Allah's generosity is not in abrogation of His wisdom. From that it follows that He does not grant every request. Whoever is the object of divine beneficence will be solicited on all sides. If he dispenses his gifts according to the will of heaven, his happiness will be lasting; if not, it will be ephemeral. Do not be ashamed to give a little, for to deceive is to give still less. The better part of generosity is speedy giving. Give to a poor man before he asks; for if you place him under the necessity of stretching out his hand, you take from his self-respect more than the value of your alms. Put not off until tomorrow the giving to a man of that of which he hath needed, for you know not what the morrow hath in store for him and for you. These two belong to generosity: to give of one's possessions, and to protect one's honor. The last generosity is to forget the claim that you have against another, and to remember the right that someone has over you. Men are of two kinds: generous men who are not rich, and rich men who give nothing. Gaiety embellishes generosity. The finest generosity is to render their claims to those whose they are. One who will give nothing, loses praise. A man without faith lacks generosity. It will bring you a more enduring satisfaction to give a robe to another than to wear it yourself. Scatter abroad what you have already amassed rather than pile up new wealth. To give shelter to a fugitive is to shelter oneself from heaven's chastisement. Most noble actions are bearing the debts of others, and entertaining one's guests.
Encourage beneficence, and prevent bad deeds. Beneficence makes a man one's servant; but a benefit coupled with a taunt ceases to be one. By beneficence thou makest a free man thy slave. You ought not to place benefactor and malefactor on an equality; for that would be to induce the first to renounce benefactions, and to encourage the other in his wickedness. Return not evil for good; for that is to obstruct benevolence. Whoever practices benevolence, will see rigors sweetened. Whosoever confers a benefit on an undeserving man wastes it. Hide the good you do, and make known the good done to you.
Be generous, but not prodigal. Give up prodigality; for the prodigal has none to praise him, while he is giving, nor any to compassionate him, when beggared. Pride is nothing but foolishness, and extravagance is the mother of indigence. The very smallest capital grows with prudence, while prodigality dissipates the greatest wealth.
Whoever sows good, reaps his reward. One reaps as one sows, and one is rewarded according to what one has done. Whoever plants the tree of goodness, gathers the sweetest fruit.
Good statecraft fortifies power. Who lacks statecraft is, under-valued in action. It is right that the king should govern himself before governing his subjects. It is the duty of a ruler to select for the people what he selects for himself. The worst country is that which the inhabitants are not in safety. The most difficult of political reforms is to work changes in men's customs. The decline of the State comes of mediocrity obtaining power. The triumph of mediocre men brings down the elite. The decline of kingdom shows itself: in loss of principle; in attachment to trifles; in bad men getting the upper hand; in the meritorious being kept down.
Nothing fortifies states as well as justice. Justice is the mainstay of the people. Do justly, and your power will last. The alms of power are equity. The king's alms are to do the oppressed justice. No just monarch has need of aid from his friends. The bane of a nation is the debauched scholar, and the tyrant is the bane of justice.
Three classes of men are cut off from the benediction of heaven: the oppressors, those who aid and abet the oppression, those who tolerate oppression. One can sleep after the death of one's child, but under oppression. The best form of justice is succoring the oppressed. The best king is the one who stamps out oppression, and causes justice to come again. The savage beast that mutilates and devours is to be preferred to a violent and oppressive governor. The king who oppresses his subjects will live to see them wish him dead. The hour of vengeance by the oppressed is more terrible than the hour of the tyrant's oppression. Shun oppressing one with no defense against you but Allah. Shun to oppress. No tyrant will breathe the odor of paradise. When you meet a man oppressed, help him against the oppressor. Whoever has pity on himself, oppresses not another. He oppresses the right who abets in justice Whosoever oppresses will be oppressed. Oppression and tyranny are the worse companions for hereafter.
Tyranny is the ruin of countries. Perils follow in the wake of tyranny. Whoever rides the horse of tyranny sees his mount stumble. Bad ministers are tyrant's auxiliaries and the brother of evildoers. One who starts tyranny will repent soon.
