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 عن النضر بن سويد عن يحيى الحلبي عن هارون بن خارجة عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام قال إن الله بعث إلى بني إسرائيل نبيا يقال له: إرميا فقال: قل لهم: ما بلد بنفسه من كرام البلدان؟ وغرس فيه من كرام الغروس ونقيته (نفسه) من كل (غرسه) غريبة) عربية) فاخلف فأنبت خرنوبا (خربونا)؟ (فضحكوا منه واستهزؤا به فشكاهم إلى الله فأوحى الله إليه أن قل لهم:) ان البلد البيت المقدس والغرس بنو إسرائيل نقيتهم من كل غريبة ونحيت عنهم كل جبار فاخلفوا فعملوا بمعاصي فلا سلطن عليهم في بلدهم من يسفك دمائهم ويأخذ أموالهم (وان بكوا لم ارحم بكائهم وان دعوا لم استجب دعائهم فشلوا وفشلت أعمالهم و) لأخربنها مأة عام ثم لأعمرنها قال: فلما حدثهم جزعت العلماء فقالوا يا رسول الله: ما ذنبنا نحن ولم نكن نعمل بعملهم فعاود لنا ربك فصام سبعا فلم يوح إليه فاكل اكلة ثم صام سبعا فلما كان اليوم الواحد والعشرون يوما أوحى الله إليه لترجعن عما تصنع أن تراجعني في أمر قد قضيته أولا ردن وجهك على دبرك ثم أوحى إليه أن قل لهم: انكم رأيتم المنكر فلم تنكروه وسلط عليهم بخت نصر ففعل بهم ما قد بلغك

1.Al-Ḥusayn ibn Saʿīd narrated to us from al-Naḍr ibn Suwayd, from Yaḥyā al-Ḥalabī, from Hārūn ibn Khārijah, from Abū ʿAbdillāh (a) who said, “Verily Allah sent to the Banī Isrāʾīl a Prophet called Irmiyā[1] and said [to him], ‘Ask them: what city considered itself to be among the noblest of cities, having the best of plants grown within it, after I had cleared it of all the weeds [and unwanted plants], yet it went back and started growing karnoub?’ [2] So they laughed at him and mocked him. He complained about them to Allah, so Allah revealed to him, ‘Tell them: verily the city is Jerusalem (al-bayt al-maqdis), the plants are the Banī Isrāʾīl – I cleansed them of every [harmful] foreign element and turned away from them every tyrant, but they went back and committed acts of disobedience [and sin]. Therefore, I will surely give authority over them to one who will spill their blood and seize their wealth! If they cry, I will not be sympathetic to their weeping, and if they supplicate, I will not answer their supplication! They have failed, and their actions have failed. I will surely lay waste to it for a hundred years and then I will rebuild it.’ When he told them this, the scholars [among them] were alarmed and they said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, what was our sin, for we did not act the way they did? Go back to your Lord on our behalf [and ask about our fate].’ So he fasted for seven days but no revelation came to him. He then ate a little and fasted for another seven days [and then repeated this again]. When it was the twenty-first day, Allah revealed to him, ‘Go back [and turn away] from what you are doing, and do not come to Me regarding a matter that I have [already] decreed, otherwise I will certainly turn your face upon your back!’ Then Allah revealed to him that he should tell them, ‘You saw evil [being committed] but you never rejected [or forbade] it.’ He then made Nebuchadnezzar their ruler and he did with them what has reached you [in the chronicles of history].”

علي بن النعمان عن ابن مسكان عن أبي حمزة عن يحيى بن عقيل عن حبشي قال: خطب أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام الناس فحمد الله وأثنى عليه وذكر ابن عمه محمدا صلى الله عليه وآله فصلى عليه ثم قال: أما بعد فإنه إنما هلك من كان قبلكم بحيث ما عملوا من المعاصي ولم ينههم الربانيون والأحبار عن ذلك فإنهم لما تمادوا في المعاصي نزلت بهم العقوبات فمر (فأمر) وأبا لمعروف وانهوا عن المنكر واعلموا ان الامر بالمعروف والنهى عن المنكر لا يقربان أجلا ولا يقطعان رزقا فان الامر ينزل من السماء إلى الأرض كقطر المطر إلى كل نفس ما قدر الله من زيادة ونقصان فان أصابت أحدكم مصيبة في أهل ومال ونفس ورآى عند أخيه عقوبة فلا يكونن عليه فتنة ينتظر إحدى الحسنين إما داع إلى الله فما عند الله خير له واما الرزق من الله فإذا هو ذو أهل ومال والبنون لحرث الدنيا والعمل الصالح لحرث الآخرة وقد يجمعهما الله لا قوام.

2.ʿAlī ibn al-Nuʿmān narrated from Ibn Muskān, from Abū Ḥamzah, from Yaḥyā ibn ʿAqīl, from Ḥabashī who said, “Amīr al-Muʾminīn (a) [once] addressed the people. [He started by] praising Allah and glorifying Him, and he remembered his cousin Muḥammad (ṣ) and sent blessings [and salutations] upon him, then he said, ‘Now then, verily those who came before you were only destroyed due to the sins that they committed while their rabbis and scholars did not forbid them from that. Then, when they became excessive in committing sins, punishments descended upon them. So enjoin good and forbid [each other from] evil, and know that enjoining good and forbidding evil neither bring death closer nor do they sever [the means of one’s] livelihood. Indeed, the [divine] command descends from the sky to the earth like drops of rain; to every individual [comes] what is ordained by Allah to increase or decrease. So if any of you is afflicted by a calamity in his family, his wealth, or himself, and sees a punishment[1] brother, then let it not be an ordeal for him. [That is because] he awaits one of two [possible] good outcomes: either a caller from Allah [in the form of death], in which case what is with Allah is better for him, or sustenance from Allah. If he possesses a family, or wealth, or children, that is the tillage of this world, and good deeds are surely the tillage of the Hereafter, and Allah may gather both of these for some groups [thereby granting them the tillage of both this world and the Hereafter].”

علي بن النعمان عن داود بن أبي يزيد عن أبي شيبة الزهري عن أحدهما عليهما السلام قال: ويل لقوم لا يدينون الله بالامر بالمعروف والنهى عن المنكر.

3.ʿAlī ibn al-Nuʿmān narrated from Dāwūd ibn Abī Yazīd, from Abū Shaybah al-Zuhrī, from one of the two [Imams] (a) who said, “Woe be to the community that does not worship Allah through enjoining good and forbidding evil.”

عثمان بن عيسى عن فرات بن أحنف عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام قال: ويل لمن يأمر بالمنكر وينهى عن المعروف.

4.ʿUthmān ibn ʿĪsā narrated from Furāt ibn Aḥnaf, from Abū ʿAbdillāh (a) who said, “Woe be to the one who enjoins evil and forbids good.”

Kitāb al-Zuhd

Book 2, Chapter 20