Abu Tharr narrated, “One day in the morning, I went to the messenger of Allah in his mosque, and I found no one of people except the Prophet and Ameerul Mo'minin beside him. I seized the opportunity of that privacy in the mosque and said,
‘O messenger of Allah, may my father and mother die for you, recommend me with what Allah may benefit me by.’
The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said, ‘Yes, and you are honorable, Abu Tharr! You are from us the Ahlul Bayt, and I will offer to you a recommendation that you may keep in mind because it is a combination of the ways and means of goodness. If you keep it, you shall have two shares (of reward).
O Abu Tharr, worship Allah as if you see Him; if you do not see Him, surely He sees you. Know that the first of the worshipping of Allah is the knowing of Him; He is the First before every thing that there is no thing before Him, the One that there is no second to Him, the Everlasting to no end, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and what there is in them and what there is between them, and He is Allah, the most Kind, the most Aware, and He is powerful over everything.
Then, is the faith in me, and the acknowledging that Allah the Almighty has sent me to the whole people as a bringer of good news, a warner, an inviter to Allah by His permission, and a luminous light. And then, is the love of my progeny whom Allah has kept away uncleanness from them and purified them a thorough purification.
O Abu Tharr, know that Allah, glory be to Him, has made my progeny among my nation as the Ark of Noah; whoever embarks on it shall be saved and whoever turns his back to it shall drown, and as the Gate of Hittah (of forgiveness) of the children of Israel that whoever enters it shall be safe.
O Abu Tharr, keep what I recommend you with and you shall be happy in this life and in the afterlife.
O Abu Tharr, there are two blessings that many of people are wronged in; good health and leisure.
O Abu Tharr, make use of five things before five things; your youth before your senility, your good health before your illness, your wealth before your poverty, your leisure before your business, and your life before your death.
O Abu Tharr, beware of procrastination in your hoping, for you are of your day and not the day after it. If tomorrow is for you, then be in tomorrow as you are in today, and if tomorrow is not for you, you shall not regret what you have wasted today.
O Abu Tharr, how many are those who receive a day but they do not finish it, and who wait for tomorrow but they do not reach it!
O Abu Tharr, if you think of death and its fate, you shall hate hope and its temptation.
O Abu Tharr, be in this life as if you are a stranger or a passerby, and consider yourself as one of the people of graves.
O Abu Tharr, when you are in the morning, do not talk to yourself about evening, and when you are in the evening, do not talk to yourself about morning. Take from your good health before your illness, and from your life before your death, because you do not know what your name shall be tomorrow (alive or dead).
O Abu Tharr, beware that felling may fall upon you at the slip, and then the slip shall not be pardoned, and you shall not be able to return, and he, whom you leave (the heir) with what you leave (inheritance) shall not praise you…
O Abu Tharr, be with your age stingier than with your dirham and dinar.
O Abu Tharr, does one wait except for arrogant-making wealth, forgetful-making poverty, a corruptive illness, confuting senility, a finishing off death, the Dajjal (Antichrist) that is the worst, awaited absentee, or the Hour (Day of Judgment)? Surely the Hour is much more terrible and more grievous.
O Abu Tharr, the worst of people in position to Allah on the Day of Resurrection shall be a scholar that it is not benefited by his
knowledge. Whoever seeks knowledge just to attract people to him shall not find the scent of the Paradise.
O Abu Tharr, whoever seeks knowledge to cheat people by it shall not find the scent of the Paradise.
O Abu Tharr, when you are asked about some knowledge that you do not know, you say: ‘I do not know’ and thus you shall be saved from its responsibility. Do not give a fatwa on that which you have no knowledge of, and thus you shall be saved from the torment of Allah on the Day of Resurrection.
O Abu Tharr, some people of the Paradise shall see some people of the Fire and say to them: what has made you enter into the Fire while we ourselves have entered the Paradise by virtue of your discipline and education? They shall say to them: we used to enjoin goodness, but we ourselves did not do it.
O Abu Tharr, the rights of Allah, glory be to Him, are more greater than to be fulfilled by the servants, and the blessings of Allah are much more than to be counted by the servants, but be evening and morning repentant.
O Abu Tharr, you are in the passage of the night and the day in (gradually) decreased terms and preserved deeds, and death comes unexpectedly. Whoever plants goodness shall soon harvest goodness, and whoever plants evil shall soon harvest regret; every planter gets like what he plants.
O Abu Tharr, no slack one misses his fate and no greedy can get what has not been determined to him. Whoever is given good surely it is Allah Who has given it to him, and whoever is saved from an evil surely it is Allah Who has saved him from it.
