His Last Will and Testament
Imam Ali's
(AS) last will to his sons Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Hussain (AS)
following a fatal blow on his head during morning prayers by Ibn Muljim
(A Kharijite):
My advice to you is to be
conscious of Allah and steadfast in your religion. Do not yearn for the
world, and do not be seduced by it. Do not resent anything you have
missed in it. Proclaim the truth; work for the next world. Oppose the
oppressor and support the oppressed.
I advise you, and all my children, my relatives, and whosoever receives
this message, to be conscious of Allah, to remove your differences, and
to strengthen your ties. I heard your grandfather, peace be upon him,
say: "Reconciliation of your differences is more worthy than all prayers
and all fasting."
Fear Allah in matters concerning orphans. Attend to their nutrition and
do not forget their interests in the middle of yours.
Fear Allah in your relations with your neighbors. Your Prophet often
recommended them to you, so much so that we thought he would give them a
share in inheritance.
Remain attached to the Quran. Nobody should surpass you in being intent
on it, or more sincere in implementing it.
Fear Allah in relation to your prayers. It is the pillar of your
religion.
Fear Allah in relation to His House; do not abandon it as long as you
live. If you should do that you would abandon your dignity.
Persist in jihad in the cause of Allah, with your money, your souls, and
your tongue.
Maintain communication and exchange of opinion among yourselves. Beware
of disunity and enmity. Do not desist from promoting good deeds and
cautioning against bad ones. Should you do that, the worst among you
would be your leaders, and you will call upon Allah without response.
O Children of Abdul Muttalib! Do not shed the blood of Muslims under the
banner: The Imam has been assassinated! Only the assassin should be
condemned to death.
If I die of this stroke of his, kill him with one similar stroke. Do not
mutilate him! I have heard the Prophet, peace be upon him, say:
"Mutilate not even a rabid dog."
Source: Nahjul Balagha
In the 40th year of Hijri, in the early hours of the morning of 19th
Ramadhan, Imam Ali (AS) was struck with a poisoned sword by the
Kharijite Ibn Muljim (may the curse of Allah be upon him) while leading
prayers in the Masjid of Kufa. He was martyred on the 21st day of
Ramadhan 40 A.H. and buried in Najaf-ul-Ashraf. He was born in the House
of Allah, the Ka'ba, and martyred in the House of Allah, Masjid-e-Kufa.
The Lion of Allah, the most brave and gentle Muslim after the Holy
Prophet (pbuh&hf) himself, began his glorious life with devotion to
Allah and His Messenger, and ended it in the service of Islam.
"And do not speak of those who are slain in the the Way of Allah as
dead; nay, they are alive, but you perceive not." Qur'an 2:154
Knowledge and Ignorance
In reply to some one who posed Imam Ali (as) a difficult question, Imam
Ali (as) said : 'Ask in order to understand, and do not ask in order to
find fault, for surely the ignorant man who wants to learn resembles a
man of knowledge, and surely a man of knowledge who wants to be
difficult resembles an ignorant man who wants to find fault. '
The Station of the men of Knowledge
The man of knowledge is the one who recognizes that what is known is
very little compared to what is not known, and as a result he considers
himself ignorant, and accordingly he increases his efforts to know more
by going out in search of knowledge.
The Purity and the Nobility of Knowledge
Do not talk about knowledge with the foolish so that they deny you, nor
with the ignorant so that they find you oppressive, but talk about it
with those of its people whom you meet who will accept it and understand
it.
Knowledge and Acting on it
O you who carry knowledge around with you; are you only carrying it
around with you ? For surely knowledge belongs to who ever knows and
then acts accordingly, so that his
action corresponds to his knowledge. There will be a people who will
carry knowledge around with them, but it will not pass beyond their
shoulders. Their inner most thoughts will contradict what they display
in public, and their actions will contradict what they know.
The purity and nobility of knowledge
When a dead person is placed in his grave, four kinds of fire will cover
him, but then the prayer will come and put one of them out, and the fast
will come and put another one of them out, and then charity will come
and put another one out, and knowledge will come and put the forth one
out, and it will say : 'If I had come sooner, I would a have put all of
them out, and given you delight for I am with you now, and you'll not
see anything else distressing.
