٣١. وسُئِلَ (عليه ‏السلام) عَنِ الْإِيمَانِ، فَقَالَ: الْإِيمَانُ عَلَى أَرْبَعِ دَعَائِمَ: عَلَى الصَّبْرِ، والْيَقِينِ، وَالْعَدْلِ، وَالْجَهَادِ.

31. Amīr al-mu’minīn, peace be upon him, was asked about faith. He said: Faith stands on four supports: on endurance, conviction, justice and jihād (fighting in the way of Allāh).

وَالصَّبْرُ مِنْهَا عَلَى أَربَعِ شُعَبٍ: عَلَى الشَّوْقِ وَالشَّفَقِ وَالزُّهْدِ وَالتَّرَقُّبِ: فَمَنِ اشْتَاقَ إِلَى الْجَنَّةِ سَلاَ عَنِ الشَّهَوَاتِ، وَمَنْ أشْفَقَ مِنَ النَّارِ اجْتَنَبَ الْـمُحَرَّمَاتِ، وَمَنْ زَهِدَ فِي الدُّنْيَا اسْتَهَانَ بِالْمُصِيبَاتِ، وَمَنِ ارْتَقَبَ الْمَوْتَ سَارَعَ إِلَى الْخَيْرَاتِ.

Endurance again has four aspects: eagerness, fear, abstention (from the world) and anticipation (of death). So, whoever is eager for Paradise will ignore the passions; whoever fears the Fire (of Hell) will refrain from prohibited acts; whoever abstains from the world takes hardships lightly; and whoever anticipates death will hasten towards good deeds.

وَالْيَقِينُ مِنْهَا عَلَى أَرْبَعِ شُعَبٍ: عَلَى تَبْصِرَةِ الْفِطْنَةِ، وَتَأَوُّلِ الْحِكْمَةِ وَمَوْعِظَةِ الْعِبْرَةِ وَسُنَّةِ الاْوَّلِينَ فَمَنْ تَبَصَّرَ فِي الْفِطْنَةِ تَبَيَّنَتْ لَهُ الْحِكْمَةُ، وَمَنْ تَبَيَّنَتْ لَهُ الْحِكْمَةُ عَرَفَ الْعِبْرَةَ، وَمَنْ عَرَفَ الْعِبْرَةَ فَكَأَنَّمَا كَانَ فِي الْأَوَّلِينَ.

Conviction also has four aspects: prudent perception, intelligence and understanding, drawing lessons from instructive things and following the precedents of past people. So, whoever perceives with prudence, wise knowledge will be manifest to him, and to whomsoever wise knowledge becomes manifest he appreciates instructive objects, and whoever appreciates instructive objects he is just like past people.

وَالْعَدْلُ مِنْهَا عَلَى أَرْبَعِ شُعَبٍ: عَلَى غائِصِ الْفَهْمِ، وَغَوْرِ الْعِلْمِ وَزُهْرَةِ الْحُكْمِ،ِ، وَرَسَاخَةِ الْحِلْمِ: فَمَنْ فَهِمَ عَلِمَ غَوْرَ الْعِلْمِ، وَمَنْ عَلِمَ غَوْرَ الْعِلْمِ صَدَرَ عَنْ شَرَائِعِ الْحُكْمِ وَمَنْ حَلُمَ لَمْ يُفَرِّطْ فِي أَمْرِهِ وَعَاشَ فِي النَّاسِ حَمِيداً.

Justice also has four aspects: keen understanding, deep knowledge, a good power of decision and firm forbearance. Therefore, whoever understands comes to acquire depth of knowledge; whoever acquires depth of knowledge drinks from the spring of judgement; and whoever exercises forbearance never commits evil actions in his affairs and leads a praiseworthy life among the people.

وَالْجِهَادُ مِنْهَا عَلَى أَرْبَعِ شُعَبٍ: عَلَى الْأَمْرِ بالْمَعْرُوفِ، وَالنَّهْي عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ، وَالصِّدْقِ فِي الْمَوَاطِنِ وَشَنَآنِ الْفَاسِقيِنَ: فَمَنْ أَمَرَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ شَدَّ ظُهُورَ الْمُؤمِنِينَ، وَمَنْ نَهَى عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ أَرْغَمَ أُنُوفَ الْكَافِرِينَ، وَمَنْ صَدَقَ فِي الْمَوَاطِنِ قَضَى مَا عَلَيْهِ، وَمَنْ شَنِئَ الْفَاسِقِينَ وَغَضِبَ لله غَضِبَ اللهُ لَهُ وَأَرْضَاهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ.

Jihād also has four aspects: to ask others to do good, to keep away others from doing evil, to fight (in the way of Allāh) sincerely and firmly on all occasions, and to detest the vicious. So, whoever asks others to do good provides strength to the believers; whoever desists others from evil humiliates the unbelievers; whoever fights sincerely on all occasions discharges all his obligations; and whoever detests the vicious and becomes angry for the sake of Allāh, then Allāh will be angry in favour of him and will keep him and will keep him pleased on the Day of Judgement.