Your kinsmen are often farther from you than strangers. Be generous to you kinsman; honor him, if he is wise; suffer him, if he is a fool; help him, if he is poor; for he may prove the greatest support to you both in your weal and in your woe. Hatred among kinsmen causes more grief than the strings of scorpions.
True friends are a single soul in different bodies. The newest thing is the best, but the best friend is the oldest. Friendship is a relation gained. Friendship is the closest kinship. Gentleness engenders friendship. Have confidence in men, and you will enjoy their friendship. Spend yourself freely on your friend, but do not part to him with your peace of mind. Whoever discards a friend for the least fault, runs the risk of being friendless. Do not fail to respect the rights of your friend on the ground of your being close friends; for he ceases to be your friend, the moment you trample on his rights. The stranger is the man who has never a friend. Seek not to have too many friends; for neglect of this one of them or that one will make an enemy of him. Friends are like fire, too much, of which burns while a little of it profits. Do not choose as your friend the enemy of your friend. Be not friends with a fool: he will do you hurt even while meaning to be useful. The worst of friends is the one who flatters you, throwing a veil over your vices. If a sincere friend is seen to be guilty of a perfidious act, it will be easy to break with him. How many true friends have hurt one involuntarily! A man is not friend of yours, if you need one to arbitrate between him and you. Had you the world to give, it would still fall short of gaining you a hypocrite's friendship. It is in a time of reverse that one can tell one's friend from one's enemy. The worse friend is he who frequents you in prosperity, and deserts you in misfortune. If a friend envies you then he is not a true friend. A friend cannot be considered as a friend unless he is tested on three occasions: in time of need; behind your back and after your death.
A single enemy is one too many. Despise not an enemy, even a weak one. A man unable to distinguish good and evil is an enemy. Be no dupe of the fair professions of any enemy; for an enemy is like water that exposed to the action of fire, will put it out. The enemy who shows his hatred is the one of least account. To spare enemies adorns power. If there should a reconciliation come about between your enemy and yourself, and you pledge your word there to honor you obligation, obedient to the vice of your conscience. Whoever deserts his own side helps his enemies.
'Manly bravery' is a general term embracing all other qualities. The alms of bravery are a holy war. Assuredly, the most honorable end to a man's life is death on the field of honor. I swear by Him in whose keeping is my soul that I would rather die a thousand sabre blows that in my bed. If you are able to discriminate, it will be a certainty for you that bravery and truth are always found together, and falsehood and cowardice. Bravery is a resplendent honor, and cowardice a visible degration. Be ashamed to flee on the day of battle. It will spell dishonor for your descendants, and hell for yourself on the Day of Judgment. Have flight in horror! It is to clothe yourself with dishonor and fit yourself for hell. By Allah! If today you flee before the sward of an enemy, you will not tomorrow escape that of the Supreme Judge. The coward has no enjoyment of life.
Great qualities confer nobility, and not the decayed bones of ancestors. Filial piety is a proof of good birth. Noble rank goes with intelligence and education, and not with birth and wealth. Man bear a closer resemblance to their contemporaries than to their fathers. A bad son destroys all one's honor, and disgraces his ancestors.
One wins a fortune by taking risks. Happy is he whose riches are won by honest means. Money is not lost when it is spent for your good name. Whosoever gets no profit from what he possesses, only accumulates it for his wife and her next husband. Do not count the man as rich who dies not spend. Whosoever 'disobeys' worldly possessions, will be 'obeyed' by worldly possessions. How ugly a crime: to seize upon an orphan's property! The worst expropriation is when the things in question have been placed with you in trust. Too many debts make a sincere man a liar, and the honorable man to default. It is excess of riches that corrupts men's hearts, and multiplies sins. Seek help from Allah against the drunkenness of wealth, of which one cures oneself only with such difficult.
The man content with little need not much. There is no such wealth as contentment. Whosoever is contented with the lot that Allah has appointed him, will not be grieved because of what he lacks. If you cannot get things as much as you desire then be content with what you have.
Let not poverty and misfortune distress you; for as gold is tried in the fire, the believer is exposed to trials. One who makes parade of poverty, degrades himself.
