The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Take from every branch of knowledge its spirit, and leave aside its husks; for knowledge is abundant and life is short. (Nuzhat al-Nazir wa Tanbih al-Khatir, vol. 1, p. 9)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: From the sciences, take their spirit and leave their vessel. The sciences are many, and life is short.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Do good both to the one who deserves it and to the one who does not; for if you do not find one worthy of it, you yourself are worthy of doing it. (Nuzhat al-Nazir wa Tanbih al-Khatir, vol. 1)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Do good—both to the one who deserves kindness and to the one who does not deserve it. For you are worthy of doing good.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whatever of this world you attain, do not rejoice over it excessively; and whatever of it escapes you, do not grieve over it with despair. Let your concern be for what comes after death. (Nuzhat al-Nazir wa Tanbih al-Khatir, vol. 1, p. 43)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: If you attain something of this world, do not rejoice too much; and if something slips from your hands, do not lament over it. Devote your effort to what pertains to the life after this world.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: "Bismillah" (In the name of God) is a cure for every ailment and an aid to every medicine. (Nuzhat al-Nazir wa Tanbih al-Khatir, vol. 1, p. 42)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: "Bismillah" is a cure for every pain and a helper for every remedy.
It is related that the Commander of the Faithful (AS) saw a man praying who had raised his hands in supplication until the whiteness of his armpits showed, raised his voice, and fixed his gaze upward. He (AS) said: Lower your gaze, for you will never see Him; lower your hand, for you will never reach Him; and soften your voice, for He is the most hearing of all who hear. (Nuzhat al-Nazir wa Tanbih al-Khatir, vol. 1, p. 49)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) saw a man who had raised his hands in supplication, lifted his voice in prayer, and fixed his eyes on the sky. So he said: Humble your gaze, for you cannot see God; draw back your hand, for you cannot reach God; and lower your voice, for God is all-hearing.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever worships God well in his youth, God will grant him wisdom in his old age. (Nuzhat al-Nazir wa Tanbih al-Khatir, vol. 1, p. 49)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever worships God well in his youth, God will bestow wisdom upon him in his old age.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: People are of two kinds of workers: one who works for this world, whose worldly life has distracted him from his hereafter; he fears poverty for those he will leave behind while feeling secure from it for himself, and so he wastes his life for the benefit of others. And another who works in this world for what comes after it, and what is his of this world comes to him without labor; so he becomes like a king in the sight of God, who asks nothing of God but that He grants it. (Nuzhat al-Nazir wa Tanbih al-Khatir, vol. 1, p. 53)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: There are two kinds of people: one whom the world has occupied and kept back from the hereafter; though God has provided for him, he is forever afraid that those he leaves behind will fall into poverty. So he squanders his life in this pursuit—to leave behind wealth for his survivors. And the second is one who works in this world for his hereafter. The world then comes to him without his toiling for it, and offers itself to him. Such a person is, in God's sight, like a king to whom whatever he wills is presented.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said to Salman al-Farsi—may God be pleased with him: The likeness of this world is the likeness of a snake: soft to the touch, deadly in its venom. So turn away from whatever in it delights you. (Nuzhat al-Nazir wa Tanbih al-Khatir, vol. 1, p. 55)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said to Salman al-Farsi: The world is like a snake; its surface is soft, but its bite is deadly. So turn away from whatever in this world catches your eye!
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Pardon is for the one who confesses, not for the one who persists. (Nuzhat al-Nazir wa Tanbih al-Khatir, vol. 1, p. 55)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The one who deserves pardon is he who confesses his fault and is remorseful—not he who feels no regret for his fault and even glories in it!
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Beware of those whom your hearts dislike. (Nuzhat al-Nazir wa Tanbih al-Khatir, vol. 1, p. 63)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Always be wary of one whom your heart dislikes.
