Abu Basir, from Abu Abd Allah (AS), who said: Ali (AS) used to say: “Affliction comes to our Shi'a swifter than a torrent to the bottom of the valley.” (al-Mu'min, vol. 1, p. 30)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) used to say: Our Shi'a are as exposed to affliction as a watercourse is exposed to the flood.
Abu Basir, from Abu Abd Allah (AS), who said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: “Guard yourselves against sins, for there is no affliction and no diminution of provision except through a sin — even a scratch, a stumble, a misfortune. For God Most High says: ‘Whatever misfortune befalls you is because of what your own hands have earned; and He pardons much’ [Qur'an 42:30].” (al-Mu'min, vol. 1, p. 37)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) used to say: Beware of sin, for there is no affliction and no shortfall in provision but that its cause is sin. Even minor wounds, small misfortunes and mishaps have their root in sin. God has said: The misfortunes that befall you are on account of your own deeds; and even so, God has pardoned much.
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: “There is no one among our Shi'a who commits something we have forbidden him and then dies, until he is tried with an affliction by which his sins are purged — whether in property, or in a child, or in his own person — so that he meets God humbled, with no sin upon him. And if anything of his sins still remains upon him, death is made hard for him, and thus his sins are purged.” (al-Mu'min, vol. 1, p. 38)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When our Shi'a soil themselves with what we have forbidden them, they do not die until they are afflicted with a trial that cleanses that sin. This affliction is either in their property, or in their children, or in their bodies — so that they meet God cleansed of sins and enraptured with love of Him. And if no such afflictions are decreed for them up to the time of death, then the hardship of death becomes the means of their purification.
Abu Basir, from Abu Abd Allah (AS), who said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: “Fever is the herald of death and God's prison on earth: by it He imprisons whom He wills of His servants. It sheds sins as the fur is shed from the camel's hump.” (al-Mu'min, vol. 1, p. 43)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Fever is the harbinger of death and God's prison on earth, whereby He imprisons whichever of His servants He wills. Fever sheds sins just as the down and wool are shed from a camel's hump.
From Rifa'a, from Abu Ja'far (AS), who said: I read in the book of Ali (AS): “The believer passes the evening sorrowful and rises sorrowful, and nothing else is good for him.” (al-Mu'min, vol. 1, p. 44)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: At times the believer passes from day into night and from night into morning in a state of grief and sorrow, and nothing other than this is for his good.
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: “God has made tamahhul obligatory upon the righteous in the Book of God.” It was said: “And what is tamahhul?” He said: “When your face is more favoured than his face, you seek [what he needs] for him.” And he (AS) said concerning the word of God, Mighty and Majestic: “and they prefer others above themselves, even though poverty be their lot” [Qur'an 59:9]: “Do not keep for yourself, in preference to him, that of which he is more in need than you.” (al-Mu'min, vol. 1, p. 44)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Indeed God has made tamahhul obligatory upon the good in His Book. They asked: What is tamahhul? He said: That if your brother turns to you and asks your help, you do not cast his face down. Then he said: This matter is expressed in the word of God: They give others preference over themselves, even though they themselves are in hardship. Then he said: Do not withhold from your friend and brother what he needs.
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: “God has entrusted provision to foolishness, deprivation to intelligence, and affliction to patience.” (al-Mu'min, vol. 1, p. 46)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Provision and sustenance are bound up with foolishness and lack of wit; deprivation with intellect and sagacity; and affliction with patience and endurance.
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: “Whoever is straitened in his means and does not suppose that this is a goodly regard from God toward him has squandered something hoped for; and whoever is given ease in his means and does not suppose that this is a gradual ensnarement (istidraj) from God has felt secure from a fearful thing.” (al-Mu'min, vol. 1, p. 48)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever finds life narrow and hard upon him and does not regard it with a good eye, seeing that this state is God's kindness, has lost a great treasure. And whoever finds his life in ease and does not say, “Might this be a gradual ensnarement?” — he has felt secure, without cause, from a fearful thing.
Sahl ibn Ziyad traced it back, saying: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: “How many a man wearies himself while his provision is straitened, and how many a moderate seeker whom the decrees have aided.” (al-Mu'min, vol. 1, p. 53)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Many are those who wear themselves out in pursuit of their livelihood, yet their livelihood remains straitened; and many are those who make little effort in seeking their livelihood, and God's decree makes their provision ample.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: “Misfortunes have ends which they must inevitably reach. So when one of you is decreed to undergo them, let him bow his head before them and be patient until they pass; for to employ stratagems against them at their onset only increases their hatefulness.” (al-Mu'min, vol. 1, p. 64)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Misfortunes and hardships have an end, and according to a fixed decree they finally come to their term. So if you are stricken by them, bow your heads in submission before them and be patient, for contriving against them at the time of their onset only increases pain and trouble.
From the Commander of the Faithful Ali (AS), that he said: “That I should feed your brother a single morsel is more beloved to me than that I should give a dirham in charity.” (al-Mu'min, vol. 1, p. 62)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Feeding a friend or acquaintance carries greater reward than almsgiving.