Maulana Ali’s (‘as) Commandment for his son Hasan Ibn Ali (‘as) 1
From the father who is (shortly) to die, who acknowledges the hardships of the times, who has turned away from life, who has submitted himself to the (calamities of) time, who realizes the evils of the worlds who is living in the abodes of the dead and is due to depart from them any day; to the son who yearns for what is not to be achieved, who is treading the path of those who have died, who is the victim of ailments, who is entangled in the (worries of the) days, who is a target of hardships, a slave of the world, a trader of its deception, a debtor of wishes, a prisoner of mortality, an ally of worries, a neighbor of griefs, a victim of distresses, who has been overpowered by desires, and who is a successor of the dead.
Now, (you should know that) what I have learnt from the turning away of this world from me, the onslaught of time over me and the advancing of the next world towards me is enough to prevent me from remembering anyone except myself and from thinking beyond myself. But when I confined myself to my own worries leaving the worries of others, my intelligence saved me and protected me from my desires. It clarified to me my affairs and led me to seriousness wherein there was no trickery and truth, which was not tarnished by falsehood. Here, I found you a part of myself, rather I found you my whole, so much so that if anything befell you, it was as though it befell me and if death came to you, it was as though it came to me. Consequently, your affairs meant to me what my own matters meant to me. So, I have written this piece of advice (to you) as an instrument of seeking help through it, whether I remain alive for you or cease to exist.
I advise you to fear Allah, O my child, to abide by His commands, to fill your heart with remembrance of Him and to cling to hope from Him. No connection is more reliable than the connection between you and Allah provided you take hold of it. Enliven your heart with preaching, kill it by renunciation, energize it with firm belief, humiliate it by recalling death, make it believe in mortality, make it see the misfortunes of this world, make it fear the authority of the time and the severity of some changes during the nights and the days, place before it the events of past people, recall to it what befell those who were before you and walk among their cities and ruins, then see what they did and from what they have gone away and where they have gone and stayed. You will find that they departed from (their) friends and lodged in the house of loneliness. Call in their houses: O empty houses, where are your habitants? Then stop on their graves and say: O ragged bodies and separated organs, how have you found the lodge in which you are living? O my son, shortly, you too will be like one of them. Therefore, plan for your place of stay and do not sell your next life with this world.
Give up discussing what you do not know and speaking about what does not concern you. Keep off the track from which you fear to go astray because refraining (from moving) when there is fear of straying is better than embarking on dangers. Ask others to do good; you will thus be among the good doers. Desist others from evil with your action as well as your speech and keep off, to the best of your ability, from he who commits it. Struggle for Allah as is His due; and the reviling of a reviler should not deter you in matters of Allah. Leap into dangers for the sake of right wherever it be. Acquire insight into religious law. Habituate yourself to endure hardships. In all your affairs, resign yourself to Allah, because you will thus be resigning yourself to a secure shelter and a strong protector. You should ask only from your Lord because in His hand is all the giving and depriving. Seek good (from Allah) as much as you can. Understand my advice and do not turn away from it, because the best saying is that which benefits. Know there is no good in knowledge, which does not benefit, and if knowledge is not made use of then its acquisition is not justified.
O my child, when I noticed that you were of goodly age and noticed that I was increasing in weakness, I hastened with my will for you and wrote down salient points of it lest death overtakes me before I divulge to you what I have in my heart, or lest my wit be affected as my body has been affected, or the forces of passions or the mischiefs of the world overtake you making you like a stubborn camel. Certainly, the heart of a young man is like uncultivated land. It accepts whatever is strewn on it. So, I hastened to mold you properly before your heart hardened up and your mind became occupied, so that you might be ready to accept through your intelligence the results of the experience of others and be saved from going through these experiences yourself. In this way, you would avoid the hardship of seeking them and the difficulties of experimenting. Thus, you are getting to know what we had experienced and even those things are becoming clear to you, which we might have missed.
