From Sama'a ibn Mihran, from Abu Abd Allah (AS), who said: In the book of Ali (AS) it is written: The people most severely tried are the prophets, then the executors of their wills, then those who most resemble them, and so on in order. The believer is tried only in proportion to his good deeds: whoever's religion is sound and whose work is sound, his trial is more severe. That is because God, Mighty and Majestic, has not made this world a reward for a believer nor a punishment for an unbeliever; and whoever's religion is feeble and whose work is weak, his trial is slight. Trial comes more swiftly to the God-fearing believer than rain to the depths of the earth. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 1, p. 44)
Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said: In the book of Ali (AS) it is written: The people most severely afflicted and tried are the prophets, then the executors of their wills, and then those who most resemble them. In principle, the believer is tried in proportion to the good deeds he has performed. So the one whose religion and deeds are sound is tried the more. For God has not made this world the reward of the believer nor the punishment of the unbeliever, and the one whose religion is feeble and whose deeds are weak is tried the less. Affliction and trial come to the God-fearing believer more swiftly than rain falling upon the earth.
We say: in the noble verse it is said: 'And We shall surely try you with something of fear and hunger and loss of wealth and lives and fruits; and give glad tidings to the patient' [Qur'an 2:155]. Trial is outwardly bitter, but inwardly, on condition of patience, submission and the fulfilment of one's duty, it is sweet. Trial is among the means that God keeps at hand for the training of His friends. The friends of God accept affliction willingly, attain divine unity through it, and in the midst of it come to possess light and joy: 'Those who, when a calamity befalls them, say: Truly we belong to God and truly to Him we return. Upon them are blessings from their Lord, and mercy; and it is they who are rightly guided' [Qur'an 2:156-157]. Affliction does not contradict the ease that God has promised the God-fearing, and it does not necessarily entail poverty and destitution! Elsewhere He has also said: 'Say: Nothing will befall us except what God has written for us; He is our Protector, and upon God let the believers rely' [Qur'an 9:51]. That He said 'nothing will befall us except what God has written FOR us', and did not say 'written AGAINST us', is a subtle point: calamities are for our growth and in the end are to our benefit.
From Umar ibn Ali, from his father Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS), when he was asked about the intellect. He said: When a person reaches maturity, a light falls into his heart, and by it he understands the obligatory and the customary, the good and the bad. Truly, the likeness of the intellect in the heart is like the likeness of a lamp in the middle of a house. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 1, p. 98)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The intellect is a light that shines into a person's heart when he reaches maturity, and by means of that light he understands the obligations of God and the practices of the Sunna, and good and bad. The intellect in the heart is like a lamp in the middle of a house.
Muhammad ibn Abi Umayr, from one whom he named, from Abu Abd Allah (AS), who said: I said to him: Why did the Commander of the Faithful (AS) not fight against so-and-so and so-and-so and so-and-so? He said: Because of a verse in the Book of God, Mighty and Majestic: 'Had they been separated out, We would surely have punished those of them who disbelieved with a painful punishment' [Qur'an 48:25]. I said: And what is meant by their being separated out? He said: The deposits of believers in the loins of a disbelieving people. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 1, p. 147)
The narrator said: We asked Imam al-Sadiq (AS) why the Commander of the Faithful (AS) did not kill certain people. He said: Because of the verse which says, 'Once the believers are separated from the unbelievers, then We shall punish the unbelievers' [Qur'an 48:25]. The narrator said: How were they to be separated? The Imam (AS) said: The believers first had to be born from the loins of the unbelievers.
From Abu Ja'far (AS), who said: Nothing prevented Ali (AS) from calling the people to himself except that it was more beloved to him that they should remain astray without turning away from Islam than that he should call them, and they refuse him, and so all of them become unbelievers. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 1, p. 150)
Imam al-Baqir (AS) said: The reason the Commander of the Faithful (AS) did not insist upon his own caliphate was that he saw that the people would refuse and become unbelievers, whereas for them to remain Muslims, even though astray, was better than for them to become unbelievers.
