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

4-36 حدثنا محمد بن علي ماجيلويه رضي الله عنه قال: حدثنا علي بن إبراهيم ابن هاشم، عن أبيه، عن محمد بن أبي عمير قال: ما سمعت ولا استفدت من هشام بن الحكم في طول صحبتي له شيئا أحسن من هذا الكلام في عصمة الامام، فاني سألته يوما عن الامام أهو معصوم؟ فقال: نعم، فقلت: فما صفة العصمة فيه؟ وبأي شيء يعرف؟ فقال: إن جميع الذنوب [لها] أربعة أوجه لا خامس لها: الحرص والحسد والغضب والشهوه فهذه منفية عنه، لا يجوز أن يكون حريصا على هذه الدنيا وهي تحت خاتمه لانه خازن المسلمين فعلى ماذا يحرص، ولا يجوز أن يكون حسودا لان الانسان إنما يحسد من فوقه وليس فوقه أحد فكيف يحسد من هو دونه، ولا يجوز أن يغضب لشئ من امور الدنيا إلا أن يكون غضبه لله عز وجل، فان الله عز وجل قد فرض عليه إقامة الحدود وأن لا تأخذه في الله لومة لائم ولا رأفة في دينه حتى يقيم حدود الله عز وجل ولا يجوز له أن يتبع الشهوات ويؤثر الدنيا على الآخرة لان الله عز وجل حبب إليه الآخرة كما حبب إلينا الدنيا فهو ينظر إلى الآخرة كما ننظر إلى الدنيا، فهل رأيت أحدا ترك وجها حسنا لوجه قبيح وطعاما طيبا لطعام مر، وثوبا لينا لثوب خشن، ونعمة دائمة باقية لدنيا زائلة فانية

4-36 Muhammad ibn Ali Majiluyih - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Ali ibn Ibrahim ibn Hashim quoted his father, on the authority of Muhammad ibn Abi Umayr, “During the long time I have associated with Hisham ibn al-Hakam, the most beneficial to me has been what he said regarding the Immaculateness of the Divine Leaders. One day I asked him about the Immaculateness of a Divine Leader. I asked him, ‘Is a Divine Leader Immaculate?’ He replied, ‘Yes, he is.’ I asked him, ‘What does that imply and how can we tell?’ He replied, ‘Indeed all sins are due to the following four (and there is no fifth reason): greed, jealousy, anger, and lustful desires. None of these exist in a Divine Leader. A Divine Leader cannot be greedy toward this world, since greediness arises from poverty and all the world is under the Imam’s ring and he is the treasurer of the Muslims in this respect. So why should he be greedy? A Divine Leader cannot be jealous, since man would be jealous of what is above him, not what is lower than him. However, there is no one higher than a Divine Leader. So how could he be jealous of anyone who is lower than himself? A Divine Leader cannot get angry at any worldly affairs unless it be for what angers the Honorable the Exalted God. The Honorable the Exalted God has made him responsible to establish the limits. Therefore, it is natural for him to get angry at those who blame him for doing so, and be nice to some regarding their religion so as to uphold the Honorable the Exalted God’s established limits. A Divine Leader cannot follow lusts since he has already preferred the Hereafter over this world. Indeed, the Honorable the Exalted God has shown him the preferable attributes of the Hereafter just as we see the preferable attributes of this world. He looks at the Hereafter the way we look at this world. So how could he then prefer this world over the Hereafter? How could one abandon looking at a beautiful face and look at an ugly face instead? How could one pick a bad tasting dish instead of a delicious one? How could one prefer a rough attire over a soft one? How could one abandon the everlasting blessings of the Hereafter for the ephemeral pleasures of this world?’”

Al-Khiṣāl

Book 5, Chapter 25