O my child, even though I have not reached the age which those before me had; yet I looked into their behavior and thought over events of their lives. I walked among their ruins till I was as one of them. In fact, by virtue of those of their affairs that have become known to me it is as though I have lived with them from the first to the last. I have therefore been able to discern the impure from the clean and the benefit from the harm.
I have selected for you the choicest of those matters, and collected for you their good points and have kept away from you their useless points. Since I feel for you affairs as a compassionate father should feel and I aim at giving you training, I thought it should be at a time when you are advancing in age and new on the stage of the world, possessing upright intention and clean heart and that I should begin with the teaching of the Book of Allah and its interpretation, the laws of Islam and its commands, its lawful matters and unlawful matters and that I should not go beyond these for you. Then I feared lest you should get confused as other people had been confused on account of their passions and (different) views. Therefore, in spite of my dislike for you being so warned, I thought it better for me to make this position strong rather than leave you in a position where I do not regard you safe from falling into destruction. I hoped that Allah would help you in your straight-forwardness and guide you in your resoluteness. Consequently, I wrote this piece of my will for you.
O my child, what I love most for you to adopt from my will is to fear Allah, to confine yourself to what Allah has made obligatory on you, and to follow the actions of your forefathers and the virtuous people of your folks, because they did not fall short in seeing for themselves what you will see for yourself, and they did about their affairs as you would like to think (about your affairs). Thereafter, their thinking led them to discharge the obligations they came to know of and to desist from what they were not required to do. If your heart does not accept this without acquiring knowledge as they acquired it, then your search should first be by way of understanding and learning and not by falling into doubts or getting entangled in quarrels.
Before you probe into this, you should begin by seeking Allah’s help and turning to Him for competence and keeping aloof from everything that throws you into doubt or flings you towards misguidance. When you have made sure that your heart is clean and humble and your thoughts have come together and you have only one thought which is about this matter, you should see what I have explained to you; but if you have not been able to achieve that piece of observation and thinking which you would like to have, then know that you are only stamping the ground like a blind she-camel and falling into darkness while a seeker of religion should not grope in the dark or create confusion. It is better to avoid this.
The first and the last of my wording is that I praise the Lord of your fathers, as well as you and me. He is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. I praise Him with what He deserves and as He deserves and as He loves and as it should be. We implore Him to bless our Rasulullah (peace be up-on him and his family) and his family and all of the prophets and apostles of Allah as the blessing of all of those who blessed him. We also implore Him to complete His grace on us in what He has guided us in asking Him and responding to us. The virtues are complete only through His grace.
Appreciate my advice, O my child, and know that He Who is the Master of death is also the Master of life, that the Creator causes death as well; that He Who destroys is also the restorer of life and that He Who inflicts disease is also the curer. This world continues in the way Allah has made it with regard to its pleasures, trials, rewards on the Day of Judgment, and all that He wishes and you do not know. If anything of this advice is not understood by you then attribute it to your ignorance of it, because when you were first born you were born ignorant. Thereafter, you acquired knowledge. There are many matters of which you are ignorant and in which your sight first wonders and your eye wonders then after this you see them. Therefore, cling to Him Who created you, fed you, and put you in order. Your worship should be for Him, your eagerness should be towards Him, and your fear should be of Him.
Know, O my child, that no one received messages from Allah, the Glorified, as the Rasulullah (may Allah bless him and his family) did. Therefore, regard him as your forerunner and leader towards deliverance. Certainly, I shall spare no effort in giving you advice and surely even if you try you cannot acquire that insight for your welfare as I have for you.
Know, O my child, that if there had been a partner with your Lord, his messengers too should have come to you and you would have seen signs of his authority and power and you should have known his deeds and qualities. But He is only One God as He has described Himself. No one can dispute with Him in His authority. He is the Creator of everything. He is too great to have His divinity proved by the encompassing heart or eye. When you have understood this then you should do what is done by him who is like you by way of his low position, his lack of authority, his increasing incapability, and his great need of his Lord for seeking His obedience, fearing His chastisement and apprehending His anger, because He does not command you save for virtue and does not refrain you save from evil.
