عبد الرحمن بن أبي حماد

5. Imam Ja’far Sadiq (a.s.) said, “False oaths bring along poverty and hunger with them.”

“Once Amir al-Mu’minin, Ali ibn abu Talib (a.s.) climbed the Minbar (pulpit) in al-Kufah, praised Allah and spoke of His glory and then said, ‘O people sins are of three kinds’ and he remained quiet. Habbah al-‘Arani, said, ‘O Amir al-Mu’minin, you just said, “Sins are of three kinds, and then remained silent.’ The Imam said, ‘Yes, I mentioned them and wanted to explain and inteipret them but a breathing problem prevented me from speaking. Yes, sins are of three kinds: A sin that is forgiven, a sin that is not forgiven and a sin for whose owner we have hopes and fears.’ The man said, ‘O Amir al-Mu’minin, explain them for us.’ “The Imam said, ‘Yes, the sin that is forgiven is one for which Allah has punished the sinner in this world and He is by far much Forbearing and Honorable to punish His servant twice. “The sin that is not forgiven is people’s injustice to each other (in the matters of property and so forth). When Allah, the Most Blessed, the Most High, will manifest himself to His creatures, He will swear by His Ownself saying, ‘By My Majesty and Glory that the injustice of the unjust cannot bypass Me, even though it is in the form of a slap for a slap, a nibbing for a slap, or blow by those having horns to those without horns.’ He will retaliate for His servants from the others until no one will be left without receiving justice and thereafter they will be sent for reckoning. “The third kind of sin is the sin that Allah has covered for His servants and has granted them repentance. He lives in fear because of his sin with hopes in his Lord. We toward him are just as he is to himself. We wish he will be granted mercy and fear for his suffering punishment.’”

“I heard abu ‘Abdallah (a.s) say, ‘The Holy Prophet (sw) was given the news of his own death while he was in a good health and he did not suffer any pain.” He said, “The trusted Spirit came to him.” He said, “The Holy Prophet called for a prayer in congregation. He then ordered the Muhajir and Ansar (people from Makka and the people of Madina) to arm themselves. The people all came and the Holy Prophet climbed the platform, the pulpit and gave out the news of his own death and then said, “I warn of Allah the ruler after me over my followers for not being kind to the community of the Muslims. He must honor the elders among them and be kind to their weak, treat their scholars with dignity, must not harm to humiliate them. He must not allow them to suffer poverty that would turn them to disbelief, must not close his door to them to let their strong over run the weak ones. He must not use them in the (armed) campaigns for food that would banish the offspring of my followers. Then he said, (Certainly) I have delivered to you the message, gave you good advice so you must bear this testimony.” Abu ‘Abdallah (a.s) has said that this was the last words of the Messenger of Allah (sw) from the pulpit.”

“Abu Ja‘far (a.s.), has said, ‘I dislike two kinds of transactions: To say, “Drop the merchandise and receive payment”, and buying something without seeing it.’”

“I heard abu al-Hassan (a.s.) saying, ‘In the evening when you see the sun is disappearing say, ‘(I begin) in the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. All praise belongs to Allah, Who has no children, never had a partner in the kingdom, all praise belongs to Allah Who describes things and Himself is beyond description, knows and is not known. He knows the secret glance of eyes and what hearts hide. I seek protection with Allah’s honorable face, with Allah’s great name against the evil of what He has spread and settled, the evil under the ground, the evil of what is manifest or hidden, the evil of things in the night and during the day, the evil of abu Murrah (Satan) and what he has given birth to, the evil of false emotional attraction, the evil of what I mentioned and what I have not mentioned. All praise belongs to Allah, Cherisher of the worlds.’ The Imam said, ‘It is protection against beasts, Satan condemned to be stoned and his offspring.’ Amir al- Mu’minin, Ali ibn abu Talib (a.s.) would say in the morning, ‘Glory belongs to Allah, the King, the Most Holy, three times, O Lord, I seek protection against my loss of Your bounties, change in good health that You have given. Your sudden displeasure, the approaching of misfortune, and the evil of what came to pass in the book. O Lord, I plead before You through the majesty of Your kingdom, the intensity of Your power, the greatness of Your domain and Your power over Your creatures.’”

