The following sayings of the Holy Prophet (SAW) of Islam are taken from Ayatollah Imani’s book A Bundle of Flowers, in which he has taken the great care of carefully selecting various traditions, from various sources, of the Prophet of Islam, and his Ahlul Bait. I, for this post, have only selected the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW). I hope the readers of these sayings can benefit from them.
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “O’ people! Verily, there is no prophet after me, nor any Ummah after you (Muslims). So, take care to worship your Lord, perform your five ritual prayers, fast in the appointed month (Ramadan), make pilgrimage to the House of your Lord (Mecca), give the alms of your wealth in order to purify your souls thereby.’’
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The one who takes prayer light is not of me. No, by Allah such a person will not reach the Haud, Pond of abundant.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Say each of your prayer as if it were your last prayer.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The worship done by the one who earns his living on unlawful money is similar to a building constructed upon sand.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “At the (appointed) time of every prayer (salat), I hear a caller who calls and says: “O children of Adam! Keep up prayers in order to extinguish the fire you have lit against yourselves (by committing sins).”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The most (important) things that cause people to reach Heaven are divine piety and a good temper.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] advised: “When making a decision to do something, think about its outcome. If it is good for your advancement and development, follow it, but if it is misleading, leave it out.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Show veneration for Allah similar to the way that you would mind your manners in front of a righteous person among your kinsmen.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Surely, human beings from the time of Adam up to now are the same as the teeth of a comb are, and there is no superiority for the Arab over non-Arab or for the red race over the black race except for piety.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The likeness of my Ahlul-Bayt (progeny) amongst my Ummah (followers) is similar to Noah’s Ark. Those who embarked on it were rescued and those who rejected it perished.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Make your gatherings lively with the remembrance of Ali-ibn-Abi-Talib.” (Talk about the Excellencies of Ali [a]).
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Shall I introduce ‘a believer’ to you? A believer is the one whom other believers trust with their souls and wealth. Shall I introduce ‘a Muslim’ to you? A Muslim is the one from whose hand and tongue other Muslims are safe. It is unlawful (Haram) for a believer to do wrong against another believer, or leave him/her in a lurch, or backbite against him/her, or suddenly reject him/her.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Do not look at the minuteness of the sin, but see Whom you have sinned against.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “He who propagates religious affairs without having required competency does a disservice to the religion rather than serving it.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Knowledge is Allah’s deposit on the earth and scholars are His trustees of it. Therefore, he who acts according to his knowledge has really delivered His deposit.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The good of this world and the world to come is with knowledge.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “He who searches for knowledge is similar to a person who fasts during the day and keeps vigil at night and is busy worshipping. If a person acquires a branch of knowledge, it is better for him than possessing as much gold as the height of Abu Qubais Mount which he would distribute in the way of Allah.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Someone who possesses knowledge on a subject but conceals it when he is asked will be bridled with reins of fire.” (Therefore, if a person possesses information that would help a bewildered person and improve his situation but he remains silent, he has surely committed a great sin.)
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The Quran is Allah’s university; so, learn as much as you can in this university.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Verily, what will continue to reach a believer, after his death, from amongst his actions and good deeds are: the knowledge which he taught and spread, the righteous child whom he left behind, and the Holy script which he delivered as heritage (transcribed, and made available).”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “There are two groups of my Ummah that when they are pious, my Ummah will be upright and when they are immoral my Ummah will be corrupt.”
The Messenger of Allah [s] was asked who they were, and he answered: “The religious scholars and rulers.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “O’ Ali! Gabriel wished to become a human being for seven reasons, which are:
1. Congregational prayer.
2. Companionship with scholars.
3. Establishing peace between two persons.
4. Honouring the orphans.
5. Visiting the sick.
6. Attending a funeral procession.
7. Giving of water to Pilgrims.
Then, be desirous of these things.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said that the disciples of Jesus [a] asked him with whom they should make friends, and he [a] replied: “With one whose presence reminds you of God, his speech increases your knowledge and his deed inspires you (to work righteously for) the next world.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The sigh of the people of Hell is mostly because of the postponement of repenting.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] told Ali-ibn-Abi-Talib [a]: “O’ Ali! Blessed is he who Allah looks upon while he is weeping for the sin that none is aware of except Allah.
