When God created the creation he wrote a book, which is near him upon
the sovran throne; and what is written in it is this: "Verily my
compassion overcometh my wrath."
Say not, if people do good to us, we will do good to them, and if
people oppress us, we will oppress them: but resolve that if people do
good to you, you will do good to them, and if they oppress you, oppress
them not again.
God saith: Whoso doth one good act, for him are ten rewards, and I also
give more to whomsoever I will; and whoso doth ill, its retaliation is
equal to it, or else I forgive him; and he who seeketh to approach me
one cubit, I will seek to approach him two fathoms; and he who walketh
toward me, I will run toward him; and he who cometh before me with the
earth full of sins, but joineth no partner to me, I will come before
him with an equal front of forgiveness.
There are seven people whom God will draw under his own shadow, on that
day when there will be no other shadow: one a just king; another, who
hath employed himself in devotion from his youth; the third, who fixeth
his heart on the mosque till he return to it; the fourth, two men whose
friendship is to please God, whether together or separate; the fifth, a
man who remembereth God when he is alone, and weepeth; the sixth, a man
who is tempted by a rich and beautiful woman, and saith, Verily I fear
God; the seventh, a man who hath given alms and concealed it, so that
his left hand knoweth not what his right hand doeth.
The most excellent of all actions is to befriend any one on God's
account, and to be at enmity with whosoever is the enemy of God.
Verily ye are in an age in which if ye abandon one-tenth of what is
ordered, ye will be ruined. After this a time will come when he who
shall observe one-tenth of what is now ordered will be redeemed.
_Concerning Prayer_
Angels come among you both night and day; then those of the night
ascend to heaven, and God asketh them how they left his creatures: they
say, We left them at prayer, and we found them at prayer.
The rewards for the prayers which are performed by people assembled
together are double of those which are said at home.
Ye must not say your prayers at the rising or the setting of the sun:
so when a limb of the sun appeareth, leave your prayers until her whole
orb is up: and when the sun beginneth to set, quit your prayers until
the whole orb hath disappeared; for, verily she riseth between the two
horns of the devil.
No neglect of duty is imputable during sleep; for neglect can only
take place when one is awake: therefore, when any of you forget your
prayers, say them when ye recollect.
When any one of you goeth to sleep, the devil tieth three knots upon
his neck; and saith over every knot, "The night is long, sleep."
Therefore, if a servant awake and remember God, it openeth one knot;
and if he perform the ablution, it openeth another; and if he say
prayers, it openeth the other; and he riseth in the morning in gladness
and purity: otherwise he riseth in a lethargic state.
When a Moslem performeth the ablution, it washeth from his face those
faults which he may have cast his eyes upon; and when he washeth
his hands, it removeth the faults they may have committed, and when
he washeth his feet, it dispelleth the faults toward which they may
have carried him: so that he will rise up in purity from the place of
ablution.
_Of Charity_
When God created the earth it began to shake and tremble; then God
created mountains, and put them upon the earth, and the land became
firm and fixed; and the angels were astonished at the hardness of the
hills, and said, "O God, is there anything of thy creation harder than
hills?" and God said, "Yes, water is harder than the hills, because it
breaketh them." Then the angel said, "O Lord, is there anything of thy
creation harder than water?" He said, "Yes, wind overcometh water: it
doth agitate it and put it in motion." They said, "O our Lord! is there
anything of thy creation harder than wind?" He said, "Yes, the children
of Adam giving alms: those who give with their right hand, and conceal
from their left, overcome all."
The liberal man is near the pleasure of God and is near paradise, which
he shall enter into, and is near the hearts of men as a friend, and he
is distant from hell; but the niggard is far from God's pleasure and
from paradise, and far from the hearts of men, and near the fire; and
verily a liberal ignorant man is more beloved by God than a niggardly
worshiper.
A man's giving in alms one piece of silver in his lifetime is better
for him than giving one hundred when about to die.
Think not that any good act is contemptible, though it be but your
brother's coming to you with an open countenance and good humor.
There is alms for a man's every joint, every day in which the sun
riseth; doing justice between two people is alms; and assisting a man
upon his beast, and with his baggage, is alms; and pure words, for
which are rewards; and answering a questioner with mildness is alms,
and every step which is made toward prayer is alms, and removing that
which is an inconvenience to man, such as stones and thorns, is alms.
The people of the Prophet's house killed a goat, and the Prophet said,
"What remaineth of it?" They said, "Nothing but the shoulder; for they
have sent the whole to the poor and neighbors, except a shoulder which
remaineth." The Prophet said, "Nay, it is the whole goat that remaineth
except its shoulder: that remaineth which they have given away, the
rewards of which will be eternal, and what remaineth in the house is
fleeting."
Feed the hungry, visit the sick, and free the captive if he be unjustly
bound.
_Of Fasting_
A keeper of fasts, who doth not abandon lying and slandering, God
careth not about his leaving off eating and drinking.
Keep fast and eat also, stay awake at night and sleep also, because
verily there is a duty on you to your body, not to labor overmuch, so
that ye may not get ill and destroy yourselves; and verily there is a
duty on you to your eyes, ye must sometimes sleep and give them rest;
and verily there is a duty on you to your wife, and to your visitors
and guests that come to see you; ye must talk to them; and nobody hath
kept fast who fasted always; the fast of three days in every month is
equal to constant fasting: then keep three days' fast in every month.
