جعفر

“The Almighty God loves shy and patient people.”

Imam Baqir (a.s) told Masir ibn Abdul Aziz: “O' Masir! Whenever you want to ask someone for something, do not do it at night. Ask for it in the daytime since then there is shame shown on the face.”

“Possessing the following four characteristics will perfect your Islam and eliminate your sins, and you will meet your Lord while He is pleased with you:1- Fulfilling your promises to the people,2- Being honest with the people,3- Being ashamed of what is shameful in the sight of God and the people,4- Being good-tempered with your family."

"Surely, we love from amongst our Shi’ahs, one who is wise, understanding, well-versed in religion, tolerant, obliging, patient, truthful and faithful." Then he said: "Surely, Allah has specially blessed His Prophets with the noble virtues of good behaviour. So, whoever has those qualities, should praise and thank Allah for it, and whoever does not have them, should earnestly entreat and seek from Allah." He said: "I asked: May I be your ransom, what are the virtues?" He said: "Piety, contentment, patience, being grateful, tolerant, modesty, generosity, jealously, guarding ones honour, beneficence, truthful in speech and honesty about anything held on trust."

Whoever goes to a blameworthy place and is accused [of something associated with it], he has none to blame but himself.

1. Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s.) said, “One who does not dishonors people, the Almighty Allah will not reveal His chastisement on the Day of Judgment and one who does not gets angry with others, the Almighty Allah will ignore his sins on the Day of Judgment.”

There are three whose goodness cannot ever be hoped for: (1) He who does not fear Allah in private, (2) he who does not become pious after old age, and (3) he who is not ashamed of his faults.

Say to the people better than what you would like said to you, for Allah hates persistent cursing, insulting, condemning, and obscenity for the believers. He loves the modest, the forbearing, the virtuous and the pure.

“The Messenger of Allah (ṣ) said, ‘Be ashamed in front of Allah with true shame.’ Someone asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, who is [considered to be] ashamed in front of Allah with true shame [and how can this be achieved]?’ He (ṣ) said, ‘Whoever wants to be ashamed in front of Allah with true shame, let him always keep his death before his eyes, be abstemious in this world and [uninterested in] its embellishments, protect the head and all that it perceives [of sight, sound, taste, and thought] as well as the stomach and all that it digests [from that which is forbidden], and [let him] never forget the graves and the decrepit ruins [which show that this world is evanescent].’”

The Honorable the Exalted God created the intellect from light which was hidden in His treasure of Knowledge from before; and none of the appointed Prophets or nearby-stationed angels had any access to that treasure. God then established knowledge as its life, understanding as its soul, abstinence as its head, shame as its eyes, wisdom as its tongue, kindness as its concern, and mercy as its heart. Then he strengthened it with certitude, faith, honesty, tranquility, sincerity, kindness, generosity, contentment, submission and perseverance. Then the Honorable the Exalted God ordered it to go back and it did. Then God ordered it to come forward, and it did. Then God ordered it to talk. It said, “Praise be to God, who has no one to oppose Him, no one to equal Him, no one to be like Him and no one to match Him - the One to whom everything is humble, and everything is in humility”. God then said, “I swear by My Majesty and Honor and I have not created any creatures better, nobler, dearer, or more obedient than you. I am recognized to be the only One to be worshipped by you. I am called by you. I am the place for the people to turn to for hope due to you. The people will fear Me and are cautious due to you. Reward and punishment is given by you.”The intellect was proud of hearing these words and fell prostrate in worship. This prostration in worship lasted one-thousand years. Then the Blessed the Sublime God said, “Now raise your head and ask Me to grant you something, and that your intercession to be accepted by Me.” Then the intellect raised its head and said, “I ask You to accept my intercession on behalf of anyone who is intelligent.”God - may His Majesty be Exalted - told the angels, “Bear witness that I have accepted its intercession on behalf of anyone to whom I grant intelligence.”

There are five things without which one will not find much satisfaction. It was said: What are they, O son of the Messenger of Allah? He said: (1) religion, (2) intellect, (3) modesty, (4) beautiful character, and (5) beautiful manners. There are also five things without which one will not find livelihood: (1) health, (2) security, (3) needlessness, (4) contentment, and (5) amiable correspondence.

