علي بن إبراهيم الهمداني

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said that Ali ibn al-Husayn (a.s.), would go out early every morning to earn a living. If people asked, ‘Where are you going, O great grandson of the Holy Prophet?’ He replied, ‘I want to give charity to my family.’ People then asked, ‘Is it charity?’ He then replied, ‘One who earns in lawful way; his earnings are Allah’s charity for him.’”

“Abu ‘ Abd Allah (a.s.), has said that one of the elements that preserve the Muslims and Islam is when wealth goes to those who understand that there are payable dues on wealth and who make Benevolent Assistance part of their normal practice. One of the destructive elements to Islam and the Muslims is when wealth goes to those who do not acknowledge the existence of any rights due on wealth and who do not make Benevolent Assistance part of their normal practice.”

he heard Aba 'Abdillah (al-Sadiq) (as) say: "Indeed, there is an hour in the night during which if a Muslim servant coincides with it in prayer and supplication to Allah (azwj), his supplication will be answered. This happens every night." I asked, "May Allah improve your condition, which hour of the night is it?". He said, "When half of the night has passed, it is the first sixth of the second half of the night."

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said that when you fill soil in the grave of a deceased say, ‘(It is) out of faith in You (O Allah) and an acknowledgement of Your resurrection. This is what Allah and His Messenger have promised us.’ He (the Imam) said that Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s.), has said, ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah say, “Whoever fills soil in the grave of a deceased saying this expression, Allah grants him the reward of one good deed for each particle.’””

“I once heard abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), say, ‘Those who are killed in the way of Allah are buried with their clothes without Ghusl (bath) unless Muslims find him alive and then he dies afterward, in which case Ghusl (bath), shroud and hunut are done for him. The Messenger of Allah buried Hamzah with his clothes without Ghusl (bath) but he (the Messenger of Allah) performed Salah (prayer) for him.’”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said that ’Amir al-Mu’minin once said, ‘Can I tell you about how great the sin of fornication is?’ They replied, ‘Yes, please tell us about it.’ He (the Imam) said, ‘It is a woman who allows someone other than her husband to go to bed with her; then gives birth thereby to a child and makes her husband responsible for the child. This is the woman to whom Allah does not speak and will not look to her on the Day of Judgment, will not purify her and she will suffer a painful suffering.’”

“Once I was in the presence of Abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.) and Muhammad ibn ‘Abdahu said, ‘A fornicator fornicates. Is he still a believer?’ The Imam said, ‘As long as he is on her belly he is not a believer and when he stands up, belief is returned to him.’ I then asked, ‘What if one intends to repeat?’ The Imam said, ‘How many are they who intend but do not repeat!”’

I asked Abu Ja`far al-Baqir (AS) about the spirits that were in Adam (AS) and `Isa (AS). He (AS) replied, “They were two created spirits. Allah chose and selected them as the spirit of Adam and the spirit of `Isa (as).

I asked Abu Ja`far al-Baqir (AS) about the Word of Allah, the Mighty and High: And breathed into him of My Spirit. He (AS) replied, “Allah created, chose, selected, and related the Spirit to Himself, favoring it over all the spirits. Thus, He commanded and breathed from it into Adam.”

“This is concerning my question before abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), about a man who is captured by the enemy with his properties. Then the Muslims captured him. ‘How should they deal with his properties?’ He (the Imam) replied, ‘If they capture him before the enemies secure for themselves his properties, they should be returned to him. If they capture him after the enemies secure for themselves his properties, such properties become as Fay’ for the Muslims and he deserves the right of having priority (al-Shuf’ ah) to purchase them before anyone else does.’”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), has said that the Messenger of Allah, O Allah, grant compensation to Muhammad and his family worthy of their services to Your cause, said to ’Amir al- Mu’minin, ‘O Ali, begin taking your food with salt and end it with salt. One who begins taking his food with salt and ends it with salt remains safe from seventy-two kinds of troubles of which is leprosy, insanity and albinism.’”

“Amir al-Mu’minin (a.s.), has said, ‘Allah has made Jihad obligatory upon man and woman. Jihad of man is making his wealth and soul available until he is killed in the way of Allah. Jihad of woman is exercising patience when seeing hardships upon her husband and because of his showing strong al-Ghirah (protective feelings) for her. In another Hadith it is said that Jihad of a woman is to maintain good wife and husband relationship.”

“Once I was with abu ‘ Abd Allah (a.s.), on the table-spread of food and he (the Imam) ate fresh herbs but I abstained because of a certain illness. He (the Imam) turned to me and said, ‘O Hanan, did you not know that whenever a package of food was brought to ’Amir al-Mu’minin it neccessarily had herbs in it?’ I then asked, T pray to Allah to keep my soul in service for your cause, why did it have to be as such?’ He (the Imam) said, ‘It is because the hearts of the believers are fresh, green and they incline to what is similar to it.’”

“I asked Abil Hassan (s), ‘What is the least degree of recognition?’ The Imam (s) replied, ‘It is the acknowledgement of God and that there is no other god; there is nothing like Him; there is nothing similar to Him; He is Stable, Eternal, Existing; He is never absent, and that there is nothing else like Him.’”

“Abu ‘ Abd Allah (a.s.), has said that the Messenger of Allah, O Allah, grant compensation to Muhammad and his family worthy of their services to Your cause, has said, ‘I must judge among you on the basis of evidence and oath. Certain ones among you make more mistakes in their argument than others. For whomever I cut off (takes away) from the assets of his brother, I only cut off for him thereby a piece of the fire.’”

“I once asked abu Ibrahim (a.s.), about the expiation for oath mentioned in the words of Allah, most Majestic, most Glorious, ‘. . . if one cannot find then it is three days fasting.’ (5:91) and about the limit of ‘if one cannot find’ and that a man asks for help (beggar) but he is not of ‘if one cannot find’. He (the Imam) said, ‘If one does not have more than what his dependents need, then “if one does not find” applies to him.’”

‘Abu Ja’far (asws) has said: ‘One morning, Ibrahim (as) saw a white hair in his (as) beard, so he (as) said: ‘The Praise is due to Allah (azwj), the Lord (azwj) of the Worlds Who (azwj) Made me reach to this age, and I (as) never disobeyed Allah (azwj) even for the blink of an eye’.

“Once ibn abu al-‘Awaja’ asked me, ‘Why is it that the destitute and weak woman’s share of the legacy is half as much as the share of man?’ He (the narrator) has said that certain persons of our people mentioned to abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), who said, ‘It is because there is no Jihad on women and maintenance expenses and wergild to be paid by the relatives of the murderer; which is on men.

“Abu Ja’far (a.s.), has said that the Messenger of Allah, O Allah, grant compensation to Muhammad and his family worthy of their services to Your cause, has said, ’One who pays zakat that is due on his property and presents gifts to his people is not stingy. A real stingy person is one who does not pay zakat that is obligatory on his property and does not present any gift to his people, but spends extravagantly on other things.’”

“A man once asked abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), about the words of Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Glorious, ‘Give His right on the day of its harvest and do not spend excessively; He does not love excessive spenders.’ (6:141) He (the Imam) said, ‘So and so, he mentioned his name, Ansariy (people of al-Madinah) had a farm. After harvest, he would give all of it in charity. He and his dependents would remain without anything. Thus, Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Glorious, called such spending excessive.’”