O Abu Tharr, the pious are masters and jurisprudents are leaders and the association with them is an increase (of goodness). A believer sees his sin as if he is under a rock fearing that it may fall over him, and a disbeliever sees his sin as if some flies pass by his nose.
O Abu Tharr, if Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, wants for some servant goodness, He makes his sins before his eyes materialized and the sin to him very heavy and great, and if He wants for some servant evil, He makes him forget his sins.
O Abu Tharr, do not consider the littleness of a committed sin, but consider the One Whom you disobey.
O Abu Tharr, the soul of a believer is more confused by sin than a sparrow when it is thrown into the trap.
O Abu Tharr, he, whose sayings conform to his deeds, shall be blessed, and he, whose sayings contradict his deeds, just censures himself.
O Abu Tharr, a man may be deprived of his livelihood because of a sin that he commits.
O Abu Tharr, leave what you have nothing to do with, and do not talk about what does not concern you, and store your tongue as you store your money.
O Abu Tharr, Allah, highly praise be to Him, shall put some people into the Paradise and give them until they shall be bored, and there shall be some people above them in the Highest Degrees. When they shall look at them, they shall know them and say: our Lord, they are our brothers that we were with in the worldly life; by what You have preferred them to us? It shall be said: How far! How far! They were hungry when you were satiate, thirsty when you quenched your thirst, they spent the night in worship when you slept, and they went (to jihad) when you were saved (peacefully).
O Abu Tharr, Allah, highly praise be to Him, has made my delight in prayer and made prayer beloved to me as He has made food beloved to the hungry and water to the thirsty. When a hungry one eats, he shall be satisfied, and when a thirsty one drinks water, he shall quench his thirst, but I do not be satisfied whatever I offer prayers.
O Abu Tharr, whoever voluntarily offers twelve rak’as in a day and a night other than the obligatory ones there shall be a due right to him a house in the Paradise.
O Abu Tharr, as long as you are in the prayer, you are knocking at the door of the Mighty King, and whoever knocks at the door of the King much, it shall be opened to him.
O Abu Tharr, no believer gets up to offer the prayer except that benefaction is scattered on him from between him and the Throne, and an angel is entrusted with him to call out: O son of Adam, if you know what you get in the prayer and Whom you talk to, you shall not leave.
O Abu Tharr, blessed are the bannermen on the Day of Resurrection; they shall carry them (banners) and precede the people to the Paradise. They are the precedents to mosques in dawns and other than dawns.
O Abu Tharr, prayer is the pillar of the religion, and the tongue (remembrance) is greater, charity removes sin, and the tongue is greater, fasting is protection from the Fire, and the tongue is greater, jihad is honor, and the tongue is greater.
O Abu Tharr, a degree in the Paradise is like what is between the heaven and the earth. A servant may raise his sight and a light shall glitter to him that shall be about to take away his sight; he shall be frightened by that and say: what is this? It shall be said to him: this is the light of your brother. He shall say: my brother so-and-so! We both worked in the worldly life and now he has been preferred to me as so? It shall be said to him: he was better than you in deeds. Then, satisfaction shall be put into his heart until he shall be satisfied.
O Abu Tharr, this life is the prison of a believer and the paradise of a disbeliever. No believer in it except that he is sad; and how does he not become sad where Allah, highly praise be to Him, has promised him that he shall enter the Hell and has not promised him that (when) he shall get out of it, and he shall meet diseases, calamities, and many things that depress him, and shall be oppressed without triumphing, wishing for a reward from Allah the Almighty? He is still sad in it (this life) until he leaves it, and when he leaves it, he shall resort to ease and honor.
O Abu Tharr, Allah, glory be to Him, has been never worshipped with anything like long sorrow.
O Abu Tharr, he, who has been given knowledge that does not make him weep, surely has been given knowledge that does not benefit him, because Allah has described the knowledgeable by saying, (Surely those who were given knowledge before it, when it is read unto them, fall down prostrate on their faces in obeisance; saying: Glory to our Lord! Verily the promise of our Lord must be fulfilled. They fall down on their faces, weeping, and it increases humility in them).[3]
O Abu Tharr, let him, he who can weep, weep, and let him, he who cannot, make his heart feel sorrow and feign weeping. Surely a hard heart is far from Allah the Almighty, but you do not feel.
O Abu Tharr, by Him in Whose hand the soul of Muhammad is, if this life equaled near Allah to a wing of a mosquito or a fly, He would not give to the disbelievers in it a sip of water.
