Historians mention that Abdul Melik bin Marwan, the Umayyad king, used to say, “Whoever enjoins on us the fear of Allah we will behead him.”
The Prophet (a.s.) added, ‘O ibn Mas’ud, make your hope little; when it is morning, you say: I may not remain alive until the evening, and when it is evening, you say: I may not remain alive until the morning. Get yourself ready for leaving this life, and love the meeting with Allah and do not hate His meeting, because Allah loves the meeting with whoever loves the meeting with Him and hates the meeting with whoever hates the meeting with Him.
O ibn Mas’ud, by Him Who has sent me with the truth, a time shall come to people when they consider wine as lawful…the curse of Allah, the angels, and of people in whole be on them. I am free from them and they are free from me.
O ibn Mas’ud, one, who commits adultery with his mother, is easier to Allah than one who mixes with his money inasmuch as a grain of mustard seed out of usury, and whoever drinks an alcoholic drink a little or much is worse to Allah than one who eats usury, because it (wine)[56] is the key to every evil.
O ibn Mas’ud, when you do a doing, make it loyally for the sake of Allah, because He does not accept from His servants except the loyally done deeds. He says, (And no one has with him any boon for which he should be rewarded, except the seeking of the pleasure of his Lord, the Most High, and he shall soon be well-pleased).[57]
O ibn Mas’ud, leave aside the pleasures of this life, its foods, sweet, warm, cool, ease, and enjoyments and keep your self to abstinence from them, because you shall be asked about all that. Allah the Almighty says, (Then on that day you shall most certainly be questioned about the boons).[58]
O ibn Mas’ud, let this life and its pleasures not busy you, for Allah the Almighty says, (What! did you then think that We had created you in vain and that you shall not be returned to Us).[59]
O ibn Mas’ud, if you do a doing of benevolence and you intend by it other than Allah, then do not expect from Him a reward for that, for He says, (and on the Day of Resurrection We assign no weight to them).[60]
O ibn Mas’ud, If people praise you and say that you fast in the day and spend the night in worship while you do not do so, then do not be delighted with that, because Allah the Almighty says, (Do not think those who rejoice for what they have done and love that they should be praised for what they have not done; so do by no means think them to be safe from the chastisement, and they shall have a painful chastisement).[61]
O ibn Mas’ud, do a lot of good deeds and benevolence, because both a good-doer and a bad-doer shall regret; the good-doer shall say: I wish I had done much more good deeds, and the bad-doer shall say: I have been neglectful. The proof of that is His saying, (Nay! I swear by the self-accusing soul).[62]
O ibn Mas’ud, do not advance sin and delay repentance, but advance repentance and delay sin, for Allah the Almighty says in His Book, (But man would fain deny what is before him).[63]
O ibn Mas’ud, beware of enacting a heretical norm, because if a servant enact a bad norm, he shall bear its sin and the sin of whoever practices it. Allah the Almighty has said, (and We record that which they send before (them) and that which they leave behind),[64] and (Man shall on that day be informed of what he sent before and (what he) put off).[65]
O ibn Mas’ud, do not lean on this life and do not trust in it, because you shall leave it soon. Allah the Almighty says, (So We turned them out of gardens and springs),[66] (And cornfields and palm-trees having fine spadices).[67]
O ibn Mas’ud, consider the ancient nations and the tyrannical kings who had passed away, for Allah says, (and Aad and Thamud and the dwellers of the Rass and many generations between them).[68]
O ibn Mas’ud, be careful to give up sin secretly and openly, (whether) minor or major (it is), because Allah the Almighty sees you wherever you are and He is with you, so avoid them (sins).