(Various traditions emphasize that one must not let others know of his sins. One must make confessions about his sins only to Allah and, then, repent.)
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “During the third part of every night and on the night before Friday from the beginning (until the break of dawn) Allah sends an angel unto the sky of the earth in order to call: ‘Is there any needy who asks that I may bestow upon him his need? Is there any repentant one that I may return to him? Is there any seeker of forgiveness that I may forgive him?’”
Note:
Islamic traditions teach that sleeping on the night before Friday is called ‘the regret sleep’; for, on the Reckoning Day, people will regret very much that they had been asleep on the nights before Fridays.
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “He who leads (others) to piety (will be rewarded) the same as the doer of that good action.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “If it were not hard upon my Ummah, I would enjoin them to brush (their teeth) with every prayer.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “On the Day of the Resurrection a caller will announce: “Where are the oppressors and their assistants and those who prepared an inkwell for them or fastened a bag for them or supplied the ink of a pen (for them)? Then, gather these (people) with them!’”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “He who hurts a Muslim believer, surely he has hurt me.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “He who unlawfully and usurpingly deprives a believer of wealth, Allah will continue to be displeased with him and does not accept his good actions that he fulfills; and none of them will be recorded among his good deeds until he repents and returns the wealth which he had taken to its owner.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “When you meet each other then initiate greeting (salam) and embrace; and when you separate from each other, then depart with seeking forgiveness.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The time when my Ummah (Muslim followers) merely count on others to enjoin right and forbid wrong, in fact, they have declared a fight against Allah, the Exalted.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “To prevent a Muslim from doing an unlawful action is equivalent with Allah to the performance of seventy accepted Hajj.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The one who sees a wrong action done should prohibit it by his deed, if he is capable, of course; and if he cannot do that, he should prohibit it by his tongue, but if he is not able to do even that, he may forbid it by his heart.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “He who enjoins right and prohibits wrong is the vicegerent of both Allah and His Messenger on the earth.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: ” Whensoever my Ummah undertake to enjoin right and prohibit evil and associate in establishing benevolence, they live happily and prosperously; but when they stop doing so, the blessings will be taken off from them.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Affliction caused by the tongue is worse than (that caused by) the strike of the blade of a sword.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Among all things, the tongue deserves to be prisoned longer than anything else.” (Because most of our sins are committed by it, such as backbiting, telling lies, defaming, mocking, insulting, etc.)
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The destruction of man lies in three (things): his stomach, his lusts, and his tongue.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Slander acts quicker against the faith of a Muslim believer than leprosy does against his body.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The abandoning of backbiting is more valuable to Allah, Almighty and Glorious, than the performance of ten thousand rak’at of recommended prayers.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Man is influenced by the faith of his friends. Therefore, be careful of whom you associate with.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “He who decreases a grief out of the grievers of this world for his Muslim brother, Allah will decrease for him a grief out of the grieves of the Hereafter.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “People are the dependents of Allah for sustenance, so the most beloved one of people with Him is the one who is helpful to the dependents Allah and makes the family members of a house happy.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “He who helps a Muslim believer (in his troubles), Allah, Almighty and Glorious, will remove from him seventy-three agonies, one of which is in this world and seventy-two other agonies at the time of Great Agony, when people are busy with themselves (in Hereafter).”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Ask (questions from) the learned, speak with the wise, and associate with the poor.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “When charity (alms) is delivered out of the hand of its owner, it (the thing being given) says five things: ‘At first I was perishing and you gave me life; I was insignificant and you made me great; I was an enemy and you turned me into a friend; you used to protect me then but now I will protect you up to the Day of Resurrection’.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “My community will continue to live fairly while they are faithful (to each other), return the deposits (to their owners), and give alms (of their property); but, if they do not fulfil these duties, they will encounter famine and scarcity.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Give alms and cure your sick persons by it, because alms can surely remove your bad fortunes and ailments; and it causes prolongation of your lifetimes and increases your rewards.”
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It is narrated from the Holy Prophet [s] who said:
“When I ascended to the sky, I saw three lines written on the door of Heaven:
The first line: In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful; I am Allah and there is no god save Me that My Grace preceeds My wrath.
The second line: In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent the Merciful; charity is repaid ten times and loan eighteen times, and regard for kinship thirty times.