The avaricious man is treasurer to his heirs. The avaricious man is poor, even if the whole world is his. When the avaricious man succeeds beyond his limit, his demeanor changes. A miser always feels humiliated, and a jealous man is forever diseased. Cupidity debases. Greed debases a man. Death is less hard than asking for alms. It is good men's pleasure to give food to others; that of the avaricious is for themselves to eat. Greed and covetousness dulls the faculties of Judgment and wisdom. Greed is permanent slavery. One who develops the trait of greediness and avarice invites degradation; one who keeps on advertising his poverty and ill-luck will always be humiliated; one who has not control over his tongue will often have to face embarrassment and discomfort.
Chastity is a strong fortress. The alms of the fair are chastity. Chastity weakens voluptuousness. You begin voluptuousness, but ruin ends it.
Health is the greatest of all possessions. Sobriety is health. These two are not appreciated until lost; youth and health. Heigh-ho! Wealth is a blessing, but health is greater: better still is a virtuous heart. Confidence comes of a tranquil heart and a healthy body. If one is healthy, it is a pleasure to be alive. Drink the water of heaven; for rainwater diseases. To give up desiring things is the most efficacious remedy. Cure your diseases by giving alms. Shun the full stomach that sicknesses follow and evil dreams. Whoever will not suffer the deprivation of forbidden meats, sees his disease drag on. To conceal one's sickness from the doctor is to be a traitor to one's health. Let your abstinence be the revenge you take on your greed, as one applies the lex talionis in vengeance on an enemy.
When you feed the poor, feed them well. A believer does not eat his fill as long as his brother is an-hungered. He who eats little is the purer for it in thought. Sobriety is the wealth of the poor; knowledge, that is the wise. Sobriety enriches. The drunkenness of overweening conceit and pride passes off more slowly than that of wine. The little that you give in the way of Allah will bring great returns to you. It is wiser to abstain than to repent. If you want to pray to the Rabb for better means of subsistence than first give something in charity. Do not be ashamed if the amount of charity is small because to return the needy empty-handed is an act of greater shame.
Be generous but not extravagant; be frugal but not miserly. If you help a deserving person without his request than it is generosity and if you help him after his request then mostly it is due to shyness to refuse or fear of reproach.
A lost opportunity never recurs until too late. One's opportunity passes rapidly, and comes back only slowly. Opportunity is gone like a cloud: take advantage, then, of every good one. If you can, seize opportunity in its flight; for you will never overtake it. Day and night are ever at work upon you; make you, then, use of them. As they take from you, so should you take from them. Each of your moments is a part of your life; use the time, then, for your salvation.
He triumphs who has learnt to wait. Of bitter patience is the fruit success. Whoever knocks persistently, ends by entering. It is up to you to show patience in misfortune and distress. Time has two days: one is for you; the other against. Be not puffed up by success, and patient in adversity. Assuredly, misfortune is not unlimited; it will end. Have patience, then, until the end comes. Look for joy to follow sadness, and despair not of the compassion of heaven. How much good has reached you whence you never expected it! Affliction is easily borne by one who knows how to be patient. If you are not a patient man, then appear as if you were. It is seldom that one imitates men without growing to resemble them. Impatience is only justified when it helps in removing an ill to a distance, or obviating it. Bear sorrows and calamities patiently otherwise you will never be happy. One who adopts patience will never be deprived of success though the success may take a long time to reach him. Acquire patience and endurance, because their relation with true faith is that of a head to a body; a body is of no use without a head, similarly true faith can be of no use without attributes of resignation, endurance and patience.
Forgiveness is the crown of great qualities. Accept his excuse who seeks your forgiveness. It is better not to commit a sin than to ask forgiveness for one. The wickedest man is he who finds no excuse for anyone, nor ever pardons. Hasten not to punish a man for a fault committed; but leave room for pardon between the two acts. Punish your servant, if he disobeys Allah, but forgive his disobedience to yourself. When you have triumphed over your enemy, pardon him as a way of returning thanks to Allah for giving you the strength to conquer. Whoever sees his own error, is tender of another's fault. Only he can forgive who has power to punish. If you get an opportunity and power over your enemy then, in thankfulness to Allah for this, forgive him. Best deeds of a great man is to forgive and forget.
