From al-Sadiq (AS), who said: Ali used to say: O God, favor me with reliance upon You, with entrusting my affairs to You, with contentment with Your decree, and with submission to Your command, so that I love neither the hastening of what You have delayed nor the delaying of what You have hastened, O Most Merciful of the merciful. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 13)
Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) used to pray: O God, bestow Your favor upon me and grant me success, that I may rely upon You and entrust my affair to You — in such a way that I never seek the hastening of what You have delayed, nor the delaying of what You have hastened.
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: Bring God's blessings to completion by submitting to His decree and giving thanks for His bounties; whoever is not content with this is not of us and is not bound toward us. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 33)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Make God's blessings complete for yourselves through thankfulness and submission before His decree; whoever is not content with the divine decree and is not given to thanks is not of us and will not be with us.
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: The thanks for every blessing is scrupulous restraint from the things God has forbidden. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 35)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: One who possesses scrupulous piety and holds back from the things God has forbidden has rendered thanksgiving in its fullness.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: All good has been gathered in three traits — looking, silence, and speech: every look in which there is no taking of lesson is inadvertence; every silence in which there is no reflection is heedlessness; and every speech in which there is no remembrance is idle talk. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 37)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: All goodness has been distilled into three things: a look joined with taking heed, a silence joined with reflection, and the moving of the tongue in the remembrance of God. A look that is not such is inadvertence, a silence that is not such is heedlessness, and speech without remembrance is idle talk.
Abu Abdillah also said: The Commander of the Faithful used to say: No servant tastes the flavor of faith until he knows that what has befallen him could never have missed him, and that what has missed him could never have befallen him; for the One who harms and the One who benefits is God. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 38)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: None tastes the sweet flavor of faith save one who believes that whatever has reached him — bitter or sweet — was bound to reach him, and whatever has not reached him was not his portion and was not meant to reach him. Truly, benefit and harm are in God's hand alone.
Ali, God's good pleasure be upon him, said: Everything has a desire, and the desire of the world is that the Shia should dwell in it; and you shall all be in Paradise — so vie with one another for the excellence of its degrees. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 93)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Everything has a longing, and the longing of the world is that our true Shia should dwell in it. O Shia! You are all people of Paradise; so strive to attain its lofty degrees.
And he, God's good pleasure be upon him, said: By God, none of you rises to prayer without the angels surrounding him, blessing him and praying for him until he finishes his prayer. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 93)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: If only you understood that when you stand for prayer, for as long as you are at prayer the angels throng about you, sending blessings upon you and praying for you.
From Ali (AS), who said: The best of you are those at the sight of whom God is remembered. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 108)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The best of you is the one whose very sight brings God to mind.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever repents, God turns back to him, and He commands his limbs to conceal for him and the tracts of the earth to keep his secret, and the recording angels are made to forget what they used to write against him. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 109)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever repents, God turns back toward him and commands his limbs and the tracts of the earth to cover his faults, and the angels to forget his sins.
From the book al-Mahasin, from Ali (AS), who said: When God Most High wills good for a servant, He gives him deep understanding in religion. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 132)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When God wills someone's good, He makes him deeply versed in religion.
The Commander of the Faithful, God's blessings be upon him, said: Take wisdom, even from the polytheists. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 134)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Be thirsty for wisdom, even if that wisdom lies in the breast of polytheists.
From Abu Hamza al-Thumali, traced back to the Imam, who said: The people came to Ali (AS) and said: O Commander of the Faithful, tell us who the true faqih is. He said: Yes — I shall tell you of the faqih who is truly a faqih: he who does not forsake the Qur'an out of desire for anything else. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 137)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said:
From him (AS), who said: Whoever, concerning what he does not know, says "God and His Messenger know best" — such a one is a scrupulous, learned man. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 139)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The scrupulousness of the learned is this: that whoever, concerning something he does not know, says, "God and His Messenger know best,"
On the isnad of hadith — from Abu Abdillah (AS), who said: The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Relate the hadith with its chain of transmission; if it is true, you are its partners in the hereafter, and if it is false, then the burden falls upon its author. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 144)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Relate a saying together with its chain — that is, naming those who have transmitted it; if it is true, you all share in the reward, and if it is false, you have no share in its burden and blame.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: I heard the Messenger of God (PBUH) say: When a hadith comes to you whose parts confirm one another, it is from me and I have said it; and whoever sees me after my death is as one who saw me in my life; and whoever visits me, I shall be a witness and a testifier for him on the Day of Resurrection. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 153)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When you come upon a hadith from me in which the marks of truthfulness are present, it is from me. Whoever sees me after my death is like one who saw me in my lifetime, and whoever visits me, I shall be a witness and a testifier for him on the Day of Resurrection.
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: The Messenger of God (PBUH) said: Part of the reverence due to God, Mighty and Majestic, is honouring three: the grey-haired Muslim, the just ruler, and the bearer of the Qur'an who neither neglects it nor goes to excess in it. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 168)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: I heard from the Messenger of God (PBUH) that it is a right owed to God to honour three persons: the old man, the just one, and the one whose breast bears the Qur'an.