The third line: He who understands My Rank and My Lordship should never accuse Me regarding sustenance.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “He who wishes that his sustenance be increased for him and his death day be delayed, then he should pay attention to his kinsfolk.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The pleasure of Allah lies in the pleasure of one’s parents (in the case that it is right), and His wrath lies in their wrath.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] told Amir-ul-Mu’mineen Ali [a]: “O’ Ali! Allah has cursed the parents who would cause their child to be disobedient of them by cursing them.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: Honour your children and train them well, you will be forgiven by Him.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Yes, the reward of a woman during her pregnancy until childbirth, and unto when she weans the child, is like that of a stationed (soldier guarding the Muslims’ borders against the attack of pagan enemies) for the sake of Allah. So, if she dies during that, she will have the rank of a martyr.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “When a woman conceives with child she will be as a warrior who fasts during the day and keeps vigil at nights praying, and strives with his soul and wealth on the way of Allah. Then, when she delivers, there will be for her such a great reward with Allah that she does not know how magnificent it is. Thereafter, when she suckles (the child), she will have as much reward as freeing a child from Ismail’s descendants for every suck. And, when she brings suckling the child to an end, an angel beside her tells her to begin the action again for she has surely been forgiven.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “There is no milk for a baby better than the milk of its mother.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “A two rak’at prayer that a married person establishes is worthier than when a bachelor keeps up prayers at nights and fasts during the days.
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The person who marries gains half of his Faith, then he must fear of Allah for the next remaining half.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Get married and give your daughters in marriage, because it is from the good fortune of any Muslim man that he gives his (matured) daughter (or sister) in marriage.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “There is nothing to Allah, Almighty and Glorious, more beloved than the house which is developed in Islam by marriage; and there is nothing to Allah, Almighty and Glorious, more abhorent than the house which is ruined in Islam by separation, viz, divorce.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Any young man who marries at the beginning of his youth, his devil moans and intensively regrets that he has protected two-third of his Faith from Satan.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “O’ young people! If one of you is capable of marrying, then do it, because it is good for your eyes (not to stare at women) and protects your privy part (to remain more pious).
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “He who struggles to join two Muslim believers in lawful marriage that they marry under the divine law, Allah will give him in marriage from the black-eyed houri (damsels in Heaven), and there will be for him the reward of one year of worshipping for every step he takes or word he speaks.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The bad omen of a woman is her expensive dower and her ill temper.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “He who marries a woman only for her beauty (regardless of her Faith), he will not see (gain) what he likes; and he who marries a woman only for her wealth, Allah will leave him with that wealth only. Therefore, it is to you that you look for a religious wife.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: He who marries a woman for her wealth, Allah will leave him only with that; and he who marries a woman (only) for her beauty, he will see in her what he does not like; but he who marries a woman for her religion, Allah will gather those merits for him.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “He who is regardless of those whom he must feed, is cursed and again very much cursed.”
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When the Holy Prophet [s] received some information from ‘Umm Salamah about ‘Uthman ibn Maz’un, he set out towards his followers and, (addressing some of them), said: “Do you keep away from (your) wives? Surely, I go to my women, I eat food during the day, and I sleep at night. So, he who turns away from my way of life is not of me.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Marry and do not divorce because the Throne of heaven quakes from divorce.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Certainly, Allah, Almighty and Glorious, dislikes or curses any man or woman whose intention of divorce or marriage is merely tasting the pleasure of it.”
The Holy Prophet [s] repeated this statement three times to emphasize that any man who divorces his wife for a new marriage and tasting the pleasure of the new wed, as well as if any woman who demands her divorce for the same purpose and marries another man, is involved in the curse of Allah.
