MANY
CONGRATULATIONS ON THE
BIRTHDAY OF
IMAM ALI IBNE ABU TALIB (AS).
opportunity to
perfrom umrah during this special month
of Rajab.
Contributed by
Dr. Syed
Mahmood Hasnain
Sydney
=========================================
Following are
the sayings of Ameerul Momineen Imam Ali
Ibne Abu
Talib[as], gathered from Nahjulbalagha (Peak
of Eloquence),
a comprehensive collection of the
sermons &
letters of Imam Ali[as].
1. During
civil disturbance adopt such an attitude
that people do
not attach any importance to you - they
neither burden
you with complicated affairs, nor try
to derive any
advantage out of you.
2. He who is
greedy is disgraced; he who discloses his
hardship will
always be humiliated; he who has no
control over
his tongue will often have to face
discomfort.
3. Avarice is
disgrace; cowardice is a defect; poverty
often disables
an intelligent man from arguing his
case; a poor
man is a stranger in his own town;
misfortune and
helplessness are calamities; patience
is a kind of
bravery; to sever attachments with the
wicked world
is the greatest wealth; piety is the best
weapon of
defence.
4. Submission
to Allah's Will is the best companion;
wisdom is the
noblest heritage; theoretical and
practical
knowledge are the best signs of distinction;
deep thinking
will present the clearest picture of
every problem.
5. The mind of
a wise man is the safest custody of
secrets;
cheerfulness is the key to friendship;
patience and
forbearance will conceal many defects.
6. A conceited
and self-admiring person is disliked by
others;
charity and alms are the best remedy for
ailments and
calamities; one has to account in the
next world for
the deeds that he has done in this
world.
7. Man is a
wonderful creature; he sees through the
layers of fat
(eyes), hears through a bone (ears) and
speaks through
a lump of flesh (tongue).
8. When this
world favors somebody, it lends him the
attributes,
and surpassing merits of others and when
it turns its
face away from him it snatches away even
his own
excellences and fame.
9. Live
amongst people in such a manner that if you
die they weep
over you and if you are alive they crave
for your
company.
10. If you
overpower your enemy, then pardon him by
way of
thankfulness to Allah, for being able to subdue
him.
11.
Unfortunate is he who cannot gain a few sincere
friends during
his life and more unfortunate is the
one who has
gained them and then lost them (through
his deeds).
12. When some
blessings come to you, do not drive them
away through
thanklessness.
13. He who is
deserted by friends and relatives will
often find
help and sympathy from strangers.
14. Every
person who is tempted to go astray, does not
deserve
punishment.
15. Our
affairs are attached to the destiny decreed by
Allah, even
our best plans may lead us to destruction.
16. There is a
tradition of the Holy Prophet "With the
help of
hair-dye turn old age into youth so that you
do not
resemble the Jews". When Imam Ali was asked to
comment on
this tradition, he said that in the early
stage of Islam
there were very few Muslims. The Holy
Prophet
advised them to look young and energetic and
not to adopt
the fashion of the Jews (priest) having
long, white
flowing beards. But the Muslims were not
in minority
then, theirs was a strong and powerful
State, they
could take up any style they liked.
17. For those
who refused to side with any party, Imam
Ali or his
enemies, Imam Ali said: They have forsaken
religion and
are of no use to infidelity also.
18. One who
rushes madly after inordinate desire, runs
the risk of
encountering destruction and death.
19. Overlook
and forgive the weaknesses of the
generous
people because if they fall down, Allah will
help them.
20. Failures
are often the results of timidity and
fears;
disappointments are the results of bashfulness;
hours of
leisure pass away like summer-clouds,
therefore, do
not waste opportunity of doing good.
21. If the
right usurped from us is given back to us
we shall take
it, otherwise we shall go on claiming
it.
22. If
someone's deeds lower his position, his
pedigree
cannot elevate it.
23. To render
relief to the distressed and to help the
oppressed make
amends for great sins.
24. O son of
Adam, when you see that your Lord, the
Glorified,
bestows His Favors on you while you disobey
Him, you
should fear Him (take warning that His Wrath
may not turn
those very blessings into misfortunes).
25. Often your
utterances and expressions of your face
leak out the
secrets of your hidden thoughts.
26. When you
get ill do not get nervous about it and
try as much as
possible to be hopeful.
27. The best
form of devotion to the service of Allah
is not to make
a show of it.
28. When you
have to depart from this world and have
to meet death
(eventually), then why wish delay (why
feel nervous
about death).
