The following is only a part of a long narrative and many questions that a monk, named Shimon Ibn Lawi Ibn Yahuda, had asked the Rasulullah (SAW) who answered all the question in spite of their too numerous numbers. On that account, the monk believed and gave full credit to the Rasulullah (SAW). We, here, refer to some of these questions.
The monk asked: Tell me about the intellect. What and how is it, and what originate and what does not originate form it? Describe all of its parts in detail.
The Rasulullah (SAW) said:
The intellect is a barrier against ignorance. The soul is the like of the most malicious animal. It will surely be confused if it is not controlled. The intellect is a barrier against ignorance. When God created the intellect, He said to him: “Approach (by Me).” The intellect approached. God said: “Go away.” The intellect went away. Then, God the Blessed the Elevated said: “By My glory and loftiness I swear, I have never created anything that is greater and more obedient than you are. By you, I will begin and repeat. The reward will be for you and the punishment will fall on you.”
Clemency was ramified from the intellect. Knowledge was ramified from clemency. Reason was ramified from knowledge. Chastity was ramified from reason. Self-respect was ramified from chastity. Pudency was ramified from self-respect. Sedateness was ramified from pudency. Persistence in goodwill was ramified from sedateness. Antipathy for evil was ramified from persistence in goodwill. Listening to the advice was ramified from the antipathy for evil. These were ten categories of good. Each of them has ten types.
The branches of clemency that the intellect originates are taking in the favor, associating with the pious ones, rising from humility and meanness, stimulating the good, approaching to the noble ranks, pardon, respite, good turn, and silence.
The branches of knowledge are richness despite poverty, generosity despite niggardliness, dignity despite weakness, safety despite illness, closeness despite distance, shyness despite boasting, elevation despite humility, honor despite lowliness, wisdom, and high rank. These are the branches of knowledge that the intellect originates. Blessed are those who possess minds and knowledge.
The branches of reason are straightness, guidance, piety, God-fearing, obtainment, temperance, economy, generosity, and acquaintance with God’s religion. The intelligent gain these things through reason. Blessed are those who adhere to reason through their courses.
The branches of chastity are contentment, modesty, abundance, rest, consideration, reverence, remembrance, pondering, generosity, and liberality. The intelligent obtain these matters due to chastity, as they are satisfied with God and the fates.
The branches of self-respect are righteousness, modesty, piety, turning to God, understanding, good manners, charity, friendliness, virtue, and courtesy. The intelligent obtain these matters due to self-respect. Blessed are those whose Master (God) endow them with self-respect.
The branches of pudency are leniency, kindness, regarding God secretly and openly, safety, avoiding the evil, happy mien, clemency, victory, and the good reputation. The intelligent obtain these matters due to shyness. Blessed are those who accept God’s advice and fear His scandal.
The branches of sedateness are gentleness, firmness, the fulfillment of the trusts, leaving treachery, true-telling, chasteness, gaining legal fortunes, readying for the enemy, forbidding the evil, and avoiding foolishness. The intelligent gain these matters due to sedateness. Blessed are the serious who do not show any levity or ignorance and who pardon and forgive.
The branches of persistence in goodwill are avoiding the adultery, going away from recklessness, refraining from ill matters, conviction, the love of salvation, obeying the Beneficent, glorifying the proof, evading the Shaytan, responding to the justice, and saying the right. The intelligent gain these matters through the persistence in goodwill. Blessed are those who permanently mention the coming and the resurrection and learn from the demise.
The branches of antipathy for evil are gravity, patience, victory, straightness on the course, persistence in reason, believing in God, keeping the sacred matters, sincerity, leaving the unconcerned, and keeping the useful affairs. The intelligent gain these matters through the antipathy for evil. Blessed are those who constitute God’s right and cling to the handles of His path.
The branches of listening to the advice are the increasing of the reason, perfection of the mind, good results, salvation from meanness, consent, cordiality, ease, fairness, advancement in the affairs, and the ability of obeying God. Blessed are those who save themselves from the traps of fancies. These were the branches of the intellect.
Shimon said: Tell me about the marks of the ignorant.
