Ali: Anecdotes and Sayings

1. Ali: Anecdotes and Sayings By A.S. Hashim. MD Sayings of Imams taken from: The Muhammadi Trust, Zahra Publications and http://www.ezsoftech.com/islamic/infallible10.asp Ziyarah of Imams taken from: http://www.ziaraat.org/

2. About this slide show: • This slide show deals with: • Imam Ali • Episodes during the last few years of his life • With samples of Nahjul Balaaghah • Select sayings and his Du’aas • It also shows his burial place • Ziyarah (Visitation) with its translation

3. Ali the person #1 • Imam Ali's self was molded completely by the Islamic ideals • Ali's personality was overpowering, he was an overachiever • Ali's brilliance and farsightedness were striking • Ali set to teach, inform, and help others learn about Islam • Ali was an idealist, and nothing could influence him to deviate from these ideals

4. Ali the person #2 • Ali's ideals had to be in a head-on clash with the opportunist, power-hungry, and corrupt Benu Umayya • Ali stood in the face of deceit, duplicity, trickery, hypocrisy, greed, and treachery • Ali was a compulsive perfectionist when it came to Islam • Ali stood for justice and freedom of choice, and the Holy Book and Sunnah

5. Selections from Du’aas and Sayings

6. Nahjul Balaaghah • Nahjul Balaaghah, a highly valued book, consists of: • 254 sermons, • 48 letters, and • 212 sayings of Imam Ali • Nahjul Balaaghah is unique to Imam Ali • None of the Sahaaba was ever able to produce anything like it: • neither in substance • nor in literary eloquence. • No wonder Ali was referred to as: • Sayyid al-Bulaghaa' (Pinnacle of Literary Expression) and • Sayyid al-Fu'qahaa, (Pinnacle of the Jurisprudents)

7. Time Element • The majority of Ali's sayings and speeches were stated: • During his Khilaafah when in Kufa, • At Different Places • At Different Occasions • Often at Khutba of Jumu’ah

8. Imam Ali About Rasool Allah • Nahjul Balaaghah refers to the Prophet (pbuh) at least 23 times, • said at different occasions • covering many aspects of the Prophet's life • What follows is one reference with its translation.

9. ,Ali about the Prophet (pbuh) In Sermon 95, page 140

10. Ali describes his backgroundIn Sermon 120, page 176,

11. A selection from Du’aa Kumayl

12. Another selection from Du’aa Kumayl

13. A selection from Du’aa Mujeer

14. Select Sayings of Ali: about Knowledge • In reply to someone who posed to Imam Ali a difficult question, Imam Ali answered: 'Ask in order to understand, and do not ask in order to find fault, for surely the ignorant man who wants to learn resembles a man of knowledge, and surely a man of knowledge who wants to be difficult resembles an ignorant man who wants to find fault. ‘ • The man of knowledge is the one who recognizes that what is known is very little compared to what is not known, and as a result he considers himself ignorant, and accordingly he increases his efforts to know more by going out in search of knowledge. • Do not talk about knowledge: • with the fools so that they deny you, • nor with the ignorant so that they find you oppressive, • but talk about knowledge with the knowledgeable people wherever you meet, who will accept it and understand it.

15. Ali’s Classification of Quraish • When asked about Quraish, Imam Ali replied that: • Of Quraish Banu Mukhzum are like the sweet scented flower of Quraish; their men are good to talk to and their women prove very good wives; • Banu Abdul Shams are very intelligent and prudent but we of Benu Hashim are very generous and very brave to face death. • Banu Abdul Shams are more in numbers, ugly and intriguers (devious) • But Banu Hashim are beautiful, good speakers and orators and very faithful as friends.

16. Sample of Ali’s Sayings • No wealth is more useful than wisdom; no solitude is worse than when people avoid you on account of your vanity and conceit or acting too grandiose to confide and consult; • No eminence is more exalting than piety; no companion is 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 gain is better than Divine Reward; no abstinence is better than to restraining the mind from doubts (about faith); no virtue is better than refraining from the prohibited deeds; • No knowledge is superior to contemplation and prudence; no worship is more sacred than fulfillment of obligations and duties, no religious faith is loftier than feeling ashamed of doing wrong and bearing tragedy patiently; • No eminence is greater than adopting humility; no exaltation is superior to knowledge; • Nothing is more respectable than forgiveness and forbearance; no support and defense are stronger than consultation.