He also said: Part of the reality of faith is that the servant should prefer truthfulness where it harms him over falsehood where it profits him, and that a man's words should not outrun his deeds. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 172)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When true faith falls to a person's lot, he speaks the truth even if it be to his own harm. A person should never speak or claim more than he acts upon.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: No lying is proper, neither in earnest nor in jest; nor that one of you should promise something to a little child and then not keep it. Lying leads on to depravity. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 173)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Lying is not good, not only in earnest but even in jest. Do not make a false promise even to a child, and if you have made a promise, keep it. Lying drags a person into depravity.
From Abu Abd Allah (AS), who said: Ali sent a servant boy of his on an errand and he was slow in returning. When he came to him, Ali said: Run! So he ran, and then came forward. The Commander of the Faithful said to him: I see nothing other than that I have grown too tender toward you; so go, for you are free. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 178)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) sent his servant on an errand. The servant was late, and when he came, he came slowly. Ali (AS) rebuked him and said: Run! So he came running. The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: I love you, but you are of no use to me! From now on you are free; go wherever you wish!
And the Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Do not deal with people in exacting minuteness, weight for weight. Magnify your own worth by deliberately overlooking petty matters, and ennoble yourselves by turning a blind eye to prying scrutiny. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 180)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Do not spend needless precision on details, and preserve your own dignity by overlooking small matters. Be magnanimous, and do not go prying into worthless things.
And from the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: Hold fast to brethren, for they are a provision for this world and a provision for the Hereafter. Do you not hear the words of the people of the Fire: 'So now we have no intercessors, nor any loving friend' [Qur'an 26:100-101]. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 187)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Seek to find friends, for friends are your helpers in this world, and in the Hereafter too you will find yourself in need of them. Have you not seen what is said in the Qur'an, that a group crying out in Hell will say: If only we had a friend who would intercede for us and deliver us from here!
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS): He said to his son Hasan (AS), when his teacher came in: Rise for your master. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 192)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said to his son Hasan, when he was small and he had engaged a teacher for him: When your teacher comes, rise out of respect for him! He is your master.
From the book al-Mahasin, from the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: When one of you reaches his chamber, let him pronounce the name of God, and his companion, Satan, will turn back. And when one of you enters his house, let him give the greeting of peace; blessing will descend upon him and the angels will keep him company. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 194)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When you wish to enter the house, say 'In the name of God', so that the satan who accompanies you does not enter the house. Always give the greeting of peace when you enter a place, so that blessing may descend and the angels may keep company with you.
Ali used to say: Do not be angry, and do not make others angry. Then Ali recited the words of God: 'The Peace, the Giver of Security, the Guardian' [Qur'an 59:23]. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 197)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Not only should you not grow angry, but try not to make others angry either! Learn from God, who is al-Salam (Peace), al-Mu'min (the Giver of Security) and al-Muhaymin (the Guardian).
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) passed by the benches at the Mosque of Simak and ordered them to be pulled down, and they were pulled down. When they had been pulled down, the people built them again, until this had happened three times. After the third time he stopped before them while they were sitting upon them and said: Since you refuse, then at least lower your gaze, return the stray, and show the way to the traveller. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 205)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) gave orders that the benches in front of the mosque of Simak ibn Makhzuma be pulled down. This was done; but the people of that quarter built them up again! Again the Commander of the Faithful (AS) ordered them pulled down, and again after a while the people rebuilt them. The same thing happened a third time, and when the Commander of the Faithful (AS) passed that way he saw that they had built the benches once more and were sitting there. So he said to them: Since you will not listen to what I say, then at least, when you sit here, do not let your eyes rove after passers-by, and show the way to people!
And he said: In visiting one another, you have the like of the reward of the pilgrims. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 207)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: When you go to visit one another, it is as though you were going to visit God, and you have the reward of a pilgrim.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Be open-handed but not prodigal; be measured but not miserly; and be not ashamed to give a little, for to give nothing is less still. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 232)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Spend well, but do not be extravagant! Keep accounts, but do not be a miser! Do not be ashamed to give something small, for not giving at all is worse than that.
From him, who said: The Commander of the Faithful said: God has protective zeal for the believing men and the believing women, so let the believer have such zeal; for whoever has no zeal has an inverted heart. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 236)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: God shows protective zeal on behalf of the believer, and the believer too must show such zeal on behalf of the believer. One who has no share of this zeal has a sick heart.
The wealth of the people of Syria and the poverty of the people of Iraq were mentioned in the presence of the Commander of the Faithful (AS). He said: Do you not know that a man's intellect is reckoned as part of his provision? (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 251)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) was asked: Why are the people of Syria wealthy and the people of Iraq poor? He said: But the intellect of the people of Iraq is greater, and the intellect is itself a part of one's provision.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: God does not take from a believer his two precious ones (his eyes) without God making Paradise his recompense for them. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 277)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: If God ordains that someone be made blind, in exchange He will bestow Paradise upon him in the Hereafter.
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: The Messenger of God (PBUH) said: Were the believer to be in a mouse-hole, God would appoint for him someone to trouble him. And he said: The believer is one whose sins are expiated. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 288)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Even if the believer flees and hides himself in a hole, God will still send someone who, by troubling him, becomes the cause of his elevation. Indeed, the worth of the believer always goes unrecognized.
From the Commander of the Faithful (AS), who said: Work for God without ostentation or seeking to be heard of, for whoever works for other than God, God consigns him to his own work. (Mishkat al-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 311)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Beware of seeking, in your good deeds, that someone should see or hear of them; whoever works for other than God, He leaves him to that very other.