The Rasulullah (SAW) replied:
The ignorant is that who hurts you when you accompany him, reviles at you if you leave him, binds you with his favors if he gives you something and shows ingratitude if he is given something, betrays if you tell him a secret, and accuses you (of divulging his secrets) if he tells you a secret. He becomes ungrateful, coarse, and rude if he is rich, denies God’s graces openly if he is poor, exceeds the limits if he is happy, despairs if he is sad, guffaws if he laughs, and lows if he weeps. The ignorant reviles at the pious ones. He neither loves nor regards God. He is neither ashamed of God nor does he remember Him. He will praise you excessively if you please him; otherwise, he will cancel the praising and accuse you of things that you do not have. This is the habit of the ignorant.
Shimon asked: What about the mark of Islam?
The Rasulullah (SAW) answered:
The marks of Islam are faith, knowledge, and work.
Shimon asked: What are the marks of faith, knowledge, and work?
The Rasulullah (SAW) replied:
The marks of faith are four: they are the declaration of God’s oneness, believing in Him, believing in His Books, and believing in His apostles.
The marks of knowledge are four: they are having knowledge of God, having knowledge of His disciples, having knowledge of the duties, and keeping on performing them.
The marks of work are the prayer, the fasting, the almsgiving, and the sincerity.
Shimon asked: What about the marks of the honest, the faithful believer, the patient, the repent-ant, the thankful, the submissive, the virtuous, the adviser, the certain, the sincere, the abstinent, the pious, the God-fearing, the hurtful, the unjust, the ostentatious, the hypocrite, the envious, the spendthrift, the inadvertent, the traitor, the indolent, the liar, and the dissolute?
The Rasulullah (SAW) said:
The marks of the honest are four: they are truthfulness, believing in God’s promise and threat, fulfillment of the pledge, and the avoidance of cheating.
The marks of the (faithful) believer are kindness, understanding, and shyness.
The marks of the patient are four: they are steadfastness against misfortunes, determination in the good deeds, modesty, and clemency.
The marks of the repentant are four: they are offering advices for God’s sake, abandonment of the wrong, adherence to the right, and care for charity.
The marks of the thankful are four: they are showing gratitude for the graces, steadfastness against misfortunes, satisfaction with acts of God, and glorifying and praising no one but God.
The marks of the submissive are four: they are considering God exclusively in hidden and open situations, opting for the good, pondering over the Day of Resurrection, and confiding to God (secretly).
The marks of the virtuous are four: they are to purify the heart and enhance the (good) deeds and the earnings as well as all the affairs.
The marks of the sincere are four: he judges fairly, submits to the right, likes for people whatever he likes for himself, and never oppresses anyone.
The marks of the certain are six: he believes in God after he has been certain of His existence, beware of death after he has been certain of its falling, fears the scandal after he has been certain of the Day of Resurrection, longs for Paradise after he has been certain of its inevitable coming, strives hard for avoiding Hell after he has been certain of its existence, and settles an account with himself after he has been certain of the Final Judgment.
The marks of the sincere are four: his heart is sound, his organs are sound, he offers goodness limitlessly, and saves everybody from his evil.
The marks of the abstinent are ten: he abstains from the prohibited matters, saves everybody from his evil, performs obligatory duties of his Lord, obeys properly if he is a slave, manages properly if he is a master, bears neither zealotry nor malice, treats kindly those who mistreated him, benefits those who injured him, pardons those who wronged him, and behaves modestly for God’s right.
The marks of the pious are ten. He loves, hates, associates, departs, riles, pleases, acts, urges, and submits—all for the sake of God. He is always fearful, scared, pure, faithful, responsive, and careful. He, finally, is charitable for the sake of God.
The marks of the God-fearing are six: he fears God and cares for His reprimand; he begins and ends his day as if he can see God before him; he is not interested in the worldly pleasures and he cares for nothing because of his high traits.
The marks of the false believer are four: he intrudes in matters that do not concern him, disputes those who are higher than him, seeks what he cannot gain, and engages himself in matters that do not benefit him.
The marks of the unjust ones are four: he uses acts of disobedience (to God) in order to wrong those who are higher than he is, uses his prevalence in order to control those who are lower than he is, hates the right, and extends injustice.13
The marks of the showy are four: he works hard if someone watches him and becomes lazy when he is alone; he seeks for others’ praise in every activity he does and uses denial (of every unanimous matter) to be distinguished.