29. Take
warning ! He has not exposed so many of your
sinful
activities that it appears as if He has
forgiven you
(it may be that He has given you time to
repent).
30. When Imam
Ali was asked about Faith in Religion,
he replied
that the structure of faith is supported by
four pillars
endurance, conviction, justice and jihad.
Endurance is
composed of four attributes: eagerness,
fear, piety
and anticipation (of death). so whoever is
eager for
Paradise will ignore temptations; whoever
fears the fire
of Hell will abstain from sins; whoever
practices
piety will easily bear the difficulties of
life and
whoever anticipates death will hasten towards
good deeds.
Conviction has
also four aspects to guard oneself
against
infatuations of sin; to search for explanation
of truth
through knowledge; to gain lessons from
instructive
things and to follow the precedent of the
past people,
because whoever wants to guard himself
against vices
and sins will have to search for the
true causes of
infatuation and the true ways of
combating them
out and to find those true ways one has
to search them
with the help of knowledge, whoever
gets fully
acquainted with various branches of
knowledge will
take lessons from life and whoever
tries to take
lessons from life is actually engaged in
the study of
the causes of rise and fall of previous
civilizations
.
Justice also
has four aspects depth of understanding,
profoundness
of knowledge, fairness of judgment and
dearness of
mind; because whoever tries his best to
under- stand a
problem will have to study it, whoever
has the
practice of studying the subject he is to deal
with, will
develop a clear mind and will always come
to correct
decisions, whoever tries to achieve all
this will have
to develop ample patience and
forbearance
and whoever does this has done justice to
the cause of
religion and has led a life of good
repute and
fame.
Jihad is
divided into four branches: to persuade
people to be
obedient to Allah; to prohibit them from
sin and vice;
to struggle (in the cause of Allah)
sincerely and
firmly on all occasions and to detest
the vicious.
Whoever persuades people to obey the
orders of
Allah provides strength to the believers;
whoever
dissuades them from vices and sins humiliates
the
unbelievers; whoever struggles on all occasions
discharges all
his obligations and whoever detests the
vicious only
for the sake of Allah, then Allah will
take revenge
on his enemies and will be pleased with
Him on the Day
of Judgment.
31. There are
four causes of infidelity and loss of
belief in
Allah: hankering after whims, a passion to
dispute every
argument, deviation from truth; and
dissension,
because whoever hankers after whims does
not incline
towards truth; whoever keeps on disputing
every argument
on account of his ignorance, will
always remain
blind to truth, whoever deviates from
truth because
of ignorance, will always take good for
evil and evil
for good and he will always remain
intoxicated
with misguidance. And whoever makes a
breach (with
Allah and His Messenger) his path becomes
difficult, his
affairs will become complicated and his
way to
salvation will be uncertain.
Similarly,
doubt has also four aspects absurd reason-
ing; fear;
vacillation and hesitation; and
unreasonable
surrender to infidelity, because one who
has accustomed
himself to unreasonable and absurd
discussions
will never see the Light of Truth and will
always live in
the darkness of ignorance. One who is
afraid to face
facts (of life, death and the life
after death)
will always turn away from ultimate
reality, one
who allows doubts and uncertainties to
vacillate him
will always be under the control of
Satan and one
who surrenders himself to infidelity
accepts
damnation in both the worlds.
32. A virtuous
person is better then virtue and a
vicious person
is worse than vice.
33. Be
generous but not extravagant, be frugal but not
miserly.
34. The best
kind of wealth is to give up inordinate
desires.
35. One who
says unpleasant things about others, will
himself
quickly become a target of their scandal.
36. One who
hopes inordinately, impairs his deeds.
37. When Imam
Ali, marching at the head of his army
towards Syria,
reached Ambar, the landlords of the
place came out
to meet him in zeal of their love,
faithfulness
and respect, no sooner had they seen Imam
Ali they got
down from their horses and started
running in
front of him. Imam Ali asked the reason of
their strange
actions. They replied that it was their
custom to show
their love and respect in that way.
Imam Ali
replied: "By Allah, by your action you do no
good
whatsoever to your rulers but you tire yourself
and put
yourself in toils in this world and in trouble
in the next.
How unfortunate is that exertion, which
brings harm
here and in the Hereafter and how useful
is that ease
which keeps you in comfort in this world
and away from
the Hell in the next.
