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

3-10 حدثنا محمد بن الحسن بن أحمد بن الوليد رضي الله عنه قال: حدثنا محمد بن الحسن الصفار قال: حدثنا أحمد بن أبي عبد الله البرقي، عن أبيه، عـن هـارونبن الجهم، عن ثوير بن أبي فاخته، عن أبي جميلة المفضل بن صالح، عن سعد بن طريف عن أبي جعفر محمد بن علي الباقر عليهما السلام قال: ثلاث درجات، وثلاث كفارات، وثلاث موبقات، وثلاث منجيات، فأما الدرجات فافشاء السلام، وإطعام الطعام، والصلاة بالليل والناس نيام، والكفارات إسباغ الوضوء في السبرات والمشي بالليل والنهار إلى الصلوات، والمحافظة على الجماعات، وأما الثلاث الموبقات فشح مطاع وهوى متبع، وإعجاب المرء بنفسه. وأما المنجيات فخوف الله في السر والعلانية، والقصد في الغنى والفقر، وكلمة العدل في الرضا والسخط

3-10 Muhammad ibn al-Hassan ibn Ahmad ibn al-Walid - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Muhammad ibn al-Hassan al-Saffar quoted Ahmad ibn Aba Abdullah al-Barqy, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Harun ibn al-Jahm, on the authority of Savir ibn AbiFakhteh, on the authority of Abi Jamileh al-Mufaz’zal ibn Salih, on the authority of Sa’ed ibn Tarif, on the authority of Abi Ja’far Muhammad ibn Ali al-Baqir (MGB), “There are three ranks, three expiations, three things which destroy and three things which save. As for the three things which raise the ranks they are greeting aloud, feeding the needy, and praying in the night when the people are asleep. As for the three expiations, they are making ablutions with cold water, going on foot in the day and at night to the prayers, and attending congregational prayers. As for the three things which destroy, they are being really stingy, following selfish desires, and being haughty and selfish. As for the three things which save us, they are fearing God in private and in public; moderation in times of prosperity and poverty; and saying what is fair whether we are pleased or angry.”

3-11 أخبرني الخليل بن أحمد السجزي القاضي قال: أخبرنا ابن صاعد قال حدثنا يوسف بن موسى القطان، وأحمد بن منصور بن سيار قالا: حدثنا أحمد بن يونس قال: حدثنا أيوب بن عتبة، عن الفضل بن بكير العبدي قال: حدثنا قتادة، عن أنس، عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله قال: ثلاث مهلكات، وثلاث منجيات، فالمنجيات خشية الله عز وجل في السر والعلانية، والقصد في الغنى والفقر، والعدل في الرضا والغضب. والثلاث المهلكات شح مطاع، وهو متبع، وإعجاب المرء بنفسهو قد روي حديث آخر عن الصادق عليه السلام أنه قال: الشح المطاع سوء الظن بالله عز وجل. وقد آخر جته مسندا في كتاب معاني الاخبار

3-11 The judge al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Sejezy narrated that Ibn Sa’ed quoted Yusuf ibn Musa al-Qat’tan and Ahmad ibn Mansoor ibn Sayyar, on the authority of Ahmad ibn Yunus, on the authority of Ayoob ibn Atabat, on the authority of Al-Fazl ibn Bakir al-Abdi , on the authority of Qatadah, on the authority of Anas that God’s Prophet (MGB) said, “There are three things which destroy and three things which save. As for the three things which save, they are fearing the Honorable the Exalted God in private and in public; moderation in times of poverty and affluence; and speaking fairly whether you are pleased or angry. As for the three things which destroy, they are being really stingy; following one’s selfish desires; and being haughty and selfish.”In another tradition that has been narrated on the authority of Imam as-Sadiq (MGB), we read, “Being really stingy implies being suspicious of the Honorable the Exalted God.” I have presented the chain of narrations of this tradition in the book Ma’ani al-Akhbar.