From Abu Abd Allah (AS), who said: I said to him: Why did the Commander of the Faithful (AS) not take back Fadak when he ruled over the people, and for what reason did he leave it? He said: Because the wrongdoer and the wronged had both already gone before God, Mighty and Majestic; God had rewarded the wronged and punished the wrongdoer. So he was averse to reclaiming something for which God had already punished its usurper and rewarded the one from whom it had been usurped. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 1, p. 154)
Imam al-Sadiq (AS) was asked why the Commander of the Faithful (AS) did not restore Fadak during his caliphate. He said: Because both the wrongdoer and the wronged had already passed away, and God had punished the wrongdoer and rewarded the wronged. So there was no longer any point in restoring Fadak.
From Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, who said: The Prophet (PBUH) used to say: In the Hereafter my banner will be in Ali's hand. Blessed is he who loves him, and woe to him who hates him! The roaring of Hell will rise, its heat will intensify and its sparks will fly; then it will cry out: Pass on, O Ali, for your light has extinguished my flame! And Ali will say to it: Be still, O Hell! Take this one and leave that one; take this one, my enemy, and leave that one, my friend. On that day Hell will be more obedient to Ali in what he commands it than a servant boy. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 1, p. 164)
Abu Sa'id al-Khudri relates from the Messenger of God (PBUH) that he said: In the Hereafter my banner is in Ali's hand. Blessed are those who love Ali, and woe to his enemies! On the Day of Resurrection Hell roars and blazes and its sparks leap up, and it says: Ali! Keep away from me, for your light has extinguished my fire! Ali (AS) answers it: Be still! Then he commands it: Seize this man, for he was my enemy, and let this one go, for he is my friend. On that day Hell obeys Ali like a servant boy.
(Written on the night of the twenty-first of the blessed month of Ramadan, in the year 1403 of the solar Hijri calendar.)
From Abu Abd Allah (AS), from his father, from his grandfather (AS), who said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: I marvel at the son of Adam: his beginning is a drop of fluid and his end a carcass, and between the two he stands as a vessel for excrement, and yet he is arrogant. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 1, p. 275)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: How strange is the son of Adam! His beginning is a drop of fluid and his end a carcass; and between the two he is a sack of excrement. And with all this, he is arrogant!
From Habib al-Sijistani, from Abu Ja'far (AS), from the Commander of the Faithful (AS): There is no tree and no palm but that with it is an angel from God Almighty who guards it and whatever is in it. Were there not with it one to protect it, the wild beasts and the vermin of the earth would devour it when its fruit is upon it. The Messenger of God (PBUH) forbade any Muslim to relieve himself beneath a tree or a palm that has borne fruit only because of the angels appointed over it. He said: For this reason a tree or a palm gives a feeling of companionship when it bears its fruit, because the angels are present at it. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 1, p. 276)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: There is no tree but that an angel from God is always watching over it. Were it not so, pests and animals would destroy that tree and its produce. It was because of those appointed angels that the Messenger of God (PBUH) also forbade relieving oneself beneath fruit-bearing trees. The reason for the companionship a person feels with a tree, especially when it bears fruit, is the very angels who are present there.
From al-Asbagh ibn Nubata, who said: Ali (AS) used to say: As for the one who performs the ritual bath on Friday, he remains in a state of purity until the next Friday. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 1, p. 285)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: One who performs the ritual bath on Friday for the sake of God possesses inner purity for a whole week.
From Ja'far ibn Muhammad, from his father (AS): Ali (AS) used to break down the prayer niches when he saw them in the mosques, and he would say: They are like the altars of the Jews. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 320)
Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said: In every mosque where the Commander of the Faithful (AS) saw a prayer niche, he would demolish it and say: Have you built the altars of the Jews?!
(We say: in the time of the Messenger of God the word mihrab was applied to the very place where he stood ahead of the others for prayer. After Umar was stabbed with a dagger in the mihrab, Uthman built a small chamber in the mihrab to protect his life and separated the mihrab from the mosque. From that time on, that small chamber, which was separated from the mosque by a grille or lattice, was called the mihrab. The Commander of the Faithful (AS) regarded this act of Uthman's as an innovation and set about demolishing the mihrabs. As a result, the mihrab fell out of use in Iraq and the Hijaz; but in Syria, after Mu'awiya was stabbed with a dagger in the Umayyad Mosque, life-protecting mihrabs again became popular. Marwan too, when he was caliph, was the target of an assassination attempt, and so he built himself a sturdy mihrab of carved stone. With the consolidation of the caliphate such mihrabs gradually fell out of use, and body searches at the entrances of mosques took their place.)
