Short Maxims of Imam Ali (A.S.) – Part 3
21. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
You should gather in your heart the need for people and the
dispensing with them. You may have the need for people through
showing good wording and good humor with them, and you may have
the dispensing with them through the candor of your honor and the
continuity of your power.
22. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Do not be angry and do not enrage others. Exchange greetings and use
good wording.
23. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
The generous becomes lenient when his clemency is beseeched, but
the mean becomes more severe when he is treated kindly.
24. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
May I tell you of the true scholar? He is that who does not permit
people to act disobediently to God and does not make them despair of
His mercy, does not make them feel secure from God’s retribution and
does not substitute anything for the Quran. Adoration without
comprehension, knowledge without pondering (over things), and
recitation without understanding—all these are valueless.
25. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
When God will gather people –for judgment- a caller will declare: O
people, today, the most favorable to God will be the most fearful of
Him. The most preferable to God will be the best doers of good acts.
The closest to God will be the most desirous for gaining what He has in
possession through acting. The most honorable to God will be the
most God-fearing.
26. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
I wonder at those who protect themselves against having harmful food,
how do they not protect themselves from committing sins so that they
will be saved from Hell? I wonder at those who purchase slaves with
their money, why do they not purchase the free through doing favors
to them? Good and evil cannot be recognized with any means other
than people. If you want to recognize good, you should do it so as to
know its people, and if you want to recognize evil, you should do it so
as to know its people.
27. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
For you, I am only afraid of two things—prolonged hope and
pursuance of passions. The prolonged hope makes you forget the life
to come, and the pursuance of passions precludes you from the right.
28. A man from Basra asked Imam Ali (peace be upon him) about the
qualifications of friends. He answered:
There are two kinds of friends—friends of confidence and friends of
grimace. The friends of confidence are the refuge, the wing, the folks,
and the wealth. If you confide in your friend, you should provide your
wealth and help to him. You should also befriend him who befriends him and antagonize him who antagonizes him. You should keep his
secrets and defects and publicize his good conducts. You should know,
O asker, that the friends of confidence are as scanty as red sulfur.
Regarding the friends of grimace, you gain from them only your
pleasure; therefore, you should not deprive them of your pleasure. Do
not ask them for any further thing. Give them happy mien and good
wording as long as they give you their happy mien and good wording.
29. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Do not befriend the enemy of your friend lest you become the enemy of
your friend.
30. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
Do not desert your friend due to suspicion and do not leave him before
you blame him.
31. Imam Ali (peace be upon him) said:
A Muslim should avoid befriending three categories of people: the
sinful, the foolish, and the liars. The sinful shows you his evildoings as
good deeds, wants you to be like him, and does not help you in the
affairs of your religion and your life to come. It is rude and tough to
befriend such an individual whose visit to you brings you dishonor.
The foolish does not advise you of good and is not expected to save you
from any problem even if he does his best. Moreover, he may harm you
as he intends to benefit you. His death is better than his life, his
silence is better than his words, and his remoteness is better than his
closeness. The liar will deprive you of any pleasant life with him. He
tells others of your conducts and relates to you the others’ conducts.
Whenever he finishes from telling a lie, he invents another to the
degree that even his true sayings cannot be believed. He sows enmity
between people to plant malice in their hearts. Fear God and consider
for yourselves.
