Short Maxims of Imam Ali (A.S.) – Part 1
1. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Piety, concealment of the good actions, steadfastness against
disasters, and suppression of the misfortunes are within the treasures
of Paradise.
2. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The best friend is good mannerism. It is the title of the believers’
record books.
3. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The true abstinent in this world is he whose tolerance is not overcome
by the ill-gotten matters and whose gratitude is not engaged by the
legal gotten matters.
4. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) wrote to Abdullah bin Abbas:
So then, a man becomes delighted if he catches up the things that he
would never miss and becomes unhappy if he misses the things that
he would never catch up. You should be delighted only for the things
of the next life that you have caught up, and should be sorry only for
the things of the next life that you have missed. Do not be excessively
happy for gaining a worldly pleasure and do not be excessively
unhappy for missing it. All your concern should be for that which will
occur to you after death.
5. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said about the censure of this world:
It begins with hardship and ends with decline. Judgment will be set for
its legally gotten things and punishment will be sentenced for its illgotten
things. If somebody is healthy in it, he will feel secure, and if he
becomes ill, he will be sorrowful. If he becomes wealthy, he will be
seditious and if he becomes poor, he will be sad. He whoever runs for
it will miss it, and he whoever disregards it will gain it. It will blind
him whoever gazes at it and will teach him whoever looks at it
properly.
6. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
When you cherish someone you should cherish him moderately for he
may be your enemy someday, and when you hate someone you should
hate him moderately for he may be your friend someday.
7. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
No wealth like intelligence and no poverty harsher than ignorance.
8. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The value of a man is what he does expertly.
9. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Fear is attached to disappointment, and pudency is attached to deprivation. Wisdom is the lost of the believer who should seek it even
if it is found with the evil ones.
10. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Had the scholars carried knowledge properly, God and the angels as
well as all people of obedience would have cherished them.
Unfortunately, they carried knowledge for seeking worldly pleasures;
therefore, God abominated them and people disgraced them.
11. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Tolerance, silence, and expecting the Relief are the best of worship.
12. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Each crisis has an end at which it will definitely fade away. If you are
encountering a crisis, you should submit and be patient until it passes
away. Any attempt to find a solution will not solve the problem. It will
make it worse.