On the Heart
I am amazed at the heart of man: It possesses the substance of wisdom as
well as the opposites contrary to it ... for if hope arises in it, it is
brought low by covetousness: and if covetousness is aroused in it, greed
destroys it. If despair possesses it, self piety kills it: and if it is
seized by anger, this is intensified by rage. If it is blessed with
contentment, then it forgets to be careful; and if it is filled with
fear, then it becomes preoccupied with being cautious. If it feels
secure , then it is overcome by vain hopes; and if it is given wealth,
then its independence makes it extravagant. If want strikes it, then it
is smitten by anxiety. If it is weakened by hunger, then it gives way to
exhaustion; and if it goes too far in satisfying its appetites, then its
inner becomes clogged up. So all its shortcomings are harmful to it, and
all its excesses corrupt it.
There are four things that make the heart die: wrong action followed by
wrong action, playing around with foolish people, spending a lot of time
with women, and sitting with the dead. Then they asked Imam Ali: 'And
who are the dead, O Commander of the believers?' He replied: 'Every
slave who follows his desires.'
Surely want is a trial, and having sickness of the body is more
difficult to bear than indigence, and having a sickness of the heart is
more difficult to bear than having a sickness of the body. Surely being
very wealthy is a blessing, and having a healthy body is better than
being very wealthy, and having awe of Allah in your heart is better than
having a healthy body.
Surely hearts have desires, and they turn towards, and they turn away
... so approach them by means of what they desire and what they turn
towards, for surely if the heart is forced to do some thing against its
will, it goes blind.
On Intellect
A person's intellect becomes apparent through his dealings, and a man's
character is known by the way he exercises authority. The intellect is a
king and characteristics are its subjects, so if it is weak in governing
them, disorder takes place.
The intellect is better than desire, for the intellect makes you a king
over your destiny, and desire makes you a slave of your destiny.
The intellect is a natural disposition which learns from experience.
The intellect is what arrives at what is correct through reasoning, and
recognizes what has not yet happened through what has already taken
place. Use your intellect to understand something when you hear about
the intellect that examines, that is, and not just the intellect that
repeats what it hears, for surely there are many who repeat the
knowledge that they hear, and there are few who examine it.
The one who has an intellect longs to be like the righteous people so
that he can be of one of them, and he loves them so that he can be
united with them in his love, even if he falls short in emulating their
actions.
The one who has an intellect does not openly display it except in one of
two situations: when he is furthest away from seeking something in the
world, and when he is furthest away from abandoning it.
Surely hated adversity has final objectives in which it will inevitably
end, so the one who has an intellect should try to sleep over it until
this happens, for surely any attempt to stop it before it has come to an
end will only intensify that hated diversity even more.
The first opinion of the person of intellect is the last opinion of an
ignorant person.
The one who has an intellect finds harshness of life amongst persons of
intellect more agreeable than a life of ease amongst the foolish.
The Station of men of Knowledge
Know that the slaves of Allah are those who seek to preserve knowledge
of Him, safeguarding what safeguards it, and lettings its springs flow
freely. They are united by friendship, and they meet with love, and they
drink from the cup that quenches their thirst, and they go on with their
thirst satisfied. They are not troubled by doubt, and they are not quick
to backbite. It is on this basis that their natural disposition and
character rest, and on this is based their love, and by this they are
united. They are like seeds that have been assessed and selected, some
to be kept and some to be thrown away, identified through purification,
and refined through clarification.
This World and the Next
Imam Ali (as) wrote to Salman al Farsi (ra) : To continue, surely, the
likeness of this world is that of a snake: it is soft to touch, and
deadly poisonous. The ignorant child is distracted by it, and the one
with understanding and intellect is cautious of it. So turn away from
what fascinates you in it, for how little of it stays with you.
The Life Transaction ( Religion ) of Islam
I am making a connection which no one has made before me: Islam is
submission, and submission is certainty, and certainty is the
affirmation of the truth, and affirmation of the truth is
acknowledgement, and acknowledgement is performance of what is
obligatory, and performance of what is obligatory is appropriate action.
The
Sayings & Wisdom of Imam Ali (AS)
The Muhammadi Trust
Zahra Publications
ISBN 0946079919 |