O my child, I have informed you about the world, its condition, its decay and it’s passing away and I have informed you of the next world and of what has been provided in it for its people. I have recounted to your parables about it so that you may draw instruction from them and act upon them. The example of those who have understood the world is like those travelers who, being disgusted with drought-stricken places set off for greenery and a fruitful place. Then they endured difficulties on the way, separation from friends, hardships of the journey and unwholesome food in order to reach their fields of plenty and place of stay. Consequently, they do not feel any pain in all this and do not regard any expenditure to be waste. Nothing is more loveable to them than what carries them closer to their place of stay. (Against this), the example of those who are deceived by this world is like the people who were in a green place but they became disgusted with it and went to a drought-stricken place. Therefore, for them nothing is more detestable or abominable than to leave the place where they were to go to a place, which they will reach unexpectedly and for which they are heading.
I have accused you of various sorts of ignorance, so that you will not reckon yourself with the scholars, then you will take pride in yourself when you solve a problem. The actual well-educated is that who realizes that he ignores more than what he knows; hence, he reckons himself with the ignorant and receives more knowledge by seeking it painstakingly. He keeps on being scholar, by desiring getting more information, benefiting by what he learns, revering his teachers, keeping silence, bewaring of faults, and feeling ashamed of mistakes. If he confronts what he does not know, he will not deny his unawareness because he has already declared his being ignorant. The actual ignorant is that who reckons himself with the scholars -although he ignores many things and depends on his opinion. He is so far away from the scholars whom he disgraces. He accuses everyone who does not agree with him of error and misguides in the matters that he ignores. He denies and belies the matters that he ignores, and says: I do not know this, and I see it is not accurate and it will never be accurate. This is because such an ignorant is overconfident of his opinion and less aware of his ignorance. He is always involved in his confusing opinions, listening to his ignorance, denying the right, perplexing in his unawareness, and exalting from seeking knowledge.
O my child, try to understand my commandment and make yourself the measure (for dealings) between you and others. Thus, you should desire for others what you desire for yourself and hate for others what you hate for yourself. Do not oppress as you do not like to be oppressed. Do good to others as you would like good to be done to you. Regard bad for yourself whatever you regard bad for others. Accept that (treatment) from others, which you would like others to accept from you. Do not talk about what you do not know even though what you know be very little. Do not say to others what you do not like to be said to you.
Know that self-admiration is contrary to propriety (of action) and is a calamity for the mind. When you have been guided on the right path, humble yourself before Allah as much as you can.
Know that in front of you lies a road of long distance and severe hardship and that you cannot avoid seeking it. Take your requirements of provision keeping the burden light. Do not load your back beyond your power lest its weight become a mischief for you. Whenever you come across a needy person who can carry for you your provision to hand it back to you on the Day of Judgment when you will need it, then accept him as good opportunity and get him to carry it. Put in that provision as much as you are able to, for it is likely that if you may need him (afterwards), you may not get hold of him. If a person is willing to borrow from you in the days of your affluence to pay it back to you at the time of your need, then make use of this opportunity. Know that in front of you lies an impassable valley, your terminating point at the other end of this passage will necessarily be either Paradise or Hell, wherein the light-burdened man will be in a better condition than the heavy-burden one. Therefore, prepare the place before getting down.
Know that He Who owns the treasuries of the heavens and the earth has permitted you to pray to Him and has promised you acceptance of the prayer. He has commanded you to beg from Him in order that He may give you and to seek His mercy in order that He may have mercy on you. He has not placed anything between you and Him that may veil Him from you.
He has not required you to get a mediator for you to Him, and if you err, He has not prevented you from repentance. He does not hasten with punishment. He does not taunt you for repenting, nor does He humiliate you when humiliation is more appropriate for you. He has not been harsh in accepting repentance. He does not severely question you about your sins. He does not disappoint you of His mercy. Rather He regards abstention from sin as a virtue. He counts your one sin as one while He counts your one virtue as ten.
