Imam Ali heard someone abusing and
blaming the world and said to him, “O
you, who are blaming the world, who
have been allured and enticed by it, and
have been tempted by its false pretenses.
You allowed yourself to be enamored of,
to be captivated by it, and then you
accuse and blame it. Have you any reason
or right to accuse it and to call it a sinner
and seducer? Or is the world not justified
in calling you a wicked knave and a
sinning hypocrite? When did it make you
lose your intelligence and reasoning?
And how did it cheat you or snake false
pretenses to you? Did it conceal from you
the fact of the ultimate end of everything
that it holds, the fact of the sway of
death, decay and destruction in its
domain? Did it keep you in the dark
about the fate of your forefathers and
their final abode under the earth? Did it
keep the resting-place of your mothers a
secret from you? Do you not know that
they have returned to dust? Many a time
you must have attended the sick persons
and many of them you must have seen
beyond the scope of medicine. Neither
the science of healing nor could your
nursing and attendance, nor your prayers
and weeping prolonged the span of their
lives, and they died. You were anxious
for them, you procured the best medical
aid, you gathered famous physicians and
provided best – medicines for them.
Death could not be held back and life
could not be prolonged. In this drama and
in this tragedy did the world not present
you with a lesson and a moral?
Certainly, this world is a house of truth
for those who look into it carefully, an
abode of peace and rest for those who
understand its ways and moods and it is
the best working ground for those who
want to procure rewards for life in the
Hereafter. It is a place of acquiring
knowledge and wisdom for those who
want to acquire them, a place of worship
for the friends of Allah and for Angels. It
is the place where prophets received
revelations of Allah. It is the place for
virtuous people and saints to do good
deeds and to be assigned with rewards for
the same. Only in this world they could
trade with Allah’s Favors and Blessings
and only while living here they could
barter their good deeds with His
Blessings and Rewards. Where else could
all this be done? Who are you to abuse
the world when it has openly declared its
mortality and mortality of everything
connected with it, when it has given
everyone of its inhabitants to understand
that all of them are to face death, when
through its ways it has given them all an
idea of calamities they have to face here,
and through the sight of its temporary
and fading pleasures it has given them
glimpses of eternal pleasures of Paradise
and suggested them to wish and work for
the same. If you study it properly you
will find that simply to warn and frighten
you of the consequences of evil deeds
and to persuade you towards good
actions, every night it raises new hopes of
peace and prosperity in you and every
morning it places new anxieties and new
worries before you. Those who passed
such lives are ashamed of and repent the
time so passed abuse this world. But
there are people who will praise this
world on the Day of Judgment that it
reminded them of the Hereafter and they
took advantage of these reminders. It
informed them of the effects of good
deeds and they made correct use of the
information it advised them and they
were benefited by its advice”.
This world is not a permanent place, it is
a passage, a road on which you are
passing. There are two kinds of people
here: One is the kind of those who have
sold their souls for eternal damnation, the
other is of those who have purchased
their souls and freed them from
damnation.
Everyone has an end, it may be pleasant
or sorrowful.
Everyone, who is born, has to die and
once dead he is as good as having not
come into existence.
One, who adopts patience, will never be
deprived of success though it may take a
long time to reach him.
One who assents or subscribes to the
actions of a group or a party is as good as
having committed the deed himself. A
man who joins a sinful deed makes
himself responsible for two-fold
punishments, one for doing the deed and
the other for assenting and subscribing to
it. Accept promises of only those persons
who can steadfastly adhere to their
pledges.
14
You are ordained to recognize the Imams
(the right successors of the Holy Prophet)
and to obey them.
You have been shown, if you only care to
see; you have been advised if you care to
take advantage of advice; you have been
told if you care to listen to good counsels.
Admonish your brother (comrade) by
good deeds and kind regards, and ward
off his evil by favoring him.
One, who enters the places of evil repute
has no right to complain against a man
who speaks ill of him.
One, who guards his secrets has complete
control over his affairs.
Poverty is the worst form of death.
One, who serves a person from whom he
gets no reciprocal performance of duties,
in fact, worships him.
One should not obey anyone against the
commands of Allah.
Do not blame a man who delays in
securing what are his just rights but
blame lies on him who grasps the rights
which do not belong to him.
Conceit is a barrier to progress and
improvement.
Death is near and our mutual company is
short.
There is enough light for one who wants
to see.
It is wiser to abstain then to repent.
Often inordinate desire to secure a single
gain acts as a hindrance for the quest of
many profitable pursuits.
People often hate those things which
they do not know or cannot understand.
172. One, who seeks advice learns to
realize his mistakes.
One who struggles for the cause of Allah
secures victory over His enemies.