y Son, know that you have been created for the next world and not for this world, and for annihilation and not to stay, for death and not for life; you are in a transient place, a place which is a path to the Hereafter.

You are driving away a death from which no one can run away and which none of its seekers can miss.

It has to be experienced so beware lest it catches up with you while you are in a bad state.

You should avert yourself about it through repentance and it will intervene between you and it, instead of letting yourself perish

y son, learn four things from me and through them you will learn four more.

If you keep them in mind your actions will not bring any harm to you:

The greatest wealth is Wisdom;

The greatest poverty is stupidity;

The worst sociableness is that of vanity and self-glorification;

And the best nobility of descent exhibits itself in politeness and in refinement of manner.

Do not make friendship with a fool because when he will try to do you good he will do you harm.

Do not make a miser your friend because he will run away from you at the time of your dire need.

Do not be friendly with a vicious and wicked person because he will sell you and your friendship at the cheapest price.

And do not make friend of a liar because like a mirage he will make you visualize very near the things which lie at a great distance and will make you see at the great distance the things which are near to you

°°°

●•° mam Ali (as) said,

"I want to teach you five of those things which deserve your greatest anxiety to acquire them:

Have hope only in Allah.

Be afraid of nothing but sins. If you do not know a thing never feel ashamed to admit ignorance.

If you do not know a thing never hesitate or feel ashamed to learn it.

Acquire patience and endurance because their relation with true faith is that of a head to a body, a body is of no use without a head, similarly true faith can be of no use without attributes of resignation, endurance and patience."

●•° "o wealth is more useful than intelligence and wisdom;

No solitude is more horrible than when people avoid you on account of your vanity and conceit or when you wrongly consider yourself above everybody to confide and consult;

No eminence is more exalting than piety;

No companion can prove more useful than politeness;

No heritage is better than culture;

No leader is superior to Divine Guidance;

No deal is more profitable than good deeds;

No profit is greater than Divine Reward;

No abstinence is better than to restrain one's mind from doubts (about religion);

No virtue is better than refraining from prohibited deeds;

No knowledge is superior to deep thinking and prudence;

No worship or prayers are more sacred than fulfillment of obligations and duties,

No religious faith is loftier than feeling ashamed of doing wrong and bearing calamities patiently;

No eminence is greater than to adopt humbleness;

No exaltation is superior to knowledge;

Nothing is more respectable than forgiveness and forbearance;

And no support and defense are stronger than consultation."

●•° efend your faith (in Allah) with the help of charity.

Protect your wealth with the aid of Zakat.

Let the prayers guard you from calamities and disasters."

●•° inds get tired like bodies. When you feel that your; mind is tired, then invigorate it with sober advice."

●•° f you find that somebody is not grateful for all that you have done for him, then do not get disappointed because often you will find that someone else feels under your obligation though you have done nothing for him and thus your good deeds will be compensated, and Allah will reward you for your goodness."

●•° umayl bin Ziyad Nakha'i says that once Imam Ali (as) put his hand in my hand and took me to the graveyard.

When he passed through it and left the city behind, he heaved a sigh and said

"Kumayl, these hearts are containers of the secrets of knowledge and wisdom and the best container is the one which can hold the most and what it holds, it can preserve and protect in the best way.

Therefore, remember carefully what I am telling you.

Remember that there are three kinds of people:

One kind is of those learned people who are highly versed in the ethics of truth and philosophy of religion,

Second is the kind of those who are acquiring the above knowledge,

And the third is that class of people who are uneducated.

They follow every pretender and accept every slogan, they have neither acquired any knowledge nor have they secured any support of firm and rational convictions.

Remember, Kumayl, knowledge is better than wealth because it protects you while you have to guard wealth.

It decreases if you keep on spending it but the more you make use of knowledge the more it increases.

What you get through wealth disappears as soon as wealth disappears but what you achieve through knowledge will remain even after you.

O Kumayl! Knowledge is power and it can command obedience.

A man of knowledge during his lifetime can make people obey and follow him and he is praised and venerated after his death.

Remember that knowledge is a ruler and wealth is its subject.

O Kumayl! Those who amass wealth, though alive, are dead to realities of life, and those who achieve knowledge, will remain alive through their knowledge and wisdom even after their death, though their faces may disappear from the community of living beings, yet their ideas, the knowledge which they had left behind and their memory, will remain in the minds of people."

Kumayl says that after this brief dissertation, Imam Ali (as) pointed towards his chest and said, "Look Kumayl! Here I hold stores and treasures of knowledge.

I wish I could find somebody to share it with me.

