Pearls from Imam Jaffar-as-Sadiq (as)

[Syed KamiL Abbas Jafri]

* The person moving to help his Momin brothers is like the person who is walking between Safa and Marwa.
* He who treats people kindly will be accepted as arbiter.
* To trust everybody in times of injustice and cheating is disability.
* To recognize the actuality of your friend, you should enrage him. If he keeps up his friendship, he is true friend lest, he is false.
* Do not appreciate one's affection before you enrage him three times.
* Do not trust your friend perfectly, because the knockdown of the trustful is incurable.
* Islam is a definite rank. Faith is one rank higher than Islam. Conviction is one rank higher than faith. People have been given a rank lower than conviction.
* The desire for the worldly pleasures causes grief and sadness. Abstinence from the worldly pleasures brings about the rest of both heart and body.
* He who gains oppression is not gaining welfare. He who mistreats people should not complain when people mistreat him.
* In homelands, exchanging visits is the means of association. In travel, correspondence is the means of association.
* Shaking hands is the perfect greeting of the resident and embracement is the perfect greeting of the traveler.
* A Muslim always has three characteristics: knowledge about the religion, good management of life, and perseverance in the faces of calamities.
* An actual believer is that whose sexual appetite does not overcome him and whose stomach does not shame him.
* A twenty-year friendship is kinship.
* Favors should be done only to the highborn or the religious. Those who show gratitude are very few.
* Enjoining good and forbidding evil should be practiced with a faithful believer that he would learn a lesson, or an ignorant that he would earn. Enjoining good and forbidding evil become surely worthless when they are applied to the powerful tyrants.
* As some people showed ingratitude for Allah's graces, He changed the graces into crises. As other people showed steadfastness against the misfortunes that inflicted them, Allah changed the misfortunes into graces.
* Imam al-Sadiq (AS) was asked about personality, he answered: Personality stands for that Allah should not see you in situations against which He warned, and miss you in situations of which He ordered.
* Thank him who did you favor, and confer upon him who thanked you. Graces that are shown gratitude will not be removed while those that are shown ingratitude will not persist. Thanks increase the graces and saves against poverty.
* To miss a need is better than asking it from other than its people. Bad mannerism in a misfortune is more catastrophic than the misfortune itself.
* As a man asked him a short item of instruction that collects the welfare of this world and the world to come, the Holy Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said: Never tell untruths.
* Imam al-Sadiq (AS) was asked about eloquence. He answered: Eloquence is to express the idea in as few as possible words. The eloquent is that who attains his demand in the least effort.
* Debt is grief at night and humility in day.
* If your worldly demands are attainable, you should check your religion.
* Treat your fathers piously so that your sons will treat you piously. Keep yourselves away from the strange women so that your harem will be chaste.
* Salutation is voluntary while responding is obligatory.
* Do not answer those who speak before they greet you.
* Shake hands, because this will confiscate malice.
* Fear Allah even if to some extent. Construct a screen between Him and you even if transparent.
* As for those who control themselves in rage, desire, fear, and lust, Allah will prevent Hell from burning their bodies.
* Everything has limits. The limit of conviction is not to fear anything besides Allah.
* The (Faithful) believer should enjoy eight characters; he should be venerable in shaking situations, steadfast against misfortunes, thankful in luxury, satisfied with what Allah has decided to him, avoid oppressing the enemies, avoid over tasking the associates, should fatigue his body, and make people feel glad with him.
* Knowledge is the comrade of the faithful believer, clemency is his supporter, patience is the commander of his army, lenience is his brother, and charity is his father.
* As for those who practice without guidance, they are like him who walks without choosing a definite path. The more he walks, the remoter he becomes.
* He who recognizes Allah accurately will fear Him. He who fears Allah accurately will disregard the worldly pleasures.
* The actual fearful is that who cannot speak due to the intensity of fear.
* We love those who are intelligent. Knowledgeable, perceptive, expert, clement, courteous, patient, veracious, and loyal. Allah gave the noble characters exclusively to the prophets (AS). He who enjoys such characters should thank Allah for them. He who does not enjoy them should supplicate to Allah for them. As he was asked about these noble characters, Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said: The noble characters are piety, satisfaction, patience, gratefulness, clemency, pudency, generosity, bravery, enthusiasm, veracity, charity, fulfillment of the trusts, conviction, good mannerism, and chivalry.
* The firmest handle of faith is to love, hate, give, and deprive-all for Allah's sake.
* The Divine Throne will be shaken when one makes Allah the witness of a false matter.
* He whose conducts are bad is tormenting himself.
* Favor is well-known. Except its reward, nothing is better than doing favor.
* The most effective soldiers of Eblis are women and rage.
* The world is the believer's jail, patience is his fortress, and Paradise is his abode. The world is the disbeliever's paradise, grave is his jail, and Hell is his abode.
* Whenever you see a servant (of Allah) pursuing people's flaws and neglecting his own flaws, you should then realize that he has been trapped (by the Shaitan).
* The server of food who thanks (Allah for so) will be rewarded as same as those who fast just for gaining the rewards of Allah, and the individual who is cured and thanks (Allah for curing him) will be rewarded as same as the diseased one who is steadfast against that disease (for the sake of Allah).
* You should not trust the betrayer after you had tested him and you should not accuse him whom you trusted.
* Fear of Allah is sufficient knowledge and deceit is sufficient ignorance.
* The best adoration is to know Allah and behave humbly with Him.
* Everything has its tax and the tax of knowledge is to teach its people.
* Beware of associating with the lowly, because the association with them will never lead to welfare.
* To wear rings on the fingers is a prophetic tradition.
* The most favorable friend to me is that who shows me my flaws.
