`Abdullah b. Ghalib al-Asadi informed me from his father from Sa`id b. al-Musayyib. He said: `Ali b. al-Husayn (as) would exhort the people, encourage them to be ascetic in this world, and make them desirous of deeds for the next world with these words every Friday in the Mosque of the Messenger (s). It was memorized and written down. He would say: O people! Fear Allah and know that you will return to Him. Every soul will find what they did of good in this world and what they did of evil. He will wish there was a far expanse between him and his deeds. Allah warns you of Himself. Woe to you, O son of Adam, for you are negligent, but not neglected. O son of Adam! Your term is the quickest thing to come to you, and it approaches you vigorously, and it seeks you wanting to catch you. It is as though you have fulfilled your term [already], and the angel has taken your spirit, and you are alone in your grave. Your spirit returns to you, and the two angels Munkar and Nakir ask you and interrogate you severely. The first thing they will ask you about is your Lord that you would worship, your prophet that was sent to you, your religion that you would take to, your Book that you would recite, and your Imam that you would align with! Then, [they will ask about] your time and how you lived it, your wealth and how you gained it and how you spent it. So, be cautious, look into yourself, and recount the answers before you are interrogated and questioned. If you are a Godfearing believer who is knowledgeable in your religion, obedient to the truthful ones (al-sadiqin), and aligning with the friends of Allah, Allah will accept your proof, and He will cause your tongue to speak the best answers, and you will be given the glad tidings of Paradise, the contentment of Allah, and goodly things. The angels will receive you with comfort and sweetness. If you are not [righteous], then your tongue will stammer, your proof will be rejected, and you will not be able to respond. You will be given tidings of the Fire, and you will be received by the angels of torment. You will descend into boiling water and you will be sent to Hell. So, know, O son of Adam, that the Day of Resurrection is greater, more terrible, and more painful to the hearts. That is the Day that the people will be gathered to; that is a day that is witnessed. Allah will gather the former and the latter people in it. That is the day in which the trumpet will be blown, and the graves will be turned over. That is the approaching day in which [it is as though] the hearts will be in the throats. That is the day in which no falsehood will be said, no ransom will be taken from anyone, no excuse will be accepted from anyone, and no repentance will be accepted from anyone. There will be nothing except the recompense for good deeds and the recompense for sins. If a believer does even an atom’s weight of good in this world, he will find it [on the Day of Resurrection]; and if a believer does even an atom’s weight of evil in this world, he will find it. So, beware, O people, of disobedience and sin, for Allah has prohibited you from that and has warned you of that in the truthful Book and the Speaking Elucidation. Do not feel secure against the plotting of Allah and the intensity of His seizing when the accursed Satan calls to you through desires and pleasures in this world. Surely, Allah says, “When Satan whispers to the Godfearing, they remember [Him], then they have insight.” (7:201) Legislate your heart upon the fear of Allah and remember what Allah has promised you of His goodly rewards in your return to Him, just as He has frightened you from stern reprisal, for whoever fears a thing becomes careful of it, and whoever is careful of a thing avoids it. Do not be of the heedless ones, who lean toward the caprice of the life of this world, and who make evil plots. Allah says, “Do those who devise evil plots feel secure that Allah will not cause the earth to swallow them? Or that the torment will not come upon them in ways they cannot comprehend? Or that He will not seize them while they go about, for then they will have no escape? Or that He will not destroy them gradually? But your Lord is truly Ever Gracious, Most Merciful.” (16:45-47) So, be cautious of what Allah has called you to be cautious of and observe what He did to the oppressors in His Book. Do not consider yourselves secure from that which He promised to bring down against the oppressors in the Book. Allah has admonished you through others – surely, happy is him who is admonished through others. Allah has made you hear of what He did to the oppressors in the world before you in the Book when He said, “How many societies of wrongdoers We have destroyed, raising up other people after them! When the wrongdoers sensed Our torment, they started to run away from their cities. ‘Do not run away! Return to your luxuries and your homes, so you may be questioned.’ They cried, ‘Woe to us! We have surely been wrongdoers.’ They kept repeating their cry until We mowed them down, lifeless.” (21:11-15) I swear by Allah, surely, this is an admonition and an intimidation for you; return to the saying of Allah about the people of disobedience and sin in the Book, “If they were touched by even a breath of your Lord’s torment, they would certainly cry, ‘Woe to us! We have really been wrongdoers.’” (21:46) If you say, O people, that Allah only meant the pagans [here], then how can that be when He says, “We will set up the scales of justice on the Day of Resurrection, so no soul will be wronged in the least. And if a deed is the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it forth. And sufficient are We as a Reckoner.” (21:47)? Know, O servants of Allah, that the scales and the records will not be brought out for pagans. The records will only be brought out for the people of Islam. So, fear Allah, O servants of Allah, and know that Allah did not choose this world for any of His friends, nor did He cause them to desire it, its caprice, and its apparent joys. He only created this world and its people to test them [and see] which of them are best in their deeds for their Hereafter. I swear by Allah, Allah has presented similitudes for you, and He presented verses for a people who think. So be, O believers, of those who think – and there is no power except by Allah. Be ascetic in that which Allah kept away from you from the life of this world, for Allah says – and His words are truth, “The life of this world is just like rain We send down from the sky, producing a mixture of plants which humans and animals consume. Then just as the earth looks its best, perfectly beautified, and its people think they have full control over it, there comes to it Our command by night or by day, so We mow it down as if it never flourished yesterday! This is how We make the signs clear for people who reflect.” (10:24) So, be, O servants of Allah, of those who think, and do not incline toward this world, for Allah said to His Prophet Muhammad (s) and his companions, “And do not be inclined to the wrongdoers or you will be touched by the Fire.” (11:113) Do not incline toward the caprice of the life of this world in the way of those who inclined toward it and took it as their decisive abode and settlement house, for it is an evicting abode, an abode that just suffices, and an abode of work. So, increase in your righteous works therein before you leave it and before Allah permits its ruin. The One who will ruin it is the One who built it up the first time and initiated it; and He is the guardian of its bequeathal. I ask Allah to support us and you in increasing our God-consciousness and our asceticism. May Allah make us and you among the ascetic ones in the caprice of the life of this world, and among the desirous workers for the reward of the Hereafter; for we can only act by Him, and we are His.