O ibn Mas’ud, fear Allah in secrecy and openness, on the land and in the sea, in the night and the day, because He says, (Do you not see that Allah knows whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth? Nowhere is there a secret counsel between three persons but He is the fourth of them, nor (between) five but He is the sixth of them, nor less than that nor more but He is with them wheresoever they are).[69]
O ibn Mas’ud, take Satan as enemy, for Allah the Almighty says, (Surely Satan is your enemy, so take him for an enemy),[70] and He says about Iblis, (Then I will certainly come to them from before them and from behind them, and from their right-hand side and from their left-hand side; and you shall not find most of them thankful),[71] and (He said: The truth then is and the truth do I speak. That I will most certainly fill hell with you and with those among them who follow you all).[72]
O ibn Mas’ud, be careful not to eat impermissible thing, not to wear impermissible thing, not to take from impermissible thing, and not to disobey Allah, because Allah the Almighty says to Iblis, (And beguile whomsoever of them you can with your voice, and collect against them your forces riding and on foot, and share with them in wealth and children, and hold out promises to them; and the Shaitan makes not promises to them but to deceive),[73] and says, (therefore let not this world's life deceive you, nor let the deceiver deceive you in respect of Allah).[74]
O ibn Mas’ud, do not approach any impermissible thing of wealth and women, for Allah the Almighty says, (And for him who fears to stand before his Lord are two gardens),[75] and do not prefer the worldly life to the afterlife by pleasures and lusts, because Allah the Almighty says in His Book, (Then as for him who is inordinate, and prefers the life of this world, then surely the hell is the abode).[76]
O ibn Mas’ud, do not betray any one in some money that he leaves with you or a trust that he entrusts you with, because Allah says, (Surely Allah commands you to make over trusts to their owners).[77]
O ibn Mas’ud, do not talk about anything except when knowing it that you have heard or seen it, for Allah the Almighty says, (And follow not that of which you have not the knowledge; surely the hearing and the sight and the heart, all of these, shall be questioned about that),[78] and (Their testimony shall be written down and they shall be questioned),[79] and (When the two Receivers receive, sitting on the right and on the left. He utters not a word but there is by him a watcher at hand),[80] and (And certainly We created man, and We know what his mind suggests to him, and We are nearer to him than his life-vein).[81]
O ibn Mas’ud, do not worry about livelihood, for Allah the Almighty says, (And there is no animal in the earth but on Allah is the sustenance of it)[82], and (And in the heaven is your sustenance and what you are promised of),[83] and (And if Allah touch you with affliction, there is none to take it off but He; and if He touch you with good, then He has power over all things).[84]
O ibn Mas’ud, by Him Who has sent me with the truth as prophet, whoever turns his back to this life and wishes for the trade of the afterlife surely Allah will trade for him behind his trade and make his trade profitable. Allah the Almighty says, (Men whom neither merchandise nor selling diverts from the remembrance of Allah and the keeping up of prayer and the giving of poor-rate; they fear a day in which the hearts and eyes shall turn about).[85]
Do not relieve your tongue from the remembrance of Allah, and that is by saying: glory be to Allah, praise be to Allah, there is no god but Allah, and Allah is great. This is the profitable trade. Allah the Almighty says, (…they hope for a gain which will not perish. That He may pay them back fully their rewards and give them more out of His grace).[86]
O ibn Mas’ud, make whatever you see by your eye and your heart admires it (make it) for Allah, for this is the trade of the afterlife; Allah the Almighty says, (What is with you passes away and what is with Allah is enduring).[87]
O ibn Mas’ud, love the righteous because man shall be (resurrected) with whom he loves, and if you cannot do deeds of benevolence, then love the ulama (scholars), because Allah the Almighty says, (And whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger, these are with those upon whom Allah has bestowed favors from among the prophets and the truthful and the martyrs and the good, and a goodly company are they).[88]
O ibn Mas’ud, beware to associate anything with Allah for a twinkle of an eye even if you are sawed by a saw, cut into pieces, crucified, or burned in fire. Allah the Almighty says, (And (as for) those who believe in Allah and His messengers, these it is that are the truthful and the faithful ones in the sight of their Lord).[89]
O ibn Mas’ud, be patient with those who make remembrance of Allah, glorify Him, often say ‘there is no god but Allah’, praise Him, do due to His obedience, and call upon Him in the morning and in the evening. Allah says, (And withhold yourself with those who call on their Lord morning and evening desiring His goodwill, and let not your eyes pass from them),[90] and (neither are you answerable for any reckoning of theirs, nor are they answerable for any reckoning of yours, so that you should drive them away and thus be of the unjust).[91]
O ibn Mas’ud, do not prefer to the remembrance of Allah anything, because He says, (and certainly the remembrance of Allah is the greatest),[92] and (Therefore remember Me, I will remember you, and be thankful to Me, and do not be ungrateful to Me),[93] and (And when My servants ask you concerning Me, then surely I am very near; I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he calls on Me),[94] and (Call upon Me, I will answer you).[95]
