الحسين بن إسحاق

“About the words of Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, . . they and rebellious ones will all be thrown headlong into hell. . . .,’ (26:94) the Imam said, ‘O abu Basir, they are those who preach justice by their tongues, but they themselves do not yield to justice.’”

“I asked abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), about the words of Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, ‘We count for them a strict account’ (19:78). The Imam asked, ‘What do you know about it?’ I replied, ‘It means counting of days.’ The Imam said, ‘No, because parents do such counting. It means counting of exhaling and inhaling of one’s breath.’”

“I heard Abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.) saying, ‘My father has said, “Allah has made a firm decision not to take away the blessing that He has granted to a servant of His until he commits a sin that subjects him to misfortune.’”

“It is enough fault in a man to point out people’s faults but turn a blind eye to the affairs of his own soul, or consider something a fault in people while it exists in his own self from which he is not able to escape and move to something else or to cause pain to his own companion for no reason.”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), said to me, ‘O abu Salih, when you help lift up someone’s coffin, consider it to be yourself being carried, as if you asked your Lord to give you a chance for returning back to the worldly life and your plea is granted. Think of how to live the new life. 5 The narrator has said that the Imam then said, ‘It is very odd indeed about the people whose predecessors are held back from returning to the present life and their successors are told to leave, but they are playfully unconcerned.

“When a believing servant (of Allah) commits a sin Allah gives him seven hours respite. If he pleads for forgiveness from Allah within such time nothing will be written against him. If the hours pass and he did not plead for forgiveness one sin will be written against him. A believer remembers his sin even after twenty years so that he may plead to his Lord for forgiveness and He forgives him. An unbeliever forgets his sin within the same hour.”’

"When al-Hassan was about to die he wept. He was asked, 'O son of the Messenger of Allah, why would you weep, when you have such a position with the Messenger of Allah such as you have? And all the (good things) said about you. You have performed Hajj twenty times on foot and distributed all of your belongings among the needy three times exactly.' He replied, 'I weep for two reasons, It is the fear of resurrection and separation from the loved ones.'”

“Once I wrote to abu al-Hassan (a.s.) asking him a question and he wrote back to me, ‘The hypocrites try to deceive Allah, but He, in fact, deceives them. They stand up in prayer lazily just to show that they pray, but, in truth, they remember Allah very little. (4:142) “They are hesitant people belonging to neither side. You can find no other way for one whom Allah has caused to go astray.’ (4: 143) They are not of the unbelievers, or of the believers or of the Muslims. They claim to be of belief. They change to disbelief and denial. May Allah condemn them all.’”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said that Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Glorious, once sent two angels to a city to turn it upside down on the people therein. When they came to the city, they found a man praying to Allah with great concern and desperation. One of the angels then asked the other, ‘Do you see this person praying ? 5 The other angel replied, ‘Yes, I have seen him but I must obey the command which my Lord has issued . 5 The other angel said, ‘No, I will not do anything before asking my Lord about it . 5 This angel returned to the presence of Allah, the most Blessed, the most High, and said, ‘O Lord, I went to the city and found there one of Your servants, so and so praying to You and asking You in desperation and in a helpless condition . 5 The Lord said, ‘You must do as you were commanded to do; he is a man who has never even frowned for My sake as an expression of his anger against evil deeds . 55

“I heard Abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.) saying, ‘If any believer commits a sin Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, gives him seven hours of a day’s respite; if he repents, nothing will be written against him but if he did not repent Allah will write only one sin against him.’ Thereafter ‘Abbad al-Basri came to him (abu ‘Abd Allah) and said, ‘We have heard that you have said, ‘If a servant (of Allah) commits a sin, Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, gives him seven hours of a day’s respite.’ The Imam said, ‘I have not said as such. What I have said is ‘If any believer . . .’ and the rest of my words.’”

“Once I went in the presence of Abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.) and said to him, ‘My neighbor causes me suffering.’ The Imam said, ‘Be kind to him.’ I said, ‘I wish Allah will not grant him any kindness.’ The Imam turned away from me and I did not like to leave him and I said, ‘He does this and that to me and keeps causing me to suffer. ’ The Imam said, ‘Had you come openly against him could you defend your self sufficiently?’ I said, ‘Yes, I could certainly have the upper hand.’ The Imam said, ‘This is one of those who envy people for what Allah has granted them through His generosity. If he finds one enjoying bounties, he then turns his anguish against that person’s family, and if he did not have family, he turns against his servants, and if he did not have any servant he then remains sleepless for the whole night and spends the day in anguish and anger. ‘Once a man from Ansar (people of Madinah) came to the Messenger of Allah and said, “I have purchased a house in the neighborhood of such and such tribe. The nearest neighbor is as such that not only do I not have any hope for receiving any good from him, I do not feel safe from him also.” The Imam said that the Messenger of Allah commanded Ali (a.s.) Salman, abu Dharr and, I forgot the other one, 1 think he mentioned Miqdad, to announce in the Mosque at the top of their voices, “One from whose hands his neighbors are not safe has no belief and faith.” They announced it three times. He then pointed out that each forty house in front back, right and left are neighbors.’”