O Abu Tharr, Allah, the Blessed, the High, revealed to my brother Jesus (p.b.u.h): O Jesus, do not love this life, for I do not love it, but love the afterlife because it is the abode of the Return.
O Abu Tharr, Gabriel brought to me the treasures of the world on a gray mule and said to me: O Muhammad, these are the treasures of the world, and nothing of your share near your Lord shall be decreased. I said: O my beloved Gabriel, I am in no need of them; when I am satisfied (with food), I thank my Lord, and when I am hungry, I ask Him.
O Abu Tharr, when Allah, glory be to Him, wants for a servant goodness, He makes him knowledgeable of the religion, abstinent in this life, and aware of the defects of himself.
O Abu Tharr, no servant becomes abstinent in this life except that Allah plants wisdom in his heart and makes his tongue utter it, makes him aware of the defects of life, its diseases, and its cures, and takes him out of it whole to the abode of peace.
O Abu Tharr, when you see your brother abstinent towards this life, listen to him because he casts wisdom.
I (Abu Tharr) asked: O messenger of Allah, who is the most abstinent of people? He said:
It is he who does not forget graveyards and perishment, who leaves the further pleasures of this life, who prefers what lasts to what passes away, who does not consider tomorrow as one of his days, and who considers himself as one of the dead (getting ready to death).
O Abu Tharr, Allah, the Blessed, the High, did not reveal to me to accumulate wealth, but He revealed to me: (But hymn the praise of your Lord, and be of those who make prostration (unto Him). And serve your Lord until certainty comes to you).[4]
O Abu Tharr, I put on coarse clothes, sit on the ground, lick my fingers (after having food), ride the donkey without saddle, and let others sit behind me (on a mount), so whoever refrains from my Sunna is not from me.
O Abu Tharr, the love of wealth and honor is more harmful to one’s religion than two savage wolves in a pen of sheep that they attack and when the morning comes, they shall leave nothing in it.
I said: O messenger of Allah, do the fearers (of Allah), the fighters (in the way of Allah), the humble, the rememberers of Allah too much precede people to the Paradise?
The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said:
No, but it is the poor Muslims; they overstep people’s necks and the guardians of the Paradise shall say to them: stay where you are until you shall be judged. They shall say: for what shall we be judged? By Allah, we had no authority that we might give liberally or be just, nor were we given wealth that we might prevent or give, but we worshipped our Lord until He called us and we responded.
In this passage, the Prophet (p.b.u.h) invited to asceticism in this life and not to pounce upon its pleasures and desires. And indeed, Abu Tharr the great companion followed this recommendation when he turned his back to this world and refused to respond to the Umayyad rule when great monies were offered to him, but he refused them and preferred the satisfaction of Allah until he died very poor and wretched in the worst spot of the desert in ar-Rabathah; and thus he was the leader of the poor and the wretched.
The Prophet (p.b.u.h) added:
O Abu Tharr, this life is a preoccupation of hearts and bodies, and surely Allah, the Blessed, the High, will ask us about what He has afforded us of permissible boons, so how about the impermissible pleasures we have enjoyed?
O Abu Tharr, I have prayed Allah, highly praise be to Him, to make the sustenance of whoever loves me as necessary subsistence, and to give whoever hates me abundant wealth and children.
O Abu Tharr, blessed are the abstinents in this life, the wishers for the afterlife, who take the earth of Allah as a carpet, its soil as a bed, and its water as a flavor, and who take the Book of Allah as their symbol and His invocation as their garment…
O Abu Tharr, the tilth of the afterlife is the good deed, and the tilth of this life is wealth and children
O Abu Tharr, my Lord has told me saying: by My glory and honor, worshippers do not get like what they get by weeping (for fear of Allah). I will build for them in the Highest Association a palace that no one shall participate with them in it.
I said: O messenger of Allah, which of the believers is more reasonable?
The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said:
The most of them in remembering death and the best of them in getting ready to it.
O Abu Tharr, when the light (of faith) enters the heart, the heart shall expand and dilate.
I said: what is the sign of that, may my father and mother die for you O messenger of Allah?
The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said:
The returning to the Abode of Eternity, the turning away from the abode of temptation, and the getting ready for death before its coming.
O Abu Tharr, fear Allah, and do not show people that you fear Allah so that they may honor you while your heart is dissolute.
O Abu Tharr, two moderate rak’as (offered) with consideration is better than spending a (whole) night in worshipping while the heart is inadvertent.
O Abu Tharr, the truth is (heavy and) bitter and falsehood is light and sweet. Perhaps a pleasure of a moment may cause a lasting sorrow.