38. Imam Ali
once said to his son Imam Hasan, My son,
learn four
things from me and through them you will
learn four
more. If you keep them in mind your actions
will not bring
any harm to you: The greatest wealth is
Wisdom; the
greatest poverty is stupidity; the worst
unso-
ciableness is that of vanity and
self-glorification;
and the best nobility of descent
exhibits
itself in politeness and in refinement of
manner. The
next four things, my son, are: "Do not
make
friendship with a fool because when he will try
to do you good
he will do you harm; do not make a
miser your
friend because he will run away from you at
the time of
your dire need; do not be friendly with a
vicious and
wicked person because he will sell you and
your
friendship at the cheapest price and do not make
friend of a
liar because like a mirage he will make
you visualize
very near the things which lie at a
great distance
and will make you see at the great
distance the
things which are near to you".
39.
Recommended prayers cannot attain the pleasures of
Allah for you
when obligatory prayers are left
unattended.
40. A wise man
first thinks and then speaks and a fool
speaks first
and then thinks.
41. A fool's
mind is at the mercy of his tongue and a
wise man's
tongue is under the control of his mind.
42. One of the
companions of Imam fell ill. Imam Ali
called upon
him and thus advised him: "Be thankful to
Allah. He has
made this illness a thing to atone your
sins because a
disease in itself has nothing to bring
reward to
anyone, it merely expiates one's sins and so
far as reward
is concerned, one has to earn it with
his good words
and good deeds. The Almighty Lord
grants
Paradise to his creatures on account of their
piety and
noble thoughts".
43. May Allah
Bless Kabbab bin Aratt. He embraced
Islam of his
own freewill and immigrated (from Makkah)
cheerfully. He
lived a contented life. He bowed
happily before
the Will of Allah and he led the life
of a mujahid.
44. Blessed is
the man who always kept the life after
death in his
view, who remembered the Day of Judgment
through all
his deeds, who led a contented life and
who was happy
with the lot that Allah had destined for
him.
45. If I cut a
faithful Muslim into pieces to make him
hate me, he
will not turn into my enemy and if I give
all the wealth
of this world to a hypocrite to make
him my friend
he will not befriend me. It is so
because the
Holy Prophet has said: " O Ali! No
faithful
Muslim will ever be your enemy and no
hypocrite will
ever be your friend. "
46. The sin
which makes you sad and repentant is more
liked by Allah
than the good deed which turns you
arrogant.
47. Value of a
man depends upon his courage; his
veracity
depends upon his self-respect and his
chastity
depends upon his sense of honor.
48. Success is
the result of foresight and resolution,
foresight
depends upon deep thinking and planning and
the most
important factor of planning is to keep your
secrets to
yourself.
49. Be afraid
of a gentleman when he is hungry, and of
a mean person
when his stomach is full.
50. Hearts of
people are like wild beasts. They attach
themselves to
those who love and train them.
51. So long as
fortune is favouring you, your defects
will remain
covered.
52. Only he
who has the power to punish can pardon.
53. Generosity
is to help a deserving person without
his request,
and if you help him after his request,
then it is
either out of self-respect or to avoid
rebuke.
54. There is
no greater wealth than wisdom, no greater
poverty than
ignorance; no greater heritage than
culture and no
greater support than consultation.
55. Patience
is of two kinds: patience over what pains
you, and
patience against what you covet.
56. Wealth
converts a strange land into homeland and
poverty turns
a native place into a strange land.
57.
Contentment is the capital which will never
diminish.
58. Wealth is
the fountain head of passions.
59. Whoever
warns you against sins and vices is like
the one who
gives you good tidings.
60. Tongue is
a beast, if it is let loose, it devours.
61. Woman is a
scorpion whose grip is sweet.
62. If you are
greeted then return the greetings more
warmly. If you
are favoured, then repay the obligation
manifold; but
he who takes the initiative will always
excel in
merit.
63. The source
of success of a claimant is the
mediator.
64. People in
this world are like travelers whose
journey is
going on though they are asleep. ( Life's
journey is
going on though men may not feel it ).
65. Lack of
friends means, stranger in one's own
country.
66. Not to
have a thing is less humiliating than to
beg it.
67. Do not
feel ashamed if the amount of charity is
small because
to refuse the needy is an act of greater
shame.
68. To refrain
from unlawful and impious source of
pleasures is
an ornament to the poor and to be
thankful for
the riches granted is the adornment of
wealth.
69. If you
cannot get things as much as you desire
than be
contented with what you have.
70. An
ignorant person will always overdo a thing or
neglect it
totally.
