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Conduct People
act like mirrors; friends reflect your good qualities and enemies your faults. Ten social virtues Generosity,
modesty, truthfulness, integrity, hospitality, decency, courage, tolerance,
steadfastness and gratitude Sincerity A person
is sincere if his words and deeds, exterior and interior are the same; he
fulfills his pledges and maintains purity in worship. A favour
is a trust that you must return. Courtesy Courtesy
conceals genetic flaws. Intelligence
blossoms on courtesy. Unity Truth
unites, falsehood divides. Stay with the truthful, no matter how few; stay away
from the false, no matter how many. Satan
first creates discord in congregations, then divides and destroys. Speech Speech is
the scale, which reason makes weighty, ignorance makes weightless. A man
reveals himself through his speech. The
knowledge expressed only through speech is the meanest; that which is
demonstrated through every act of the body is sublime. Learning through experience He who
learns a lesson from each experience will save himself from ruin. In the
rise and fall of fortunes are lessons to be learnt. Folly A man’s
folly is demonstrated through three acts: Talking
about matters that don’t concern him Offering
comments when not asked Interfering
in other people’s affairs without understanding He, who
thinks he is the wisest, is the most foolish. A foolish
man speaks without thinking; a wise man thinks before he speaks. Ignorance Ignorance
reveals itself in the following: Being
angry without cause, Speaking
without need, Rewarding
the undeserving, Not
distinguishing between friend and foe, Revealing
a secret, Trusting
everyone. The
ignorant never realizes his mistake nor accepts advice. Lies No one
ever believes a man who lies. Nobility Ensuring
justice for the weak is a sign of nobility. Defect The
greatest of defects is to point out a defect in others, which you yourself
possess but fail to notice in yourself. He is the
wisest who tries to mend his own defects rather than keep an eye on the defects
of others. Hypocrisy Hypocrites
can be identified by the following characteristics: They say
peace but mean war. Their
nourishment is false allegations. Their
generosity is being dishonest. They keep
their distance due to arrogance. They do
not wish anybody well. They
sleep like a log at night and create furor during the day. They have
no respect for the mosque, and present themselves in it at the end of the
prayer or worship. Revenge The best
revenge is to improve yourself. It is
easier to win your enemy over by sincere measures and good deeds than declare
war and dominate him after great bloodshed and destruction. The best
revenge is forgiveness. Miserliness A true
believer (momin) is never miserly nor ill tempered. Envy Three
things can only ruin: Arrogance-
it brought damnation to Iblis Avarice-
it made Adam lose paradise Envy- it
made Qabeel commit the first murder, and that too of his own brother, Habeel Envy is
to man what rust is to iron. Malice Malice is
an incurable disease, which is also infectious. He who
breeds malice breeds unhappiness and lives in it till he dies. Disobedience The worst
friend is one who glorifies the disobedience of God. Try to
postpone disobeying God, instead of hurrying to disobey. Death He who
desires the world is sought by death, and he who is prepared for it, the world
seeks to deliver his sustenance to him. He who
waits for death hurries to perform good deeds. Death for
the virtuous is a reward for them, death for the vicious is a relief for the
people. Martyrdom
is the best way to depart from this world. I swear by him in whose hand lies
the soul of this son of Abu Talib (‘a), I would prefer a thousand wounds of the
sword in the way of Allah, than disobey Him and die in bed. |
