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

4-12 حدثنا أبي رضي الله عنه قال: حدثنا محمد بن يحيى العطار، عن محمد ابن أحمد، عن محمد بن الوليد، عن حماد بن عثمان، عن الحارث بن المغيرة النصري قال: قلت لابي عبد الله عليه السلام: بم يعرف صاحب هذا الامر؟ قال: بالسكينة والوقار والعلم والوصية

4-12 (The compiler of the book narrated) that his father - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Attar quoted Muhammad ibn Ahmad, on the authority of Muhammad ibn al-Walid, on the authority of Hammad ibn Uthman, on the authority of Al-Harith ibn al-Muqayrih al-Nasri, “I asked Aba Abdullah as-Sadiq, ‘What are the signs with which one can recognize a true Divine Leader?’ The Imam (MGB) replied, ‘Serenity, solemnity, knowledge and will .’”

4-13 حدثنا أبي رضي الله عنه قال: حدثنا أحمد بن إدريس قال: حدثنا محمد ابن أحمد بن عيسى عن محمد بن سنان، عن أبي الجارود، عن أبي جعفر عليه السلام قال: قلت له: جعلت فداك إذا مضى عالمكم أهل البيت فبأي شيء يعرفون من يجئ بعده؟ قال: بالهدى والاطراق وإقرار آل محمد له بالفضل، ولا يسأل عن شيء مما بين صدفيها إلا أجاب فيه

4-13 (The compiler of the book narrated) that his father - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Ahmad ibn Idris quoted Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Isa, on the authority of Muhammad ibn Sin’an, on the authority of Abil Jarud, “I asked Abi Ja’far al-Baqir (MGB), ‘May I be your ransom! If the most knowledgeable one from your household perishes, how can one know the Trustee who comes after him?’ The Imam (MGB) replied, ‘Through guidance, serenity, the testimony of the members of the Household of Muhammad (MGB) to his nobility, and his ability to respond to any questions asked.’”

4-14 حدثنا أبوأحمد محمد بن جعفر البندار قال: حدثنا مجاهد بن أعين أبوالحجاج قال: حدثنا أبوبكر بن أبي العوام قال: حدثنا يزيد قال: أخبرنا سليمان التميمي، عن سيار، عن أبي امامة قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله: فضلت بأربع جعلت لامتي الارض مسجدا وطهورا وأيما رجل من امتي أراد الصلاة فلم يجد ماء ووجد الارض فقد جعلت له مسجدا وطهورا، ونصرت بالرعب مسيرة شهر، يسير بين يدي، واحلت لامتي الغنائم، وارسلت إلى الناس كافة

4-14 Abu Ahmad Muhammad ibn Ja’far al-Bandar narrated that Mujahid ibn A’ayn Abul-Haj’jaj quoted Abu Bakr ibn Abil Awam, on the authority of Yazid (ibn Muhammad ibn Abdul Samad), on the authority of Suleiman al-Tamimee (Abdul Rahman), on the authority of Sayyar (Al-Umavi al-Dameshqi), on the authority of Abi Imamat that God’s Prophet (MGB) said, “I was honored over the other Prophets by the following four things: the ground was established as the place of prostration and cleansing for my nation. Should any of my followers want to pray and he doesn’t have access to water, he can use dirt with which to purify himself and on which to pray. I was victorious over my enemies by means of their fear of me which affected them one month before encountering them. The war booties became legitimate for my nation. I was sent to all the people of the world.”

4-15 حدثنا أبوأحمد الحسن بن عبد الله بن سعيد بن الحسن بن إسماعيل بن حكيم العسكري قال: حدثنا أبومسعود عبد الله بن محمد، عن عبدان العسكري قال: حدثنا محمد بن سليمان لوين قال: حدثنا حبان بن علي، عن عقيل، عن الزهري، عن عبيد الله بن عبد الله، عن ابن عباس قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله: خير الصحابة أربعة، وخير السرايا أربعمائة، وخير الجيوش أربعة آلاف، ولن يهزم اثنى عشر ألف من قلة إذا صبروا وصدقوا

4-15 Abu Ahmad al-Hassan ibn Abdullah ibn Sa’id ibn al-Hassan ibn Hakim al-Askari narrated that Abu Masood Abdullah ibn Muhammad quoted Abdan al-Askari, on the authority of Muhammad ibn Suleiman Lavin (Muhammad ibn Suleiman ibn Habib Al-Asady), on the authority of Hiban ibn Ali (al-Anzi), on the authority of Aqeel (ibn Khalid), on the authority of Al-Zuhra, on the authority of Ubaydullah ibn Abdullah, on the authority of Ibn Abbas that God’s Prophet (MGB) said, “The best number for companions is four. The best number for members for a government is four-hundred. The best number of troops is four-thousand. Twelve-thousand troops would not be defeated by a few if they persevere and sincerely fight.”

Al-Khiṣāl

Book 5, Chapter 9