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

3-92 حدثنا أبي رضي الله عنه قال: حدثنا عبد الله بن جعفر الحميري، عن هارون بن مسلم، عن مسعدة بن زياد، عن جعفر بن محمد، عن أبيه، عن جده عليهم السلام قال: قال علي عليه السلام: إن للمرء المسلم ثلاثة أخلاء فخليل يقول: أنا معك حيا وميتا وهو عمله، وخليل يقول له: أنا معك إلى باب قبرك ثم أخليك وهو ولده، وخليل يقول له: أنا معك إلى أن تموت وهو ماله. فاذا مات صار للوارث

3-92 (The compiler of the book narrated) that his father - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Abdullah ibn Ja’far al-Homayry quoted Harun ibn Muslim, on the authority of Mus’adat ibn Zyad, on the authority of Ja’far ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq (MGB), on the authority of his father Al-Baqir (MGB), on the authority of his grandfather (MGB) that Ali (MGB) said, “There are three friends for a Muslim. There is a friend who says, ‘I will be with you in your life and death!’ That is his deeds! There is a friend who says, ‘I will be with you until you are put into the grave. Then I will abandon you.’ That is his child! There is a friend who says, ‘I will be with you until your death.’ That is his wealth which will be that of his inheritors once he dies.’”

3-93 حدثنا أبوأحمد الحسن بن عبد الله بن سعيد العسكري قال: حدثنا أبوبكر محمد بن الحسن بن دريدقال: أخبرنا أبوحاتم عن العبسي يعني أبا محمد عبيـد اللهعن أبيه، وأخبرنا عبد الله بن شبيب البصري قال: حدثنا زكريا بن يحيى المنقري قال: حدثنا العلاء بن الفضل عن أبيه، عن جده قال: قال قيس بن عاصم: وفدت مع جماعة من بني تميم إلى النبي صلى الله عليه وآله فدخلت وعنده الصلصال بن الدلهمس فقلت: يا نبي الله عظنا موعظه فانا قوم بغير في البرية، فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله: إن مع العز ذلا، وإن مع الحياة موتا، وإن مع الدنيا آخرة، وإن لكل شيء حسيبا، وعلى كل شيء رقيبا. وإن لكل حسنة ثوابا، ولكل سيئة عقابا، ولكل أجل كتابا"، وإنه لا بد لك يا قيس من قرين يدفن معك وهو حي. وتدفن معه وأنت ميت، فان كان كريما أكرمك، وإن كان لئيما أسلمك، ثم لا يحشر إلا معك ولا تبعث إلا معه، ولا تسئل إلا عنه، فلا تجعله إلا صالحا فانه إن صلح آنست به، وإن فسد لا تستوحش إلا منه، وهو فعلك،فقال: يانبي الله احب أن يكون هذا الكلام في أبيات من الشعر نفخربه على من يلينا من العرب وندخره، فأمر النبي صلى الله عليه وآله من يأتيه بحسان بن ثابت قال: فأقبلت افكر فيما اشبه هذه العظة من الشعر فاستتب لي القول قبل مجئ حسان فقلت: يا رسول الله قد حضرتني أبيات أحسبها توافق ما تريد، فقلت :تخير خليطا من فعالــك إنماقرين الفتى في القبر ما كان يفعلولا بد بعد الموت من أن تعدهليـــوم ينـــادى المرء فيه فيقبلفان كنت مشغولا بشيء فلا تكنبغيـــر الذي يرضى به الله تشغلفلن يصحب الانسان من بعد موتهومن قبله إلا الذي كان يعملألا إنما الانسان ضيف لاهلهيقيم قليلا بينهم ثم يرحل

3-93 Abu Ahmad al-Hassan ibn Abdullah ibn Sa’id al-Askari narrated that Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Hassan ibn Dareed quoted the following on the authority of Abu Hatam (Muhammad ibn Idris ibn al-Monzar), on the authority of Al-Abasi Abu Muhammad Ubaydullah, on the authority of his father. The same was narrated by Abdullah ibn Shobayb al-Basry, on theauthority of Zakariya ibn Yahya al-Monqari, on the authority of Al-Ala’ ibn al-Fazl (ibn Abdul Malik al-Monqari), on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather, on the authority of Qays ibn Asim, “I went to see God’s Prophet (MGB) along with a group of the people of Tamim! Then we entered and Al-Salsal ibn al-Dahms was with the Prophet (MGB). I asked, ‘O Prophet of God! Please give us some advice to use since we are a group of people who live in the desert.’ The Prophet of God (MGB) said, ‘Indeed there is humiliation associated with pride! There is death associated with life! There is the Hereafter associated with this world! There is an accounting for everything! There is a guardian associated with everything! There is a reward associated with every good deed! There is a chastisement associated with every evil deed! There is a set period for everything!O Qays! There will undoubtedly be a companion with you in the grave! He will be alive when he is buried along with you while you will be dead! If he is noble, he will honor you! However, if he is vile, he will torment you. He will be with you and will be resurrected along with you!No questions will be put to you; they will all be directed to him. Choose, then a worthy and righteous companion, for if your companion is righteous he will comfort you, but if he be wicked, you will wish to flee from him in terror. This everlasting companion is nothing but your very own deeds!”Then I said, “O Prophet of God! I wish these to be put in a few verses of poetry so that I can be honored with them amongst the Arabs!” The Prophet (MGB) called Hisan ibn Sabit to put these into a poetic form. I immediately put them in a poetic form before Hisan came and recited them for the Prophet (MGB) and said that I hope they portray what the Prophet (MGB) had said. The poems are as follows:

3-94 حدثنا الحسن بن محمد السحكوني المزكي بالكوفة سنة أربع وخمسين وثلاثمائة قال: حدثا محمد بن عبد الله الحضرمي قال: حدثنا القـــاسم بن زكريا بندينار قال: حدثنا إسحاق بن منصور قال: حدثنا جعفر الاحمر، عن امي الصيرفي، عن أبي كثير الانصاري، عن عبد الله بن أسعد بن زرارة قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله: أسرى بي ربي فأوحى إلي في علي عليه السلام بثلاث: إنه إمام المتقين وسيد المؤمنين وقائد الغر المحجلين

3-94 In Kufa in the year 354 A.H. (965 A.D.) Al-Hassan ibn Muhammad al-Sahkooni al-Mazaki narrated that Muhammad ibn Abdullah al-Hazrami quoted on the authority of Al-Qasim ibn Zakaria ibn Dinar, on the authority of Ishaq ibn Mansoor, on the authority of Ja’far al-Ahmar, on theauthority of Ummi al-Sayrafi, on the authority of Abi Kathir al-Ansari, on the authority of Abdullah ibn As’ad ibn Zurarah that God’s Prophet (MGB) said, “When I ascended to my Lord, He revealed to me three words regarding Ali (MGB): he is the leader of the pious ones; he is the master of the believers; and he is the leader of the radiant ones.”

Al-Khiṣāl

Book 4, Chapter 75