He has opened for you the door of repentance. Therefore, whenever you call Him, He hears your call, and whenever you whisper to Him, He knows the whispers. You place before Him your needs, unveil yourself before Him, complain to Him of your worries, beseech Him to remove your troubles, seek His help in your affairs and ask from the treasuries of His mercy that which no one else has power to give, namely length of life, health of body and increase in sustenance. Then He has placed the keys of His treasuries in your hands in the sense that He has shown you the way to ask Him.
Therefore, wherever you wish, open the doors of His favor with prayer and let the abundant rains of His mercy fall on you. Delay in acceptance of the prayer should not disappoint you because the grant of prayer is according to the measure of (your) intention. Sometimes acceptance (of prayer) is delayed with a view to its being a source of greater reward to the asker and of better gifts to the expectant. Sometimes you ask for a thing but it is not given to you, and a better thing is given to you later or a thing is taken away from you for some greater good of yours, because sometimes you ask for a thing which contains ruin for your religion if it is given to you. Therefore, your request should be for things whose beauty should be lasting and whose burden should remain away from you. As for wealth it will not last for you nor will you live for it.
O my child, know that you have been created for the next world, not for this world, for destruction (in this world) not for lasting, and for dying not for living. You are in a place, which does not belong to you, a house for making preparations and a passage towards the next world. You are being chased by death from which the runner-away cannot escape, as it would surely overtake him. So, be on guard against it least it overtakes you at a time when you are in a sinful state and you are thinking of repenting but it creates obstruction between you and repentance. In such a case you will ruin yourself.
O my child, remember death very much and the place where you have to go suddenly and reach after death, so that when it comes you are already on your guard against it and have prepared yourself for it and it does not come to you all of a sudden and surprise you. Beware lest, you be-come deceived by the leanings of the people towards worldly attraction and their rushing upon it. Allah has warned you about it and the world has informed you of its mortal character and unveiled to you, its evils.
Surely, those (who go) after it are like barking dogs or devouring carnivore who hate each other. The stronger among them eat away the weaker and the big among them tramples over the small. Some are like tied cattle and some like untied cattle who have lost their wits and are running in unknown directions. They are flocks of calamities wandering in rugged valleys. There is no herdsman to detain them. The world has put them on the track of blindness and taken away their eyes from the beacons of guidance. They have therefore been perplexed in its bewilderings and sunk in its pleasures. They took it as a god so it played with them. They too played with it and forgot what is beyond it. Darkness is disappearing gradually. Now it is as though travelers have got down and the hasteners will soon meet.
Beware, O my child lest, the abundance of its flaws dishonors you.
Know, O my child, that everyone who is riding on the carriage of night and day is being carried by them even though he may be stationary, and he is covering the distance even though he is staying and resting. Allah has accepted nothing but ruining this world and prospering the next world.
O my child, you should abstain from the worldly affairs against which Allah has warned you. If you will not accept my advice, you should know with certainty that you cannot achieve your de-sire and cannot exceed your destined life. You are on the track of those before you. Therefore, be humble in seeking and moderate in earning because often seeking leads to deprivation. Every seeker of livelihood does not get it, nor is everyone who is moderate in seeking deprived. Keep yourself away from every low thing even though they may take you to your desired aims, because you will not get any return for your own respect, which you spend. Do not be the slave of others for Allah had made you free. There is no good in good which is achieved through evil and no good in comfort that is achieved through (disgracing) hardship.
Beware lest bearers of greed should carry you and make you descend down to the springs of destruction. If you can manage that there, be no wealthy person between yourself and Allah, do so, because in any case you will find what is for you and get your share. A little received directly from Allah the Glorified, is more dignified than that which is more but is received through (the obligation of) His creatures, although (really) all is from Allah.