17. In a saying, Ali wonders • I wonder at the mentality of a miser who by fearing poverty he takes to stinginess; thus he hastily pushes himself headlong into a state of impoverishment, he madly desires plenty and ease, but throws it away without due thought. In this world he, of his own will, leads the life of a beggar and in the next world he will have to submit to an arduous account. • I wonder at the arrogance of a vain person: At first he was only a drop of semen and in the end he will turn into a corpse. • I wonder at the man who observes the Universe created by Allah and doubts Allah’s Being and Existence. • I wonder at the man who sees people dying around him and yet he forgets his end. • I wonder at the man who understands the marvel of creation and refuses to accept that he will be brought back to life again. • I wonder at the man who takes great pains to make comfortable in this mortal habitat yet he forgets his permanent abode.

18. Select Sayings of Ali: about Intellect • A person's intellect becomes apparent through his dealings, and a man's character is known by the way he exercises authority. The intellect is a king and character is its subjects, so if his intellect is weak in governing them, disorder takes place. • The intellect is better than desire, for the intellect makes you a king over your destiny, and desire makes you a slave of your destiny. • The intellect is a natural disposition which learns from experience. • The intellect is what arrives at what is correct through reasoning, and recognizes what has not yet happened through what has already taken place. • Use your intellect to understand something. When you hear about something, examines it. Be not of those who only repeat what they hear verbatim. For surely there are many who repeat the knowledge they hear verbatim, and there are few who examine it.

19. Ali about the Station of Men of Knowledge • Know that the creatures of Allah are those who seek to preserve knowledge of Him, safeguarding what safeguards it, and letting its springs flow freely. • They are united by friendship, and they meet with love, and they drink from the cup that quenches their thirst, and they go on with their thirst satisfied. • They are not troubled by doubt, and they are not quick to backbite. It is on this basis that their natural disposition and character rest, and on this is based their love, and by this they are united. • They are like seeds that have been assessed and selected, some to be kept and some to be thrown away, identified through purification, and refined through clarification.

20. Ali about life’s transaction of Islam • I am making a connection which no one has made before me: • Islam is submission, and submission is certainty, and certainty is the affirmation of the truth, and affirmation of the truth is acknowledgement, and acknowledgement is performance of what is obligatory, and performance of what is obligatory is appropriate action. • To continue, surely, the likeness of this world is that of a viper: it is soft to touch, but deadly with poison. • The ignorant child is distracted by it, • And the one with wisdom and intellect is cautious of it. • So turn away from what fascinates you in it, for how little of it stays with you.

21. Select Sayings of Ali • He who is greedy is disgraced; he who discloses his hardship will always be humiliated; he who has no control over his tongue will often have to face discomfort. • Avarice is disgrace; cowardice is a defect; poverty often disables an intelligent man from arguing his case; a poor man is a stranger in his own town; misfortune and helplessness are calamities; patience is a kind of bravery; to sever attachments with the wicked world is the greatest wealth; piety is the best weapon of defense. • Submission to Allah's Will is the best companion; wisdom is the noblest heritage; theoretical and practical knowledge are the best signs of distinction; deep thinking will present the clearest picture of every problem.

22. Select Sayings of Ali • The mind of a wise man is the safest custody of secrets; cheerfulness is the key to friendship; patience and forbearance will conceal many defects. • A conceited and arrogant person is disliked by others; charity and alms are the best remedy for ailments and calamities; one has to account in the next world for the deeds that he has done in this world. • When this world favors somebody, it lends him the attributes, and surpassing merits of others and when it turns its face away from him it snatches away even his own excellences and fame. • Live amongst people in such a manner that if you die they weep over you and if you are alive they crave for your company.

23. Select Sayings of Ali • If you overpower your enemy, then pardon him by way of thankfulness to Allah. Thank Him for being able to subdue him. • Unfortunate is he who cannot gain a few intimate friends during his life and more unfortunate is the one who has gained them and then lost them through his misdeeds. • When some blessings come to you, do not drive them away through thanklessness. • He who is deserted by friends and relatives will often find help and sympathy from strangers. • Every person who is tempted to go astray, does not deserve punishment. • Our affairs are attached to the destiny decreed by Allah, even our best plans may lead us to ruin.

24. Select Sayings of Ali • Overlook and forgive the weaknesses of the generous people because if they fall down, Allah will help them. • Failures are often the results of timidity and fears; disappointments are the results of bashfulness; hours of leisure pass away like summer-clouds, therefore, do not waste opportunity of doing good. • If the right usurped from us is given back to us we shall take it, otherwise we shall go on claiming it. • If someone's deeds lower his position, his pedigree cannot elevate it. • To render relief to the distressed and to help the oppressed make amends for major sins.