O ibn Mas’ud, Keep to calmness and gravity, and be easy, lenient, chaste, submissive (to Allah), pious, pure, dutiful, immaculate, purified, truthful, loyal, sound, right, reasonable, righteous, patient, grateful, faithful, god-fearing, worshipping, ascetic, merciful, knowledgeable, and aware (of religion). Allah the Almighty says, (Most surely Ibrahim was forbearing, tender-hearted, oft-returning (to Allah)),[96] and ( And the servants of the Beneficent Allah are they who walk on the earth in humbleness, and when the ignorant address them, they say: Peace. And they who pass the night prostrating themselves before their Lord and standing),[97] and (And they who, when reminded of the communications of their Lord, do not fall down thereat deaf and blind. And they who say: O our Lord! grant us in our wives and our offspring the joy of our eyes, and make us guides to those who guard (against evil). These shall be rewarded with high places because they were patient, and shall be met therein with greetings and salutations. Abiding therein; goodly the abode and the resting-place),[98] and (Successful indeed are the believers, who are humble in their prayers, and who keep aloof from what is vain and who are givers of poor-rate, and who guard their private parts, except before their spouses or those whom their right hands possess, for they surely are not blamable. But whoever seeks to go beyond that, these are they that exceed the limits, and those who are keepers of their trusts and their covenant, and who pay heed to their prayers; these are the heirs who shall inherit the Paradise; they shall abide therein),[99] and (Those shall be in gardens, honored),[100] and (Those only are believers whose hearts become full of fear when Allah is mentioned, and when His communications are recited to them, they increase them in faith, and in their Lord do they trust. Those who keep up prayer and spend (benevolently) out of what We have given them; these are the believers in truth; they shall have from their Lord exalted grades and forgiveness and an honorable sustenance).[101]
O ibn Mas’ud, let the pity to your family and children not make you involve in disobediences and unlawfulness, for Allah the Almighty says, (The day when wealth and sons avail not (any man), except him who comes to Allah with a heart free (from evil)).[102] And keep to the remembrance of Allah and the good deeds, for Allah the Almighty says, (and the ever-abiding good deeds are better with your Lord in reward and better in expectation).[103]
O ibn Mas’ud, do not be from those, who guide people to goodness and enjoin them to do good, while they themselves are inadvertent to it. Allah the Almighty says, (What! do you enjoin people to be good and neglect your own souls?)[104]
O ibn Mas’ud, be careful to keep your tongue, because Allah the Almighty says, (On that day We will set a seal upon their mouths, and their hands shall speak to Us, and their feet shall bear witness of what they earned).[105]
O ibn Mas’ud, be careful of your hidden thought, for Allah the Almighty says, (On the day when hidden thoughts shall be searched out. Then will he have no might nor any helper).[106]
O ibn Mas’ud, beware of a day when the pages shall be laid open, and scandals shall be manifest. Allah the Almighty says, (And We will set up a just balance on the day of resurrection, so no soul shall be dealt with unjustly in the least; and though there be the weight of a grain of mustard seed, (yet) will We bring it, and sufficient are We to take account).[107]
O ibn Mas’ud, fear Allah in secrecy as if you see Him, and if you do not see Him, surely He sees you. Allah the Almighty says, (Who fears the Beneficent Allah in secret and comes with a penitent heart; enter it in peace, that is the day of immortality).[108]
O ibn Mas’ud, be fair to people against yourself, and be loyal in advising the community and be merciful to them. If you are so and Allah is displeased with the people of a village while you are among them and He wants to send down torment over them, He will look at you and be merciful to them. Allah the Almighty says, (And it did not behoove your Lord to have destroyed the towns tyrannously, while their people acted well).[109]
O ibn Mas’ud, beware of showing people that you are pious and reverent while between you and your Lord you keep on disobedience and sin. Allah the Almighty says, (He knows the stealthy looks and that which the breasts conceal).[110] O ibn Mas’ud, do not be from those who are strict to people while loose to themselves. Allah the Almighty says, (why do you say that which you do not do?).[111]
O ibn Mas’ud, when you do something, do it with knowledge and reason, and beware of doing something without good management and knowledge, for, exalted is He, He says, (And be not like her who unravels her yarn, disintegrating it into pieces after she has spun it strongly).[112]
O ibn Mas’ud, keep to truthfulness and do not let any lie come out of your mouth. Be just to people against yourself and be kind. Call people to benevolence, maintain relations with your kin, do not deceive people, and fulfill to them what you have promised them of, for Allah the Almighty says, (Surely Allah enjoins the doing of justice and the doing of good (to others) and the giving to the kindred, and He forbids indecency and evil and rebellion; He admonishes you that you may be mindful).[113]”[114]
The Prophet’s recommendation to Abu Tharr
Abu Tharr was one of the sincerest companions to the Prophet (a.s.). He struggled against the corrupted Umayyad rule that appropriated the wealth of Allah and took His people as slaves. Abu Tharr began here and there announcing the real principles of Islam that called for resisting despotism and tyranny that angered Uthman bin Affan, the chief of the Umayyads, who was the caliph then. Uthman did Abu Tharr unforgivable wrong by exiling him to ar-Rabatha that was the worst spot in the desert of the Arabia. He lived there very severely under house arrest where there was no means of life until he died hungrily, whereas the Umayyads had accumulated the gold of Muslims in their houses to spend it on their pleasures and red nights. The tragedy of Abu Tharr was one of the most terrible events in the history of Islam.