If you see and Allah’s is the highest example in what you seek from the kings and from the lowly people, you will realize that the few amounts that you receive from the kings is pride for you, while the much amount that you receive from the lowly people is dishonor. Use economy in your affairs and you will have a good result. No price will equate anything of your religion and honor. The actual defrauded is that who refused his share that Allah decides. Take only what comes to you from the worldly affairs and leave what do not come to you. If not, you should economize in seeking earnings.
Beware of associating with those whom you expect to ruin your religion. Keep away from the rulers. Do not secure the Shaytan’s trickeries and say that you will desist when you see evil. This is the way that led those who were before you to devastation. They believed in the Judgment and did not accept to sell their next world with this one, but the Shaytan shook them in his trickeries and deception. Hence, they were involved in his destruction in front of a scanty benefit of this world. The Shaytan moved them from an evil into another till he made them despair of Allah’s mercy and took them into disappointment. Finally, they turned their faces to what violated Islam and its rulings.
If you are attracted to the worldly pleasures by currying favor with the rulers and violate what I have warned you against, then you should tie your tongue. Rulers are not guaranteed in rage. You should also not follow their news, divulge their secrets, and intrude yourself among them.
Safety lies in silence. It is easier to rectify what you miss by silence than to secure what you lose by speaking. Whatever is in a pot can be retained by closing the lid. I should prefer you to retain what is in your hands rather to seek what is in other’s hands. Report only the sayings of a truthful lest, you will be a liar. Falsehood is humility. Subsistence with economy is better for you than many earnings with extravagance. Bitterness of disappointment is better than seeking from people. Manual labor with chastity is better than the riches of a vicious life.
A man is the best guard of his own secrets. Often a man strives for that harms him. He who speaks much speaks nonsense. Whoever ponders perceives. The virtuous acquaintance is the best luck a man may target. Associate with people of virtue; you will become one of them. Keep aloof from people of vice; you will remain safe from them. Distrust should never control you because it will destroy any association between others and you. Some say that distrust is a part of prudence. The worst food is that which is unlawful. Oppressing the weak is the worst oppression. Adultery is as its name. Standing the misfortunes protects the heart from flaws. Where leniency is unsuitable, harshness is lenience. Often cure is illness and illness is cure. Often the ill-wisher gives correct advice while the well-wisher cheats. Do not depend upon hopes because hopes are the mainstay of fools. Kindle your mind with morality like fire when kindled with wood. Do not be like the collector of firewood at night and the scum of a flood. Ingratitude is meanness. Befriending the ignorant is evil omen. It is wise to preserve one’s experience. Your best experience is that which teaches you a lesson. Lenience in behavior is generosity. Make use of leisure before it changes into (the hour of) grief. Determination is prudence. Slowness is a cause of deprivation. Not every seeker achieves (what he seeks) ; and not every departer returns. To lose provision means ruin. Every matter has a consequence. Often a small quantity is more beneficial than a large quantity. What is destined for you will shortly come to you. A trader undertakes a risk. There is no good in an ignoble helper. Never trust a matter the end of which is unknown. Self-possession achieves prevalence. Understanding achieves proliferation. Meeting with people of virtue prospers the heart. Be compliant with the world as long as it is in your grip. Beware of ride the pack animal of disputation. Hurry in obliterating a sin by repentance. Never betray those who trust you even if they betray. Never divulge a secret even if its owner divulges. Do not put yourself to risk as regards anything in expectation for more than that. Seek insistently and you will receive what is destined for you. Accept the glorification. Give generously. Use good wording with people.
The most inclusive word of wisdom is surely that you should love for people what you love for yourself and hate for them what you hate for yourself.
Know that fulfilling the pledges and defending the honour are parts of generosity. Disaffection is the sign of malice. The many excuses are the sign of niggardliness. It may happen that withholding with kindness is better than giving with severity. To build good relations with the relatives is a part of favoring. No one will depend upon you or trust your relations if you rupture your relations with the relatives. Accusation is the face of enmity.
