Jabir reported from Abu al-Tufayl, from Ali (God's blessings be upon him), who said: There is no Muslim servant who says 'There is no god but God' without it ascending, piercing every ceiling, and passing over none of his evil deeds without effacing them, until it reaches good deeds equal to them and there comes to rest. (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p. 3)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When the remembrance 'There is no god but God' leaves the tongue of a believer, it rises up and passes through every barrier. This remembrance destroys the believer's evil deeds and establishes his good deeds firmly.
It is reported from al-Sakuni, from Ja'far ibn Muhammad, from his father, from his forefathers (peace be upon them), that the Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When one of you uncovers himself to relieve himself or for anything else, let him say 'In the name of God', for then Satan lowers his gaze until he is finished. (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p.)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When you uncover yourselves to relieve yourselves or for any other purpose, say 'In the name of God', so that Satan may be unable to look.
It is reported from Ali ibn Asbat, tracing it back to the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: Whoever recites a hundred verses of the Qur'an, from whatever part of it he wishes, and then says 'O God' seven times, then even if he prayed against a great rock, he would uproot it, if God wills. (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p. 103)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever recites a hundred verses from any part of the Qur'an and then says 'O God' seven times and makes his supplication, his prayer will be granted, God willing.
Muhammad ibn Hilal reported from his father, from his grandfather, that the Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: There is no servant who recites 'Say: I am only a man like you' to the end of the chapter without it becoming for him a light from his sleeping place to the Sacred House of God. (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p. 107)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Reciting the last verse of the chapter of the Cave gives a person a light that illuminates the way from his bed to the Sacred House of God.
It is reported from Isa ibn Abdullah, from his father, from his grandfather, from the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: The Messenger of God (PBUH) said: Whoever recites 'Say: He is God, One' a hundred times when he takes to his bed, God will forgive him the sins of fifty years. (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p. 128)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Reciting the chapter of Divine Oneness a hundred times at bedtime brings forgiveness for fifty years of sins.
Jabir reported from Abu Ja'far (AS) that Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS) said: One day I gave a dinar in charity, and the Messenger of God (PBUH) said to me: Do you not know, O Ali, that the believer's charity does not leave his hands until the jaws of seventy devils have been prised away from it, every one of them urging him not to do it, and that it does not fall into the hand of the beggar until it has fallen into the hand of the Lord, majestic is His glory? Then he recited this verse: 'Do they not know that it is God who accepts repentance from His servants and takes the charitable offerings, and that God is the Ever-Relenting, the Merciful?' [Qur'an 9:104] (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p. 141)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: One day I gave a dinar in charity. When the Messenger of God (PBUH) learned of it, he said: When the believer's charity leaves his hand, it is delivered from the whispering of seventy devils who seek to prevent him from giving it. And this charity, the moment it reaches the hand of the beggar, has reached the hand of God. God says: It is God Himself who accepts repentance from His servants and takes the charitable offerings; God is the Ever-Relenting, the Merciful.
It is reported from Asim ibn Hamza, from the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: Invoking blessings upon the Prophet (PBUH) wipes out sins more surely than water puts out fire, and is better than freeing slaves. (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p. 153)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Invoking blessings upon the Prophet and his family cleanses a person's faults more swiftly than water extinguishes fire, and is better than freeing a slave.
It is reported from al-Harith al-A'war, who said: The Commander of the Faithful Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS) said: Every supplication is veiled from heaven until you invoke blessings upon Muhammad and his family. (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p. 155)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Supplications are veiled from ascending to heaven unless they are accompanied by blessings upon the Prophet and his family.
Ishaq reported from al-Harith, from the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: Whoever says three times in the evening, 'So glory be to God when you reach evening and when you rise in the morning; to Him be praise in the heavens and the earth, and at nightfall and at noontide' [Qur'an 30:17-18], will not miss any good that is to come in that night, and all its evil will be turned away from him. And whoever says the same in the morning will not miss any good that is to come in that day, and all its evil will be turned away from him. (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p. 166)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever recites three times, morning and evening, the noble verse 'So glory be to God when you reach evening and when you rise in the morning; to Him be praise in the heavens and the earth, and at nightfall and at noontide' [Qur'an 30:17-18], will receive all the good of that day or night and be protected from its evil.
Ja'far ibn Muhammad reported from his father (AS), from his forefathers, from the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: Wear rings of carnelian, and God will bless you and you will be safe from affliction. (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p. 174)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Wear a carnelian ring on your hand, for it is blessed and preserves you from affliction.
It is reported from al-Mas'udi, who said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever repents, God turns to him in forgiveness, and his limbs are commanded to conceal his sins, and the tracts of the earth are commanded to keep them hidden, and the recording angels are made to forget what they had written against him. (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p. 179)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever repents, God accepts his repentance and turns toward him. When that happens, God commands his limbs to conceal his past sins, commands the tracts of the earth to keep his faults hidden, and tells his two recording angels to forget what they have written.