“Once I went to Imam Ali (as) for some business. Then Ibnul Kawwa’ and Shibth bin Rib’iy came and asked permission to meet him. Imam Ali (as) said to me: “If you like to permit them, you can do that because you are the first to have your business achieved.” I said: “O Amirul Mo’mineen (as), permit them to come in.” When they came in, he said to them: “What made you secede from me in Haroora’?” They said: “We wanted to be with the army of anger.” He said: “Woe unto you! Is there any kind of anger in my guardianship? Anger comes after when many kinds of calamities and distresses occur. Then they (the army) gather like cloudlets of autumn; one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine or ten from every tribe.”

“Allah, the Most Blessed, the Most High, said to Jesus, son of Mary (a.s.), ‘O Jesus, your tongue must be one tongue in private and in public so also must be your heart. I warn you against your own soul and Myself am a sufficient expert over your (activities). Two tongues are not proper for one mouth just as two swords are not proper in one sheath or two hearts in one chest, and so also are minds.’”

The Commander of the Believers, peace be upon him, said with regards to the saying of Allah, Exalted and Glorious is He: «And We gave them refuge to a High Ground with a (place of) Level and (water that is) Flowing.» (23:50) He said: The High Ground is Kufa, the Level is the mosque, and the Flowing is Euphrates.

Abū ‘Abdillāh (Imam Sādiq (a.s.)) mentioned the Euphrates (River) and said: Verily it (the Euphrates River) is from among the Shia of ‘Ali (a.s.). No one’s mouth is opened with it without him loving us, the Ahlul Bayt.

The Jinn cried over Ḥusain ibn ‘Ali (a.s.) and recited the following poem: How will you respond to the Prophet if he asks you: (O people!) You were the last of the nations. What did you do to my family, my brothers, and those whom I honoured? Why are they either caught as captives or killed, covered in blood?

“This is about the case of a man to whom another man owes a certain amount of assets who denies and takes an oath that he does not owe him anything; if he (plaintiff) must be content with it or there is any remedy for him? He (the Imam) (a.s.), has said, ‘He does not have any right thereafter and so also is the case if he (plaintiff) waives it for the sake of Allah, he does not have any right to ask for it anymore.’”

“I asked abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.), ‘What should a man do for work to make a living?’ He (the Imam) replied, ‘If you open your door and spread your merchandise, you then have done what you should have been doing.’”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said, ‘When things were given in the control of Joseph ibn Ya’qub (a.s.), he placed the grain in houses (storage) and issued an order to his servants to sell for a price of such and such amount. Prices were fixed. When he learned that prices are high he disliked to speak of high prices and then said, ‘Go and sell without mentioning prices.’ The agent before going far away returned to him. He said, ‘Go and sell.’ He disliked speaking of high prices. The agent went back and the first buyer came. The agent measured for him and when it was still less than the amount of the previous day by one measurement the buyer said, ‘It is enough; I only wanted this much for this much.’ The agent realized that prices are still high. Then another buyer came and asked him to measure for him. He measured for him and it still was one less than the measurement for the previous buyer when this buyer said, ‘This much is enough. I only wanted this much (grain) for this much (money).’ The agent realized that prices are still high and so on until it came down to one for one.’”

“The Messenger of Allah has said, ‘Whoever comforts the poor with his property and yields to justice for people against his own soul indeed is a believer.”

“Abu Ja’far (a.s.), has said, ‘Giving charity repels seventy kinds of worldly misfortunes as well as disgraceful death. One who gives charity never dies a disgraceful death and will have his reward on the Day of Judgment.”

“I once heard him (the Imam) (a.s.), say, ‘One who leaves one of the two al-Haram (the Sacred places) when the day is high before performing Salat (prayer) of al-Zuhr and al-‘Asr a caller will call from behind him, ‘May Allah not accompany you.’”

