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

3-148 حدثنا أبي رضي الله عنه قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، عن أحمد بن أبى عبد الله، عن أبيه، عن محمد بن أبي عمير، عن هشام بن سالم، عن عبدالحميد بن عواض الطائي قال: قال أبوعبد الله عليه السلام:لا تصلح المسألة إلا في ثلاث: في دم منقطع، أو غرم مثقل، أو حاجة مدقعة

3-148 (The compiler of the book narrated) that his father - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Sa’ed ibn Abdullah quoted on the authority of Ahmad ibn Aba Abdullah, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Muhammad ibn Abi Umayr, on the authority of Hisham ibn Salim, on the authority of Abdul Hamid ibn Avaz al-Ta’ee that Abu Abdullah as-Sadiq (MGB) said, “It is not proper to beg unless one is in one of three conditions: a large amount of blood-money, extensive debt or extreme poverty.”

3-149 حدثنا أبي رضي الله عنه قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، عن إبراهيم بن هاشم، وسهل بن زياد الرازي، عن إسماعيل بن مرار، وعبدالجبار بن المبارك، عن يونس بن عبدالرحمن، عمن حدثه من أصحابه، عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام قال: إن رجلا مر بعثمان بن عفان وهو قاعد على باب المسجد فسأله فأمر له بخمسة دراهم، فقال له الرجل: أرشدني فقال له عثمان: دونك الفتية التي ترى وأومأبيده إلى ناحية من المسجد فهيا الحسن والحسين وعبد الله بن جعفرفمضى الرجل نحوهم حتى سلم عليهم وسألهم فقال له الحسن والحسين عليهما السلام: يا هذا إن المسألة لا تحل إلا في إحدى ثلاث دم مفجع، أو دين مقرح، أو فقر مدقع، ففي أيها تسأل؟ فقال: واحدة من هذه الثلاث، فأمر له الحسن عليه السلام بخمسين دينارا، وأمر له الحسين عليهما السلام بتسعة وأربعين دينارا، وأمر له عبد الله بن جعفر بثمانية وأربعين دينارا، فانصرف الرجل فمر بعثمان فقال له: ما صنعت؟ فقال: مررت بك فسألتك فأمرت لي بما أمرت ولم تسألني فيما اسأل وإن صاحب الوفرة لما سألته قال لي: يا هذا فيما تسأل فان المسألة لا تحل إلا في إحدى ثلاث فأخبرته بالوجه الذي أسأله من الثلاثة فأعطاني خمسين دينارا، وأعطاني الثاني تسعة وأربعين دينارا، وأعطاني الثالث ثمانية وأربعين دينارا، فقال عثمان: ومن لك بمثل هؤلاء الفتية اولئك فطموا العلم فطما، وحازوا الخير والحكمةقال مصنف هذا الكتاب رضي الله عنه: معنى قوله " فطموا العلم فطما " أي قطعوه عن غيرهم قطعا، وجمعوه لانفسهم جمعا

3-149 (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 and Sahl ibn Zyad al-Razi, on the authority of Isma’il ibn Marar and Abdul Jab’bar ibn al-Mobarak, on the authority of Yunus ibn Abdul-Rahman, on the authority of some of his friends that Aba Abdullah as-Sadiq (MGB) said, “A man went to Uthman ibn Affan while he was sitting at the door of the mosque and begged for five Dirhams . He also asked Uthman to guide him towards benevolent people. Uthman pointed to a corner of the mosque where Al-Hassan (MGB), Al-Hussein (MGB) and Abdullah ibn Ja’far were sitting. The man went to them, greeted them and begged of them. Then Al-Hassan (MGB) and Al-Hussein (MGB) told him, ‘O so and so! It is not permitted to beg unless for one of three reasons: for a large amount of blood-money, heavy debt or extreme poverty. Why are you begging?’ The man said, ‘It is for one of these reasons.’ Then Al-Hassan (MGB) donated fifty Dinars . Al-Hussein (MGB) granted him forty-nine Dinars and Abdullah ibn Ja’far donated him forty-eight Dinars. Then the man left them and went back to Uthman. Uthman asked him, ‘Well! What did you do?’ The man said, ‘I begged of you but you gave me only a little bit, but did not ask me what I needed that for. However, when I begged of one of those long-haired people, he asked me what I was asking them for. He told me that it is not permitted for me to ask unless it was for one of three reasons. I told him my reason and he granted me fifty Dinars. The second man gave me forty-nine Dinars and the third man gave me forty-eight Dinars.’ Then Uthman said, ‘Where else could you find people like them. They have cut off all knowledge and have gathered all good and wisdom for themselves (‘Fatamul Ilm Fatman’).’”The compiler of the book - may God increase his honor - said, “What is meant by ‘Fatamul Ilm Fatman’ here is that they have cut off all knowledge from others and have gathered all of it for themselves.”

Al-Khiṣāl

Book 4, Chapter 113