One without pity for others will never be pitied. Whoever has compassion upon orphans, will see his own children treated kindly.
One who practices moderation and temperance will never be troubled with poverty.
A promise is a debt paid in fulfilling it. A liberal man's promise is hard cash. Make no promise you will be unable to keep. A kind refusal is worth more than a far-off promise. The generous man performs what he promises, and when he is powerful, he spares his enemy. Accept promises of only such persons who can steadfastly adhere to their pledges.
Beware of anger, which begins from madness, and ends with repentance. Anger is a raging fire. Whoever can subdue his anger, puts out the fire: whoever cannot, gets burnt himself. Anger is species of madness, since repentance succeeds to it; or if it does not, it means that the madness is too firmly established. Master your indignation and the fury of your anger, until your anger leaves you, and wisdom returns. The man of great meritoriousness in the one who can smoother his anger, and not take advantage of his power.
Polite manners are the best patrimony that fathers can bequeath to their children. There is no adornment like politeness. Everything must be according to reason, and reason itself must be polite. No nobleness of birth will rise one whose own incivility lowers him. Be respectful alike to your teacher and to those you teach. Be courteous with your enemy, and sincere with your friend. You will so uphold brotherliness, and preserve generosity. Be of so agreeable behavior, that you will be mourned when you die, and sighed for when absent. Be gentle with men, so as to draw profit from their good dispositions, and show a smiling face, to kill their hostility. Gentleness wins men over to one's side.
The strongest man is he who can fight against himself. The strongest man is whoever can make his reason conquer his passions. To let your reason be overpowered by your passion is to cover yourself with opprobrium. Whoever capitulates to his passions, distroys his reason. Beware of too strong a passion for women, and be not greedy of pleasure. In the first case you are tried by misfortune, and in the second, despiesed and humiliated. The sweetness of pleasure is not worth the bitterness of hardships. Whosoever aspires to reach high places must subdue his passions.
Jealousy is the soul's prison. Jealousy brings sadness. Jealousy corrodes the body. Jealousy is a disease incurable that ceases not until the death of the jealous one, or the person he is jealous of. A jealous man makes the worst companion. A miser always feels humiliated, and a jealous man is forever diseased. What a petty thing it is to be jealous of the happiness of one's friend.
Discord is the fount of much grief. Wrangling is the fount of ruin (literally, the 'heading' of ruin, as a chapter heading declares its content.) The best ordered affairs are put out of order by disagreements.
Show gratitude to your banefacter, and confer benefits on whoever shows gratitude to you. Look often with attention on your inferior: it is one of the ways of expressing gratitude to heaven.
In everything observe the golden mean. Prudence watches whilst negligence slumbers. The provident never puts off until tomorrow what he could do today. To have regard for consequences is to avoid accidents. It is by reflecting over consequences that you will preserve yourself from danger. Be cautious: you will so avoid danger. Do not get mixed up in the affairs of the Saltan at a time of trouble. A voyager is not always safe in a calm sea; how shall he escape destruction when the winds buffet and the waves rage? Choose no way in which there is the fear of your losing yourself. Whoever strays from the beaten road, falls into the abyss. Who hurries, trips. Stumbling is the fruit of haste. Even the best mount may stumble. Who digs a pit for his brother, falls therein. If one mounts the horse of iniquity, it will lead one astray. Whoever mounts the horse of obstinacy, asks for trouble. Shut no door that you will not be able to open. Do not strive with one against whom you could not defend yourself. Do not say what you fear will be disappoved. Do not rejoice at another's fall; for you know not what life has in store for you. Hate men, and you will repent it. When you see a blameable trait in another, guard against its showing in yourself. Do not hasten to the highest rooms at feasts. One who enters by the wrong door, arouses suspicion. Being economical is half one's victuals. Do not act of which the embarrassed author must make denial. It is great virtue never to make in secret a plan that you would blush to disclose. Be on your guard against committing an act, the knowledge of which would throw discredit on the doer, and degrade him. Whoever chases a mirage, draws out his suffering and increases his thirst. Do not associate with a poltroon; for he will weaken you in action, and make that appear to you as great which is not great. The hot pursuit of pleasure leads on astray and brings loss. Do not let your heart know regret for the past; for so you will not have time to occupy yourself in the future. It is astonishing that a man should speak of a matter, when a report of his words would mean hurt to him, and they do him no good, if not reported. Be obedient to your superior, and your inferior will obey you. Whoever gives himself pain uselessly, injures himself. Shun the society of those whose talk of another one is vicious; for every companion of theirs, there is a share. Shun the society of the wicked; they are like the fire that burns all who approach it. Shun debauchees: to approve the conduct of such men is to enrol oneself as one of them. Shun committing debaucheries openly: to do that is one of the violentest of sins.