Bear yourself towards your brother in such a way that if he disregards kinship, you keep to it; when he turns away, be kind to him and draw near to him; when he withholds spend for him; when he goes away approach him; when he is harsh be lenient; when he commits wrong think of (his) excuse for it, so much as though you are a slave of him and he is the benevolent master over you. But take care that this should not be done inappropriately, and that you should not behave so with an undeserving person. Do not take the enemy of your friend as a friend because you will thus antagonize your friend. Never use trickery. It is the character of the evil ones. Give true advice to your brother, be it good or bitter. Help your brother in any case, and go with him wherever he goes, and never retaliate him even if he throws dust in your mouth. Prevail your enemy by doing favor to him. This is more successful. You will save yourself from people by good manners and swallowing the anger. I did not find a sweeter thing than swallowing one’s anger in the end, and nothing more pleasant in consequence. Never suspect in your brother and never leave him without blaming. Be lenient to him who is harsh to you for it is likely that he will shortly become lenient to you. Rupture of relations is very ugly. What an ugly thing is the alienation after brotherhood, enmity after affection, betraying those who trust you, disappointing those who expect your good, and cheating those who confide in you!
If you intend to cut yourself off from a friend, leave some scope for him from your side by which he may resume friendship if it so occurs to him some day. If anyone has a good idea about you prove it to be true. Do not disregard the interests of your brother depending upon your terms with him, for he is not your brother if you disregard his interests. Your family should not become the most miserable people because of you. Do not lean towards him who turns away from you. Do not turn away from him who leans towards you when he deserves association.
Your brother should not be firmer in his disregard of kinship than you in paying regard to it. You should exceed in doing good to him than is evil to you, giving to him than is withholding, and favoring him than is ceasing. Do not feel too much the oppression of a person who oppresses you, because he is only busy in harming himself and benefiting you. The reward of him who pleases you is not that you displease him. Livelihood is of two kinds, a livelihood that you seek and a livelihood that seeks you, which is such that if you do not reach it, it will come to you.
Know, O my child, time is changeable. Do not be one of those who blame too much and are excused too little. How bad it is to bend down at the time of need and to be harsh in riches. You should have from this world only that with which you can adorn your permanent abode. Spend properly and do not be the treasurer of others. If you cry over what has gone out of your hands then also cry for what has not at all come to you. Infer about what has not yet happened from what has already happened, because occurrences are ever similar. Never show ingratitude to them who do favor to you. Ingratitude is the vilest atheism. Accept others’ apology. Do not be like those whom preaching does not benefit unless you inflict pain on them, because the wise take instruction from teaching while beasts learn only from beating.
Respect the rights of those who respect your rights whether they were high-ranking or lowly. Ward off from yourself the onslaught of worries by firmness of endurance and purity of belief. He who gives up moderation commits excess. The best share of a man is satisfaction. Envy is the evilest companion. Despair brings about negligence. Niggardliness brings about blame. A companion is like a relation. A friend is he whose absence also proves the friendship. Passion is a partner of distress. Suspension at situations of perplexity is success. Conviction is the best expeller of care. Censure is the outcome of falsehood. Safety lies only in honesty. The outcome of telling lies is the worst. Often the near ones are remoter than the distant ones, and often the distant ones are nearer than the near ones.
A stranger is he who has no friend. Mistrust should not make you lose your intimate friend. He who diets will gain cure. He who transgresses right narrows his own passage. He who stays in his position remains constant upon it. The best trait is doing favor to others. The vilest evil is transgressing the less powerful. Pudency is the course to every fine thing. The firmest handle is piety. The most trustworthy intermediary is that which you adopt between yourself and Allah. He who accepts your excuse is doing favor to you. Excessive censure kindles the fires of disputation. Many diseased persons were cured and many healthy ones passed away. When greed leads to ruin, deprivation is an achievement. Not every defect can be reviewed, and not every opportunity recurs.
