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 القاسم بن علي عن أبي بصير عن أبي جعفر عليه السلام قال: إن أبى ضرب غلاما له قرعة واحدة بسوط وكان بعثه في حاجة فأبطئ عليه فبكى الغلام وقال: الله يا علي بن الحسين تبعثني في حاجتك ثم تضربني؟ قال: فبكى أبى وقال: يا بنى اذهب إلى قبر رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله فصل ركعتين ثم قل: اللهم اغفر لعلي بن الحسين خطيئته يوم الدين ثم قال للغلام: اذهب فأنت حر لوجه الله قال أبو بصير: فقلت له: جعلت فداك كان العتق كفارة للذنب؟ فسكت.

1.Al-Ḥusayn ibn Saʿīd narrated to us, “Al-Qāsim ibn ʿAlī narrated to us from Abū Baṣīr, from Abū Jaʿfar (a) who said, ‘My father once struck his servant boy with a single whip. He had sent him on an errand but he delayed [in doing what was required]. So the servant boy cried and said, ‘Allah! O ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, you send me on an errand and then strike me?!’ So my father began to cry and said [to me], ‘O my son, go to the grave of the Messenger of Allah (ṣ) and offer two rakʿahs of prayer, and then say, “O Allah, forgive ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn for his mistake on the Day of Judgment.”’ Then he told the servant boy, ‘Go, for you are free in the way of Allah!’” Abū Baṣīr said, “I asked him, ‘May I be your ransom! Was the emancipation [of his servant] an expiation for the sin?’ But he remained silent.”

فضالة عن داود بن فرقد قال: سمعت أبا عبد الله عليه السلام: يقول: في كتاب رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله إذا: استعملتم ما ملكت ايمانكم في شئ يشق عليهم فاعملوا معهم فيه قال: وإن كان أبى يأمرهم فيقول: كما أنتم فيأتي فينظر فإن كان ثقيلا قال: بسم الله ثم عمل معهم وإن كان خفيفا تنحى عنهم.

2.Faḍālah narrated from Dāwūd ibn Farqad who said, “I heard Abā ʿAbdillāh (a) say, ‘[It is written] in the book of the Messenger of Allah (ṣ)[1]: When you employ what your right hand possesses[2] for something that is difficult for them, then work with them [and assist them] in it.’ He [also] said, ‘Verily my father would instruct them saying, “Stay as you are [and wait for me],” then he would come and see [the work]. If it was heavy [and difficult], he would say bismillāh and then he would [join them and] work with them, but if it was light, he would leave them [to do it themselves].’”

فضالة عن أبان بن عثمان عن زياد بن أبي رجاء عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام وعن أبي سخل عن سلمان قال: بينا انا جالس عند رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله إذا قصد له رجل فقال يا رسول الله: المملوك فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله ابتلى بك وبليت به لينظر الله عز وجل كيف تشكر وينظر كيف يصبر.

3.Faḍālah narrated from Abān ibn ʿUthmān, from Ziyād ibn Abī Rajāʾ, from Abū ʿAbdillāh (a); and from Abū Sakhl, from Salmān who said, “I was once sitting in the presence of the Messenger of Allah (ṣ) when a man came to him and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, [what do you say about] the slave?’ So the Messenger of Allah (ṣ) said, ‘He has been tested by you and you have been tested by him, so that Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, may see how grateful you are and how patient he is.’”

فضالة عن ابان عن عبد الله بن طلحة عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام قال استقبل رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله رجل من بنى فهد وهو يضرب عبدا له والعبد يقول أعوذ بالله فلم يقلع الرجل عنه فلما أبصر العبد برسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله قال: أعوذ بمحمد فاقلع الرجل عنه الضرب فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله: يتعوذ بالله فلا تعيذه ويتعوذ بمحمد فتعيذه والله أحق ان يجار عايذه من محمد فقال الرجل: هو حر لوجه الله فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله والذي بعثني بالحق نبيا لو لم تفعل لواقع وجهك حر النار

4.Faḍālah narrated from Abān, from ʿAbdullāh ibn Ṭalḥah, from Abū ʿAbdillāh (a) who said, “A man from the Banī Fahd [once] passed by the Messenger of Allah (ṣ) as he was beating a slave of his, and the slave was crying out, ‘I seek refuge with Allah!’ yet the man did not desist from [beating] him. When the slave saw the Messenger of Allah (ṣ), he said, ‘I seek refuge with Muḥammad!’ so the man stopped beating him. [Seeing this,] the Messenger of Allah (ṣ) said, ‘He seeks refuge with Allah but you do not leave him, yet when he seeks refuge with Muḥammad you leave him? This is while one who seeks refuge with Allah is more deserving of being pardoned than [one who seeks refuge with] Muḥammad!’ So the man [felt remorse and] said, ‘He is free for the sake of Allah!’ The Messenger of Allah (ṣ) said, ‘By the One who sent me as a Prophet with truth, if you had not done so, your face would have fallen into the heat of the Fire.’”

الحسن بن علي قال: سمعت أبا الحسن عليه السلام يقول: إن علي بن الحسين عليهما السلام ضرب مملوكا ثم دخل إلى منزله فاخرج السوط ثم تجرد له ثم قال: اجلد علي بن الحسين فأبى عليه فأعطاه خمسين دينارا.

5.Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī said, “I heard Abā al-Ḥasan (a) say, ‘ʿAlī ibn al- Ḥusayn (a) struck a slave [of his], then he entered his house and came out with a whip. He then took off his shirt and said to him, ‘Whip ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn [for his having struck you]!’ but the servant refused, so he gave him fifty dīnārs.”[1]

Kitāb al-Zuhd

Book 2, Chapter 7