71. The wiser
a man is, the less talkative will he be.
72. Time wears
out bodies, renews hopes, brings death
nearer and
takes away aspirations. Whoever gets
anything from
the world lives in anxiety for holding
it and whoever
loses anything passes his days grieving
over the loss.
73. Whoever
wants to be a leader should educate
himself before
educating others. Before preaching to
others he
should first practice himself. Whoever
educates
himself and improves his own morals is
superior to
the man who tries to teach and train
others.
74. Every
breath you take is a step towards death.
75. Anything
which can be counted is finite and will
come to an
end.
76. If matters
get mixed up then scrutinize the cause
and you will
know what the effects will be.
77. Zirar bin
Zamra Zibabi, known as Zirar Suda'i, was
a companion of
Imam Ali. When, after the martyrdom of
Imam Ali, he
went to Damascus, Muawiya called him and
asked him to
say something about Imam Ali. Zirar,
knowing that
Muawiya hated Imam Ali intensely tried to
avoid this
topic, but Muawiya forced him to speak.
Thereupon,
Zirar said: "O Amir, I had often seen Imam
Ali in the
depth of nights, when people were either
sleeping or
engrossed in amusements, he would be
standing in
the niche of the Masjid, with tears in his
eyes and he
would beseech Allah to help him maintain a
pious, a
virtuous and a noble character and to forsake
the world. He
would then address the world, saying 'O
vicious world!
Be away from me, why do you come in
front of me
like this ? Do you want to allure me ?
Allah forbid
that I should be allured and tempted by
you and your
pleasures. It is not possible. Go and try
your
allurements on somebody else. I do not desire to
own you and do
not want to have you. I have forsaken
you thrice. It
is like divorcing a woman thrice after
which act she
cannot be taken back as a wife. The life
of pleasures
that you offer is of a very little
duration.
There is no real importance in what you
offer, the
desire of holding you is an insult and a
humiliation to
sober minds. Sad is the plight of those
who want to
acquire you. They do not provide for the
Hereafter.
They have to pass through a long journey
over a very
difficult road towards a sat destination'.
Zirar says
that when he stopped, there were tears in
the eyes of
Muawiya who said, 'May peace of Allah be
upon Abul
Hasan Ali bin Abi Talib, he was undoubtedly
like that. Now
tell me, Zirar! How do you feel his
separa- tion?'
Zirar replied, "My sorrow and grief is
like that of
woman whose only child has been murdered
in her
lap". With this remark Zirar walked out of the
court of
Muawiya and left the city.
78. After the
Battle of Siffin, somebody asked Imam
Ali whether
they had been destined to fight against
the Syrians.
Imam Ali replied if by destiny you mean a
compulsion
(physical or otherwise) through which we
are forced (by
nature) to do a thing then it is not
so. Had it
been an obligation of that kind there would
have been no
question of reward for doing it and
punishment for
not doing it (when you are physically
forced to do a
thing, like breathing, sleeping,
eating,
drinking etc. then there can be no reward for
doing it and
no retribution for not doing it. In such
cases nature
forces you to do a thing and you cannot
but do it),
then the promised blessings and
punishments in
life after death will have no meaning.
The Merciful
Lord has given his creatures (human
beings)
complete freedom to do as they like, and then
prohibited
them from certain actions and warned them
of the
consequences of such actions (His Wrath and His
Punishments).
These orders of Allah carry in them the
least trouble
and lead us towards the most convenient
ways of life
and the rewards which He has promised for
good deeds are
many times more than the actions
actually
deserve. He sees people disobeying Him and
tolerates them
not because He can be overruled or be
compelled to
accept human supremacy over Him. He did
not send His
prophets to amuse Himself or provide
amuse- ment
for them. He did not reveal His orders
without any
genuine reason nor has He created the
galaxies and
the earth without any purpose. The
Universe
without plan, purpose and program is the idea
of infidels
and the pagans, sorry will be their plight
in the leaping
fires of Hell. Hearing this the man
asked Imam
Ali, "Then what kind of destiny was it that
we had?"
Imam Ali replied: "It was an order of Allah
to do it like
the order He has given in His Holy Book:
You are
destined by Allah to worship none but Him,
here
'destined' means 'ordered' it does not mean
physical
compulsion".
79. Acquire
wisdom and truth from whomever you can
because even
an apostate can have them but unless they
are passed
over to a faithful Muslim and become part
of wisdom and
truth that he possesses, they have a
confused
existence in the minds of apostates.