From Ja'far ibn Muhammad, from his father (AS): Ali (AS) saw a mosque in Kufa that had been given battlements and raised high, and he said: It is as though it were a church. And he said: Mosques are not to be raised with battlements; they are to be built plain and low. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 320)
Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said: In Kufa the Commander of the Faithful (AS) saw a mosque that had been built like a tower, and he said: Did you perhaps mean to build a church?! Then he said: Do not raise mosques up in this fashion; rather build a dome.
From Ahmad ibn Abd Allah, who said: A man said to the Commander of the Faithful (AS): What is the meaning of stretching out your neck in the bowing? He said: Its inner meaning is: I have believed in Your oneness even were my neck to be struck off. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 320)
Someone asked the Commander of the Faithful (AS) what it means that we stretch out the neck in the bowing. The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: It means, O God, I believe in You so firmly that I would give my head for You. Here is my neck!
From Talha ibn Zayd, from Ja'far ibn Muhammad, from his father, from Ali (AS), who said: When a person is at prayer, truly his body, his clothes and everything around him glorify God. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 336)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When a person is engaged in prayer, his body, his clothing, and everything around him glorify God along with his prayer.
From Abu Basir, from Abu Abd Allah (AS), who said: My father narrated to me, from his father, from his forefathers (peace be upon them): The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When one of you has finished the prayer, let him raise his hands to heaven and apply himself earnestly to supplication. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 344)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When your prayer is over, do not rise at once and leave; rather, raise your hands to heaven and supplicate!
From Abu Basir, from Abu Abd Allah (AS), who said: My father narrated to me, from my grandfather, from his father, from the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said among the things he taught his companions: Do not wear black, for it was the garment of Pharaoh. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 346)
Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) used to say to his companions: Do not wear black clothing, for it was the garment of Pharaoh.
From Zurara, from Abu Ja'far (AS), that he said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) made the khums lawful for them, meaning the Shi'a, so that their birth might be pure. He (AS) said: People have perished through their bellies and their private parts, because they do not render to us our right. Truly, our Shi'a and their children are absolved of that. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 377)
Imam al-Baqir (AS) said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) made the khums lawful for his Shi'a, that is, he lifted its obligation from them, so that their progeny might remain pure. He said: What people eat, and the wealth with which they take wives, has destroyed them, because they do not pay our right out of that wealth. For this reason I have made the khums lawful for my Shi'a and for the Shi'a of generations to come, so that they may not fall into this defilement and destruction.
From Isma'il ibn Dinar, tracing it back to Abu Abd Allah (AS), who said: Two men were boasting against each other in the presence of the Commander of the Faithful (AS). He said: Do you boast of bodies that decay and of souls that are in the Fire? If you have God-consciousness, then you have nobility; otherwise the donkey is better than you, and you are better than no one. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 393)
Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said: Two men boasted against each other in the presence of the Commander of the Faithful (AS). He (AS) said: Do you boast of bodies that decay and of souls that belong to Hell?! If you have God-consciousness, you are worthy of pride; otherwise the donkey is better than you.
From Shurayh ibn Hani, from Ali (AS), that he said: If people knew what lies in the sacrificial offering, they would take out loans and offer sacrifice. Truly, the owner of the sacrifice is forgiven at the first drop that falls from its blood. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 440)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: If people knew the reward and merit that lies in the sacrifice, they would borrow money and offer a sacrifice. When the first drop of the sacrifice's blood falls upon the ground, its owner is forgiven.
Sulayman ibn Ja'far, from al-Rida (AS), who said: My father informed me, from his father, from his grandfather, that the Commander of the Faithful (God's blessings upon him) took a melon to eat it and found it bitter, so he threw it away and said: Away with it and far off! It was said to him: O Commander of the Faithful, what is the matter with this melon? He said: The Messenger of God (PBUH) said: God, Blessed and Exalted, took the covenant of love for us from every animal and every plant; whatever accepted the covenant became sweet and wholesome, and whatever did not accept the covenant became salty and bitter. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 452)
Imam al-Rida (AS) said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) broke open a melon but found it bitter. So he threw it away and said: Be gone! They said: Why did you say that? He said: The Messenger of God (PBUH) used to say: Love for us was presented to the animals and the plants; each one that accepted that covenant became sweet and pleasant, and each one that did not accept it became salty and foul-tasting.
