159. Imam As-Sadiq (‘as) said:
Exchanging visits with the relatives and charity will make the Judgment easier and guard against sins. Hence, build good relations with your brothers and treat them charitably by good greeting and response at least.
160. Sufian Athawri related: I visited As-Sadiq (‘as) and asked for a commandment that I would apply on myself after him. ‘Will you surely apply it, Suffian?’ wondered Imam as-Sadiq (‘as). ‘Yes, son of the Prophet’s daughter, I will,’ answered I. The Imam (‘as) spoke:
O Sufian, the liars enjoy no personality, the envious are persistently restless, the kings keep no fraternity, the proud keep no friends, and the ill-mannered should not enjoy leadership.
As the Imam stopped, I asked for more. He (‘as) added:
O Suffian, trust in God and you will be knowing. Satisfy yourself with that which God has allot-ted for you and you will be rich. Associate with others in the same way they associate with you and you will have more faith. Do not accompany the lecher so that they will not teach you matters of their lechery. Seek the advice of those who fear God the Glorified.
As the Imam stopped, I asked for more. He (‘as) said:
O Suffian, he who searches for honor without sovereignty, might without need of brothers, and dignity without possessing wealth should shift from the humility of the acts of disobedience to God to the nobility of His obedience.
As he stopped, I asked for more. He (‘as) said:
O Suffian, my father instructed me three matters and warned me against three. He instructed me that whoever associate with the vicious will not be saved, he who does not opt for good wording will regret, and he who intrudes himself in bad matters will be indicted.
O son of the Prophet’s daughter,’ I asked, ‘What about the three against whom your father warned you?’ He (‘as) spoke:
My father warned me against associating with the envious, those who rejoice at others’ misfortunes, and the talebearers.
161. Imam As-Sadiq (‘as) said:
Bad-temperedness, bad humor, envy, obduracy, and oppression—these six characters should never be in the believers’ behavior.
162. Imam As-Sadiq (‘as) said:
The believer should live between two fears—the past sin that he does not know what God will do about it and the remaining days that he does not know what misfortunes he will encounter through them. Thus, the believer begins his day fearfully and ends his day fearfully. Except fear, nothing mends the believer.
163. Imam As-Sadiq (‘as) said:
God will accept the few deeds of those who satisfy themselves with the little sustenance. He who satisfies himself with the few legal gotten sustenance will have light burdens and pure earnings and will be released from the frame of incapability.
164. Sufian Athawri related: I attended before Abu Abdullah (‘as) and said, ‘O son of the prophet’s daughter, how is your morning?’ He answered:
Truly, I am grieved and my heart is engaged.
I asked, ‘What made you grief and what engaged your heart? He (‘as) answered:
O Athawri, he whose heart is occupied by the purity of the decency of God’s religion will surely be distracted from everything. O Athawri, what is the world? What is its reality? Is it more than a meal that you had, a dress that you put on, or a pack animal that you rode? The believers do not trust the world and always expect the imminent coming of the world to come. This world is the place of the fated lapse while the world to come is the place of the eternal settlement. The people of this world are the people of inadvertence.
The God-fearing ones are the people of the lightest burden and the most supportive. When you are oblivious, they remind you and when they remind you, they lead you to knowledge. You should regard this world as a lodging that you are temporary taking and you will sooner or later leave it, or as a fortune that you got in dreams, but when you woke up you found nothing of it in your hands. It often happens that the matters for which the desirous have often longed would distress them. It also happens that the neglectors of matters will find happiness with them when they have them effortlessly.
165. The Imam (‘as) was asked about the evidence on the existence of the One God. He answered:
The evidence is the need of the creatures to Him.
166. Imam As-Sadiq (‘as) said:
You will not be regarded as (true) believers before you see the misfortunes as graces and the luxury as disaster.
167. Imam As-Sadiq (‘as) said: The possession of four thousand dirhams is fortune. The possession of twelve thousand dirhams is treasuring up. Twenty thousand dirhams cannot be amassed by legal ways. The possessor of thirty thousand dirhams will surely be suffering perdition. The possessors of one hundred thou-sand dirhams are definitely not reckoned with our adherents (Shia).
168. Imam As-Sadiq (‘as) said:
The signs of the accuracy of a Muslim’s conviction are to avoid pleasing people by means that enrage God, thanking them for receiving God’s sustenance, and blaming them for matters that God has stopped. The earnings of the Muslims cannot be driven into them due to somebody’s acquisitiveness and cannot be stopped due to somebody’s refutation. If you try to escape getting your earnings as same as you escape from death, it will surely catch up with you as same as death when it will unquestionably catch up with you.
169. Imam as-Sadiq (‘as) said:
Among our adherents (Shia) are those whose voices do not exceed their hearing and whose de-testation does not exceed their bodies.12 They avoid praising us declaratorily, regarding those who hate us, disputing with our supporters, and sitting with those who revile at us.
Mihzam asked: “What about those who claim being Shia?” The Imam (‘as) answered:
They will be distinguished, discriminated, and inflicted by misfortunes. In few years, they will be perishing, suffering plague, which will kill them, and encountering disagreements that will scatter them. Our true adherents do not bark like dogs, covet like craws, or beg even if they starve.
Someone asked: “Where can I find such adherents?” The Imam (‘as) answered:
You will find them living in the outskirts. Their living is hardly sufficient. Their dwellings are roving. When they are present, they are not recognized. When they are absent, they are not missed. When they are ailed, nobody visits them. When they betroth, nobody agrees to them. When they noticed an evil, they show displeasure. When the ignorant dispute with them, they say, ‘salaam’ (or use nice wording with them). When the needy seek their support, they treat mercifully. When death comes near to them, they do not show grief. Although they live in different countries, their hearts will not be different.