"The noble characteristics are ten in number. If you can possess them all, you should, for they are such that they may be in a man but not his son, or in a son but not his father, or in a slave but not their master. They are: resolve in difficulty, a truthful tongue, returning what you are entrusted with, maintaining family relations, drawing near to honour your guests, feeding the beggar, returning favours, honouring neighbours and friends, and, most importantly, shame."

You should be shy in front of God as He deserves.” He (MGB) was asked, “What should we do?” The Prophet (MGB) said, “If you do so, none of you will go to sleep without seeing your death with your own eyes. You should guard your mind and whatever goes on in it. You must guard your stomach and whatever goes into it. You should remember your grave and the fact that your body will spoil there. Whoever wants the Hereafter should abandon the adornments of the life of this world.”

I heard `Ali b. Musa al-Rida (as) narrate from his father from his forefathers (as) that the Messenger of Allah (s) said: None of the proverbs of the prophets remain except the saying of the people: “If you feel no shame, then do what you wish.”

The Messenger of Allah (s) said: Be modest before Allah in the most rightful way. They said: What should we do, O Messenger of Allah? He said: If you do so, none of you will sleep except that he will see death before his eyes. You should guard your mind and what goes into it, as well as your stomach and what it consumes. You should remember the grave and misfortune. He who wants the Hereafter should abandon the adornment of the life of this world.

The Messenger of Allah (s) said: O Nation! Surely, Allah has disliked for you to have twenty-four characteristics, and He has prohibited them from you. He has disliked for you: (1) fiddling in prayer, (2) reminding others of your goodwill to them, (3) smiling before graves, (4) browsing the houses [of people without their permission], (5) gazing at the private of women – and he said: it causes blindness – (6) speaking during intercourse – and he said: it causes muteness – (7) sleeping before the final `Isha’, (8) socializing after the final `Isha’, (9) bathing beneath the sky without a cover, (10) intercourse beneath the sky, (11) entering rivers naked – and he said: in the rivers are living quarters of angels – (12) entering the bathhouses naked, (13) speaking between the adhan and the iqama until the prayer has been completed, (14) setting sail in a frenzy, (15) sleeping on a roof that is not plastered – and he said: whoever sleeps on a roof that is not plastered, no one bears responsibility for him – (16) for a man to sleep alone in a house, (17) for a man to have intercourse with his wife while she is menstruating, for if he does so, the child will be leprous, and he will have no one to blame but himself, (18) for a man to have intercourse with a woman after having a wet dream without bathing himself from the dream that he had seen; for if he does that, the child will come to be insane, and he will have no one to blame but himself, (19) for a man to speak to a leper without being an armlength away – and he said: keep away from a leper just as you keep away from a lion – (20) urinating on a flowing river, (21) for a man to speak under a tree that has blossomed or a date palm whose fruits have ripened, (22) for a man to put on his sandals while he is standing, (23) for a man to enter a dark house without a lamp or a candle, and (24) to blow during prayer.

"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."