Anyhow, Abu Tharr was preferred by the Prophet (a.s.) and was one of his closest companions; therefore, he offered to him these precious recommendations. Abu Tharr narrated, “One day in the morning, I went to the messenger of Allah in his mosque, and I found no one of people except the Prophet and Ameerul Mo'minin beside him. I seized the opportunity of that privacy in the mosque and said,
‘O messenger of Allah, may my father and mother die for you, recommend me with what Allah may benefit me by.’
The Prophet (a.s.) said, ‘Yes, and you are honorable, Abu Tharr! You are from us the Ahlul Bayt, and I will offer to you a recommendation that you may keep in mind because it is a combination of the ways and means of goodness. If you keep it, you shall have two shares (of reward).
O Abu Tharr, worship Allah as if you see Him; if you do not see Him, surely He sees you. Know that the first of the worshipping of Allah is the knowing of Him; He is the First before every thing that there is no thing before Him, the One that there is no second to Him, the Everlasting to no end, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and what there is in them and what there is between them, and He is Allah, the most Kind, the most Aware, and He is powerful over everything. Then, is the faith in me, and the acknowledging that Allah the Almighty has sent me to the whole people as a bringer of good news, a warner, an inviter to Allah by His permission, and a luminous light. And then, is the love of my progeny whom Allah has kept away uncleanness from them and purified them a thorough purification.
O Abu Tharr, know that Allah, glory be to Him, has made my progeny among my nation as the Ark of Noah; whoever embarks on it shall be saved and whoever turns his back to it shall drown, and as the Gate of Hittah (of forgiveness) of the children of Israel that whoever enters it shall be safe.
O Abu Tharr, keep what I recommend you with and you shall be happy in this life and in the afterlife.
O Abu Tharr, there are two blessings that many of people are wronged in; good health and leisure.
O Abu Tharr, make use of five things before five things; your youth before your senility, your good health before your illness, your wealth before your poverty, your leisure before your business, and your life before your death.
O Abu Tharr, beware of procrastination in your hoping, for you are of your day and not the day after it. If tomorrow is for you, then be in tomorrow as you are in today, and if tomorrow is not for you, you shall not regret what you have wasted today.
O Abu Tharr, how many are those who receive a day but they do not finish it, and who wait for tomorrow but they do not reach it!
O Abu Tharr, if you think of death and its fate, you shall hate hope and its temptation.
O Abu Tharr, be in this life as if you are a stranger or a passerby, and consider yourself as one of the people of graves.
O Abu Tharr, when you are in the morning, do not talk to yourself about evening, and when you are in the evening, do not talk to yourself about morning. Take from your good health before your illness, and from your life before your death, because you do not know what your name shall be tomorrow (alive or dead).
O Abu Tharr, beware that felling may fall upon you at the slip, and then the slip shall not be pardoned, and you shall not be able to return, and he, whom you leave (the heir) with what you leave (inheritance) shall not praise you…
O Abu Tharr, be with your age stingier than with your dirham and dinar.
