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THE WORDS OF THE COMMANDER OF THE FAITHFUL ʿALĪ IBN ABĪ ṬĀLIB
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE COMPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL
10.0
The religious scholar and litterateur, Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān ibn Muḥammad, recounted to us, saying: The religious scholar, ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Aḥmad al-Kirmānī, recounted to me, saying: Abū Bakr Hibat Allāh al-ʿAllāf, who was judge in Shiraz, recounted to me, saying:82
Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Durayd recounted to me, saying: Abū l-Faḍl Aḥmad ibn Abī Ṭāhir,83 the friend of Abū ʿUthmān al-Jāḥiẓ, recounted to me, saying:
For years al-Jāḥiẓ had been telling us that the commander of the faithful, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, had produced a hundred proverbs, each proverb worth a thousand of the best proverbs produced by the Arabs. I asked him many times to collect them and dictate them to me. He would promise to do so, but deliberately, stingily, forget. One day toward the end of his life, he brought out several earlier drafts of his own works, culled from them ʿAlī’s proverbs, wrote them down with his own hand, and gave them to me.
The hundred proverbs are these:
10.1
Removing the veil will not increase my conviction.84
10.2
People are asleep; they awaken when they die.
10.3
People reflect their times more than they resemble their fathers.
10.4
The man who knows his worth will not perish.
10.5
The true worth of a man is measured by the good he does.
Whoever knows himself knows his lord.
10.7
A man is concealed behind his tongue.
10.8
One whose tongue is sweet has many friends.
10.9
It is through kindness that the free man is enslaved.
10.10
Inform the miser’s property of the imminent arrival of an accident or an heir.
10.11
Do not look at who said a thing, but at what was said.
10.12
Panic makes a calamity complete.
10.13
There can be no victory where there is treachery.
10.14
There can be no praise where there is arrogance.
10.15
There can be no kindness where there is miserliness.
10.16
There can be no health where there is gluttony.
10.17
There can be no honor where there is coarseness.
10.18
There can be no restraint from sinning where there is greed.
10.19
There can be no peace where there is envy.
10.20
There can be no love where there is hypocrisy.
10.21
There can be no right rule where there is vengeance.
10.22
There is no point in visiting someone who harbors hatred.
10.23
There can be no good judgment without consultation.
10.24
A liar has no shame.
10.25
A man who is quick to anger cannot be loyal.
10.26
There is no nobility mightier than piety.
10.27
There is no honor more exalted than Islam.
10.28
There is no refuge more protective than chastity.
There is no intercessor more effective than repentance.
10.30
There is no garment more beautiful than good health.
10.31
There is no illness more chronic than ignorance.
10.32
There is no disease more debilitating than a lack of intelligence.
10.33
Your tongue brings forth what you have accustomed it to.
10.34
Man is the enemy of what he does not know.
10.35
May God have mercy on the man who, despite knowing his own worth, waits for his turn.
10.36
Advice in public is censure.
10.37
Repeated excuses recall the fault.
10.38
Where intelligence abounds, words are few.
10.39
The intercessor is the seeker’s wing.
10.40
Two-facedness brings ignominy.
10.41
Blessings enjoyed by an ignoramus are like a garden in a garbage dump.
10.42
Panic tires more than forbearance.
10.43
A man who is petitioned is free until he makes a promise.
10.44
Your biggest enemy is the one who plots most secretly.
10.45
Whoever seeks what does not concern him will lose what does.
10.46
Whoever listens to gossip participates in it.
10.47
Avarice brings shame.
10.48
Resignation brings comfort.
10.49
Greed brings deprivation.
10.50
One who jokes too much will either be hated or ridiculed.
10.51
A slave to lust is more lowly than a slave in bondage.
An envious man resents even those who have done him no harm.
10.53
Your success over one who sinned against you suffices as intercessor for forgiveness.
10.54
Many a person strives to attain a thing that will harm him.
10.55
Do not depend on hope, for it is a fool’s commodity.
10.56
Acceptance is a free man, anticipation a slave.
10.57
If you have weak friends, you will be crushed by your enemies.85
10.58
With every sip, you choke; with every bite, you gag.
10.59
A man whose anus is entered will act immodestly and speak obscenely.
10.60
The happy man is one who learns from the example of others.
10.61
Wisdom is the believer’s lost camel.
10.62
In gluttony are united all the worst faults.
10.63
An intelligent man’s suppositions are clairvoyant.
10.64
One who observes learns.
10.65
Hatred consumes.
10.66
If the heart is forced, it is blinded.
10.67
Manners are the manifestation of intelligence.
10.68
The covetous have no shame.
10.69
Agreeing too much is a sign of two-facedness; disagreeing too much a sign of enmity.
10.70
Wishes can remain unrealized.
10.71
A hope sometimes leads to deprivation.
10.72
There are profits that lead to loss.
10.73
An aspiration sometimes remains unattained.
Treachery will drive you to your death.
10.75
Whoever mulls too long over consequences will not gather the courage to act.
10.76
When the fates descend upon you, plans go awry.
10.77
When fate descends upon you, caution does not help.
10.78
Generosity cuts off your detractor’s tongue.
10.79
Honor comes from merit and refinement, not from lineage and ancestry.
10.80
The best manners are from good character.
10.81
Good manners are the noblest ancestry.
10.82
Foolishness is the most indigent poverty.
10.83
The loneliest loneliness is brought on by conceit.
10.84
Intelligence is the best wealth.
10.85
The covetous will be tethered with the hobbling rope of shame.
10.86
Beware lest your blessings bolt. Not all camels that break loose can be recovered.
10.87
Most shattered minds have been felled by lightning bolts of covetous desires.
10.88
Whoever challenges the truth will perish.
10.89
If you lose your wealth, make a deal with God by giving alms to the poor.
10.90
If your trunk is pliant, your branches will be thick.86
10.91
A fool’s heart is located in his mouth.
10.92
An intelligent person’s tongue is located in his heart.
10.93
Whosoever gallops forward loosening the reins of his hopes will stumble into death.
10.94
If the fringes of God’s blessings reach you, do not drive away the favors yet to come with a lack of gratitude.
10.95
If you catch your enemy, forgive him, in gratitude to God for giving you dominion over him.
10.96
A person cannot conceal something in his heart without it showing in the slips of his tongue and the planes of his face.
10.97
O God, forgive us the lapses of our eyes, the blunders in our words, the errors of our hearts, and the slips of our tongues.
10.98
A miser hastens his own poverty: He spends his life on earth with the destitute, yet is held to account in the hereafter with the wealthy.
10.99
An intelligent man’s tongue is located behind his heart.
10.100
A fool’s heart is located behind his tongue.