Introduction

God is One and Only

Abandoning the Present to Attain the Promised

Oppressive Characteristics

Characteristics Rooted in Love for Religion

One Characteristic for Five Characteristics

A Characteristic for a Characteristic

A Saving Characteristic

The Loftiest Characteristic of the Religion

No Two Things Combined which are Better than the Combination of Two Characteristics

A Characteristic that is the Honor of This World and the Hereafter

The Most Knowledgeable Person Is One who Combines One Characteristic with Another One

There Is One True Prosperity And One True Misery

A Characteristic for Which the People Deserve to be Rewarded or Punished

A Characteristic that Is the Noblest Holy War

The Hardest Thing is One Characteristic that Cannot Be Avoided Unless We Abandon Another Characteristic

A Believer’s Honor Is in One Characteristic and His Glory Is In Another Characteristic

One Characteristic Is the Key to All Evil

A Characteristic Due to Justice

A Characteristic Due to Which We Are Interested in How Others Judge About Us

Seek Nearness to God with One Characteristic

God Has Not Tested the Servants with Anything Harder Than One Characteristic

A Characteristic that Is the Result of Being Kind

A Characteristic that Stabilizes One’s Faith and One that Makes Him Lose His Faith

A Characteristic that Destroys a Believer’s Dignity

A Good Characteristic Which No Other Characteristic Is Better Than, and a Bad Characteristic That No Other Characteristic Is Worse Than

A Characteristic That Guarantees Who Will Not Become Poor

The Form of Chivalry of the Members of the Holy Household

A Characteristic Due to One’s Chivalry

A Characteristic that Is Not Good for a Dignified Man

God Loves One Characteristic and Despises One Characteristic

One Who has This Characteristic Would Not Be Thankful for Blessings

A Characteristic Due to Humbleness

A Characteristic that Is Close to Blasphemy and A Characteristic that Might Change Destiny

A Characteristic that Destroyed Previous Nations

Martyrdom Is Expiation for Every Sin Except for One’s Debt

God the Almighty Has Sent Muhammad (sw) and His Nation a Gift That He Has Not Given to Any Other Nation

A Characteristic that One Should Have If He Wants to Increase Goodness in His House

God Will Look at Whom He Likes. Once He Looks at Him, He Shall Grant Him One of Three Gifts

The Hereafter is the Wedding of the Pious Ones

A Characteristic That is Like its Opposite

The Most Wicked People Are Those Who Are Respected for Possessing One Characteristic

A Characteristic in This World is Abstinence, and a Characteristic That is Gratitude for all Blessings

Nothing Deserves to Be Restrained More Than the Tongue

Whoever Raises his Aspirations Does Wrong

Good Deeds Are Recorded for a Muslim as Long as He Remains Quiet

A Characteristic Having Which Will Result in God Saving You From the Fear of the Hereafter

The Most Intelligent Characteristic

The Most Pious, the Best Worshipping, the Most Ascetic and the Most Hard-Working People

Becoming Sorry Is the Same as Repenting

Whoever Earns More Than His Meals fom This World

A Characteristic That Deserves to Be Willed

A Characteristic That Causes One to Be Thrown Out and a Characteristic That Causes One to Be Joined

Lofty Characteristics and Bad Characteristics for the People of the World

There Is No Honor Except Through One Characteristic. There Is No Nobility Except Through Another Characteristic

When God Loves a Servant He Will Make Him Suffer from a Great Calamity

A Characteristic That Leads to Hemorrhoids

A Hand on Which There Is an Iron Ring Is Not Clean

Do Not Respond to Whoever Talks Before He Greets You

A Characteristic That if Practiced Implies Despise for Muhammad’s Religion

Only One of the Proverbs of the Prophets Has Remained

When God Wishes a Servant Well, He Will Expedite His Punishment in This World, and When He Wishes Someone Bad, He Will Procrastinate His Punishment

Be Patient with the Enemies of the Blessings

The Prophet (sw) and Ali Ibn Abi Talib Were Created from the Same Root

A Characteristic That is Gratitude for All Blessings

Religion Is the Same as Love

When Two Believers Shake Hands They Shall Depart from Each Other Void of Any Sins

A Characteristic That Revives the Hearts

A Characteristic That Revives the Affairs of the Almighty God’s Proofs

God the Almighty Has Not Created Anything More Delightful Than This Characteristic

A Characteristic That Constitutes Nine-Tenths of Religion

Whoever is Pleased with His Destiny or is Displeased with it

A Characteristic for Which Even Red-Haired Camels Are Not Loved

A Characteristic That Increases the Daily Bread

A Characteristic That Leads to Hypocrisy and Poverty

The First Gift Given to a Believer Due to a Characteristic

A Characteristic for Which One Who Has No Good Deeds is Forgiven on the Resurrection Day

A Characteristic That is the Root of All Sins

How Awkward It Is If a Man Enters Heaven Having Lost His Honor

A Characteristic Doing Which Will Cause the Almighty God to Have Mercy Upon You

A Characteristic Doing Which Will Cause Increased Good for One’s House

On Him Whose Health Has Overcome His Illness but He Treats Himself and Dies

A Characteristic Which a Believer Avoids

Nothing Ruins Faith as Much as One Characteristic Does

One Who Lives to See his Successor Is Prosperous

A Believer’s Honor is More Than That of the Ka’ba

It Suffices for a Believer to See God’s Aid in the Form of His Enemies Engaged in the Almighty God’s Disobedience