When you have sinned, repent. The penitent finds his way back to Allah. Repentance absolves one from every fault.
Right is a sword that never blunts. Habit is a second nature. Whosoever is bad elementally, has a hateful look. How guide another, if one is astray oneself? Your weakness is hidden as long as the luck is yours. So tender a skin will never withstand hell-fire. Hope is like a mirage: it deceives the looker, and gives the lie to whosoever counts on it. Uxoriousness is the dullard's dart. What is predestined cannot be turned aside; hence it is useless to be on one's defence. Who ever is betrayed by his agent, will see all his projects spoiled. Whoever attains the highest step of his ambition, ought to prepare for the maximum of disgust. The frequenter of tools is despised. Vengeance, of all the acts of a powerful man, is the most odious. Modesty uplifts; pride brings low. Do not be suspicious. To harbour suspicion of one's benefactor is the blackest sin and the ugliest injustice. To give yourself up to nonchalance is to lay up regrets. Nonchalance breeds laziness. Shun even the baseness that would bring you to your heart's desire. How ugly is Mr. Facing-both-ways. The death of one's child breaks one's spine. Not every archer hits the mark. One of the greatest of crimes is to destroy a work of art. Who loves a thing will be in haste to bring back the memory of it. Put away vindictiveness, and you will have tranquility of mind and heart. One bold against the king lays himself open to misprison. Whoever betrays his king, loses all security of life. If one loves you, he will criticise you. One who feels his dignity decreasing, will behold his enemy's strength waxing. Whoever asks for more than he deserves, is meet for despair. It is examination that leads to a thing's being appreciated or depreciated. Guard you self-respect from all baseness, though to do so exposes you to danger; you will never find an equivalence for wounded honor. Treat another as you would yourself. Put thine own self in the balance between thyself and others, loving for them whatsoever thou lovest for thyself, and hating for them what you hatest for thyself. Do the good thou lovest should be done to thyself, and oppress not, since then lovest not to be oppressed. Respect the rights of whosoever rspects yours, whatever his position, and and rank. Be good to animals: neither ill-treat them, nor place on them loads beyond their strength to bear. Not to commit faults counts for more than to do good. Treachery worsens every other fault. The beasts have no concern other than their stomachs, and wild beasts think of nothing but to work ill to others. [Asked how far it is from the east to the west, Hazrat Ali answered (kr)]: A day's journey of the sun. Happy is the man who always kept the life after death in his view, who remembered the Day of Reckoning through all his deeds, wholed a contented life and who was happy with the lot that Allah hath destined for him. So long as luck is favouring you, your defects will be hidden from the eyes of the world. The world, which offers you vicious pleasures is like a snake, so soft to touch, but so full of lethal poison. Unwise people are allured by it and drawn towards it and wise men avoid it and keep away from it's poisonous effects. Blessed is the man who humbles himself before Allah, whose sources of income are honest, whose intentions are always honorable, whose character is noble, in the name and in the cause of Allah is the wealth which is lying surplus with him, who controls his tongue form vicious and useless talk, who abstains from oppression and tyranny, who cheerfully and faithfully follows the traditions of the Holy Messenger (saws) and who keeps himself away form innovations in religion.
