إبراهيم بن عيسى

Whoever swears by Allah must be truthful, and whoever is not truthful will have nothing with Allah. Whoever has someone swear by Allah must be pleased [with the outcome], and whoever is not pleased will have nothing with Allah.

The Messenger of Allah (s) delivered a sermon to the people on the last Friday of Sha`ban. He praised and commended Allah, then said: O people! You are shaded by a month wherein there is a night that is better than one thousand months – and it is the month of Ramadan. Allah has obligated fasting it, and He has made voluntary prayer therein equivalent to seventy nights of voluntary prayers in other months. For those who pray voluntarily therein, He has given them goodness; like the reward of one who has performed a divinely mandated obligatory act. Whoever performs a divinely mandated obligatory act therein, it will be equivalent to one who performs seventy obligatory acts in other months. It is the month of patience, and whoever is patient, his reward is Paradise. It is the month of sympathy. It is a month in which Allah increases the sustenance of the believer. Whoever feeds a fasting believer therein, Allah will free his neck [from the Fire] and forgive his past sins. So, it was said to him: O Messenger of Allah! Not all of us are capable of feeding a fasting person. So, he said: Surely, Allah is generous. He will give this reward to those of you who are not capable of feeding a fasting person anything but watery milk, pure water, or small dates – and not capable of [feeding him] anything more than this. Whoever lightens things for his slaves therein, Allah will lighten his judgment. It is a month in which its beginning is mercy, its middle is forgiveness, and its end is acceptance [of prayers] and freedom from the Fire. There are four things therein that you are not needless of: two that you will please Allah by, and two you absolutely need. As for the two that you will please Allah by: they are the testimony that there is no god but Allah, and that I am the Messenger of Allah. As for the two that you absolutely need: you will ask Allah for your needs and for Paradise, and you will ask Allah therein for His forgiveness and His pardon from the Fire.

Amir al-Mu’minin (as) said: All goodness is in three actions: sight, silence, and speech. Every sight that is devoid of consideration is negligence. Every silence that is devoid of thought is heedlessness. Every speech that is devoid of the remembrance [of Allah] is prattle. Blessed is he in whose sight is consideration, and in whose silence is thought, and in whose words is remembrance – who cries over his mistakes and from whose evil the people are safe.

Instruct our Shi`a with the ziyara of al-Husayn, for surely his ziyara repels destruction and drowning and burning and being preyed upon by the predatory beasts. And his ziyara is made incumbent upon the one who confesses to the Imamate of al-Husayn as being from Allah.

I heard him say: How beautiful are good deeds after sins! How ugly are sins after good deeds!

The Messenger of Allah (s) said: The longest of you in qunut in this world will be the most restful of you on the Day of Resurrection at the stand.

Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn ‘Ali, peace be upon him said: "People (who have discarded us) have no truth, nor any propriety, except that which they have learnt from us Ahlul Bayt. None from them can judge truly or with justice, unless he has taken its guidance from Amirul Mu’mineen ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, peace be upon him, the key, the gate, the path blazer, the way. And when they are confused in any matter, the fault is theirs if they commit an error; and if they decide rightly, the credit goes to ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (as)."

My father ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn, peace be upon him, used to say that whoever has four characteristics in him, his faith will be deemed complete, and he will be purified of his sins, and he will meet his Lord having earned His pleasure: "He who fulfils his duty towards people for the sake of Allah, and he who is always truthful with people, and he who feels ashamed of committing any ugly deed before people and before Allah, and he who puts on the best behaviour with his family."

Whoever gains wealth from four [sources], it will not be accepted in four [situations]: whoever gains wealth from (1) embezzlement, (2) usury, (3) betrayal, and (4) thievery, it will not be accepted in: (1) zakat, (2) charity (sadaqa), (3) Hajj, and (4) `Umra. Abu Ja`far (as) said: Allah will not accept a Hajj or an `Umra from forbidden wealth.

"Whoever has four traits in him, his Islam is complete, his faith is entrenched and he is purified from his sins; and he will meet his Lord, having earned His pleasure, even if he were immersed in sins from head to toe. They are: Fulfilling what one adopts as divine obligation upon oneself; being truthful with the people; to be ashamed of acts which are ugly and evil in the eyes of Allah and the people; to adopt the best morality and behaviour with the family and the people. And among the believers, whoever has four traits, Allah will grant him abode with the highest of the high ones, in a chamber above the chambers and at a place of highest honour. They are: One who gives shelter to an orphan, treating him or her like a kind father; one who is kind to the weak (or old), helping and sufficiently providing; one who maintains his parents, being friendly and kind to them, never causing them any grief; and one who is not awkward with his servants and dependents, being helpful to them in what he assigns to them, never imposing a burden upon them greater than they can bear."

Abu `Abdillah Ja`far b. Muhammad al-Sadiq (as) was asked about wine, so he said: The Messenger of Allah (s) said: The first things that my Lord prohibited for me were worshiping statues, drinking wine, and quarrelling with men – surely, Allah raised me as a mercy to the worlds – and stringed instruments, wind instruments; and the affairs of Jahiliyya, its statues, its rites, and its impurities. My Lord swore, saying: “No servant of Mine will drink wine in this world except that he will be fed the same quantity in boiling water in the Resurrection, punished or forgiven.” So, he (as) said: Do not sit with one who drinks wine, do not marry him, and do not arrange for him to be married. If he becomes ill, then do not visit him. If he dies, then do not attend his funeral. Surely, a drinker of wine will come on the Day of Resurrection with a darkened face, bleary-eyed, slanted mouth, drooling, with his tongue dangling from the back of his mouth.