1. Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said:
The people who consult for their affairs will surely be guided to the right.
2. Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said:
Meanness is to avoid thanking the grace.
3. Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said to one of his sons:
O son, do not befriend anyone before you know his means and sources. When you try him and please to associate with him, you should then befriend him on bases of pardoning his faults and consoling him in misfortunes.
4. Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said:
Do not fight the demand like the fighting of the triumphant and do not depend upon the destiny like the surrendering. To seek the graces is a prophetic tradition and to seek moderately is a form of chastity. However, neither chastity will stop the earnings nor will acquisitiveness bring any surplus. The earnings are already divided and acquisitiveness leads to sins.
5. Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said:
The true close is that who is drawn nearby cordiality despite the far kinship, and the true remote is that whom is taken away by cordiality despite the near kinship. Nothing is closer to the body than the hand. Hands may be amputated and cut due to betrayal.
6. Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said:
He who depends upon God’s good option for him will not wish to be in a situation other than that which God opts for him.
7. Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said:
Dishonor is less bearable than the fire (of Hell).
8. Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said:
The good that lacks evil is to thank the grace and to tolerate the misfortune.
9. Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said to a man who had just been cured from a disease:
God has mentioned you; therefore, you should mention Him, and has pardoned you; therefore, you should thank Him.
10. Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said when he concluded the peace treaty with Mu’awiya:
By God, it was not doubt or sorrow that made us stop confronting people of Syria. We could fight the Syrian people with safety and steadfastness. Today, enmity, unfortunately, seized the safety and intolerance seized the steadfastness. When you fought in (the battle of) Siffin, your religion was preceded to your worldly life. Today, your worldly life is preceded to your religion.
11. Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said:
I do not know anyone who is not foolish in his relation to His Lord.
12. As someone accused him of enjoying haughtiness, Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said:
No, I enjoy honor. God says:
Honor belongs to God, His Messenger and the believers. (63:8).
13. Describing the features of one of his virtuous friends4, Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said:
He was the greatest of people in my eye. The head of his characters that made him great in my eye was the insignificancy of this world in his eyes. He was beyond the power of ignorance. He extended his hand to no one except the trustful and only for a profit. He was not complaining, showing dissatisfaction, or repining. He spent most of his time with silence; but when he spoke, he was excelling the speakers. He was weak and feeble, but in situations of seriousness, he was as same as an attacking lion. When he was sitting with the scholars, he was abiding by listening more than speaking. He was not overcome in silence even if he was overcome in speaking. He was not saying what he would not do and was doing what he did not say. When he ignored which of the two matters, which he encountered, was the nearer to his Lord, he used to notice the one that was nearer to his passion so that he would take in the other. He avoided blaming anyone for a matter the like of which might be excused.
14. Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said:
He who frequents to the mosque will gain one of eight things—a decisive (Qur’anic) Verse, a useful friend, an original information, an expected mercy, a word that guides to the right, a word that saves from perdition, or a desertion of sins whether shyly or fearfully.
15. People of Quraysh visited Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) for the birth of a male baby. They said (their usual expression of congratulation in such an occasion): “Enjoy the existence of this knight.” He answered, “What is this saying? Who knows, he may be walking.” “O son of God’s Messenger,” said Jabir, “What should we say then?”
The Imam (‘as) answered:
To congratulate for a male newborn, you should say: May you thank the Endower, blessed be this gift, and God may cause him to attain maturity and bestow upon you with his earnings.
16. As he was asked about chivalry, Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) answered:
Chivalry is to cling to the religion, recondition the wealth, and fulfill the duties completely.
17. Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said:
The most discerning sight is that which is most piercing in the good. The most perceptive hearing is that which retains the reminding and makes benefits. The soundest heart is that which is pure from suspicions.
18. As a man asked him for advice, Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said: Avoid praising me because I know myself better than you do. Avoid belying me because the opinions of those whom are belied are valueless. Avoid backbiting anyone before me.
As the man asked the Imam’s permission to leave, the Imam (‘as) permitted him.
19. Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said:
He who seeks worship should clean himself for it. Decline the recommendable rites if they injure the obligatory ones. Conviction is refuge for safety. He who considers the long journey will surely prepare for it. The intelligent should not cheat those who seek advice. Between the admonition and you lie the screen of haughtiness. Knowledge invalidates the excuses of the learners. Every anticipated (one) asks for respite and every respited busies himself with negligence.
20. Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said:
O servants of God, fear God, seek (from Him) seriously and escape (His punishment). Enter up-on acting before the befalling of the punishment and the coming of the destroyer of the pleasures. The comfort of this world is not ceaseless, its misfortunes cannot be trusted, and its troubles cannot be avoided. It is surely an unsteady delusion and a slanting pillar. O servants of God, you should therefore take a warning from the examples, learn lessons from the transmitted events, refrain from committing sins for the sake of Paradise, and benefit by the admonitions. God is a sufficient protector and supporter, the Book (of God) is sufficient arguer and adversary, Paradise is a sufficient reward, and Hell is a sufficient penalty and evil result.
21. Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) said:
When you meet your friends, you should kiss them on the place of light in the forehead.
22. As he passed by some people who were playing and laughing on the Eid ul-Fitr5, Imam Al-Hasan (‘as) stopped at them and said:
God has made the month of Ramadan the racetrack of His creation so that they will compete with each other in acts of obedience to Him to attain His satisfaction. Some people preceded others and could win, while others dropped behind and failed. How strange that who plays and laughs on the day when the good-doers are rewarded and the wrongdoers are losing is! By God I take the oath, if the cover is removed, they will realize that the good-doers are engaged in their advantages and the evildoers are engaged in their sins.
The Imam (‘as) then left.