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

5-2 حدثنا أبوالفضل تميم بن عبد الله بن تميم القرشي الحيري قال: أخبرنا أبوعلي أحمد بن علي الانصاري بنيسابور قال: حدثني أبي قال: حدثنا أبوالصلت عبدالسلام بن صالح الهروي قال: سمعت علي بن موسى الرضا عليهما السلام يقول: أوحى الله عز وجل إلى نبي من أنبيائه: إذا أصبحت فأول شيء يستقبلك فكله، والثاني فاكتمه، والثالث فاقبله، والرابع فلا تؤيسه، والخامس فاه رب منه، قال: فلما أصبح مضى فاستقبله جبل أسود عظيم فوقف فقال: أمرني ربي عز وجل: أن آكل هذا وبقي متحيرا، ثم رجع إلى نفسه فقال: إن ربي جل جلاله لا يأمرني إلا بما اطيق، فمشى إليه ليأكله فلما دنى منه صغر حتى انتهى إليه فوجده لقمة فأكلها فوجدها أطيب شيء أكله، ثم مضى فوجد طستا من ذهب فقال: أمرنيربي عز وجل أن أكتم هذا، فحفرله وجعله فيه وألقى عليه التراب، ثم مضى فالتفت فإذا الطست قد ظهر، فقال: قد فعلت ما أمرني ربي عز وجل، فمضى فإذا هو بطير وخلفه بازي فطاف الطير حوله، فقال: أمرني ربي عز وجل أن أقبل هذا، ففتح كمه فدخل الطير فيه، فقال له البازي: أخذت مني صيدي، وأنا خلفه منذ أيام، فقال: أمرني ربي عز وجل أن لا أويس هذا فقطع من فخذه قطعة فألقاها إليه، ثم مضى [فلما مضى] فإذا هو بلحم ميتة منتن مدود فقال: أمرني ربي عز وجل أن أهرب من هذا، فهرب منه ورجع، فرأى في المنام كأنه قد قيل له: إنك فعلت ما امرت به فهل تدري ماذا كان؟ قال: لا، قيل له: أما الجبل فهو الغضب إن العبد إذا غضب لم ير نفسه وجهل قدره من عظم الغضب فإذا حفظ نفسه وعرف قدره وسكن غضبه كانت عاقبته كاللقمة الطيبة التي أكلتها، وأما الطست فهو العمل الصالح إذا كتمه العبد وأخفاه أبى الله عز وجل إلا أن يظهره ليزينه به مع ما يدخر له من ثواب الآخرة، وأما الطير فهو الرجل الذي يأتيك بنصيحة فاقبله واقبل نصيحته، وأما البازي فهو الرجل الذي يأتيك في حاجة فلا تؤيسه، وأما اللحم المنتن فهي الغيبة فاهرب منها

5-2 Abul Fazl Tamim ibn Abdullah ibn Tamim al-Qurashi al-Hayri narrated that Abu Ali Ahmad ibn Ali al-Ansari in Neishaboor quoted his father, on the authority of Abul Salt Abdul Salam ibn Salih al-Haravy, that he had heard Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha (MGB) say, “The Honorable the Exalted God revealed the following to one of His Prophets: When you leave the house in the morning, eat the first thing that you encounter, hide the second thing, accept the third thing, do not disappoint the fourth and escape from the fifth. When he first left the house in the morning, he encountered a big black mountain. He said to himself that God -may His Majesty be Exalted- had ordered him to eat it, and he wondered how to do it. Then he thought that God would not order him to do what was beyond his power. So he moved towards the mountain. The closer he got to the mountain, the smallerit became. When he finally reached it, it had turned into a small bite to eat. He ate it, and it was really delicious. He continued to go on until he reached a golden pan. He said to himself that the Honorable the Exalted God had ordered him to hide it. He dug a ditch, threw the golden pan in the ditch, covered it up with dirt, and started to go on his way again. However, then he noticed that the pan was visible out of the surface of the ground. He said to himself that he had done what the Honorable the Exalted God had ordered him to do and continued to go on. Then he suddenly saw a bird being pursued by a falcon trying to hunt it. The falcon was flying around the bird. The Prophet (MGB) remembered that God had ordered him to accept this one. He opened his sleeve, and the bird entered it. The falcon told the Prophet (MGB), ‘You have caught the prey that I was after for a few days.’ Then he remembered that the Honorable the Exalted God had ordered him not to disappoint this one. Then he cut a piece of the bird’s leg and threw it to the falcon. He continued to go on, and saw a piece of rotten meat. He remembered that the Honorable the Exalted God had ordered him to escape from this one, and he escaped from it. When he returned home and went to sleep, he had a dream. He was told, ‘You performed your mission, and did whatever you were instructed to do. Do you know what the philosophy behind all these issues is?’ He said, ‘No.’ He was told, ‘That mountain was anger. Whenever one gets angry, he doesn’t see himself and doesn’t realize his situation. If he restrains himself, recognizes his position and quenches his anger, the end is like a delicious bite which he eats. The golden pan is indeed man’s good deeds which are better to hide, but God will make them apparent so that he is adorned by them, and he receives the reward in the Hereafter. However, the bird is like a man who advises you, and you should accept his advice. The falcon is like a man who comes to you and asks you to fulfill his needs. You should not disappoint him. The rotten meat is like gossip which you should avoid.’”

Al-Khiṣāl

Book 6, Chapter 2