Often a person with eyes misses the track while a blind person finds the correct path. Not every seeker gains his objective, and not every one that is on his guard can be saved. Delay an evil because you will be able to hasten it whenever you desire. You should treat others kindly if you want them to treat you kindly. Bear your brother in spite of his defects. Do not censure excessively, because this creates malice and drags to hatred. Seek the censure of those who find you excuses. The disregard of kinship of the ignorant is equal to the regard for kinship of the wise. Protecting the honor is a sort of generosity. Whoever regards the world as great, it will humiliate him. He whomever puts himself under censure will be enraged. Dishonor is so near to people of transgression. It is fitter to breach loyalty with him who betrays. The deadliest slip is that of the cautious ones. The cause of telling lies is the worst. Lechery ruins the much amount. Economy develops the few amounts. Fewness is humility. It is well-natured to respect the parents. Errors pursue haste. A pleasure that begets sorrow is worthless. The actual wise is that who benefits by experiments. Guidance removes blindness. Your tongue is the translator of your mind. No harmony occurs when there is incongruity. Visiting the neighbors is a pattern of good-neighbor. He who uses economy will never fail. He who abstains from the worldly pleasures will never suffer poverty. The surface evinces the hidden. A seeker may seek his death. Never substitute confidence for hope. Not every fearful thing is harmful. It happens that joking is changed into seriousness. This world will betray those who trust it and will humiliate those who glorify it and will defeat those who try to prevail it and will disappoint those who seek its refuge. Not everyone who shoots will hit. When authority changes, the time changes too. The best of your family members is he who supports you. Joking creates hatred. A careful one often skimps. The true conviction is the head of religion. Avoidance of disobediences is the perfection of sincerity. The best wording is that which is supported by deeds. Safety always accompanies righteousness. Supplication to God is the key to mercy.
Consult the friend before adopting a course and the neighbor before taking a house. Consider this world as a temporary lodging. Receive those who visit you. Accept the excuses of those who make apology. Accept the surplus of people. Do not show anyone what he dislikes. Obey your brother even if he disobeys you, and build good relations with him even if he ruptures relations with you. Habituate yourself to leniency and opt for the best moralities. Good mannerism is a custom. Beware lest, you mention in your speech what may be dirty or rouse laughter even though you may be relating it from others. Judge on yourself before others judge on it.
Do not consult women because their view is weak and their determination is unstable. Cover their eyes by keeping them under the veil because strictness of veiling keeps them and you for long. Their coming out is not worse than your allowing an unreliable man to visit them. If you can manage that they should not know anyone other than you, do so. Do not allow a woman matters other than those about herself. This is better for achieving prosperous and peaceful life and permanent beauty. A woman is a flower not an administrator. Do not pay her regard beyond herself. Do not encourage her to intercede for others lest, she will be with that party against you. Do not associate women for a long time so that you will not be fed up with them and they will not be fed up with you. Keep a part of abstinence from them in yourself. To abstain from women while they realize your ability to associate with them is better than their being more powerful than you are. Do not show suspicion out of place, because this leads a correct woman to evil. You should use wisdom in treating them; you should punish when they make a big or a small mistake. Do not punish so excessively that you make the guilt seem to be grand and disgrace censure.
Use good manners with the servants. Lessen your rage and do not use excessive censure when there is no sin. If any of them makes guilt, you should blame them. Blaming with amnesty is more effective than physical punishment for the intelligent. Do not hold the mindless. Lessen retaliation. For everyone among your servants fix a work for which you may hold him responsible. In this way, they will not fling the work one over the other.
Respect your relatives because they are your wing with which you fly, the origin towards which you return, and your hands with which you attack. They are the propensity in time of crises. You should honor the generous among them, visit the ailed, take part in their affairs, and alleviate their problems. Seek Allah’s aid in all your affairs. He is surely the best supporter.
Place your religion and your world at Allah’s disposal and beg Him to ordain the best for you in respect of the near and the far, this world and the next; and that is an end to the matter.