Chapter 5 - On Facts and Chastity

“He is the one who gave the people the glad tidings of my Prophethood, and the Prophethood of my (believing) brother, Jesus, the son of Mary. God told Shuaib: “Rise in your nation and talk to them in your own tongue. When he rose, God opened his tongue with revelations. One of the things that God the Almighty told the people of Shuaib was: “How do they pray? While this act is just plain talk, and is void of action. On the Day that I created the Heavens and the Earth, I established the Prophethood of the Prophets, and established rule in supplications. I established honor in the men who sit on the dirt, and power in the weak and self-sufficiency in the poor.”

“I found the people's knowledge in four areas: to know God, to know what He has done with you; to know what He expects of you; and to know what will deviate you from your religion.”

“They take their priests and their anchorites to be their Lords in derogation of God.” [The Holy Quran: Tauba 9:31], “I swear by God that they did not pray or fast for them, but they turned the lawful into forbidden, and the forbidden into lawful, and followed it.”

Imam Baqir (a.s) said: “Do not take any intimate friend but God. Are you not believers? In fact any tools, relations, relatives, intimate friends, innovations, traditions, or doubts are useless just like dust on a finished surface which is washed off easily with rain, except for what the Quran has proved.”

“O' Spirit of God! Can your Lord place the universe inside an egg without shrinking the world or expanding the egg?” He replied: “There is nothing God is incapable of doing, but what you want is impossible.”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “God has a rooster whose feet are on the Earth and whose head is in the sky under the Throne, with one wing in the East and the other in the West. It says: “My Lord is Pure and Holy. Whenever it sings, other roosters answer. So whenever you hear it, say “My Lord is Pure. He is a Holy King.”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “The people are ordered to do right and forbidden to do evil, but God will accept the excuse of those who have an excuse.”

“God will reward anyone He has promised to reward for doing some deed, but He is free to punish anyone He will for doing deeds for which He has promised to punish.”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “God the Almighty created misery and prosperity before creating other creatures. Whoever is miserable, God will never make him prosperous, and whoever is prosperous, God will never make him miserable.”

Ali ibn Moqayreh asked Imam Sadiq (a.s) about Satan's partnership. He said: “Whenever you doubt in Satan's partnership, do not doubt in his partnership in a defective child's birth.”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “Whoever swears is not worried about what he says, since he is either born in sin or a partner with Satan.”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “The people are like silver or gold mines. During the era of Ignorance there were no foundations for these mines, but in Islam there are foundations for them.”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “When Moses and Aaron (a.s) went to Pharoah, there were no illegitimately born companions with Pharoah. If there were any, they would have ordered Moses and Aaron to be killed. But those who were present said: “Save Moses and Aaron and this forced Pharaoh to think about them.” Then Imam Sadiq (a.s) placed his hand over his chest and said: “We are the same way. No one will rush to kill us unless he is born illegitimately.”

Imam Reza (a.s) said: “Avoid going to places that are with steep slopes or are hard to cross. Avoid following your selfish desires, since they are followed by wickedness.”

Imam Reza (a.s) said: “A believer is neither humiliated nor weak.”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) regarding the Almighty God's statement: “Save yourselves and your families from a Fire.” [The Holy Quran: Tahrim 6:66] How can I save my family from the Fire?” Imam Sajjad (a.s) replied: “Instruct them to do what God has instructed to be done, and forbid them from doing what God has forbidden to be done. If they obey you, you have saved them from the Fire, and if they disobey, then you have performed your duty.”

“It suffices for you to enjoin the right and forbid the wrong for them in the same way that you do it for yourself.”