I asked my maternal uncle, Hind, Abu Halah, and he was a describer [1], about the ornaments of Allah’s Messenger, Allah’s blessings be upon him and his Family. And I was told by Hasan bin Abdullah bin Sa’eed al-Askari, that he said: We were informed by Abu’l-Qasim, Abdullah bin Muhammed bin Abdul-Aziz bin Manee’, that he said: I was told by Isma’il bin Muhammed bin Ishaq bin Ja’far ibn Muhammed bin Ali bin Hussain, peace be upon them, in the city of Allah’s Messenger, that he said: I was told by Ali bin Musa bin Ja’far ibn Muhammed bin Ali, from Musa bin Ja’far, from Ja’far bin Muhammed, from his father, from Ali bin Hussain, peace be upon them, that he said: Hasan bin Ali, peace be upon them both, said: I asked my maternal uncle, Hind bin Abi Halah, from the ornament of Allah’s Messenger, Allah’s blessings be upon him and his Family. And I was told by Hasan bin Abdullah bin Sa’eed, that he said: We were told by Abdullah bin Ahmad ‘Abdan and Ja’far bin Muhammed al-Bazzaz al-Baghdadi, that they both said: We were told by Sufyan bin Wakee’, that he said: I was told by Jumay’ bin Umair al-‘Ajali, that he said: I was told by a man from the sons of Tamim, from the sons of Abu Halah, from his father, from Hasan bin Ali, peace be upon them both, that he said: I asked my maternal uncle, Hind bin Abi Halah al-Tamimi, and he was a describer of the Prophet, Allah’s blessings be upon him and his Family: I seek that you describe to me from him something, that I might be connected to him. So he said: The Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be upon him was magnificent, dignified; his face pearling like the pearling of the moon at a night of a full moon; longer than one of mid-height; shorter than one of thinness and long-height; having a great head; crook-haired; if his gathered hair is separated, it separates, otherwise, his hair would not cross the meat of his ear if grew it; his color was lightening [2], wide-foreheaded, having long brows, perfect, not being joined; between them is moisture, poured by anger; having a hooked nose; having a light above him; he who does not contemplate on him considers him highborn; thick-bearded; flat-cheecked; big-mouthed; ashnab [3]; gap-toothed; having a sound torso hair; his neck was in good image of clear silver; he was of moderate build; having a solid body; having even belly and chest; distanced between the shoulder flanks; having large metaphysis; wide-chested; having brightening bare skin; connected between the upper chest and the navel with hair flowing like a line, bare-breasted and bare-bellied from other than that; hairy on the upper arms, shoulder flanks and upper chest; having long forearms; having a spacious palm; coarse in the palms and feet; having fluent sides; having extended bones; having a raised sole; having even feet, from which water flows away; if he is to go, he goes firmly; stepping in harmony and walking calmly; walking with big steps, as if he steps into deep spots; if he turns to look, he turns wholly; having a lowered side; his look was towards the ground, longer than his look towards the sky; most of his looking was observation; he takes initiative to send peace to whom he meets. He said: Then I said: Then describe to me his speech. So he said: He, peace be upon him, was continuously sad; always thinking; having no rest; long-lastingly silent; not speaking while there is no need; opening and sealing the speech with the mouth corners; speaking with inclusive terms, separating, having no overage nor short-doing; kind, mild, not being gross nor humiliating; the grace is magnified for him, even if it is tiny; he would not hide from it anything, except that he used to not condemn a taster nor praise him, nor is he angered by the world and what is for it; if a right was involved into, none would recognize him; nothing arose due to his anger except that he would gain victory for it; if he was to point, he would point with his whole palm; if he is amazed, he would turn it; if he speaks, he would connect to it, and he would hit with his right the inward of his left thumb; if he was angered, he would ignore and turn away; if he became joyful, he looked aside; most of his laughing was smiling; his laugh would be like the uncovering of clouds. Until here is what Abu’l-Qasem bin Manee’ narrated from Isma’il bin Muhammed bin Ishaq bin Ja’far bin Muhammed, and the the rest is the narration of Abdul-Rahman until its end. Hasan, Allah’s blessings be upon him: I concealed it from Hussain, peace be upon him, for a while and then I told him of it, and I found that he had preceded me to it, so I asked him of what he had asked him of, and I found that he had asked his father about the entrance of the Prophet, Allah’s blessings be upon him and his Family, and his exiting, sitting and shape, and he did not leave anything from him. Hussain, peace be upon him, said: I asked my father, peace be upon him, about the entrance of Allah’s Messenger, Allah’s blessings be upon him and his Family, so he said: His entrance for himself was that he was given permission for that. When he would go to his home, he divided his entrance into three parts: I part for Allah, a part for his family and part for himself, and then he divided the part between himself and between the people, and he would then teach this to the specific (people) for the general (people to be taught), and he would not keep from them anything. It was from his tradition with the part of the nation to be benevolent towards the people of virtue by his permission and division on the basis their virtue in religion. Among them were those of one requirement, and among them were those of two requirements, and among them were those of (several) requirements, and so he would be kept busy with them and keep them busy with what is best to them, and so with the nation with regards to his questioning about them and informing of them with what should be, and he would say: Let the witnessing among you