-
Imam heard a man abusing the world and said: O you who abuse the world, O you who have been deceived by its deceit and cheated by its wrongs. Do you covet the world and then abuse it? Do you accuse it or it should accuse you? When did it bewilder you or deceive you whether by the decay and fall of your forefathers, or by the sleeping places of your mothers under the ground? How much you looked after them in their illness and nursed them during sickness, desiring them to be cured and consulting physicians for them in the morning when your medicine did not avail them and your wailing for them did not benefit them. Your mourning over them did not prove useful to them and you could not achieve your aims. You could not ward off (death) from them with all your power. In fact, through the dying man the world presented an illustration for you and showed you by the example of his falling down how you would (also) fall.
Certainly, this world is a house of truth for him who appreciates it; a place of safety for him who understands it ; a house of riches for him who collects provision from it (for the next world); and a house of instructions for him who draws instruction from it. It is the place of worship for the lovers of Allah; the place of praying for the angels of Allah; the place where the revelationof Allah descends; and the marketing place for those devotedto Allah. Herein they earned mercy and herein they acquired Paradise by way of profit.
Therefore, who can abuse it when it has announced its departure and called out that it would leave! It had given news of its own destruction and the death of its people. By its hardship it set an example of their hardships. By its pleasures it created eagerness for the pleasures (of hereafter. It brings ease in evening and grief in morning by way of persuasion, dissuasion, alarm and warning. People abuse it on morning of their repentance but there are others who will praise it on Judgement Day. The world recalled to them the next life and they bore it in mind. It related to them (the things of hereafter) and they acknowledged them. It preached to them and they took lesson there from.
- There is an angel of Allah who calls out every day, “Beget children for death, collect wealth for destruction, and raise construction for ruin.”
- This world is a place for transit, not a place for stay. The people herein are of two categories. One is the man who sold away his self (to his passions) and thus ruined it, and the other is the man who purchased his self (by control against his passions) and freed it.
- A friend is not a friend unless he affords protection to his comrade on three occasions: in his adversity, in his absence and at his death.
-
He who is bestowed four things is not disallowed four things: he who is allowed to pray is not deprived of response to it; he who is allowed to offer repentance is not deprived of its acceptance; he who is allowed to seek forgiveness is not deprived of forgiveness; and he who is allowed to be grateful is not deprived of furtherance of favours.
- For the God-fearing prayers is a means of seeking nearness to Allah; and for the weak the hajj is as good as jihad. For every thing there is a levy; and the levy of the body is fasting. The jihad of a woman is to afford pleasant company to her husband.
- Seek livelihood by giving alms.
- He who is sure of a good return is generous in giving.
- Assistance is allowed according to need.
- He who is moderate does not become destitute.