وَالْكُفْرُ عَلَى أَرْبَعِ دَعَائِمَ: عَلَى التَّعَمُّقِ وَالتَّنَازُعِ وَالزَّيْغِ وَالشِّقَاقِ فَمَنْ تَعَمَّقَ لَمْ يُنِبْ إِلَى الْحَقِّ، وَمَنْ كَثُرَ نِزَاعُهُ بِالْجَهْلِ دَامَ عَمَاهُ عَنِ الْحَقِّ، وَمَنْ زَاغَ سَاءَتْ عِنْدَهُ الْحَسَنَةُ وَحَسُنَتْ عِنْدَهُ السَّيِّئَةُ وَسَكِرَ سُكْرَ الضَّلاَلَةِ، وَمَنْ شَاقَّ وَعُرَتْ عَلَيْهِ طُرُقُهُ وَأَعْضَلَ عَلَيْهِ أَمْرُهُ وَضَاقَ عَلَيْهِ مَخْرَجُهُ.

Unbelief stands on four supports: hankering after whims, mutual quarrelling, deviation from the truth, and dissension. So, whoever hankers after whims does not incline towards right: whoever quarrels much on account of ignorance remains permanently blinded from the right; whoever deviates from truth, for him good becomes evil and evil becomes good and he remains intoxicated with misguidance; and whoever makes a breach (with Allāh and His Messenger), his path becomes difficult, his affairs become complicated and his way of escape becomes narrow.

وَالشَّكُّ عَلَى أَرْبَعِ شُعَب: عَلَى التَّمَارِي وَالْهَوْلِ وَالتَّرَدُّدِ وَالِاسْتِسْلَامِ فَمَنْ جَعَلَ الْمِرَاءَ دَيْدَناً لَمْ يُصْبِحْ لَيْلُهُ وَمَنْ هَالَهُ مَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ نَكَصَ عَلَى عَقِبَيْهِ وَمَن تَرَدَّدَ فِي الرَّيْبِ وَطِئَتْهُ سَنَابِكُ الشَّيَاطِينِ وَمَنِ اسْتَسْلَمَ لِهَلَكَةِ الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ هَلَكَ فِيهِمَا.

Doubt has also four aspects: unreasonableness, fear, wavering and undue submission to every thing. So, he who adopts unreasonableness as his way, for him there is no dawn after the night; he who is afraid of what befalls him has to run on his heels; he who wavers in doubt Satans trample him under their feet and he who submits to the destruction of this and the next world succumbs to it.

قال السيد الرضي: وبعد هذا كلام تركنا ذكره خوف الإطالة والخروج عن الغرض المقصود في هذا الكتاب.

As-Sayyid ar-Raḍī says: We have left out the remaining portion of this saying for fear of length and for being outside the purpose of this chapter.

31. On lui demande d'expliquer la foi; il dit: La foi repose sur quatre piliers: la patience, la certitude, la justice et le Jihad.

La patience s’embranche en: le désir ardent, la crainte, Fascèse et l’attente: celui qui désire ardemment le Paradis oublie les passions; celui qui craint le Feu évite les choses illicites; celui qui méprise le monde dédaigne les malheurs; et celui qui s’attend à la mort se hâte vers les œuvres de bien.

La certitude comprend elle aussi quatre embranchements: la prudence discriminatoire, la sagesse interprétative, la considération attentive, la tradition (Sounna) des anciens. Celui qui réfléchit prudemment entrevoit la sagesse, considère le pour et le contre et tire des leçons de vie; il sera parmi les premiers.

Quant à la justice, elle renferme également quatre idées: la compréhension profonde, la science approfondie, le bon jugement et la longanimité bien ancrée. Celui qui comprend connaît l’abîme de la science; celui-ci puise des législations idoines; Phomme indulgent n’exagère pas et vit honoré entre les hommes.

Le Jihad englobe à son tour : ordonner le convenable, interdire le blâmable, être véridique dans les combats pour la justice et haïr les vicieux. Celui qui ordonne le convenable épaule les croyants; celui qui interdit le blâmable contraint les athées â croire; celui qui combat fait son devoir et celui qui hait les vicieux et se met en colère pour la cause de Dieu, Dieu se met en colère pour lui et le récompense le Jour du jugement.

De même, l’athéisme comprend quatre piliers: les conjectures, les disputes doctrinales, l’éloignement de la voie juste et l’opiniâtreté. Celui qui se perd dans les suppositions et les soupçons ne retourne pas à la vérité; celui qui patauge dans l’ignorance est aveuglé constamment devant la vérité; celui qui erre confond le bien et le mal et se rend à l’ivresse de l’égarement; et celui qui s’attache obstinément à ses opinions connaîtra des chemins ardus, se trouvera devant un dilemme et ne trouvera pas une issue résolvante.

Finalement, le scepticisme englobe quatre embranchements: la dispute [doctrinale], l’appréhension, l’hésitation et la sujétion. Celui qui s’habitue à la dispute vivra dans une nuit sans lendemain; celui qui a peur des difficultés qui entravent la voie de la foi fera marche arrière; celui qui hésite dans ses conjectures sera piétiné par les sabots des diables; et celui qui s’assujettit à la perdition de la vie terrestre et de Fautre monde périra dans les deux.

Nahj al-Balāgha

Chapter #31