25. Select Sayings of Ali • The best form of devotion to the service of Allah is not to make a show of it. • When you have to depart from this world and have to eventually meet death, then why be apprehensive about death. • Be generous but not extravagant, be frugal but not miserly. • The best kind of wealth is to give up inordinate desires. • One who says unpleasant things about others, will himself quickly become a target of their hearsay. • One who hopes inordinately, impairs his deeds. • The sin which makes you sad and repentant is more liked by Allah than the good deed which turns you arrogant.

26. Select Sayings of Ali • If I cut a faithful Muslim into pieces to make him hate me, he will not turn into my enemy, • and if I give all the wealth of this world to a hypocrite to make him like me, he will not befriend me. • It is so because the Holy Prophet has said: "O Ali! No faithful Muslim will ever be your enemy and no hypocrite will ever be your friend." • A fool's mind is at the mercy of his tongue and a wise man's tongue is under the control of his mind. • A wise man first thinks and then speaks and a fool speaks first and then thinks. • Blessed is the man who always keeps the life hereafter in his view, who remembers the Day of Judgment through all his deeds, who leads a contented life and who is happy with the lot that Allah has destined for him. 

27. Select Sayings of Ali • When you are greeted return the greetings more warmly. When favored, then repay the obligation manifold; for he who takes the initiative will always excel in merit. • The source of success of a claimant is the mediator. • People in this world are like travelers whose journey is going on though they are slumbering. (Life's journey is going on though men may not feel it). • Lack of friends means being a stranger in one's own country. • Not to have a thing is less humiliating than to beg for it. • Do not worry if your charity is small, because to refuse the needy is an act more appalling. To refrain from impious source of pleasures is an ornament to the poor, and to be thankful for the riches granted by Allah is an adornment to the wealth.

28. Select Sayings of Ali • So long as fortune is favoring you, your defects will remain covered. • Wealth converts a strange land into homeland and poverty turns a native place into a strange land. • Generosity is to help a deserving person without his request, and if you help him after his request, then it is either out of self-respect or to avoid rebuke. • There is no greater wealth than wisdom, no greater poverty than ignorance; no greater heritage than culture and no greater support than consultation. • Patience is of two kinds: patience over what pains you, and patience against what you covet. • Contentment is the capital which will never diminish.

29. Select Sayings of Ali • Whenever a tradition of the Holy Prophet is related to you, scrutinize it, do not be satisfied with its mere verbatim repetition, because there are many people who repeat the words containing knowledge but only few ponder over them and try to fully grasp the meaning they convey. • Imam Ali heard somebody reciting the passage of the Holy Quran “We belong to Allah and our return is towards Him”, Imam Ali said, "How true it is ! Our declaring that we belong to Allah indicates that we accept Him as our Master, Owner and Lord. And when we say that our return is towards Allah indicates that we accept our mortality" • Some people praised Imam Ali on his face. He replied, "Allah knows me very well and I also know myself more than you. Please, Lord! Make me better than what they imagine me to be and please excuse my weaknesses which they are not aware of".

30. Ali’s Saying about Al-Mahdi • Imam Ali had said I thought about a child who will be from my flesh, the eleventh from my line of descendants. He is Al-Mahdi: who will fill the earth with justice and equity [righteousness] when the height of Injustice and Evilness in the world has been reached.  He will live in a state of occultation as a result of which a group of people will go astray and another remain faithful.

31. Ali assassinated • Ali lived to be 63 year old, just as the Prophet (pbuh) had lived • He designated Al-Hasan as the 2nd Imam • He gave advice to Al-Hasan as written in Nahjul Balaaghah • After Al-Hasan’s agreement with Mu’awiya, the family returned to Medina to resume teaching Islam

32. Ali’s assassination I • Upon being so severely wounded Ali said: فزت ورب الكعبه I have won by the Lord of the Ka’ba • A lot of commotion ensued immediately • Taken home, Ali gave final advice to his son Al-Hasan, and other children • Two days later he died on Leilatul Qadr 21st of Ramadhan

33. Ali’s assassination II • Ali’s last words before he died were: فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ He with the slightest act of goodness will so be rewarded And he with the slightest act of evil deeds will so be rewarded

34. Ali’s last will and testament • My advice to you is to be conscious of Allah and steadfast in your religion. Do not yearn for the world, and do not be seduced by it. Do not resent anything you have missed in it. • Proclaim the truth; work for the next world. Oppose the oppressor and support the oppressed. • I advise you and all my children, my relatives, and whoever receives this message, to be conscious of Allah, to remove your differences, and to strengthen your ties. • I heard your grandfather, peace be upon him, say: "Reconciliation of your differences is more worthy than all prayers and all fasting." • Fear Allah in matters concerning the orphans. Attend to their nutrition and do not forget their interests in the middle of yours. • Fear Allah in your relations with your neighbors. Your Prophet often recommended them to you, so much so that we thought he would give them a share in inheritance…..

