Knowledge and Wisdom

SAYING OF HAZRAT ALI RA

Knowledge and wisdom are really properties of a faithful Muslims, though lost to him. Get them back, though you may have to get them from apostate.

• Acquire wisdom and truth from whomever you can, because even an apostate can have them, but unless they are passed over to a faithful Muslim and become part of wisdom and truth that he possesses, they have a confused existence in the minds of apostate.

• Value of each man depends upon the art and skill which he has attained.

• One who imagines himself to be all knowing will surely suffer on account of his ignorance.

• Whoever keeps his affairs in order with God (follows His Orders sincerely ), God will also put his affairs with man in order; whoever makes arrangements for salvation, the Lord will arrange his worldly affairs; whoever advises his own selves, God will also protect him.

• He is the wisest and the most knowing man who advises people not to lose hope and confidence in the mercy of God , and not to be too sure and over confident of immunity from His wrath and punishment.

• Like your body your mind also get tired and fagged ; in such case find educational diversion for it.

• The knowledge is very superficial which remains only on your tongue ; the intrinsic merit and value of knowledge is that you act up to it.

• How I wonder at a man who loses hope of salvation when the door of repentance is open for him.

• One who develops the trait of greed and avarice invites degradation; one who keeps on advertising his poverty and ill-luck will always be humiliated; one who has no control over his tongue will often have to face embarrassment and discomfort.

• Surrender to and acceptance of God are the best companions ; wisdom is noblest heritage ; theoretical and practical knowledge are best marks of distinction ; deep thinking will present the clearest picture of every problem.

• A wiseman's mind is the safest custody of secrets ; an open and pleasant countenance gets more friends, patience and forbearance will hide and cover many defects.

• A conceited and self admiring person is disliked by others; charity and alms are the best treatment for ailments and calamities , one has face in after life the deeds that he has done in this world.

• Man is the wonderful creature, he he see through layers of fat (fatty tissue), he hears through a bone, he speaks through a lump of flesh (tongue).

• When this world favours anybody it lends him qualifications, attributes and surpassing merits of others; and when it turns it face away from him, it snatches away even his own excellences and fame.

• Treat people in such a way and live amongst them in such a manner that if you die they weep over you; alive they crave for your company.

• If you get an opportunity and power over your enemy then, in thankfulness to God for this, forgive him.

• He is very unfortunate who cannot in his life time gain a few sincere friends and sympathizers, and more unfortunate is the one who has gained them and then lost them.

• When few blessings comes your way , do not drive them away through thanklessness.

• Overlook and forgive weaknesses of generous people , because if they fall down the hand of God lifts them.

• Failures are often result of timidity and fears ; disappointments are results of uncalled for modesty. Hours of leisure pass away like summer cloud; therefore, do not waste opportunity of doing good.

• Happy is the man who always kept the life after death in his view, who remembered the day of Reckoning through all his deeds, who led a contended life, and who was happy with the lot that God hath destined for him.

• If you help a deserving person without his request then it is generosity, and if you help him after his request then mostly it is due to shyness to refuse or fear of reproach.

• There is no greater wealth than wisdom; no greater poverty than ignorance; no greater heritage than culture ; and no greater friend and helpmate than consultation.

• Endurance is of two kinds; when you endure unpleasant things coming to you, and when you bear refusal of things pleasing you.

• Wealth converts every foreign country into your native place, and poverty turns your native place into a strange land.

• We; Ahlay Baith, hold such central and balancing position in religion that those who are deficient in understanding and acting upon its principles will have to come to us for improvement, and those who are over doing have got to learn moderation from us.

• When somebody asked Hazrat as how he was getting on he replied, "What do you want to know about a person whose life is leading him towards ultimate death; whose health is the first stage towards illness and whom society has forced out of his retreat?"