From Abu Basir, from Abu Abd Allah (AS), who said: My father narrated to me, from my grandfather, from his forefathers (peace be upon them): The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Keep good company with blessings before they depart, for they pass away and bear witness against their possessor as to what he did with them. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 464)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Value the blessings you have before they pass away. For sooner or later they will go, and they will bear witness before God to what you did with them!
By this same chain of transmission: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Name your children before they are born, for if your miscarried children meet you on the Day of Resurrection and you have not named them, the miscarried child will say to his father: Why did you not name me? (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 464)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Name your children while they are still in their mother's womb. For if they are miscarried and have no name, on the Day of Resurrection they will come and complain to their parents: Why did you not give us a name?!
From Wahb ibn Wahb, from Ja'far ibn Muhammad, from his father, from his forefathers (peace be upon them), who said: Ali (AS) said: I dislike that the dower should be less than ten dirhams, lest it resemble the wage of a prostitute. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 501)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) used to say: I do not think it good for the dower to be less than ten dirhams, since such a trifling amount is usually what is given for fornication.
(We say: the unit of wealth is the gold coin, or dinar. Throughout history a gold coin has always been an amount that would comfortably cover a middle-class family's expenses for one month. This was so thousands of years ago, and it is so today. However, the Islamic dinar is about four grams, that is, roughly the equivalent of one half-coin of gold as current today, not a full coin. In the past each gold coin, or dinar, was equal to ten silver coins, or dirhams. But in the modern world the gap between the price of gold and silver has widened and has reached more than fiftyfold. That is, gold has kept its value throughout history, but silver has lost its value. Therefore, in order to know the present-day amount of ten silver dirhams, one must first convert it into gold dinars and then convert that into today's current half-coins. Ten dirhams is equal to one dinar, that is, one of today's half-coins, and it is disliked for the dower to be less than that. To take a dirham as equivalent to four grams of silver, or less, and to calculate the current price of silver, is incorrect, because, as I have said, silver has lost its value in the course of time.)
From Abd Allah ibn Muskan, from Abu Abd Allah (AS), tracing the tradition back to the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: There is no servant but that he has forty shields over him, until he commits forty grave sins. When he commits forty grave sins, the shields are removed from him, and the guardian angels who are with him say: O our Lord, this servant of Yours, the shields have been removed from him. Then God Almighty reveals to them: Cover My servant with your wings. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 532)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Every human being has forty veils that screen him from disgrace, and with every grave sin he commits one of those veils falls away from him. When all forty have fallen, the angels say: O God, this servant of Yours is on the verge of being disgraced. Then God reveals to them: Cover his sins with your wings, so that his honour may be preserved.
By this chain of transmission, from al-Hasan ibn Kathir, from his father, who said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) brought out Shuraha al-Hamdaniyya, and the people were so crushed together that they nearly killed one another. When he saw this, he ordered that she be taken back, until the crush had eased; then she was brought out and the gate was shut. He said: They stoned her until she died. Then he ordered the gate to be opened, and everyone who came in began to curse her. When he saw this, his herald called out: O people, restrain your tongues from her, for no prescribed punishment is carried out but that it is an expiation for that sin, just as a debt is discharged by its payment. He said: By God, thereafter not a lip stirred against her. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 540)
The narrator relates that when the Commander of the Faithful (AS) wished to stone a woman named Shuraha for the crime of adultery, such a crowd gathered that there was fear that some would be trampled to death. So the Imam ordered the gates of the seat of government to be closed and held the proceedings within it. Then he had the gates opened and allowed the people to enter group by group, to see the stoned woman and take heed. People came and cursed the woman, who was dead. The Imam then ordered a herald to proclaim: O people, hold your tongues from cursing! For once the prescribed punishment has been carried out upon an offender, his sin has been wiped away. The narrator says: After that not a single lip moved, and the people only looked on.