Jabir ibn Abdillah al-Ansari said: I was following the Commander of the Faithful (AS) when I let out a sigh. He turned to me and said: O Jabir, why this sighing? Is it over this world? Its pleasures are five: what is eaten, what is drunk, what is worn, what is ridden, and what is wedded. The most delicious of foods is honey, and it is the spittle of an insect; the most delicious of drinks is water, and its cheapness and free availability suffice to show its worth; the finest of garments is silk brocade, and it is the saliva of a worm; the finest of mounts are the beasts, and they can kill; and the most desired in marriage are women, and they are a place of urination upon a place of urination—indeed, what is fairest in a woman is sought, yet it leads to what is least fair in her. Jabir said: So I turned away, and I was the most abstinent of people toward this world. (Nuzhat al-Nazir wa Tanbih al-Khatir, vol. 1, p. 68)
The narrator says: I was walking behind the Commander of the Faithful (AS) when I let out a sigh. He turned to me and said: Are you sighing for the world?! The pleasures of the world are no more than five things: what is eaten, what is drunk, what is worn, what is ridden, and what is wedded. The best food of the world, honey, is the regurgitation of an insect; the best drink of the world, water, is available to everyone; the best garment of the world, silk, is the spinning of a worm; the best mount of the world is at times its rider's killer; and the best of what is wedded, woman, is but a private part and nothing more. The narrator says: From the day the Commander of the Faithful (AS) spoke thus, I became an ascetic.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Know that the smallest envy is the greatest disease of the body; it begins with the body of its bearer, as with child and parent, then passes from near kin to those far off. May God shield you from envy and from misery. (Nuzhat al-Nazir wa Tanbih al-Khatir, vol. 1, p. 69)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: .
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The best of things is submission to God Most High, and repose lies in certainty. And where is there any escape from that which is destined to be? It only turns about in the palm of the seeker. (Nuzhat al-Nazir wa Tanbih al-Khatir, vol. 1, p. 70)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The best of deeds is submission before God and finding rest in the shelter of the certainty that "from what is decreed there is no escape." The world turns about in the palm of the seeker's hand, and in the end each person receives only what God has destined.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: No one has ever asked me for a need without thereby gaining a favor over me. It was said: Why is that, O Commander of the Faithful? He said: Because he asks me with the same face with which he asks his Lord. (Nuzhat al-Nazir wa Tanbih al-Khatir, vol. 1, p. 70)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whenever someone asked something of me, looking at his face made me ashamed. They asked: Why? He said: Because I saw that with the very same face with which he turns to God and asks something of God, he has also turned to me and makes a request of me.
Shaykh Abu al-Qasim Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Mufid (may God have mercy on him) informed me, saying: Abu Muhammad Harun ibn Musa al-Tall'ukbari (may God have mercy on him) related, saying: Abu Ali Muhammad ibn Hammam related to us, saying: Ja'far [ibn Muhammad ibn Malik al-Fazari related to me, saying: Muhammad ibn Ja'far] ibn Abdallah related to us, saying: Abu Nu'aym Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Ansari related to me, saying: I was present at the Mustajar in Mecca while a group of about thirty men were circumambulating, among whom there was none sincere except Muhammad ibn al-Qasim al-Alawi. While we were thus, on the sixth day of Dhu al-Hijja in the year 293, a young man came out to us from the circumambulation wearing a bright white wrap, in the state of ihram, with a pair of sandals in his hand. When we saw him we rose in awe and reverence for him; not one of us remained but stood and greeted him, until he sat down in our midst with us around him. Then he looked to the right and to the left and said: Do you know what the Commander of the Faithful (AS) used to say after his prayer? We said: What did he used to say? He said: He used to say: To You the voices are raised; before You the faces are humbled; to You the necks are bowed; and to You is the appeal concerning all deeds. O best of those who are asked, and best of those who give! O Truthful One, O Benevolent One! O You who do not break the promise! O You who commanded supplication and promised the answer! O You who said: "Call upon Me; I will answer you" [Qur'an 40:60]. O You