Compiled by: Baqir Shareef al-Qurashi
The following are some of the wonderful maxims transmitted from Imam Abu Muhammad al-Askari (a.s.). He said,
1. "If fate is inevitable, then for what purpose is supplication (of man to other than Allah)?"
2. "A believer is a blessing for a believer and an authority on an unbeliever."
3. "The heart of a fool is in his mouth, and the mouth of a wise man is in his heart."
4. "Anger is the key to every evil."
5. "A spiteful one is the least comfortable."
6. "The most pious of people is he who refrains before suspicion. The most worshipful of people is he who keeps on obligations. The most ascetic one is he who refrains from unlawful things. The best mujtahid is he who refrains from sins."
7. "Let no secure livelihood make you too busy to perform an obligatory deed.'
8. "He, who exceeds in something, is like one who lacks that thing."
9. "Whenever a mighty one gives up the truth, he becomes low, and whenever a low one keeps to it, he becomes mighty."
10. "The friend of an ignorant is always tired."
11. "There are two qualities such that there is no quality above them; faith in Allah and the serving of brothers."
12. "The impertinence of a child in childhood before his father makes him undutiful in adulthood."
13. "It is not from politeness to show joy before a distressed person."
14. "Better than life is that, which if you lose, you shall hate life, and worse than death is that which if comes to you, you shall love death."
15. "Taming an ignorant person and preventing a person with unchanging habits from those habits are as a miracle."
16. "Humbleness is a blessing that is not envied."
17. "Do not be generous to someone with what may be heavy on him."[124]
18. "He, who advises his brother secretly, does him good, and he, who advises him openly, does him wrong."
19. "How bad from a faithful it is when he has a desire a thing that degrades him."
20. "It is sufficient in order for you to be polite that you avoid what you hate in others."
21. "Beware of every silent, intelligent one."
22. "If all the people of this world were intelligent, the world would be ruined."
23. "The weakest of enemies in cunning, is he who shows his enmity."
24. "The best of your brothers is he who forgets your wrong against him, and remembers your kindness to him."
25. "Good figure is apparent beauty, and good mind is hidden beauty."
26. "He, who is friendly with Allah, feels aversion towards people."
27. "He, who does not regard people, does not regard Allah."
28. "Vices have been put in a house whose key is lying."
29. "When hearts are active, put into them, and when they detest, bid them farewell."
30. "Following after one from whom you hope is better than remaining with one from whose evil you do not feel safe."
31. "Ignorance is an enemy and discernment is authority, and he, whom patience does not make suffer agonies of anger, shall not feel the ease of heart."
32. "The gift of a generous one makes you beloved to him, and the gift of a mean one makes you low to him."
33. "Whoever is such that piety is his habit, and virtues are his garments, shall be victorious over his enemies by his good praise, and shall be fortified against defects by his good mention."
34. "He, who praises an undeserving one, becomes as an accused person."
35. "No one knows (the reality of) a blessing except the grateful, and no one is grateful to a blessing except the knowing."
36. "Staying up makes sleep more pleasant, and hunger makes food more delicious."
37. "Reaching Allah the Almighty is a journey that is not achieved except by riding at night."[125]
38. "He, who does not know how to prevent, does not know how to give."
39. He said to al-Mutawakkil, the Abbasid caliph, "Do not expect good will from one whom you have offended, or loyalty from one whom you have betrayed, or sincerity from one whom you have suspected, because the hearts of others towards you are like your heart towards them."
40. "It is from ignorance to laugh with no reason."
41. "The speech of Allah has preference over all speeches, just as He holds preference over His creation. And our speech has preference to the speech of people, just as our preference over them."
42. "It is from humbleness to greet everyone you pass by, and to sit in other than the distinctive place in a meeting."
43. "The worthiest people of (your) love are those who comfort you."
44. "From the disasters that break one's back is a neighbor who, if sees a good deed, conceals it, and if sees a bad deed, spreads it."
45. "(In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful) is closer to the greatest Name of Allah than the iris of the eye to its white."
46. "Do not dispute with others so that you lose your gravity, and do not joke so that it is dared against you."
47. "Whoever is satisfied to sit in other than the distinctive place in a meeting, Allah and His angels send blessings on him until he leaves the meeting."
48. "Polytheism in people is more inconspicuous than the creeping of ants on a black cloth in a dark night."
49. "Hearts have ideas from fancy, while minds shake and get more knowledge out of experiments, and taking lessons leads to reasonability."
50. "Predominant fates are not prevented by struggling (against them), and determined livelihoods are not gained by greediness and requesting. submit yourself to fates and know that you shall not get except what has been determined for you."
