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 معاوية بن عمار عن عمرو بن عكرمة قال: دخلت على أبى عبد الله عليه السلام فقلت له: ان لي جار يؤذيني فقال: ارحمه قال: قلت: لا رحمه الله فصرف وجهه عنى فكرهت ان ادعه فقلت: انه يفعل بي ويؤذيني فقال: أرأيت ان كاشفته انتصفت منه؟ قال: قلت: بلى أولى عليه فقال: ان ذا ممن يحسد الناس على ما آتاهم الله من فضله فإذا رأى نعمة على أحد وكان له أهل جعل بلائه عليهم وان لم يكن له أهل جعل بلائه على خادمه وان لم يكن له خادم سهر ليلته واغتاض نهاره، ان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله اتاه رجل من الأنصار فقال: يا رسول الله انى اشتريت دارا في بنى فلان وان أقرب جيراني منى جوارا من لا أرجو خيره ولا آمن شره قال: فامر رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله عليا وسلمان وأبا ذر - قال: ونسيت واحدا وأظنه المقداد - فأمرهم ان ينادوا في المسجد بأعلى أصواتهم انه لا ايمان لمن لم يا من جاره بوائقه فنادوا ثلاثا ثم أمر فنودي ان كل أربعين دارا من بين يديه ومن خلفه وعن يمينه و عن شماله يكون ساكنها جارا له.

1.Al-Ḥasan ibn Saʿīd narrated to us, “Faḍālah ibn Ayyūb narrated to us from Muʿāwiyah ibn ʿAmmār, from ʿAmr ibn ʿIkrimah who said, ‘I went to visit Abū ʿAbdillāh (a) and said to him, “I have a neighbor who disturbs me.” He said, “Have mercy on him.” I said, “May Allah not show him mercy!” So he turned his face away from me, but I disliked to leave him [in that state] so I said, “He does such-and-such to me and disturbs me.” So he said, “Do you think that if you expose him you will have avenged yourself from him?” I said, “Yes, I will have gotten back at him.”[1] He said, “Verily that is like the case of one who is envious of people for the bounty Allah has granted them (Q4:54), when he sees a blessing bestowed on someone and he has a family, he causes trouble for them, and if he does not have a family, he causes trouble for his servant, and if he has no servants, he spends sleepless nights and is full of anger during the daytime. A man from the Anṣār came to the Messenger of Allah (ṣ) and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, I bought a house among the tribe of so-and-so, and my closest neighbour among them is one from whom I expect no good and from whose evil I am unsafe.’ So the Messenger of Allah (ṣ) instructed ʿAlī, Salmān, Abū Dharr and one more person whom I have forgotten – perhaps it was al-Miqdād – telling them to call out in the mosque, in their loudest voices, that one whose neighbour is not safe from his harm has no faith. So they announced this thrice. Then he gave instructions so it was announced that each of the forty houses in front of one’s house, behind it, on its right side, and on its left side are counted as one’s neighbours.’”’”

محمد بن الحسين عن محمد بن الفضيل عن إسحاق بن عمار قال:قال أبو عبد الله عليه السلام قال: رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله: أعوذ بالله من جار سوء في دار إقامة تراك عيناه ويرعاك قلبه ان رآك بخير سائه وان رآك بشر سره

2.Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn narrated from Muḥammad ibn al- Fuḍayl, from Isḥāq ibn ʿAmmār who said, “Abū ʿAbdillāh (a) said, ‘The Messenger of Allah (ṣ) said, “I seek Allah’s protection from a bad neighbour in a residential abode – his eyes watch you and his heart scrutinises you. If he sees you [happy and] well, it upsets him and if he sees you in trouble, it pleases him.”’”

عبد الله بن محمد عن علي بن إسحاق عن إبراهيم بن أبي رجا قال:قال أبو عبد الله عليه السلام: حسن الجوار يزيد في الرزق

3.ʿAbdullāh ibn Muḥammad narrated from ʿAlī ibn Isḥāq, from Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Rajāʾ who said, “Abū ʿAbdillāh (a) said, ‘Being a good neighbour leads to increase in [one’s] sustenance.’”

Kitāb al-Zuhd

Book 2, Chapter 6