inform the absent, and inform me of the requirement of the one who is not able to inform of his requirement, for indeed, the one who informs a ruler of the requirement of the one who is not able to inform of it, Allah will fasten his feet on the Day of Resurrection. Nothing other than that would be mentioned at his presence. He would not restrict from anyone accidentally. They would enter by seeking, not disperse except after tasting and they would leave having been guided. He said: Then I asked him about the exiting of Allah’s Messenger, Allah’s blessings be upon him and his Family: How did he do it? So he said: The Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be upon him and his Family, used to keep his tongue except from that which concerns him; concord with them and not shun them away; be generous with the generous one from every people and appoint him over them; be warned of people and guarded from them without concealing for anyone his extroversion nor manners; check on his companions; ask the people about what goes on among people; declare the good as good and strengthen it; declare the horrid as horrid and degrade it; be moderate in his matter; not be contrasting; not be heedless out of fear that they become heedless or bored; not make short towards the truth, nor exceed it. Those who followed him among the people were the best of them, the best of them to him being the most inclusive in assistance to the Muslims, and those with the greatest position among them to him being the best of them in consolation and aid. Then I asked him about his sitting, so he said: He, Allah’s blessings be upon him and his Family, did not sit nor stand except by performing a remembrance (of Allah); he would not settle in places and prohibit settling in them; if he ends up at a people, he would sit where the gathering ends at, and he would instruct that; he would give all who sit with him his portion; he would not assume from those who sit with them that anyone of them is more generous to him than he is over them. The one who would sit with him, he would remain patient with him until he is the one to leave him. The one who asks him for a need did not return except that he had it or with simple speech. The people were enriched from him due to his manners; he became to them a father; they became to him in creation, equal. His gathering was a gathering of forbearance, modesty, truthfulness and trust; voices were not raised in it, nor were sanctities disgraced, nor were its slight faults spoken of; they were equivalent; being continuously in godfearness during it; humble; they would revere the old and be merciful to the small; they would be benevolent to the one with a requirement; and they would protect the stranger. Then I said: Then how was his tradition with regards to those who sit with him? So he said: He was always extrovert, easy-mannered, mild-sided, not gross, nor harsh, nor screaming, nor obscene, nor excessively disgracing nor praising, ignoring what he does not desire, by which it is not despaired of him, nor disappointing to those who are hopeful in him. He made himself abandon three: quarreling, overage and that which does not concern him, and he abandon three to perform in people: he used to not condemn anyone, nor disgrace him nor seek (to know) his slight faults nor his blemishes. He did not speak except in what he sought its reward; when he would speak, those who sit with him were held themselves as if birds are on their heads; and when he would become silent, they spoke, and they would not quarrel in conversation at his presence; the one who would speak, they listened to him until he is finished; their conversation in his presence would be the conversation of the first of them; he would smile to what they smile to, and be amazed at what they are amazed at; he would be patient to the stranger for his lack of interest in asking him and in his speech, until his companions would draw them; and he would say: If you see a seeker of a need seeking it, then give him. He did not accept commendation, except from one who remunerates, and he would not cut anyone from his speech until it would be permissible, and so he would cut him by prohibition or rising up. He said: Then I asked him about the silence of Allah’s Messenger, Allah’s blessings be upon him and his Family. He said: His silence was due to four: for forbearance, caution, estimation and reflection. As for estimation, it was with regards to having equal look and listening between people, and as for his reflection, it was about what is to remain and what is to terminate. Forbearance was joined for him along with patience, and so nothing would anger him nor provoke him. Caution was joined for him in four: his taking of goodness that he might be followed in it; his abandoning of the horrid that it might be stopped; his diligence in deducing (sound) opinion for the good of his nation; and to perform what was gathered for them from the best of this world and the Hereafter. This is the last of what ‘Abdan narrated. We were also told by Abu Ali, Ahmad bin Yahya, the Teacher, that he said: We were told by Muhammed bin Haitham al-Anbari, that he said: We were told by Abdullah bin Saqr al-Sukkari, Abu’l-Abbas, that he said: We were told by Sufyan bin Wakee’ bin Jarrah, that he said: I was told by Jumay’ bin ‘Umayr al-‘Ajali, dictating from his book, that he said: I was told by a man from the sons of Tamim, from the sons of Abu Halah al-Tamimi, from his father, from Hasan bin Ali bin Abi Talib, peace be upon them both, that he said: I asked my uncle, Hind bin Abi Halah al-Tamimi, that he said – and he was a describer of the Prophet, Allah’s blessings be upon him and his Family – while I had desired that he describes to me something of him that I might be connected to him, and so he said: The Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings be upon him, was magnificent, dignified. And he mention the same narration with its length.