O Abu Tharr, does one wait except for arrogant-making wealth, forgetful-making poverty, a corruptive illness, confuting senility, a finishing off death, the Dajjal (Antichrist) that is the worst, awaited absentee, or the Hour (Day of Judgment)? Surely the Hour is much more terrible and more grievous.
O Abu Tharr, the worst of people in position to Allah on the Day of Resurrection shall be a scholar that it is not benefited by his knowledge. Whoever seeks knowledge just to attract people to him shall not find the scent of the Paradise.
O Abu Tharr, whoever seeks knowledge to cheat people by it shall not find the scent of the Paradise.
O Abu Tharr, when you are asked about some knowledge that you do not know, you say: ‘I do not know’ and thus you shall be saved from its responsibility. Do not give a fatwa on that which you have no knowledge of, and thus you shall be saved from the torment of Allah on the Day of Resurrection.
O Abu Tharr, some people of the Paradise shall see some people of the Fire and say to them: what has made you enter into the Fire while we ourselves have entered the Paradise by virtue of your discipline and education? They shall say to them: we used to enjoin goodness, but we ourselves did not do it.
O Abu Tharr, the rights of Allah, glory be to Him, are more greater than to be fulfilled by the servants, and the blessings of Allah are much more than to be counted by the servants, but be evening and morning repentant.
O Abu Tharr, you are in the passage of the night and the day in (gradually) decreased terms and preserved deeds, and death comes unexpectedly. Whoever plants goodness shall soon harvest goodness, and whoever plants evil shall soon harvest regret; every planter gets like what he plants.
O Abu Tharr, no slack one misses his fate and no greedy can get what has not been determined to him. Whoever is given good surely it is Allah Who has given it to him, and whoever is saved from an evil surely it is Allah Who has saved him from it.
O Abu Tharr, the pious are masters and jurisprudents are leaders and the association with them is an increase (of goodness). A believer sees his sin as if he is under a rock fearing that it may fall over him, and a disbeliever sees his sin as if some flies pass by his nose.
O Abu Tharr, if Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, wants for some servant goodness, He makes his sins before his eyes materialized and the sin to him very heavy and great, and if He wants for some servant evil, He makes him forget his sins.
O Abu Tharr, do not consider the littleness of a committed sin, but consider the One Whom you disobey.
O Abu Tharr, the soul of a believer is more confused by sin than a sparrow when it is thrown into the trap.
O Abu Tharr, he, whose sayings conform to his deeds, shall be blessed, and he, whose sayings contradict his deeds, just censures himself.
O Abu Tharr, a man may be deprived of his livelihood because of a sin that he commits.
O Abu Tharr, leave what you have nothing to do with, and do not talk about what does not concern you, and store your tongue as you store your money.
O Abu Tharr, Allah, highly praise be to Him, shall put some people into the Paradise and give them until they shall be bored, and there shall be some people above them in the Highest Degrees. When they shall look at them, they shall know them and say: our Lord, they are our brothers that we were with in the worldly life; by what You have preferred them to us? It shall be said: How far! How far! They were hungry when you were satiate, thirsty when you quenched your thirst, they spent the night in worship when you slept, and they went (to jihad) when you were saved (peacefully).
O Abu Tharr, Allah, highly praise be to Him, has made my delight in prayer and made prayer beloved to me as He has made food beloved to the hungry and water to the thirsty. When a hungry one eats, he shall be satisfied, and when a thirsty one drinks water, he shall quench his thirst, but I do not be satisfied whatever I offer prayers.
O Abu Tharr, whoever voluntarily offers twelve rak’as in a day and a night other than the obligatory ones there shall be a due right to him a house in the Paradise.
O Abu Tharr, as long as you are in the prayer, you are knocking at the door of the Mighty King, and whoever knocks at the door of the King much, it shall be opened to him.
O Abu Tharr, no believer gets up to offer the prayer except that benefaction is scattered on him from between him and the Throne, and an angel is entrusted with him to call out: O son of Adam, if you know what you get in the prayer and Whom you talk to, you shall not leave.
O Abu Tharr, blessed are the bannermen on the Day of Resurrection; they shall carry them (banners) and precede the people to the Paradise. They are the precedents to mosques in dawns and other than dawns.