“I said to abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), ‘I have heard you say, “All of our Shi‘ah will be in paradise just as they are.’” He said, ‘I have told you the truth. All of them, by Allah, will be in paradise.’ The narrator has said that I then said, ‘May Allah keep my soul in your service, the sins are many and the major ones.’ He said, ‘On the Day of Judgment, all of you will be in paradise through the intercession of the Holy Prophet, which is obeyed or through the intercession of an executor of the will of the Holy Prophet. However I am afraid for you in Barzakh.’ I then asked, ‘What is Barzakh?’ He replied, ‘It is the grave from his death to the Day of Judgment.’”

“You may give up whatever you give up but do not give up to say every morning and in the evening the following: “O Lord, this morning I seek forgiveness from You on this day for the people of kindness and disavow the people subject to Your condemnation. “O Lord, this morning and on this day I disavow the pagans around us, and what they worship. They were an evil people. “O Lord, this morning and on this day make everything that You will send from the sky to earth a blessing for Your friends and a punishment for Your enemies. “O Lord, love those who love You and be the enemy of Your enemies. “O Lord, finish for me every sunset and sunrise with peace and belief. “O Lord, forgive my parents and me and be kind to them just as they were kind to me for bringing me up as a small person. “O Lord, forgive the believing male and female, Muslim male and female, their living and their dead. O Lord, You know their activities and their dwellings. “O Lord, protect the Imam of the Muslims with the protection of belief, grant him a powerful victory, easy conquest and assign for him and for us, from before You, a supportive authority. “O Lord, condemn so and so and the groups who deferred against Your Messenger, people possessing Authority from You after Your Messenger, the A’immah after him and their Shi’a (followers). I plead before You for more of Your generosity, to affirm whatever he (Your Messenger) has brought from You, submission to Your command, and to be protective of what You have commanded to follow. I do not want thereby any payment or to sell it for a little price. “O Lord, guide me along with those whom You have granted guidance, spare me from the evil of whatever You have decided; You decide and no one can judge against You and no one who loves You is humiliated. You are blessed and high, glory belongs to You, Lord of the House, accept my prayer. And the means through which I sought nearness to You, increase them for me several times and much more. Grant us, from before You, favors and great rewards. Lord, how good is the test that You placed me in, whatever great favors You have granted me and the long time that I enjoyed good health! How much is the cover with which You have covered up my faults! All praise belongs to You, O Lord, a great deal, fine and blessed to the fill of the heavens and earth, to the fill of what my Lord wills as He loves and consents, as it should be worthwhile of my Lord, the Possessor of glory and honor.’”

who has narrated the following: I said to Abu Abdullah (asws), ‘When one of us becomes ill, the healers order us to go on a diet’. So he (asws) said: ‘But, the People (asws) of the Household, we (asws) do not stay away except from the dates, and we (asws) cure by the apple and the cold water’. I said, ‘And why do you (asws) keep away from the dates?’ He (asws) said: ‘Because the Prophet (saww) of Allah (azwj) kept Ali (asws) away from it during his (asws) illness’.

I shall be killed by poison as a victim of injustice and I will be buried next to Harun. God will designate my grave as the place of visiting for my followers and those who love me. On the Resurrection Day, it will be incumbent upon me to visit whoever visits me in my loneliness. By Him, who honored Muhammad (a.s.) with the Prophetic mission and chose him over all His creatures, whichever one of you who says two units of prayer next to my tomb will deserve to be forgiven by God the Honorable, the Exalted on the Day you meet Him. And by Him who honored us (the 12 Imams) with the Divine Leadership mission after Muhammad (a.s.) and made us especial by granting us the Testamentary Trustee mission, whoever visits my shrine will be amongst the noblest ones who reach God on the Resurrection Day. God the Highest will prohibit the Fire from touching the corpse of any believer who visits me, hits himself on the face and sheds a tear.”