3-12 حدثنا أبوالحسن محمد بن علي بن الشاه قال: حدثنا أبوحامد أحمد بن محمد بن الحسين قال: حدثنا أبويزيد أحمد بن خالد الخالدي قال: حدثنا محمد بن أحمد بن صالح التميمي قال: حدثنا أبي قال: حدثنا أنس بن محمد أبومالك، عن أبيه، عن جعفر بن محمد، عن أبيه، عن جده، عن علي بن أبي طالب عليهم السلام، عن النبي صلى الله عليه وآله أنه قال: في وصيته له: يا علي ثلاث درجات وثلاث كفارات، وثلاث مهلكات، وثلاث منجيات، فأما الدرجات فإسباغ الوضوء في السبرات، وانتظار الصلاة بعد الصلاة، والمشي بالليل والنهار إلى الجماعات. وأمـا الكفاراتفافشاء السلام وإطعام الطعام والتهجد بالليل والناس نيام، وأما المهلكات فشح مطاع، وهوى متبع وإعجاب المرء بنفسه. وأما المنجيات فخوف الله في السر والعلانية، والقصد في الغنى والفقر، وكلمة العدل في الرضا والسخط. وفي حديث آخر عن النبي صلى الله عليه وآله أنه لما سئل في المعراج فيما اختصم الملاء الاعلى؟ قال: في الدرجات والكفارات قال: فنوديت وما الدرجات قلت: إسباغ الوضوء في السبرات، والمشي إلى الجماعات، وانتظار الصلاة بعد الصلاة، وولايتي وولاية أهل بيتي حتى الممات. الحديث طويل قد اخرجته مسندا" علی وجهه فی کتاب اثبات المعراج

3-12 Abul Hassan Muhammad ibn Ali ibn ash-Shah narrated that Abu Hamid Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hussein quoted on the authority of Abu Yazid Ahmad ibn Khalid al-Khalidy, on the authority of Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Salih al-Tamimy, on the authority of Anas ibn Muhammad Abu Malik, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ja’far ibn Muhammad (MGB), on the authority of his father (MGB), on the authority of his grandfather (MGB), on the authority of Ali ibn Abi Talib (MGB), on the authority of God’s Prophet (MGB) in the Prophet’s will to Ali (MGB), “O Ali! There are three ranks, three expiations, three things which destroy, and three things which save. As for the three things which raise the ranks they are making ablutions with cold water; waiting for the next prayers after you pray; and going on foot in the day and at night to the prayers; andattending congregational prayers. As for the three expiations, they are greeting aloud, feeding the needy, and spend the night in prayer when other people are asleep. As for the three things which destroy, they are being really stingy; following one’s selfish desires; and being haughty and selfish. As for the three things which save, they are fearing God in private and in public; moderation in times of affluence and poverty; and speaking fairly whether you are pleased or angry.”In another tradition from the Prophet (MGB) when he (MGB) was asked what the great angels asked him about when he was in the Ascension, the Prophet (MGB) replied, ‘They asked me about the ranks and the expiations.’ The Prophet (MGB) added, ‘They asked me about the things that raise the ranks. I told them they are making ablutions with cold water; going on foot to the congregational prayers; and waiting for the prayers after you pray, and being friends with me and the members of my Household until death.’ This is a long tradition. I have presented it along with its chain of narrations in the book Isbat al-Mi’raj.

3-13 حدثنا محمد بن علي ماجيلويه رضي الله عنه قال: حدثني عمي محمد بن أبي القاسم، عن هارون بن مسلم، عن مسعدة بن زياد، عن جعفر بن محمد، عن أبيه عليهما السلام أن النبي صلى الله عليه وآله قال: ثلاث موبقات: نكث الصفقة، وترك السنة، وفراق الجماعة. وثلاث منجيات: تكف لسانك، وتبكي على خطيئتك. وتلزم بيتك

3-13 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 Zyad, on the authority of Ja’far ibn Muhammad (MGB), on the authority of his father (MGB) that the Prophet (MGB) said, “There are three things which destroy. They are breaching transactions, abandoning traditions and leaving the society. There are three things which save. They are watching out what you say, crying over your mistakes, and staying at home.”

Al-Khiṣāl

Book 4, Chapter 8