It is reported from al-Halabi, from Abu Abdillah (AS), who said: In the book of Ali (AS) it is written that whoever consumes the property of orphans unjustly, the evil consequence of it will overtake his own descendants after him in this world, for God, Mighty and Exalted, says: 'Let those fear who, if they left behind weak offspring, would be anxious for them; let them fear God and speak justly' [Qur'an 4:9]. And as for the Hereafter, God, Mighty and Exalted, says: 'Those who consume the property of orphans unjustly are only consuming fire into their bellies, and they will burn in a blazing flame' [Qur'an 4:10]. (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p. 233)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever lays hands on an orphan's property will see the evil consequence of that deed fall upon his own survivors in this very world. As God has said: Those who are anxious about the future of the young children they will leave behind should fear wronging the orphan children of others, should be mindful of God, and should deal with orphans with due care. Concerning the punishment in the Hereafter, God says in the following verse: Those who consume the property of orphans unjustly are in fact filling their own bellies with fire! Soon they will burn in the Blaze!
It is reported from Abu Abdillah, from his father (AS), who said: In the testament of the Commander of the Faithful (AS) it was said: Do not abandon the pilgrimage to the House of your Lord, lest you perish. And he said: Whoever abandons the pilgrimage for the sake of some worldly need, that need will not be fulfilled until he sees the pilgrims with shaven heads returning. (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p. 236)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Do not abandon the pilgrimage, or you will come to ruin. Whoever abandons the pilgrimage for the sake of some worldly need will find that the pilgrims return from the Hajj with shaven heads while his need is still unfulfilled!
It is reported from Ja'far ibn Muhammad (AS) that Ali (AS) said: In Hell there is a millstone that grinds. Will you not ask me what it grinds? It was said: What does it grind, O Commander of the Faithful? He said: Corrupt scholars, immoral reciters of the Qur'an, and lying religious guides. (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p. 253)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: In Hell there is a millstone that grinds up scholars who do not act on their knowledge, reciters of the Qur'an who do evil, and lying mystics.
It is reported from al-Husayn ibn al-Mukhtar, tracing it back to the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: Whoever does something for the sake of boasting, God will raise him up on the Day of Resurrection with a blackened face. (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p. 255)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever performs a deed for the sake of display and boasting, even if that deed is a good one, will be raised up on the Day of Resurrection with a blackened face.
It is reported from al-Asbagh ibn Nubata, from Ali (AS), who said: When God, Mighty and Exalted, is angry with a town but does not send down punishment upon it, its prices soar, the lives of its people are shortened, its merchants make no profit, its fruits do not ripen, its rivers do not flow, its rains are withheld, and its wicked are given power over it. (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p. 256)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When God is angry with a land but no annihilating punishment is to be sent down upon it, several things occur: prices rise continually, building and cultivation decline, stagnation takes hold, undertakings bear no fruit, the rivers dry up, the sky yields little rain, and the wicked gain mastery over the people.
It is reported from Sa'd al-Iskaf, from al-Asbagh, from the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: Any ruler who screens himself from the needs of the people, God will screen Himself from him and from his needs on the Day of Resurrection. If he accepts a gift, it is misappropriation, and if he accepts a bribe, he is an idolater. (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p. 262)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Any official of the state who hides himself from the requests of the people, God will hide Himself from him on the Day of Resurrection. If a state official accepts a gift, he has committed a betrayal, and if he accepts a bribe, he has committed idolatry. (We would say: in the case of a bribe, the one who takes it destroys the right of another person and hands it over to us in exchange for the bribe; whereas in the case of a gift, we are compelled to give something in order to receive our own lawful right, without anyone else's rights being at stake.)
With this chain of transmission, Ali (AS) said: None of you should be present where a tyrannical ruler is beating a man unjustly and with hostility, whether the man is accepted or wronged, if he is not going to help him; for aiding a believer is a binding obligation, and it becomes so as soon as one is present. Well-being lies in remaining at a distance, so long as the obligation of being present has not become binding upon you. God has said: 'They did not forbid one another the evil they committed' [Qur'an 5:79]. (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p. 261)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When a tyrannical ruler unjustly punishes someone, if you cannot prevent it, then as far as possible do not be present there. For helping the wronged is obligatory once you are present, and it is easier to remain safe and free of obligation so long as the proof has not been established against you.
With this chain of transmission it is related: A man challenged one of the Banu Hashim to single combat, and he refused to fight him. Ali (AS) said to him: What prevented you from fighting him? He said: He was the champion horseman of the Arabs, and I feared he would defeat me. He said to him: He wronged you, and had you fought him you would have defeated him; for if one mountain were to wrong another, the wrongdoer would perish. (Thawab al-A'mal, vol. 1, p. 276)
The narrator said: A man challenged someone of the Banu Hashim to combat. The Hashimite was afraid and shrank from the fight. Ali (AS) said: Why did you draw back from the field? He said: This man is one of the champions of the Arabs, and I fear he will overcome me! He said: This man has wronged you! If you meet him in combat you will certainly prevail. Then he said: If one mountain were to wrong another, the wrongdoer would in the end be destroyed.