35. Ali is buried • Ali was taken to Najaf for burial, many miles from Kufa • Burial place remained secret, known to family and few others • Years later Imam Al-Saadiq declared the whereabouts of the burial site • A tomb was established then a town arose around it • It became the center of visitation and learning

36. Imam Ali’s Shrine: Multitudes of visitors every year. Inside it reflects reverence that uniquely affects the heart. Burial place in Najaf

37. Burial place in Najaf The inside

38. Ziyarah of Imam Ali • اَللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى أَمِيرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ عَلِيِّ بْنِ أَبِي طَالِبٍ أَخِي نَبِيِّكَ وَوَلِيِّهِ وَصَفِيِّهِ وَوَزِيرِهِ‏ • وَمُسْتَوْدَعِ عِلْمِهِ وَمَوْضِعِ سِرِّهِ وَبَابِ حِكْمَتِهِ وَالنَّاطِقِ بِحُجَّتِهِ وَالدَّاعِي إِلَى شَرِيعَتِهِ وَخَلِيفَتِهِ فِي أُمَّتِهِ‏ • وَمُفَرِّجِ الْكَرْبِ عَنْ وَجْهِهِ قَاصِمِ الْكَفَرَةِ وَمُرْغِمِ الْفَجَرَةِ الَّذِي جَعَلْتَهُ مِنْ نَبِيِّكَ بِمَنْزِلَةِ هَارُونَ مِنْ مُوسَى‏ • اللَّهُمَّ وَالِ مَنْ وَالاَهُ وَعَادِ مَنْ عَادَاهُ وَانْصُرْ مَنْ نَصْرَهُ وَاخْذُلْ مَنْ خَذَلَهُ‏ • وَ الْعَنْ مَنْ نَصَبَ لَهُ مِنَ الْأَوَّلِينَ وَالْآخِرِينَ‏ • وَصَلِّ عَلَيْهِ أَفْضَلَ مَا صَلَّيْتَ عَلَى أَحَدٍ مِنْ أَوْصِيَاءِ أَنْبِيَائِكَ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِين

39. Ziyarah of Imam Ali • O Allah bless Amir al-Mu'mineen, All ibn Abi Talib, the brother of Thy Prophet who is: • His successor, supporter, and vicegerent, • The custodian of his knowledge, repository of his confidential and privileged matters, • The gateway of his wisdom, • Who gave tongue to his arguments, invited to his system, and took charge of the affairs of his followers after him, • Who removed his worry and anguish, who tore apart the syndrome of infidelity to pieces, and who demeaned the nose of evil, whom Thou united with Thy Prophet as Haroon was attached with Musa. • O Allah befriend those who befriends him, antagonize those who antagonize him, help those who support him, and forsake those who forsake him, • Be hostile to those who had set up and planted hostility against him, be they his contemporaries or those in the future…..

40. Listen to Ziyarah of Imam Ali • السلام عليك يا أمير المؤمنين • السلام عليك يا حبيب الله • السلام عليك يا صفوة الله • السلامعليك يا ولي الله • السلام عليك يا حجة الله • السلام عليك يا إمام الهدى • السلام عليك يا علم التقى • السلام عليك أيها الوصي البر التقي النقي الوفي • السلام عليك يا أبا الحسن والحسين • السلام عليك يا عمود الدين السلام عليك يا سيد الوصيين وأمين رب العالمين

41. In Conclusion • Ali is the very model after the Prophet (pbuh) • Lived in the house of the Prophet and raised by him • Along with the Prophet, he was the backbone of Islam • His Khilaafah faced very troublesome people • Du’aas are very moving and the guiding Light to all • His sayings are remarkable and incredible, indicating an acute mind dedicated to the Almighty

42. Be in Allah’s Care Thank you and May God Bless you. Dr. A.S. Hashim