Chapter 5 - On Shame

“O' Abi Ja'far! I have heard that when you mount your horse and want to go out, the servants take you out of the small door so that no one can benefit from you. I want you to use only the large door, and carry bags of coins so that you can give some to anyone who asks you for anything. If any of your relatives asks you for help, give them no less than fifty Dinars. You can decide for yourself if you want to give more. If any of your aunt's daughters ask you for help, give them no less than twenty-five Dinars. You can decide for yourself if you want to give more. I want you to be raised in rank by God. Give in charity and do not fear getting poor.”

“There are two forms of shame: the shame of the intellect which is knowledge, and the shame of foolishness which is ignorance.”

Either Imam Baqir (a.s) or Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “Shame and faith are wound together. If one goes, so does the other.”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “Shame is due to faith, and faith is in Heaven. Hypocrisy is from oppression, and oppression is in the Fire.”

Salman- may God have Mercy upon him- said: “Whenever God wants to ruin someone He will take away his shyness, and then he will always be fearful and awesome. If so, he will lose trustworthiness, and will then be damned by Satan. At this time we damn him, too.”

God's Prophet (a.s) said: “You can gossip about one who puts decency aside.”

Imam Baqir (a.s) told Masir ibn Abdul Aziz: “O' Masir! Whenever you want to ask someone for something, do not do it at night. Ask for it in the daytime since then there is shame shown on the face.”

“May God bless a servant who is shy before his Lord. Real shyness is covering up the head, watching out what you eat, remembering the grave and affliction and remembering that there is a return to the Hereafter for us.”

“Be ashamed of God as He deserves to be ashamed of.” They asked him what to do. He said: “If you are so, you cannot go to sleep without seeing death facing you. You should watch for your head and whatever is in it. You should watch for your stomach and what you pour in it. You should remember the grave and the affliction. Whoever wants the life of the Hereafter should abandon the adornments of the life of this world.”

God's Prophet (a.s) said: “Faith is (like) a naked body. Its clothing is shyness. Its adornments are fulfilling one's promises. Its manliness is doing good deeds. Its pillar is piety. Everything has a foundation. The foundation of Islam is love for our family, the members of the Holy Household.”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “There is no hope for whoever lacks the following characteristics: fearing God in private, repenting and not doing bad things when you get old, and being ashamed of doing evil deeds.”

God's Prophet (a.s) said: “Whatever is combined with shyness is adorned by it. And whatever is combined with obscenity is disgraced by it.”

God's Prophet (a.s) said: “There is morality in every religion and the morality of Islam is shyness.”

God's Prophet (a.s) said: “Shyness is due to faith.”

God's Prophet (a.s) said: “Shortage of shyness is due to infidelity.”

God's Prophet (a.s) was asked for advice. He said: “Be shy before God as you are shy before the good men in your tribe.”

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said: “There are ten parts in shame. Nine parts are in women, and one in men. A girl will lose one part of her shame when she starts to have her periods, and loses another part when she gets married. She loses another part when she sleeps with her husband, and loses another part when she delivers a child. She will be left with five parts. If she loses her chastity, she will lose all her shame, and if she remains chaste, she will maintain all the remaining five parts.”

Imam Kazim (a.s) said: “Only one of the wise sayings of the Prophets has remained, that is “Do whatever you like when you do not have any shame.” And this is about the Ummayad clan.”

Abi Saeed al-Khedri said: “The Prophet of God (a.s) had more shame than a virgin girl has.”

The Prophet (a.s) said: “One of the things that people have learned from the early Prophets' words is that you can do anything you wish if you have no shame.” Abu al-Tay'yeb said: “This does not mean that you are free to do whatever you wish. But it is a threat and implies that you should be pious. Do whatever you want to do, but you will soon be punished in the Hereafter.”

“Whoever believes in God and the Hereafter should fulfill his promise.”

“If a group of people enter a town and ask the people if they can stay there and the people turn them down, but they think the residents agreed with their stay and they stay there, they are secure.”

Imam Hussein (a.s) was asked about the meaning of the Arabic word “Najdeh”. He replied: “It means attempting to do great things, and persevering in the face of difficulties and defending your believing brothers.”