Translator’s Introduction

On silence Except when Speaking what is Good, Abandonment of what does not concern one, and Slander

On Etiquette and Encouraging Others to do Good

On Good Character, Kindness and Anger

Virtue and Vice

Kindness to Parents, Relatives, Kinsfolk and Severance of Ties

The Rights of Neighbors

What has come in Reference to Slaves

What has come in Reference to this World and One who Seeks it

The Two Angels and what they Record

Humility and Arrogance

Showing off, Hypocrisy, Self-Admiration, and Conceit

Repentance, Seeking Forgiveness, Regret, and Admission (of Guilt)

Crying out of Fear of Allah

Remembering Death and the Grave

What the Believer and Disbeliever will See (Before Dying)

Questioning in the Grave, Chastisement in the Grave, and Barzakh

Resurrection, Reckoning, Standing Before Allah, the Exalted, and al-Ṣirāṭ

Intercession and Those who will come out of the Fire (of Hell)

Traditions About Paradise and Hell

Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil

حدثنا الحسين بن سعيد قال: حدثنا فضالة بن أيوب عن الحسين بن عثمان قال: حدثني رجل عن أبي حمزة قال: سمعت أبا جعفر عليه السلام يقول: ما من قطرة أحب إلى الله من قطرة دم في سبيل الله أو قطرة من دموع عين في سواد الليل من خشية الله وما من قدم أحب إلى الله من خطوة إلى ذي رحم أو خطوة يتم بها زحفا في سبيل الله وما من جرعة أحب إلى الله من جرعة غيظ أو جرعة يرد بها العبد مصيبته.

1.Al-Ḥusayn ibn Saʿīd narrated to us, “Faḍālah ibn Ayyūb narrated to us from al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿUthmān who said, ‘A man narrated to me from Abū Ḥamzah who said, “I heard Abū Jaʿfar (a) say, ‘There is no drop more beloved to Allah than the drop of blood [that is shed] in the way of Allah, or the teardrop that rolls down from the eye in the darkness of night, out of fear of Allah. And there is no step more beloved to Allah than the step taken towards a near relative, or a step by which a march in the way of Allah may be completed. And there is no gulp more beloved to Allah than the anger which is swallowed, or the gulp that is swallowed by a servant in response to his calamity [as he patiently bears it to please Allah].’”’”

فضالة عن أبان بن عثمان عن غيلان يرفعه إلى أبى جعفر عليه السلام يقول: ما من عين اغرورقت في دموعها من خشية الله الا حرمها على النار فان سالت دموعها على خد صاحبها لم يرهق وجهه قتر ولا ذلة وما من شئ إلا وله كيل الا الدموع فان القطرة منها تطفئ البحار من النار ولو أن رجلا بكى في أمة فقطرت منه دمعة لرحموا ببكائه.

2.Faḍālah narrated from Abān ibn ʿUthmān, from Ghaylān who attributed it to Abū Jaʿfar (a) saying, “There is no eye that is welled up with tears out of fear of Allah but that He makes it forbidden to the Fire. If its tears then flow upon the cheeks of its owner, neither gloom nor disgrace will cover his face. There is nothing but that it has a measure, except tears; for verily a single drop of it can extinguish seas of fire. If a man were to weep among his nation and a teardrop fell from him, they would all be shown mercy due to his weeping.”

محمد بن أبي عمير عن منصور بن يونس عن صالح بن رزين وغيره عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام قال: كل عين باكية يوم القيامة الا ثلاثة أعين: عين غضت عن محارف الله أو عين سهرت في طاعة الله أو عين بكت في جوف الليل من خشية الله.

3.Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿUmayr narrated from Manṣūr ibn Yūnus, from Ṣāliḥ ibn Razīn and others, from Abū ʿAbdillāh (a) who said, “Every eye will be weeping on the Day of Judgment except three eyes: the eye that lowered its gaze from what Allah had forbidden, or the eye that stayed awake in the worship of Allah, or the eye that wept in the middle of the night out of the fear of Allah.”

محمد بن أبي عمير عن رجل من أصحابه قال: قال أبو عبد الله عليه السلام أوحى الله إلى موسى عليه السلام: أن عبادي لم يتقربوا إلى بشئ أحب إلى من ثلاث خصال: الزهد في الدنيا والورع عن المعاصي والبكاء من خشيتي فقال موسى: يا رب فما لمن صنع ذلك؟ قال الله تعالى: إما الزاهدون في الدنيا فأحكمهم في الجنة واما المتورعون عن المعاصي فما أحاسبهم واما الباكون من خشيتي ففي الرفيق الاعلى.

4.Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿUmayr narrated from a man among his companions who said, “Abū ʿAbdillāh (a) said, ‘Allah revealed to Mūsā (a), “Verily My servants do not approach Me with anything more beloved to Me than three qualities: detachment from the world, eschewal of sins, and weeping out of fear of Me.’” So Mūsā said, “O Lord, what will one who does this get?” Allah, the Exalted, said, “As for those who are detached from the world, I will establish them in Paradise; as for those who eschew sins, I will not make them account [for their deeds]; and as for those who weep out of fear of Me, they shall be in the highest station [in Paradise].”’”

Kitāb al-Zuhd

Book 2, Chapter 13