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

3-255 أخبرني الخليل بن أحمد قال: أخبرنا محمد بن إسحاق السراج قال: حدثنا أبوهمام الوليد بن شجاع السكوني قال: حدثنا علي بن مسهر قال: حدثنا عبيد الله بن عمر، عن نافع، عن ابن عمر قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله: بينا ثلاثة نفر فيمن كان قبلكم يمشون إذ أصابهم مطر فأووا إلى غار فانطبق عليهم فقال بعضهم لبعض: يا هؤلاء والله ما ينجيكم إلا الصدق فليدع كل رجل منكم بما يعلم الله عز وجل أنه قد صدق فيه، فقال أحدهم: اللهم إن كنت تعلم أنه كان لي أجير عمل لي عملا على فرق من أرز فذهب وتركه فزرعته، فصار من أمره أني اشتريت من ذلك الفرق بقرا، ثم أتاني فطلب أجره فقلت: اعمد إلى تلك البقر فسقها فقال:إنما لي عندك فرق من أرز فقلت: اعمد إلى تلك البقر فسقها فانها من ذلك، فساقها.فان كنت تعلم أني فعلت ذلك من خشيتك ففرج عنا، فانساحت الصخرة عنهم. وقال الآخر: اللهم إن كنت تعلم أنه كان لي أبوان شيخان كبيران فكنت آتيهما كل ليلة بلبن غنم لي فأبطأت عليهما ذات ليلة فأتيتهما وقد رقدا، وأهلي وعيالي يتضاعون من الجوع، فكنت لا أسقيهم حتى يشرب أبواي فكرهت أن اوقظهما من رقدتهما وكرهت أن أرجع فيستيقظا لشربهما، فلم أزل أنتظرهما حتى طلع الفجر، فان كنت تعلم أني فعلت ذلك من خشيتك ففرج عنا، فانساحت عنهم الصخرة حتى نظروا إلى السماء. وقال الاخر: اللهم إن كنت تعلم أنه كانت لي ابنة عم أحب الناس إلي، وأني راودتها عن نفسها، فأبت علي إلا أن آتيها بمائة دينار فطلبتها حتى قدرت عليها فجئت بها فدفعتها إليها فأمكنتني من نفسها، فلما قعدت بين رجليها قالت: اتق الله ولا تفض الخاتم إلا بحقه فقمت عنها وتركت لها المائة، فان كنت تعلم أني فعلت ذلك من خشيتك ففرج عنا ففرج الله عز وجل عنهم فخرجوا

3-255 Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad narrated that Muhammad Ibn Ishaq al-Suraj quoted Abu Homam al-Walid ibn Shoja’a al-Sakoony, on the authority of Ali ibn Meshar, on the authority of Ubaydullah ibn Umar, on the authority of Nafe’ah, on the authority of Ibn Umar that God’s Prophet (MGB) said, “Three of the folks that were among you were going somewhere when it suddenly started to rain. They rushed into a cave, but some rocks closed off the cave and trapped them there. One of them told the others, ‘O so and so! I swear by God that only honesty will save us. Each of us should pray to God using what he honestly knows is true.’ Then one of them said, ‘O my God! You well know that I hired someone to do something for me. His wage was a cup of rice which he entrusted me with and went somewhere. I planted it and it grew. I bought a herd of cows with what I harvested. When he returned to me and asked for his cup of rice I told him, ‘Here you go. Look at this herd of cows. Take them. O God! You well know that I did that due to fearing You. So please open the rocks for us. Then the rock opened up a little. The second one said, ‘O my God! You well know that I had old parents. I took goat’s milk for them every night. One night I was late and they had fallen asleep when I arrived. I could not give them any goat milk to drink. I did not want to wake them up to drink. I also feared that if I return, they might wake up to drink their milk and not find me there. Therefore, I stayed up all night until they woke up at dawn to drink their milk. You know that I did that due to fearing You. Then please open the rocks for us.’ Then the rock opened up a little bit more such that they could see the sky. The third one said, ‘O my God! You know that I had a niece whom I loved the most. I wanted to make love to her. She refused and made a condition for me to give her one-hundred Dinars. I worked hard and earned that one-hundred Dinars. I took the money to her and gave it to her. She let me in. Once I was settled in between her legs she said, ‘Fear God and do not unjustly break the hymen.’ I got up and left the money for her. You should know that I did that due to fearing You. Then please open the rocks for us.’ Then the Honorable the Exalted God opened up the rocks for them and they left the cave.”

Al-Khiṣāl

Book 4, Chapter 199