_Of Reading the Koran_
The state of a Moslem who readeth the Koran is like the orange fruit,
whose smell and taste are pleasant; and that of a Moslem who doth not
read the Koran is like a date which hath no smell, but a sweet taste;
and the condition of any hypocrite who doth not read the Koran is
like the colocynth which hath no smell, but a bitter taste; and the
hypocrite who readeth the Koran is like the sweet bazil, whose smell is
sweet, but taste bitter.
Read the Koran constantly; I sware by him in the hands of whose might
is my life, verily the Koran runneth away faster than a camel which is
not tied by the leg.
_Of Labor and Profit_
Verily the best things which ye eat are those which ye earn yourselves
or which your children earn.
Verily it is better for one of you to take a rope and bring a bundle
of wood upon his back and sell it, in which case God guardeth his
honor, than to beg of people, whether they give him or not; if they do
not give him, his reputation suffereth and he returneth disappointed;
and if they give him, it is worse than that, for it layeth him under
obligations.
A man came to the Prophet, begging of him something, and the Prophet
said, "Have you nothing at home?" He said, "Yes, there is a large
carpet, with one part of which I cover myself, and spread the other,
and there is a wooden cup in which I drink water." Then the Prophet
said, "Bring me the carpet and the cup." And the man brought them, and
the Prophet took them in his hand, and said, "Who will buy them?" A
man said, "I will take them at one silver piece." He said, "Who will
give more?" This he repeated twice or thrice. Another man said, "I will
take them for two pieces of silver." Then the Prophet gave the carpet
and cup to that man, and took the two pieces of silver, and gave them
to the helper, and said, "Buy food with one of these pieces, and give
it to your family, that they may make it their sustenance for a few
days; and buy a hatchet with the other piece and bring it to me." And
the man brought it; and the Prophet put a handle to it with his own
hands, and then said, "Go, cut wood, and sell it, and let me not see
you for fifteen days." Then the man went cutting wood, and selling
it; and he came to the Prophet, when verily he had got ten pieces of
silver, and he bought a garment with part of it, and food with part.
Then the Prophet said, "This cutting and selling of wood, and making
your livelihood by it, is better for you than coming on the day of
resurrection with black marks on your face."
Acts of begging are scratches and wounds by which a man woundeth his
own face; then he who wisheth to guard his face from scratches and
wounds must not beg, unless that a man asketh from his prince, or in
an affair in which there is no remedy.
The Prophet hath cursed ten persons on account of wine: one, the
first extractor of the juice of the grape for others; the second, for
himself; the third, the drinker of it; the fourth, the bearer of it;
the fifth, the person to whom it is brought; the sixth, the waiter;
the seventh, the seller of it; the eighth, the eater of its price; the
ninth, the buyer of it; the tenth, that person who hath purchased it
for another.
Merchants shall be raised up liars on the day of resurrection, except
he who abstaineth from that which is unlawful, and doth not swear
falsely, but speaketh true in the price of his goods.
The taker of interest and the giver of it, and the writer of its papers
and the witness to it, are equal in crime.
The holder of a monopoly is a sinner and offender.
The bringers of grain to the city to sell at a cheap rate gain immense
advantage by it, and he who keepeth back grain in order to sell at a
high rate is cursed.
He who desireth that God should redeem him from the sorrows and
difficulties of the day of resurrection must delay in calling on poor
debtors, or forgive the debt in part or whole.
A martyr shall be pardoned every fault but debt.
Whosoever has a thing with which to discharge a debt, and refuseth to
do it, it is right to dishonor and punish him.
A bier was brought to the Prophet, to say prayers over it. He said,
"Hath he left any debts?" They said, "Yes." He said, "Hath he left
anything to discharge them?" They said, "No." The Prophet said, "Say ye
prayers over him; I shall not."
Give the laborer his wage before his perspiration be dry.
_Of Fighting for the Faith_
We came out with the Prophet, with a part of the army, and a man passed
by a cavern in which were water and verdure, and he said in his heart,
"I shall stay here, and retire from the world." Then he asked the
Prophet's permission to live in the cavern; but he said, "Verily I have
not been sent on the Jewish religion, nor the Christian, to quit the
delights of society; but I have been sent on the religion inclining to
truth, and that which is easy, wherein is no difficulty or austerity. I
swear by God, in whose hand is my life, that marching about morning and
evening to fight for religion is better than the world and everything
that is in it: and verily the standing of one of you in the line of
battle is better than supererogatory prayers performed in your house
for sixty years."
When the Prophet sent an army out to fight, he would say, March in the
name of God and by his aid and on the religion of the Messenger of
God. Kill not the old man who can not fight, nor young children nor
women; and steal not the spoils of war, but put your spoils together;
and quarrel not among yourselves, but be good to one another, for God
loveth the doer of good.
_Of Judgments_
The first judgment that God will pass on man at the day of resurrection
will be for murder.
Whosoever throweth himself from the top of a mountain and killeth
himself is in hell fire forever; and whosoever killeth himself with
iron, his iron shall be in his hand, and he will stab his belly with it
in hell fire everlastingly.
No judge must decide between two persons whilst he is angry.
There is no judge who hath decided between men, whether just or unjust,
but will come to God's court on the day of resurrection held by the
neck by an angel; and the angel will raise his head toward the heavens
and wait for God's orders; and if God ordereth to throw him into hell,
the angel will do it from a height of forty years' journey.
Verily there will come on a just judge at the day of resurrection such
fear and horror, that he will wish, Would to God that I had not decided
between two persons in a trial for a single date.
_Of Women and Slaves_
The world and all things in it are valuable, but the most valuable
thing in the world is a virtuous woman.