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 محمد بن أبي عمير عن محمد بن حمران عن زرارة قال: سمعت أبا عبد الله عليه السلام يقول: ما من أحد الا ومعه ملكان يكتبان ما يلفظه ثم يرفعان ذلك إلى ملكين فوقهما فيثبتان ما كان من خير وشر ويلقيان ما سوى ذلك.

1.Al-Ḥusayn ibn Saʿīd narrated to us, “Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿUmayr narrated to us from Muḥammad ibn Ḥumrān, from Zurārah who said, “I heard Abā ʿAbdillāh (a) say, ‘There is no person but that with him are two angels who write whatever he utters, then they send that up to two [other] angels above them who record what was good or evil from it, and cast aside anything other than that.’”

الحسين بن علوان عن عمرو بن شمر عن جابر عن أبي جعفر عليه السلام قال: سألته عن موضع الملكين من الانسان قال: هاهنا واحد وهاهنا واحد يعنى عند شدقيه.

2.Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿUlwān narrated from ʿAmr ibn Shimr, from Jābir, from Abū Jaʿfar (a) saying, “I (Jābir) asked him (the Imam) about the position of the two angels in relation to the human being, so he said, ‘One is here and the other is here,’ meaning on the two sides of his mouth.”

حماد عن حريز وإبراهيم بن عمرو عن زرارة عن أبي جعفر عليه السلام قال: لا يكتب الملكان الا ما نطق به العبد.

3.Ḥammād narrated from Ḥarīz, and Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAmr, from Zurārah, from Abū Jaʿfar (a) who said, “The two angels do not write anything other than what the servant speaks.”

حماد عن حريز عن زرارة عن أحدهما عليهما السلام قال: لا يكتب الملك الا ما يسمع قال الله عز وجل: واذكر ربك في نفسك تضرعا وخيفة قال: لا يعلم ثواب ذلك الذكر في نفس العبد غير الله تعالى.

4.Ḥammād narrated from Ḥarīz, from Zurārah, from one of the two (al-Bāqir or al-Ṣādiq) (a) who said, “The angel does not write down except that which he hears. Allah, to Whom belong might and majesty, said: Remember your Lord inwardly, in humility and awe… (Q7:205). Indeed, no one knows the reward of that remembrance within the heart of a servant other than Allah, the Exalted.”

النضر بن سويد عن حسين بن موسى عن أبي حمزة عن أبي جعفر عليه السلام قال: إن في الهواء ملكا يقال له إسماعيل على ثلاثمأة الف ملك كل واحد منهم على مأة الف يحصون أعمال العباد فإذا كان رأس السنة بعث الله إليهم ملكا يقال له السجل فانتسج ذلك منهم وهو قول الله تبارك وتعالى: يوم نطوى السماء كطي السجل للكتب.

5.Al-Naḍr ibn Suwayd narrated from Ḥusayn ibn Mūsā, from Abū Ḥamzah, from Abū Jaʿfar (a) who said, “Verily there is an angel in the air called Ismāʿīl who leads three hundred thousand angels, each of whom leads another hundred thousand angels. They count [and record] the actions of the servants, and when a new year begins, Allah sends to them an angel called al-Sijill who gathers [all] that from them. This is what is referred to in the verse wherein Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, says: On the Day we will roll up the sky as al-Sijill rolls up his scrolls [of recorded deeds] (Q21:104).” [1]

النضر بن سويد عن عاصم بن حميد عن أبي بصير عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام في قول الله تبارك وتعالى: إذ يتلقى المتلقيان عن اليمين وعن الشمال قعيد قال: هما الملكان وسألته عن قول الله تبارك وتعالى: هذا ما لدى عتيد * قال: هو الملك الذي يحفظ عليه عمله وسألته عن قول الله عز وجل: قال قرينه ربنا ما أطغيته * قال: هو شيطان

6.Al-Naḍr ibn Suwayd narrated from ʿĀṣim ibn Ḥamīd, from Abū Baṣīr, from Abū ʿAbdillāh (a) who said regarding the verse in which Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, says: As the two receivers receive, [one] sitting to the right and [the other] to the left (Q50:17), “They are the two angels [who record the deeds].” [Then the narrator said,] “And I asked him about the verse wherein Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, says: Here is what is ready with me [of the record] (Q50:23), so he said, ‘It is the angel who preserves [and records] his deeds for him.’ And I asked him about the verse wherein Allah, to Whom belong might and majesty, says: His [evil] companion will say, ‘Our Lord, I did not make him transgress…’ (Q50:27), and he said, ‘He (the evil companion) is Satan.’”

الحسين بن علوان عن عمرو بن شمر عن جابر عن أبي جعفر عليه السلام قال: سألته عن لحظة ملك الموت عليه السلام قال: ما رأيت القوم يكونون جلوسا فتعتريهم السكتة فما يتكلم أحد منهم؟ فتلك لحظة ملك الموت عليه السلام حين يلحظهم.

Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿUlwān narrated from ʿAmr ibn Shimr, from Jābir, from Abū Jaʿfar (a) whom he asked about the glance of the Angel of Death, so he said “When you see a group of people sitting together and then they are suddenly afflicted by [temporary] speechlessness, so none of them says anything, that is the moment in which the Angel of Death glances at them.”

Kitāb al-Zuhd

Book 2, Chapter 9