who said: "And when My servants ask you about Me — indeed I am near; I answer the call of the caller when he calls upon Me; so let them respond to Me and believe in Me, that they may be rightly guided" [Qur'an 2:186]. O You who said: "Say: O My servants who have transgressed against their own souls, do not despair of God's mercy" [here I am, at Your service and Your pleasure! Here I stand before You, the transgressor, and You are the One who said: "Do not despair of God's mercy"] "indeed God forgives all sins; truly He is the Forgiving, the Merciful" [Qur'an 39:53]. Then, after this supplication, he looked to the right and to the left and said: Do you know what the Commander of the Faithful (AS) used to say in the "prostration of thanksgiving"? We said: What did he used to say? He said: He used to say: "O You whom the insistence of the insistent only increases in generosity and munificence; O You whom the abundance of supplication only increases in bounty and giving; O You whose treasuries are never exhausted; O You to whom belong the treasuries of the heavens and the earth; O You to whom belong the treasuries of all that is small and all that is great! My God, let not my wrongdoing hold back Your beneficence from dealing with me as befits You — for You are worthy of generosity, munificence, and forbearance. [O Lord,] O God, do not deal with me as I deserve, for I deserve punishment and have merited it; I have no argument and no excuse before You. I confess to You all my sins, that You may pardon me — and You know them better than I do; and I confess to You every sin I have committed, every fault I have fallen into, and every evil deed I have done. Lord, forgive, have mercy, and pass over what You know, for You are indeed the Mightiest, the Most Generous." Then he rose and entered the circumambulation, and we stood as he rose. (Nuzhat al-Nazir wa Tanbih al-Khatir, vol. 1, p. 147)
The narrator says: In the year 293 AH, on the sixth day of Dhu al-Hijja, we were sitting with a group in the Sacred Mosque when a young man in the garb of ihram, holding his sandals in his hand, came out from among those circumambulating and approached us. At his awe and majesty we all rose involuntarily. He sat down beside us and we gathered around him. He said: Do you know what the Commander of the Faithful (AS) used to say after prayer? He used to say:
To You the voices are raised; before You the faces are humbled; to You the necks are bowed; and to You is the appeal concerning all deeds. O best of those who are asked, and best of those who give! O Truthful One, O Benevolent One! O You who do not break the promise! O You who commanded supplication and promised the answer! O You who said: "Call upon Me; I will answer you" [Qur'an 40:60]. O You who said: "And when My servants ask you about Me — indeed I am near; I answer the call of the caller when he calls upon Me; so let them respond to Me and believe in Me, that they may be rightly guided" [Qur'an 2:186]. O You who said: "Say: O My servants who have transgressed against their own souls, do not despair of God's mercy" [here I am, at Your service and Your pleasure! Here I stand before You, the transgressor, and You are the One who said: "Do not despair of God's mercy"] "indeed God forgives all sins; truly He is the Forgiving, the Merciful" [Qur'an 39:53].
Then he said: Do you know what he used to say in the prostration of thanksgiving? He used to say:
O You whom the insistence of the insistent only increases in generosity and munificence; O You whom the abundance of supplication only increases in bounty and giving; O You whose treasuries are never exhausted; O You to whom belong the treasuries of the heavens and the earth; O You to whom belong the treasuries of all that is small and all that is great! My God, let not my wrongdoing hold back Your beneficence from dealing with me as befits You — for You are worthy of generosity, munificence, and forbearance. [O Lord,] O God, do not deal with me as I deserve, for I deserve punishment and have merited it; I have no argument and no excuse before You. I confess to You all my sins, that You may pardon me — and You know them better than I do; and I confess to You every sin I have committed, every fault I have fallen into, and every evil deed I have done. Lord, forgive, have mercy, and pass over what You know, for You are indeed the Mightiest, the Most Generous.
Then he rose and busied himself with the circumambulation.
(We say: In the continuation of the narration, the narrator says: I met this person once more at sunset at Arafat. At Muzdalifa I saw in a dream that the Messenger of God (PBUH) said to me: So-and-so, the supplication you have been occupied with for seven years has been answered! Did you not wish to see the Master of the Age? The person whom you visited and who spoke with you was the Master of the Age.)