Abu Araka said: I heard Ali (AS) saying: “God has servants whose hearts the fear of God has broken, so that they refrain from speech. They regard themselves as the worst of men, while they are the shrewd, the righteous.” (al-Zuhd, vol. 1, p. 5)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: God has servants whose hearts are so filled with the fear of God that it has silenced them. They consider themselves the worst of people, while they are the best and the most discerning.
Zayd ibn Ali, from his forefathers, from Ali (AS), who said: I heard the Messenger of God (PBUH) say: “Speech is of three kinds: profitable, safe, and ruinous. The profitable is that which makes mention of God; the safe is that which says what God loves; and the ruinous is that which plunges into [talk about] people.” (al-Zuhd, vol. 1, p. 7)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) related from the Messenger of God (PBUH): There are three kinds of speech: the profitable, which is the remembrance of God; the safe, which is to say what is pleasing to God; and the ruinous, which is to talk about people.
From Abu Ja'far (AS), who said: In the book of Ali, the Commander of the Faithful (AS): “The false oath and the severing of kinship leave dwellings empty of their inhabitants and cause mercy to depart; and in the departure of mercy is the cutting off of progeny.” (al-Zuhd, vol. 1, p. 39)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The false oath and the severing of kinship uproot one's progeny, because they withhold mercy from a person. And when mercy is withheld from someone, his progeny is cut off.
Al-Asbagh ibn Nubata said: I was sitting with the Commander of the Faithful (God's blessings be upon him) when a man came to him and complained to him of the world and disparaged it. The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said to him: “Indeed the world is the mosque of God's beloved ones and the marketplace of His friends; in it they have gained mercy — so why do you disparage it?” (al-Zuhd, vol. 1, p. 47)
Someone was disparaging the world in the presence of the Commander of the Faithful (AS). Ali (AS) said: Why do you disparage the world? The world is the mosque of those who love God and the marketplace of God's friends, in which they gather for themselves the mercy of God.
Isma'il ibn Abi Ziyad, tracing the hadith back to the Commander of the Faithful (AS), said: It was said to him: “What is asceticism in the world?” He said: “It is what is forbidden in it — so shun it.” (al-Zuhd, vol. 1, p. 49)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) was asked: What is asceticism? He said: Asceticism concerns what is forbidden in the world, from which one must keep away.
Muhammad ibn Abi Umayr, from Fadala, from Jamil, who said: I asked Abu Abd Allah (AS) about the word of God, Blessed and Exalted: “So do not claim purity for yourselves; He knows best who is godfearing” [Qur'an 53:32]. He said: There were people who would rise in the morning and say, “We prayed last night and we fasted yesterday.” So Ali (AS) said: “But as for me, I sleep by night and by day, and if I found anything between the two, I would sleep it too.” (al-Zuhd, vol. 1, p. 66)
We asked Imam al-Sadiq (AS) about the verse “So do not claim purity for yourselves; He knows best who is godfearing.” He said: It had become customary for people to praise themselves and to say, “Last night we prayed such-and-such a number of prayers, and on such a day we fasted!” Whenever the Commander of the Faithful (AS) encountered such people, he would say: But I sleep by night and by day; and if I find still more time, I sleep then too.