق الله.وأن تصبر على البلاء والمصيبة. وأن تشكر نعم الله التي أنعم بها عليك، وأن لا تأمن عقاب الله على ذنب تصيبه، وأن لا تقنط من رحمة الله.وأن تتوب إلى الله عز وجل من ذنوبك فان التائب من ذنوبه كمن لا ذنب له. ولا تصر على الذنوب مع الاستغفار فتكون كالمستهزئ بالله وآياته ورسله. وأن تعلم أن ما أصابك لم يكن ليخطئك، وأن ما أخطأك لم يك ليصيبك. وأن لا تطلب سخط الخالق برضى المخلوق. وأن لا تؤثر الدنيا على الآخرة لان الدنيا فانية والآخرة الباقية. وأن لا تبخل على إخوانك بما تقدر عليه، وأن تكون سريرتك كعلانيتك، وأن لا تكون علانيتك سنة وسريرتك قبيحة، فان فعلت ذلك كنت من المنافقين. وأن لاتكذب، وأن لا تخالط الكذابين. وأن لا تغضب إذا سمعت حقا. وأن تؤدب نفسك وأهلك وولدك وجيرانك على حسب الطاقة. وأن تعمل بما علمت. ولا تعاملن أحدا من خلق الله عز وجل إلا بالحق. وأن تكون سهلا للقريب والبعيد وأن لا تكون جبارا عنيدا، وأن تكثر من التسبيح والتهليل والدعاء وذكـرالموت وما بعده من القيامة والجنة والنار. وأن تكثر من قراءة القرآن وتعمل بما فيه. وأن تستغنم البر والكرامة بالمؤمنين والمؤمنات. وأن تنظر إلى كل ما لا ترضى فعله لنفسك فلا تفعله بأحد من المؤمنين. ولا تمل من فعل الخير. وأن لا تثقل على أحد. وأن لا تمن على أحد إذا أنعمت عليه. وأن تكون الدنيا عندك سجنا حتى يجعل الله لك جنة فهذه أربعون حديثا من استقام عليها وحفظها عني من امتي دخل الجنة برحمة الله وكان من أفضل الناس وأحبهم إلى الله عز وجل بعد النبيين والوصيين، وحشره الله يوم القيامة مع النبيين والصديقين والشهداء والصالحين وحسن اولئك رفيقا

22-19 Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Musa al-Daq’qaq, al-Hussein ibn Ibrahim ibn Hisham al-Mokattib and Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Sin’ani - may God be pleased with them - narrated that Muhammad ibn Aba Abdullah Al-Asady al-Kufy Abul Hussein quoted Musa ibn Imran al-Nakha’ee, on the authority of his uncle Al-Hussein ibn Yazid, on the authority of Isma’il ibn al-Fazl al-Hashemi and Isma’il ibn Abi Zyad, on the authority of Ja’far ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq (MGB), on the authority of his father Muhammad ibn Ali al-Baqir (MGB), on the authority of his father Ali ibn al-Hussein as-Sajjad (MGB), on the authority of his father Al-Hussein ibn Ali (MGB) that in some advice to Ali ibn Abi Talib (MGB), God’s Prophet (MGB) told him, “O Ali! On the Resurrection Day, God shall resurrect amongst the Prophets, the honest ones, the martyrs, and the good-doers whoever memorizes forty traditions for the sake of God and the Hereafter. How good companions they are!”Then, Ali (MGB) asked, “O Prophet of God! Would you tell me what these traditions are?” The Prophet (MGB) said, “They are regarding believing in the One God for whom there are no partners; worshipping God and no one else; establishing prayers having made ablutions at the proper times; not postponing the prayers unduly as that would cause the Wrath of the Honorable the Exalted God; paying the alms-tax; fasting during the month of Ramazan; going on the Hajj pilgrimage to the House of God (Ka’ba) when you have the means to do so; not causing your parents to damn you; not oppressively devouring an orphan’s properties; not drinking wine or any other intoxicating drinks; not committing adultery or being gay; not slandering; not falsely swearing by God; not stealing; not bearing any false testimony for anyone whether familiar to you or not; accepting the truth whether it be from a young person or an older one; not trusting any oppressors even if they are closely associated with you; not acting according to your lustful desires; not accusing pious women of fornication; not being hypocritical as the least amount of hypocrisy equals associating partners with the Honorable the Exalted God; not finding faults with other by telling a short person that he is short or by telling a tall person that he is tall; not making fun of any of God’s creatures; being patient at times of difficulty and calamities; being grateful when you are granted blessings; not feeling secure from God’s Chastisement for committing sins; not losing hopes in God’s Mercy; repenting to the Honorable the Exalted God for the sins which you have committed as one who repents from committing a sin is like one who has not committed that sin; not insisting on committing sins and asking for God’s forgiveness; not acting like those who make fun of God, His Signs and God’s Prophets (MGB); knowing that you are sure to get what is meant for you and you are sure to lose what is not meant for you; not raising God’s Wrath in order to please His creatures; not preferring this world over the Hereafter as this world is ephemeral while the Hereafter is perpetual; not being greedy of what your brethrens have; having the same inner and outward appearance; not having a good outward appearance while possessing an evil inner self as then you would be of the hypocrites; not telling lies or associating with liars; not becoming angry when you hear the truth; fostering politeness in yourself, your wife, your children and your neighbors as much as you can; acting according to what you know; not dealing with anyone of the Honorable the Exalted God’s creatures unfairly; behaving well with both the kin and the strangers; not being oppressive or mean to anyone; often reciting God’s glorifications, praises and supplications; remembering death often and remembering the life after death including Resurrection, Paradise and Hell; reading the Quranoften and acting accordingly; valuing treating the believers whether they are men or women with kindness and nobility; not wanting for any other believers what you do not want for yourself; not getting tired of doing good deeds; not placing your own burden on the shoulders of other people; not mentioning any act favors to others; considering this world as a prison for yourself until God grants you residence in Paradise. These are the forty traditions. Anyone who maintains them and keeps them for me to be presented to my followers will have God’s Mercy and entry into Paradise. He will be considered the most beloved person in the sight of God after the Prophets and their Trustees. God will resurrect him amongst the Prophets, the honest ones, the martyrs and the good-doers on the Resurrection Day. How good companions they are!”

Al-Khiṣāl

Book 23, Chapter 12