O Abu Tharr, prayer is the pillar of the religion, and the tongue (remembrance) is greater, charity removes sin, and the tongue is greater, fasting is protection from the Fire, and the tongue is greater, jihad is honor, and the tongue is greater.
O Abu Tharr, a degree in the Paradise is like what is between the heaven and the earth. A servant may raise his sight and a light shall glitter to him that shall be about to take away his sight; he shall be frightened by that and say: what is this? It shall be said to him: this is the light of your brother. He shall say: my brother so-and-so! We both worked in the worldly life and now he has been preferred to me as so? It shall be said to him: he was better than you in deeds. Then, satisfaction shall be put into his heart until he shall be satisfied.
O Abu Tharr, this life is the prison of a believer and the paradise of a disbeliever. No believer in it except that he is sad; and how does he not become sad where Allah, highly praise be to Him, has promised him that he shall enter the Hell and has not promised him that (when) he shall get out of it, and he shall meet diseases, calamities, and many things that depress him, and shall be oppressed without triumphing, wishing for a reward from Allah the Almighty? He is still sad in it (this life) until he leaves it, and when he leaves it, he shall resort to ease and honor.
O Abu Tharr, Allah, glory be to Him, has been never worshipped with anything like long sorrow.
O Abu Tharr, he, who has been given knowledge that does not make him weep, surely has been given knowledge that does not benefit him, because Allah has described the knowledgeable by saying, (Surely those who were given knowledge before it, when it is read unto them, fall down prostrate on their faces in obeisance; saying: Glory to our Lord! Verily the promise of our Lord must be fulfilled. They fall down on their faces, weeping, and it increases humility in them).[115]
O Abu Tharr, let him, he who can weep, weep, and let him, he who cannot, make his heart feel sorrow and feign weeping. Surely a hard heart is far from Allah the Almighty, but you do not feel.
O Abu Tharr, by Him in Whose hand the soul of Muhammad is, if this life equaled near Allah to a wing of a mosquito or a fly, He would not give to the disbelievers in it a sip of water.
O Abu Tharr, Allah, the Blessed, the High, revealed to my brother Jesus (a.s.): O Jesus, do not love this life, for I do not love it, but love the afterlife because it is the abode of the Return.
O Abu Tharr, Gabriel brought to me the treasures of the world on a gray mule and said to me: O Muhammad, these are the treasures of the world, and nothing of your share near your Lord shall be decreased. I said: O my beloved Gabriel, I am in no need of them; when I am satisfied (with food), I thank my Lord, and when I am hungry, I ask Him.
O Abu Tharr, when Allah, glory be to Him, wants for a servant goodness, He makes him knowledgeable of the religion, abstinent in this life, and aware of the defects of himself.
O Abu Tharr, no servant becomes abstinent in this life except that Allah plants wisdom in his heart and makes his tongue utter it, makes him aware of the defects of life, its diseases, and its cures, and takes him out of it whole to the abode of peace.
O Abu Tharr, when you see your brother abstinent towards this life, listen to him because he casts wisdom.
I (Abu Tharr) asked: O messenger of Allah, who is the most abstinent of people? He said:
It is he who does not forget graveyards and perishment, who leaves the further pleasures of this life, who prefers what lasts to what passes away, who does not consider tomorrow as one of his days, and who considers himself as one of the dead (getting ready to death).
O Abu Tharr, Allah, the Blessed, the High, did not reveal to me to accumulate wealth, but He revealed to me: (But hymn the praise of your Lord, and be of those who make prostration (unto Him). And serve your Lord until certainty comes to you).[116]
O Abu Tharr, I put on coarse clothes, sit on the ground, lick my fingers (after having food), ride the donkey without saddle, and let others sit behind me (on a mount), so whoever refrains from my Sunna is not from me.
O Abu Tharr, the love of wealth and honor is more harmful to one’s religion than two savage wolves in a pen of sheep that they attack and when the morning comes, they shall leave nothing in it.
I said: O messenger of Allah, do the fearers (of Allah), the fighters (in the way of Allah), the humble, the rememberers of Allah too much precede people to the Paradise?
The Prophet (a.s.) said:
No, but it is the poor Muslims; they overstep people’s necks and the guardians of the Paradise shall say to them: stay where you are until you shall be judged. They shall say: for what shall we be judged? By Allah, we had no authority that we might give liberally or be just, nor were we given wealth that we might prevent or give, but we worshipped our Lord until He called us and we responded.
