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

7-10 9 حدثنا أحمد بن الحسن القطان قال: حدثنا أحمد بن زكريا القطان قال: حدثنا بكربن عبد الله بن حبيب، عن تميم بن بهلول، عن نصر بن مزاحم المنقري عن عمر بن سعد عن أبي مخنف لوط بن يحيى، عن أبي منصور، عن زيد بن وهبقال: سئل أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام عن قدرة الله عز وجل جلت عظمته، فقام خطيبا فحمد الله وأثنى عليه، ثم قال: إن لله تبارك وتعالى ملائكة لو أن ملكا منهم هبط إلى الارض ماوسعته لعظم خلقه وكثرة أجنحته، ومنهم من لو كلفت الجن والانس على أن يصفوه ماوصفوه لبعد مابين مفاصله وحسن تركيب صورته، وكيف يوصف من ملائكته من سبع مائة عام ما بين منكبيه وشحمة اذنيه، منهم من يسد الافق بجناح من أجنحته دون عظم بدنه، ومنهم من السماوات إلى حجزته، ومنهم من قدمه على غير قرار في جو الهواء الاسفل والارضون إلى ركبتيه، ومنهم من لوالقي في نقرة إبهامه جميع المياه لوسعتها، ومنهم من لو القيت السفن في دموع عينيه لجرت دهر الداهرين فتبارك الله أحسن الخالقينوسئل عليه السلام عن الحجب فقال عليه السلام: الحجب سبعة، غلظ كل حجاب [منها] مسيرة خمسمائة عام، وبين كل حجابين مسيرة خمسمائة عام، والحجاب الثاني سبعون حجابا، بين كل حجابين مسيرة خمسمائة عام وطوله خمسمائة عام، حجبة كل حجاب منها سبعون ألف ملك، قوة كل ملك منهم قوة الثقلين، منها ظلمة ومنها نور ومنها نار ومنهادخان ومنها سحاب ومنهابرق ومنهامطر ومنها رعد ومنها ضوء ومنها رمل ومنها جبل ومنها عجاج ومنها ماء ومنها أنهار وهي حجب مختلقة، غلظ كل حجاب مسيرة سبعين ألف عام، ثم سرادقات الجلال وهي ستون سرادقا، وفي كل سرادق سبعون ألف ملك، بين كل سرادق وسرادق مسيرة خمسمائة عام، ثم سرادق العز، ثم سرادق الكبريا، ثم سرادق العظمة، ثم سرادق القدس، ثم سرادق الجبروت، ثم سرادق الفخر، ثم [سرادق] النور الابيض، ثم سرادق الوحدانية، وهو مسيرة سبعين ألف عام في سبعين ألف عام، ثم الحجاب الاعلىوانقضى كلامه عليه السلام وسكتفقال له عمر: لابقيت اليوم لا أراك فيه يا أبا الحسنقال مصنف هذا الكتاب رضي الله عنه: ليست هذه الحجب مضروبة على الله عزو جل، تعالى الله عن ذلك لانه لا يوصف بمكان ولكنها مضروبة على العظمة العليا من خلقه التي لا يقادر قدرها غيره تبارك وتعالى

7-109 Ahmad ibn al-Hassan al-Qattan narrated that Ahmad ibn Zakariya al-Qat’tan quoted Bakr ibn Abdullah ibn Habib, on the authority of Tamim ibn Buhlool, on the authority of Nasr ibn Mozahim al-Menqari, on the authority of Umar ibn Sa’d, on the authority of Abi Mikhnaf Lut ibn Yahya, on the authority of Abi Mansoor, on the authority of Zayd ibn Wahab, “They asked the Commander of the Faithful (AS) about the power of the Honorable the Exalted God - may His Majesty be Exalted. Then he stood up and delivered a sermon. He praised God, expressed God’s glorifications and said, ‘The Blessed the Sublime God has many angels. <br>Some of them are so big that if any of them comes down to Earth, the Earth cannot house them in it due to their extensive size and great amount of feathers and large wings. Some of the angels are so stout and handsome that if all the genies and men cooperate with each other, they cannot describe them. Some of the angels are so big that it would take seven-hundred years to travel the distance between their two shoulders or the distance between their two earlobes. Some of the angels are so large that they can block off the whole horizon with just one of their wings, and their body is very large in size. Some of the angels are so tall that when they stand up the heavens are below their belly buttons. Some of them are such that they can step on no support on the inner layers of the Earth and all of the Earth is only as high as their knee. Some of them are so large that just the back of their large nail can house all the waters in the oceans of the Earth. Some of the angels are so large that they can house as many ships as there ever will be in their eyes and they can sail there forever. Blessed be the Best of the Creators.” <br>Then he (AS) was asked about the veils. He (AS) said, “There are seven types of veils. The thickness of each veil is the distance of a five-hundred year journey, and the distance from one veil to the next is five-hundred years. The second veil includes seventy-thousand veils with the distance from one veil to the next is five-hundred years, and the thickness of each veil is the distance of a five-hundred year journey. There are seventy-thousand angels as the gate-keepers for each veil each as powerful as all the genies and the men. Some of the veils are darkness, some are light. Some of the veils are fire, some are smoke. Some of the veils are clouds, some are lightening. Some of the veils are thunder, some are illumination. Some of the veils are pebbles, some are hills. Some of the veils are dust. Some of the veils are water and some are creeks. They are a variety of veils the thickness of each is the distance of a seventy-thousand year journey. <br>Then there are the pavilions of majesty which are sixty in number. There are seventy-thousand angels in each pavilion. The distance between each pavilion is the distance of a five-hundred year journey. Then there is the pavilion of glory. Then there is the pavilion of grandeur. Then there is the pavilion of magnificence. Then there is the pavilion of holiness. Then there is the pavilion of almightiness. Then there is the pavilion of pride. Then there is the pavilion of white light. Then there is the pavilion of Unity which is as large as a square each side of which measures the distance of a seventy-thousand journey. Then there is the Imperial Veil.” <br>Then, Ali (AS) ended his speech and stopped talking. Umar said, “O Abal-Hassan! I could not survive even for one day without you.” The compiler of the book - may God be pleased with him - said, “These veils are not covering up the Honorable the Exalted God since the Sublime God cannot be said to be confined in a place. However, they are placed upon the great world which He has created and no one but the Blessed the Sublime God knows its size.”

Al-Khiṣāl

Book 8, Chapter 56