A Gift Will Eliminate Animosities

Prosperous Be the One Who is Indifferent

A Characteristic That Will Make One Poor in the Hereafter

A Group of People Who Are the Masters of Heaven

God’s Prophet Made His Ablutions One Organ at a Time

The Characteristic That Is the Best Goodness

The Prophet Put off His Special Prayer for One Characteristic

A Characteristic That is the Best Form of Worshipping and a Characteristic That is the Noblest Form of Being Religious

What Is A Lot but Its Doers Are A Few

A Characteristic That Constitutes Half of the Religion

A Characteristic That is the Best Thing Given to a Muslim

The Prophet and Ali Ibn Abi Talib Were Created from One Light

A Servant’s Well-Being Depends Upon the Well-Being of One of His Organs

12-57 حدثنا أبوطالب المظفر بن جعفر بن المظفر العلوي المصري السمرقندي رضي الله عنه قال: حدثنا جعفر بن محمد بن مسعود العياشي، عن أبيه أبي النضر قال: حدثنا إبراهيم بن علي قال: حدثني ابن إسحاق، عن يونس بن عبدالرحمن، عن ابن سنان عن عبد الله بن مسكان، عن أبي بصير، عن أبي جعفر محمد بن علي الباقر عليهما السلام قال: كان أميرالمؤمنين عليه السلام يقول: إن لاهل التقوى علامات يعرفون بها: صدق الحديث، وأداء الامانة، والوفاء بالعهد، وقلة الفخر والبخل، وصلة الارحام، ورحمة الضعفاء، وقلة المواتاة للنساء وبذل المعروف، وحسن الخلق، وسعة الحلم، واتباع العلم فيما يقرب إلى الله عز وجل، طوبى لهم وحسن ماب، وطوبى شجرة في الجنة أصلها في دار رسول الله صلى الله عليه واله فليس من مؤمن إلا وفي داره غصن من أغصانها، لا ينوي في قلبه شيئا إلا أتاه ذلك الغصن به، ولو أن راكبا مجدا سار في ظلها مائة عام لم يخرج منها، ولو أن غرابا طار من أصلها ما بلغ أعلاها حتى يبياض هرما. ألا ففي هذا فارغبوا، إن المؤمن من نفسه في شغل والناس منه في راحة، إذا جن عليه الليل وفرش وجهه وسجد لله تعالى ذكره بمكارم بدنه، ويناجي الذي خلقه في فكاك رقبته، ألا فهكذا فكونوا

12-57 Abu Talib al-Muzaf’far ibn Ja’far ibn al-Muzaf’far al-Alavi al-Misri al-Samarqandi - may God be pleased be with him - narrated that Ja’far ibn Muhammad ibn Masood al-Ayashi quoted his father, on the authority of Abil Nazr, on the authority of Ibrahim ibn Ali, on the authority of Ibn Ishaq, on the authority of Yunus ibn Abdul Rahman, on the authority of Ibn San’an, on the authority of Abdullah ibn Miskan, on the authority of Abi Basir, on the authority of Abi Ja’far Muhammad ibn Ali al-Baqir (MGB) that the Commander of the Faithful Imam Ali (MGB) said, “There are twelve signs by which a believer can be recognized: honesty of speech; returning what he is entrusted with; loyalty to his oath; minimal pride and jealousy; visiting the relations of kin; kindness with the weak; minimal association with women; being generous; being good-tempered; being patient; following knowledge in worshipping the Honorable the Exalted God. Tooba lahum (Blessed be to them) and they shall be prosperous. The word Tooba is the name of a Heavenly tree which is rooted in the Prophet’s (MGB) house. There are branches of this tree in the homes of the believers. These branches will yield whatever you desire. The branches are so extensive that if someone races under them with a fast riding horse for even one-hundred years, he will not leave the shade of this branch. If a crow starts from the base of the tree and tries to fly towards the top, it can never reach there until it gets so old that it turns white. So beware, and try to attain this boundless blessing. Indeed a believer is busy doing his work, and the people are safe from him. When the night comes, he will fall on his noblest body part to prostrate in the worship of the Sublime God. He will ask God who has created him to save him from the Fire of Hell. So beware and try to be this way."

12-58 حدثنا محمد بن علي ما جيلويه رضي الله عنه، عن عمه محمد بن أبي القاسم، عن هارون بن مسلم، عن مسعدة بن صدقة، عن جعفر بن محمد، عن أبيه عليهما السلام قال: لا تسلموا على اليهود، ولا على النصارى، ولا على المجوس، ولا على عبدة الاوثان، ولا على موائد شرب الخمر، ولا على صاحب الشطرنج والنرد، ولا على المخنث، ولا على الشاعر الذي يقذف المحصنات، ولا على المصلي وذلك لان المصلي لا يستطيع أن يرد السلام لان التسليم من المسلم تطوع والرد عليه فريضة، ولا على آكل الربا، ولا على رجل جالس على غائط، ولا على الذى في الحمام، ولا على الفاسق المعلن بفسقه

12-58 Muhammad ibn Ali Majiluyih - may God be pleased with him - narrated that his uncle Muhammad ibn Abil Qasim quoted Harun ibn Muslim, on the authority of Mus’adat ibn Sadaqah, on the authority of Ja’far ibn Muhammad As-Sadiq (MGB), on the authority of his father (MGB), “You should not greet the Jews; the Christians; the Magians ; the idol-worshippers; those sitting at a table on which wine is served; chess players; backgammon players; the effeminates ; poets who accuse chaste women of adultery; those busy praying since they cannot greet you back as greeting is recommendable while greeting back is obligatory; those who devour usury; those who are in the toilet; those who are in the bathroom; and those who are corrupt in the publics eyes.”

Al-Khiṣāl

Book 13, Chapter 8