Yes, I found a few, but one of them, though quite intelligent, was untrustworthy,

he would sell his salvation to get hold of the world and its pleasures,

he would make religion a pretence to grasp worldly power and wealth,

he would make this Blessing of Allah (knowledge) serve him to get supremacy and control over friends of Allah and he would through knowledge exploit and suppress other human beings.

The other person was such that he apparently obeyed truth and knowledge, yet his mind had not achieved the true light of religion, at the slightest ambiguity or doubt he would get suspicious of truth, mistrust religion and would rush towards skepticism.

So neither of them was capable of acquiring the superior knowledge that I can impart.

Besides these two I find some other person,

One of them is a slave of self and greedy for inordinate desires, which can easily drag him away from the path of religion,

The other is an avaricious, grasping and acquisitive miser who will risk his life to grasp and hold wealth, none of these two will be of any use to religion or man, both of them resemble beasts having appetite for food.

If sensible trustees of knowledge and wisdom totally disappear from human society then both knowledge and wisdom will suffer severely, may bring harm to humanity and may even die out.

But this earth will never be without those people who will prove the universality of truth as disclosed by Allah, they may be wellknown people, openly and fearlessly declaring the things revealed to them or they may, under fear of harm, injury or deaths hide themselves from the public gaze and may carry on their mission privately so that the reasons proving the reality of truth as preached by religion and as demonstrated by His Prophet (saw) may not totally disappear.

How many are they and where could they be found?

I swear by Allah that they are very few in number but their worth and their ranks before Allah are very high.

Through them Allah preserves His Guidance so that they, while departing, may hand over these truths to people like themselves.

The knowledge which they have acquired has made them see the realities and visualize the truth and has instilled into them the spirit of faith and trust.

The duties which were decreed as hard and unbearable by them.

They feel happy in the company and association of things which frighten the ignorant and uneducated.

They live in this world like everybody else but their souls soar to the heights of Divine Eminence.

They are media of Allah on this earth and they invite people towards Him.

How I love to meet them O Kumayl ! I have told you all that I have to say, you can go back to your place whenever you like."

●•° omebody requested Imam Ali (as) to advise him how to lead a useful and sober life.

Imam (as) thereupon advised him thus: "Do not be among those people who want to gain good returns without working hard for them,

Who have long hopes and keep on postponing repentance and penance,

Who talk like pious people but run after vicious pleasures.

Do not be among those who are not satisfied if they get more in life and are not content if their lot in life's pleasures is less (they are never satisfied),

Who never thank Allah for what they get and keep on constantly demanding increase in what is left with them;

Who advise others to such good deeds that they themselves refrain from;

Who appreciate good people but do not follow their ways of life;

Who hate bad and vicious people but follow their ways of life;

Who, on account of their excessive sins hate death but do not give up the sinful ways of life;

who, if fallen ill, repent their ways of life and on regaining their health fearlessly readopt the same frivolous ways;

Who get despondent and lose all hopes, but on gaining health, become arrogant and careless;

Who, if faced with misfortunes, dangers or afflictions, turn to Allah and keep on beseeching Him for relief and when relieved or favoured with comfort and ease they are deceived by the comfortable conditions they found themselves in and forget Allah and forsake prayers;

whose minds are allured by day dreams and forlorn hopes and who abhor to face realities of life;

Who fear for others the enormous repercussions of vices and sins but for their own deeds expect very high rewards or very light disciplinary actions.

Riches make such people arrogant, rebellious and wicked, and poverty makes them despondent and lethargic.

If they have to work, they work lazily and if they put up a demand they do it stubbornly.

Under the influence of inordinate cravings, they commit sins in quick succession and keep on postponing repentance.

Calamities and adversities make them give up the distinguished characteristics of Muslims (patience, hope in future and work for improvement of circumstances).

They advise people with narration of events and facts but do not take any lesson from them.

They are good at preachings but bad at practice, therefore they always talk of lofty deeds but their actions belie their words.

They are keen to acquire temporal pleasures but are careless and slow to achieve permanent (Divine) benefits.

They think good for themselves the things which are actually injurious to them and regard harmful the things which really benefit them.

They are afraid of death but waste their time and do not resort to good deeds before death overtakes them.

The vices which they regard as enormous sins for others, they consider as minor shortcomings for themselves.

Similarly, they attach great importance to their obedience to the orders of Allah and belittle similar actions in others.

Therefore, they often criticize others and speak very highly of their own deeds.

They are happy to spend their time in society of rich people, wasting it in luxuries and vices but are averse to employing for useful purposes in company of the poor and pious people:

They are quick and free to pass verdicts against others but they never pass a verdict against their own vicious deeds.

They force others to obey them but they never obey Allah.

They collect their dues carefully but never pay the dues they owe.

They are not afraid of Allah but fear powerful men."