* Friendship is nil unless its limits are kept. He who does not keep these limits should not be regarded as friend. The first limit is that the inner self and the appearance should be identical. The second limit is that the friend should regard your goodness as his goodness and your evil as his evil. The third limit of friendship is that a position or fortunes should not change the friend's relation with his friends. The fourth limit is that the friend should not deprive his friend of anything that he is capable of doing. The fifth limit which is the most comprehensive is that the friend should never leave his friend alone in calamities.
* There is no difference between depositing a trust with a betrayer or a negligent.
* Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said to his companion Mufaddal: I instruct you to stick on six characters and relate them to my adherents - Shia. You should fulfill the trust of him who entrusts you with anything. You should like for your brother whatever you like for yourself. You should know that every matter has an end; therefore, you should beware of the outcomes of matters. Similarly, every matter has a sudden event; hence, beware of the sudden events. Beware of climbing an easy mountain if its slope is uneven. Never promise your brother of a matter that you cannot fulfill.
* People are equal like the teeth of a comb. With the support of his brothers, a man can be regarded as great. No goodness is expected in the friendship of those who do not like for their friends whatever they like for themselves.
* You should regard him who became angry with you three times without addressing any bad saying to you as a true friend.
* If a man is more than thirty year old, he is middle-aged. If he is more than forty year old, he is old man.
* Whenever Allah opens a door to the worldly pleasures, He will open to acquisitiveness.
* The believer is strange in this world. He should not feel worry of its humility and should not compete with its people for gaining its honor.
* Hasty walking removes the believer's brightness and extinguishes their illumination.
* Allah surely hates the oppressive wealthy man.
* Rage eliminates the intelligence of the wise. He who cannot control his rage will not be able to control his mind.
* The niggardly is that who gains wealth illegally and spends it unsuitably.
* Good mannerism is a part of the religion. It increases the earnings.
* Morals are of two forms: one is intent while the other is nature. Imam al-Sadiq (AS) was asked, "Which of them is better than the other?" He answered: The intentional morals are better than the natural, because the owner of natural morals cannot change them, while the owner of the intentional morals is preserving the acts of obedience (to Allah).
* The actual generous charitable individual is that who spends his wealth for fulfilling the rights of Allah.
* You should know that I will fulfill the trust of even the killer of Imam Ali (AS) if he deposits something with me or seeks my advice of consultation.
* Sufian said: I asked Abu Abdullah (AS) whether it is acceptable to praise oneself or not. He answered: It is acceptable to praise oneself in cases of necessity. Joseph the prophet (AS) said: Put me in charge of the treasuries of the land. I know how to manage them. (Holy Qur'an 12:55). The virtuous servant (of Allah) also said: I am a trustworthy advisor for you. (Holy Qur'an 7:68).
* Mohammed bin Qays said: I asked Abu Abdullah (AS) whether it is acceptable to sell weapon to the two parties both of whom are wrong. Holy Imam (AS) said: Sell to them only defensive weapons: armors, shields, helmets, and the like.
* Allah gives the worldly pleasures to those whom He loves as well as those whom He dislikes, while He gives the faith only to whom He selects among the creatures.
* Abu Baseer related: I asked Abu Abdullah (AS) about faith and Islam. He answered: Faith is the avoidance of acts of disobedience to Allah. Islam is to practice our rites and slaughter animals as we do.
* Bad-temperedness, bad humor, envy, obduracy, fabrication and oppression these six characters should never be in the believers behavior.
* The believer should live between two fears the past sin that he does not know what Allah will do about it and the remaining days that he does not know what misfortunes he will encounter during them. Thus, the believer begins his day fearfully and ends his day fearfully. Except fear, nothing mends the believer.
* You will not be regarded as (true) believers before you see the misfortunes as graces and the luxury as disaster.
* The possession of four thousand dirhams is fortune. The possession of twelve thousand dirhams is treasuring up. Twenty thousand dirhams cannot be amassed by legal ways. The possessor of thirty thousand dirhams will surely be suffering perdition. The possessors of one hundred thousand dirhams are definitely not reckoned with our adherents - Shia.
* The best deeds of the servants are three: they are to treat the believers fairly, to console the friends, and to mention Allah in every situation. Some asked: "What is the meaning of mentioning Allah in every situation?" The Imam (AS) answered: This means to mention Allah when you want to commit a sin so that He will prevent you from committing it.
* Younus related: Before Imam al-Sadiq (AS) I said: My loyalty to you - the Holy Prophet's family - and recognition of your rights are most favorable to me than this world with all of its insides." I noticed the Holy Imam (AS) was enraged. After a while, he (AS) said: O Younus, you have evaluated us in an improper measurement. What is the world and what are its insides? It is no more than relief of a trouble or screening of a defect. By loyalty to us, you are gaining the endless life.
* In misfortunes, Imam al-Sadiq (AS) used to say: All praise is due to Allah Who did not make my misfortune in my religious affairs. All praise is due to Allah Who could, if He willed, make my misfortune more catastrophic than what it is now. All praise is due to Allah for the matter that He willed to be, and it was as He willed.
* If the world advances to some people, it will garb them with the others' charms. If it leaves some people, it usurps their own charms.
* Daughters are advantages and sons are graces. You will be rewarded for the advantages and asked about the graces.
* If a believer leaves behind a sheet of paper on which some knowledge is written, this very sheet of paper will serve as a wall between him and the Hell and against each letter written on it, Allah will give him a city in a paradise seven times this world.
* If the sins of a believer were as much as the sand in the desert of the froth of the sea, Allah would forgive them all; but do not become bold (in sinning, mistaking His mercy for weakness).