The marks of the hypocrites are four: his reality is corrupted; his tongue (wording) is contrary to his heart (intention) ; his saying is contrary to his deed; his interior is contrary to his appearance. Woe to the hypocrite who will definitely suffer the fire of Hell.
The marks of the envious are four: they are backbiting, adulation, and schadenfreude.14
The marks of the spendthrift are four: they take pride in false matters, consume that which they do not possess, abstain from doing favors, and deny whatever does not benefit them.
The marks of the inadvertent are four: they are blindness, inattentiveness, negligence, and oblivion.
The marks of the indolent are four: he slackens until he neglects, neglects until he wastes, wastes until he feels sick, and feels sick until he commits sins.
The marks of the liar are four: he neither says a truth nor trusts others; he sows dissentions be-tween people and slanders.
The marks of the sinful are four: they are negligence, nonsense, hostility, and defamation.
The marks of the traitor are four: they are to commit acts of disobedience to the Beneficent, annoy the neighbors, hate the matches, and approach the tyrannical (ones).
Shimon said: Surely, you have cured and opened my eyes. Please, lead me to courses through which I may be guided.
The Rasulullah (SAW) instructed:
You have enemies who chase and fight you for seizing your religion. They are human beings and jinn. The human enemies are those people who will be insignificant in the world to come and do not desire for the gifts of God. They only care for finding faults with people. They neither find faults with themselves nor care for their evildoings. They will envy and accuse of showing off if they notice a virtuous man. They will criticize if they notice a sinful man.
The jinni enemies are Iblis and his party. If he comes and tells you that your son has died (so as to make you lose your self-possession and show dissatisfaction to God), you should answer: “the alive are created to die. It is my pleasure that a part of me will be in Paradise.”
If he comes to you and tell you that your fortune has been lost, you should say: “Praise be to God Who gave and took, and saved me from (defraying) the zakat.”
If he comes to you and says that people are wronging you while you treat them kindly, you should say: “On the Day of Resurrection, the claim will be upon those who wrong others. The charitable ones will not be interrogated.”
If he comes to you and shows the admiration of your charity, so as to cause you feel proud of your good-doing, you should say: “My evildoings are more numerous than my good-doings.”
If he comes to you to show his admiration of your prayers, you should say: “My carelessness (toward the duties of God) covers my prayers.”
If he comes to you and shows his admiration of your almsgiving, you should say: “I take more than what I give.”
If he comes to you and tells that many are those who wronged you, you should say: “I wronged a bigger number of people.”
If he comes to you and shows his admiration of your deeds, you should answer: “I have disobeyed in many situations.”
If he comes to you and orders you to consume wine, you should answer: “I do not commit sins.”
If he comes to you and asks you to love the pleasures of this world, you should say: “I do not love them after the world had deceived many others.”
O Shimon, associate with the pious ones and follow the Rasulullah—Jacob, Joseph, and David. When God the Blessed the Elevated created the lower world, it took pride, cheered, and said, “Nothing will overcome me.” Thus, God created the earth to be on its back. Therefore, the lower world submitted. The earth, then, felt proud, and said, “Nothing will overcome me.” Hence, God created the mountains and fixed them on the back of the earth so that it would not swing. Thus, the earth submitted and settled. The mountains, then, were proud. They towered and said, “Nothing will overcome us.” Hence, God created the iron to cut the mountains. Thus, they submitted. Then the iron said proudly, “Nothing will overcome me.” Hence, God created fire to dissolve the iron.
The fire gasped and said proudly, “Nothing will overcome me.” Therefore, God created water to extinguish the fire. The water, then, said proudly, “Nothing will overcome me.” Hence, God created the wind that moved the waves of water and aroused what is lying in its depths and stopped it from flowing. The water submitted, and the wind blew and said proudly, “Nothing will overcome me.” Hence, God created man to build what prevents and stops the wind. Thus, the wind submitted. Man, then exceeded the bounds and said tyrannically, “Nothing is more powerful than I am.” Hence, God created death, and man submitted. Then death took pride, but Almighty God said, “Never take pride at yourself. I will slaughter you between the two parties; people of Paradise and people of Hell. I will not revive you forever.” Hence, death feared.
The Rasulullah (SAW) then said:
Clemency overcomes anger, mercy overcomes dissatisfaction, and almsgiving overcomes the sin.