80. Knowledge
and wisdom are really the privilege of a
faithful
Muslim. If you have lost them, get them back
even though
you may have to get them from the
apostates.
81. Value of
each man depends upon the art and skill
which he has
attained.
82. I want to
teach you five of those things which
deserve your
greatest anxiety to acquire them: Have
hope only in
Allah. Be afraid of nothing but sins. If
you do not
know a thing never feel ashamed to admit
ignorance. If
you do not know a thing never hesitate
or feel
ashamed to learn it. Acquire patience and
endurance
because their relation with true faith is
that of a head
to a body, a body is of no use without
a head,
similarly true faith can be of no use without
attributes of
resignation, endurance and patience.
83. A man
hypocritically started praising Imam Ali,
though he had
no faith in him and Imam Ali hearing
these praises
from him said "I am less than what you
tell about me
but more than what you think about me".
84. Those who
have come alive out of a blood-bath live
longer and
have more children.
85. One who
imagines himself to be all-knowing will
surely suffer
on account of his ignorance.
86. I
appreciate an old man's cautious opinion more
than the valor
of a young man.
87. I wonder
at a man who loses hope of salvation when
the door of
repentance is open for him.
88. Imam
Muhammad Baqir says that Imam Ali once said:
"There
were two things in this world which softened
the Wrath of
Allah and prevented its descent upon man:
One has been
taken away from you; hold the other
stead- fastly.
The one which has been taken away from
men is the
Holy Prophet and the one which is still
left with them
and which they must hold steadfastly is
repentance and
atonement for sins because Allah at one
place in the
Holy Book addressed the Holy Prophet and
said Allah
would not punish them while you were among
them nor while
they were asking for forgiveness.
(Surah Anfal,
8 : 33)
89. Whoever
keeps in order his affairs with Allah
(follows His
orders sincerely), Allah will also put
his affairs
with men in order. Whoever makes
arrangement
for his salvation, Allah will arrange his
worldly
affairs; whoever is a preacher for himself,
Allah will
also protect him.
90. He is the
wisest and the most knowing man who
advises people
not to lose hope and faith in the Mercy
of Allah and
not to be too sure and over-confident of
immunity from
His Wrath and Punishment.
91. Like your
body your mind also gets tired so
refresh it by
wise sayings.
92. That
knowledge which remains only on your tongue
is very
superficial. The intrinsic value of knowledge
is that you
act upon it.
93. Take care
and do not pray to the Lord, saying,
"Lord! I
pray to You to protect and guard me from
temptations
and trials", for there is none who is not
tempted and
tried. But beseech Him to guard you
against such
temptation as may lead you towards
wickedness and
sins because Allah says in His Holy
Book, Know
that your wealth and children are
temptations.
(Surah al-Anfal, 8: 28) it means Allah
tried people
through wealth and children so that it
may be tested
as to who is content with what he gets
honestly and
who is thankful to Allah for the position
he is placed
in with regard to his children. Though
Allah knows
them better than even they know
themselves,
yet those trials and tests are for the
purpose of
their realizing and knowing those deeds
which merit
reward or which deserve punishment. There
are some
people who love to have male children and
hate daughters
and there are some who simply crave for
wealth and
hate poverty.
94. Imam Ali
was asked the meaning of being well-off
or
well-provided for. Imam Ali replied, "Your welfare
does not lie
in your having enormous wealth and
numerous
children but it rests in your being highly
educated and
forbearing and in your being proud of
your obedience
to Allah. If you do a good deed then
thank Allah
for it and if you commit a sin then repent
and atone for
it. In this world there is a real
welfare for
two kinds of people, one is the person
who, when
commits a sin, atones for it and the other
is anxious to
do good as much as possible.
95. Importance
of the deeds that you have done with
fear of Allah
cannot be minimized and how can the
deeds which
are acceptable to Allah be considered
unimportant.
96.
"Nearest to the prophets are those persons who
have to those
prophets and obey them". Saying this,
Imam Ali cited
a passage from the Holy Qur'an 'Best
liked by
Abraham and nearest to him were the people
who obeyed
him'. He further said, "That the present
times are the
times of our Holy Prophet and his
faithful
followers. The best friend of our Holy
Prophet is he
who, though not related to him, obeys
the orders of
Allah and his greatest enemy is the man
who though
related to him, disobeys Allah '.
97. Imam Ali
was told of a Kharijite that he got up in
the night to
pray and recite the Holy Book. Imam Ali
<