The Commander of the Faithful, the Gateway of knowledge,
Imam Ali (a.s.) had written a will to his son. There are reports that it was
addressed to The Infallible Imam Hasan-e-Mujtaba (a.s.) and others report that
it was addressed to Muhammad-e-Hanafiyya. Extracts from his will is appended
below:
My first advice to
you is to “fear Allah”. Be His obedient
servant. Keep His thought always fresh in your mind. Be attached to and
carefully guard the principles of Islam which connect you with Him. Accept good
exhortations and refresh your mind with them. Adopt piety and kill your
inordinate desires with its help. Build your character with the help of true
faith in religion and Allah. Subjugate your nature with the vision of death, make
it see the mortality of life, and compel it to study the lives of past people.
Take care to provide well for your future abode. Do not barter away eternal
blessings for pleasures of this mortal and fleeing world. Do not talk about
things which you do not know.
Advise people to
do good and live virtuously. Let your words and deeds teach the world lessons on
how to abstain from wickedness and vicious deeds. Try your best to keep away
from those who indulge in vices and sins. Fearlessly and boldly help truth and
justice. Develop the habit of patience against sufferings, calamities and
adversities. Trust in Allah, and seek help and protection from Him only.
Had there been any
other God besides the One, he would have also sent messengers and prophets.
Do unto others as you
wish others to do unto you. Do not oppress and tyrannize anybody. Be kind and
sympathize with others. Vanity and conceit are the forms of folly. Lead a
well-balanced life and exert yourself to earn an honest living. Whenever you
receive a guidance of the Lord to achieve a thing you desire, then do not get
proud of your achievement but be humble and submissive to Him. Before you is a
long and arduous journey, you need provisions to keep going. Do not over-load
yourself but if you find any poor, needy and destitute people who are willing
to carry your load as far as the Day of Judgment then consider this to be a
boon, engage them and pass your load to them (distribute your wealth among poor,
help others to the best of your ability)
The Lord who owns the
treasures of the heaven and the earth has permitted you to ask you for them and
has promised to grant your prayers. If you break your vows, He will not
immediately punish you and if you repent once again He will not taunt you. He
has decreed repentance as a virtuous and pious deed. The Merciful Lord has
ordered that every evil deed of yours is counted as one and a good deed and
pious action will be rewarded tenfold. He has left the door of repentance open.
You are created for
the next world not this world. You are born to die and not to live forever.
Your stay in this world is transient. Death is following you. You cannot run
away from it. The powerful persons exploit and tyrannize powerless. There are others whom wealth and power have
made them mad. They behave like unruly beasts.
Be contented with
what you get honestly and honorably. Have patience and do not let your desires
drive you madly. Do not make yourself slave of anybody. Allah has created you a
free man and do not sell away your freedom in return of anything. The little
which is given to you by Allah is going to be more useful, honorable, and
respectable than what is granted by man in abundance. The losses you suffer on
account of your silence can be easily been compensated but the losses which
arise out of excessive and loose talk are difficult to requite.
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