Muhammad ibn Isma'il said: al-Husayn ibn Musa related to me, from his father, from Musa ibn Ja'far, from his father, from his grandfather, from Ali ibn al-Husayn, from his father, from Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS), who said: The Messenger of God (PBUH) was one whose goodness went unacknowledged: his kindness was met with no gratitude, though his kindness extended to the Qurayshi, the Arab and the non-Arab alike. And who has ever shown greater kindness to this creation than the Messenger of God (PBUH)? Likewise we, the People of the House, are ones whose goodness goes unacknowledged: people give us no thanks. And the best of the believers too are ones whose goodness goes unacknowledged: their kindness is met with no gratitude. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 560)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The Messenger of God (PBUH) was mukaffar, that is, his good deeds and kindnesses were met with no thanks or appreciation, even though his goodness was manifest and flowed upon Qurayshi, Arab and non-Arab alike. Truly, who can be found who acted more kindly toward creation than the Messenger of God (PBUH)? Yet even he was given no thanks. We, the People of the House, are likewise mukaffar, and our deeds go unappreciated. And good believers too are mukaffar: their good deeds go unseen and unappreciated.
Isa ibn Ja'far al-Alawi al-Umari, from his forefathers, from Umar ibn Ali, from his father Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS), that the Prophet (PBUH) said: My brother Jesus (AS) passed by a city whose fruit was infested with worms, and the people complained to him of their affliction. He said: The remedy for this is with you, though you do not know it. You are a people who, when you plant trees, first pour on the soil and then pour on the water. But this is not how it should be done; rather you should pour the water at the roots of the tree and then pour on the soil, so that the worm does not get into it. So they began afresh as he had described, and the affliction left them. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 574)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Jesus (AS) was passing through a city where the fruit of the trees was infested with worms. The people complained to him and expressed their distress at the worms. He said: The remedy for this blight is with you, and you know nothing of it! When you plant a tree, you first heap on the soil and then pour on the water, whereas you ought first to pour water at the root of the tree and then heap on the soil, so that worms do not appear in the roots. At Jesus's instruction the people planted their trees anew in the manner he had directed, and the worms disappeared from the fruit.
From Umar ibn Ali, from his father Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS): You, when you eat meat, cook it unwashed; yet nothing departs from this world save in a state of ritual impurity. So wash it. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 575)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Why, when you cook food, do you not wash the meat? No creature departs from this world save in a state of ritual impurity. So wash the meat!
From Ali ibn Asbat, from his uncle Ya'qub, who traced the hadith back to Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS), who said: When one of you takes off his clothes, let him pronounce the name of God, lest the jinn wear them. And do not go after game, for you are then off your guard. When one of you reaches the door of his room, let him pronounce the name of God, for at that Satan flees. And when one of you enters his house, let him give the greeting of peace, for then blessing descends upon him and the angels keep him company. And beware of going out after a spell of sleep, for God has creatures which He sends abroad and which do what they are commanded. And when you hear the barking of dogs and the braying of donkeys, seek refuge with God from the accursed Satan, for they see what you do not see. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 582)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When you take off your clothes, say 'In the name of God', so as to keep them out of the reach of the jinn. In hunting, do not go after an animal in which there is no blessing and which may be lost to you. When you enter your room, say 'In the name of God', so that Satan may be driven off. When you enter your house, give the greeting of peace, even if there is no one at home; this brings down blessing and makes the angels your companions. Do not go out of the house at night without cause, for God has creatures for whom He has appointed the night, and they are disturbed by it. When you hear the barking of a dog or the braying of a donkey, take refuge with God from the satans, for they see things that you do not see.
From Ali ibn Asbat, from his uncle Ya'qub, who traced the hadith back to Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS), who said: What an excellent pastime the spindle is for a righteous woman. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 582)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The best occupation for a virtuous woman is weaving and sewing.
From al-Sakuni, from Ja'far ibn Muhammad, from his father (AS), who said: The Haruriyya were mentioned in the presence of Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS), and he said: If they rise up against the community or against a just imam, then fight them; but if they rise up against a tyrannical ruler, do not fight them, for in that they have a case to make. (Ilal al-Shara'i, vol. 2, p. 603)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) was asked about the Kharijites who would arise in the future, and he said: If they draw the sword against the people, or take up arms against a just imam, then fight them. But if they rise up against a tyrannical ruler, have nothing to do with their affair, for they have an argument of their own.