In this passage, the Prophet (a.s.) invited to asceticism in this life and not to pounce upon its pleasures and desires. And indeed, Abu Tharr the great companion followed this recommendation when he turned his back to this world and refused to respond to the Umayyad rule when great monies were offered to him, but he refused them and preferred the satisfaction of Allah until he died very poor and wretched in the worst spot of the desert in ar-Rabathah; and thus he was the leader of the poor and the wretched.
The Prophet (a.s.) added:
O Abu Tharr, this life is a preoccupation of hearts and bodies, and surely Allah, the Blessed, the High, will ask us about what He has afforded us of permissible boons, so how about the impermissible pleasures we have enjoyed?
O Abu Tharr, I have prayed Allah, highly praise be to Him, to make the sustenance of whoever loves me as necessary subsistence, and to give whoever hates me abundant wealth and children.
O Abu Tharr, blessed are the abstinents in this life, the wishers for the afterlife, who take the earth of Allah as a carpet, its soil as a bed, and its water as a flavor, and who take the Book of Allah as their symbol and His invocation as the >O Abu Tharr, the tilth of the afterlife is the good deed, and the tilth of this life is wealth and children
O Abu Tharr, my Lord has told me saying: by My glory and honor, worshippers do not get like what they get by weeping (for fear of Allah). I will build for them in the Highest Association a palace that no one shall participate with them in it.
I said: O messenger of Allah, which of the believers is more reasonable?
The Prophet (a.s.) said:
The most of them in remembering death and the best of them in getting ready to it.
O Abu Tharr, when the light (of faith) enters the heart, the heart shall expand and dilate.
I said: what is the sign of that, may my father and mother die for you O messenger of Allah?
The Prophet (a.s.) said:
The returning to the Abode of Eternity, the turning away from the abode of temptation, and the getting ready for death before its coming.
O Abu Tharr, fear Allah, and do not show people that you fear Allah so that they may honor you while your heart is dissolute.
O Abu Tharr, two moderate rak’as (offered) with consideration is better than spending a (whole) night in worshipping while the heart is inadvertent.
O Abu Tharr, the truth is (heavy and) bitter and falsehood is light and sweet. Perhaps a pleasure of a moment may cause a lasting sorrow.
O Abu Tharr, judge yourself before you are judged because it shall be easier for your judgment tomorrow. Weigh yourself before you are weighed, and get prepared for the Greatest Show when you shall be showed. There is nothing hidden to Allah.
O Abu Tharr, the example of him, who calls with no work, is like the example of him who shoots with no bowstring.
O Abu Tharr, Allah sets right, by the righteousness of a servant himself, his children and the children of his children, and preserves him in his house and the houses around his as long as he is among them.
O Abu Tharr, a good companion is better than loneliness, and loneliness is better than a bad companion, and the saying of good is better than keeping silent, and silence is better than the saying of evil.
O Abu Tharr, do not make friends except with the faithful. Let no one eat from your food except a pious one, and do not eat from the food of disobeyers.
O Abu Tharr, Feed your food to whom you love for the sake of Allah, and eat from the food of whoever loves you for the sake of Allah.
O Abu Tharr, Allah the Almighty is at the tongue of every sayer, so let man fear Allah and know what he says.
O Abu Tharr, avoid extra speech, and it is sufficient to you the speech by which you get to your need.
O Abu Tharr, it is enough for one as lying that he says all what he hears.
O Abu Tharr, nothing is worthier of being imprisoned than the tongue.
O Abu Tharr, from glorifying Allah is the honoring of an old Muslim, the active appliers of the Qur'an, and a just ruler.
O Abu Tharr, he does not do (good deeds) who does not guard his tongue.
O Abu Tharr, do not be a censurer, praiser, defamer, or disputer.
O Abu Tharr, a servant still increase in being far from Allah as long as his morals are bad.
O Abu Tharr, a good word is as charity, and every step that you step towards prayer is charity.
O Abu Tharr, whoever responds to the propagandist of Allah and well maintains the mosques of Allah, his reward from Allah shall be the Paradise.
I said: May my father and mother die for you O messenger of Allah, how are the mosques of Allah maintained?
The Prophet (a.s.) said:
source : http://www.maaref-foundation.com/