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “There are three traits which Allah loves (in people): briefness in speech, short (length) of sleep, and small (portion) of food; while there are three traits which He dislikes (in them): loquaciousness, oversleeping, and overeating.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Try to be clean as much as you are able to. Verily, Allah has based the foundation of Islam on cleanliness; hence, never can a person enter Paradise but the clean ones.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “He who sleeps bearing deceit against his Muslim brother in his heart, has slept in the wrath of Allah and remains in that case until he repents.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “And he who deceives his Muslim brother, Allah takes away the abundancy of his sustenance and spoils his livelihood and leaves him to his ownself.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “After myself, I fear of three things for my Ummah: misguidance after knowledge, misleading temptations, and the lust of the stomach and the privy parts.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The person for whom lust and vice is readily available but he avoids them for the fear of Allah, Almighty and Glorious, He will bar the Fire for him and ensure him against the Great Fear.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “He who is guarded against the vices of his stomach, tongue, and privy parts, is surely safeguarded from all sins.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “He whose two days (of life) are the same (making no spiritual progress) is at loss.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “At the moment when the coffin of a person is being lifted and carried, the concerning soul follows its corpse and regretfully calls: ‘O you my children and my relatives! Beware that the world does not cheat you as it did me. I gathered wealth regardless of it being lawful or unlawful and left all of it for others. Now I am left with its burden upon me while they enjoy the fruit of it; therefore, avoid that which is similar to what happened to me’.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “None passes a graveyard except that the dead call out to him: ‘O you neglectful person! Were you aware of what we have been made aware of, it would make your blood run cold’.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “No believer will become wretched by consultation, and none will gain merit through stubbornness.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “There is a goodness above any goodness until when a believing person, (fighting against the enemies of Islam who slaughter Muslims), is killed in the way of Allah, Almighty and Glorious, then there is no goodness above it.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “By the One in Whose hand is my soul, if all the members in the skies and on the earth gather to kill a (sinless) believer or be persuaded to it, Allah will surely put them all in the Fire.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “No drop is more beloved with Allah, Almighty and Glorious, than the drop of blood which is poured in the way of Allah.
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Happiness is for the one who will attend the Qaim of my Ahlul Bayt and will follow him before his rise. This person will love his (Qaim’s) lovers and hate his enemies, and will accept the leadership of the Imams from before his advent. These ones are my friends, and are the most sincere members of my Ummah whom I honour very much.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “There will come a time for people that: they will not respect their scholars except for their good clothing; they will not hearken to the Qur’an except for the pleasant voice; and they will not worship Allah except for during the fasting month; there will be no shyness in their women, no patience in their poor ones; and no prosperity for their rich ones, they will not be contented with a small (portion), and they will not be satiated with abundance. They will strive (only) for their stomach; their religion is their money (wealth); their women are their Qiblah (direction of worship); and their homes are their mosques; they run away from their scholars just as lambs run away from wolves.
Then, when they become like that, the Lord will afflict them with three conditions. At first, He takes the prosperity from their properties. The second is that a cruel ruler will dominate them. The third is that they will pass away from this world without having (true) Faith.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “There will come a time for my Ummah when they will love five things while neglecting five others:
They will love this world and neglect the next world.
They will love wealth and forget (the Day of) Reckoning.
They (their men) will love (corruptive) women and forget the houries.
They will love buildings and forget the graves.
And, they will love (their) selves and forget the Lord. Those (such people) dislike me and I, too, dislike them.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] told Abu Dharr: “Take advantage of five opportunities before five other things:
Your youth before your senescence, your health before your illness, your wealth before your poverty, your leisure before your haste, and your life before your death.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Fie upon that Muslim who does not allocate (at least) one day a week to the study of the details of his religion and to explore (the affairs) of his religion.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “He who studies the religion of Allah, He is sufficient to remove his grief and provides him with sustenance from whence he could never imagine.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The one amongst my Ummah who memorizes forty traditions from among those which people need for their religious life (to propagate and instruct), Allah will raise him from the dead as a jurist on the Day of Resurrection.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Verily, a servant can gain the rank of he who both fasts during the day and keeps vigil at night, keeping up prayers, through his good disposition.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The things by which my Ummah can enjoy Heaven most of all are godliness, and a good temper.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Anger spoils Faith as much as vinegar spoils honey.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “Do not get angry; do not ask people for things; wish for people whatever you wish for yourself.”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “One prayer of a man in congregation is worthier than his forty years of prayers at home (alone).”
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The Holy Prophet [s] said: “The rows of my followers in the congregational prayer on the earth are like the rows of angels in the sky; and a rak’at of prayer in congregation is equivalent with twenty-four rak’ats, and every rak’at with Allah, Almighty and Glorious, is more beloved than forty years of worship. Therefore, on the Day of Justice, when Allah gathers all human beings from the beginning to the end for Reckoning, there will be no believer who has attended the congregational prayer but for whom Allah will decrease the grievousness of the Day of Reckoning and after that the one will be told to enter Heaven