O Abu Tharr, judge yourself before you are judged because it shall be easier for your judgment tomorrow. Weigh yourself before you are weighed, and get prepared for the Greatest Show when you shall be showed. There is nothing hidden to Allah.
O Abu Tharr, the example of him, who calls with no work, is like the example of him who shoots with no bowstring.
O Abu Tharr, Allah sets right, by the righteousness of a servant himself, his children and the children of his children, and preserves him in his house and the houses around his as long as he is among them.
O Abu Tharr, a good companion is better than loneliness, and loneliness is better than a bad companion, and the saying of good is better than keeping silent, and silence is better than the saying of evil.
O Abu Tharr, do not make friends except with the faithful. Let no one eat from your food except a pious one, and do not eat from the food of disobeyers.
O Abu Tharr, Feed your food to whom you love for the sake of Allah, and eat from the food of whoever loves you for the sake of Allah.
O Abu Tharr, Allah the Almighty is at the tongue of every sayer, so let man fear Allah and know what he says.
O Abu Tharr, avoid extra speech, and it is sufficient to you the speech by which you get to your need.
O Abu Tharr, it is enough for one as lying that he says all what he hears.
O Abu Tharr, nothing is worthier of being imprisoned than the tongue.
O Abu Tharr, from glorifying Allah is the honoring of an old Muslim, the active appliers of the Qur'an, and a just ruler.
O Abu Tharr, he does not do (good deeds) who does not guard his tongue.
O Abu Tharr, do not be a censurer, praiser, defamer, or disputer.
O Abu Tharr, a servant still increase in being far from Allah as long as his morals are bad.
O Abu Tharr, a good word is as charity, and every step that you step towards prayer is charity.
O Abu Tharr, whoever responds to the propagandist of Allah and well maintains the mosques of Allah, his reward from Allah shall be the Paradise.
I said: May my father and mother die for you O messenger of Allah, how are the mosques of Allah maintained?
The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said:
Voices should not be loud in them (the mosques), it should not be argued on falsehood, contracts of selling or buying should not be concluded in them, and you avoid nonsense as along as you are in them. If you do not do, then do not blame except yourself on the Day of Resurrection.
O Abu Tharr, Allah the Almighty gives you, as long as you are sitting in the mosque, for every breath you breathe a degree in the Paradise, and the angels pray for you and record to you for every breath you breathe ten good deeds and removes from you ten bad deeds.
O Abu Tharr, do you know what about this verse (O you who believe, be patient and excel in patience and remain steadfast, and be careful of (your duty to) Allah, that you may be successful)[5] has been revealed?
I said: I do not know.
The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said:
About the waiting for a prayer after a prayer.
O Abu Tharr, the performing of wudu’ (ablution) at calamities is from penances and the much going to mosques is the bond (with Allah).
O Abu Tharr, Allah, the Blessed, the High, says: the most beloved servants to Me are the loving one another for the sake of Me, whose hearts are attached to mosques, and who seek the forgiveness of Allah in the early dawns; it is they that when I want to punish the people of the earth I remember them and give up My punishment against them.
O Abu Tharr, every sitting in the mosque is nonsense except three; the reciting of a praying one, the remembrance of Allah, or a seeking of knowledge.
O Abu Tharr, be in practicing piety more careful than your care for your deeds, because practicing piety does not decrease in value, and how does a thing that is accepted (by Allah) decrease? Allah the Almighty says, (Allah only accepts from those who guard (against evil)).[6]
O Abu Tharr, one does not be from the pious until he calls himself to account more than a partner when calling his partner to account. Let he know well wherefrom his food, drinks, and clothes are; whether they are well-gotten or ill-gotten?
O Abu Tharr, he who does not care that wherefrom he has obtained wealth, Allah does not care that wherefrom He throws him into fire.
O Abu Tharr, let him, he who is pleased to be the most generous one of people, fear Allah.
O Abu Tharr, the most beloved one of you to Allah is the most of you in remembering Him, and the most generous one of you near Allah, glory be to Him, is the most pious one of you, and the most saved one of you from the torment of Allah is the most of you in fearing Him.
O Abu Tharr, the pious are those who fear Allah from something that is not feared from, fearing that they may involve in ambiguity (whether lawful or not).
O Abu Tharr, whoever obeys Allah the Almighty remembers Allah even if his prayer, fasting, and reciting of the Qur'an are little.
O Abu Tharr, the origin of the religion is piety and its head is obedience.
O Abu Tharr, be pious and you shall be the best of worshippers; the best thing in your religion is piety.
O Abu Tharr, the virtue of knowledge is better than the virtue of worshipping. Know that if you offer prayers until you become like bows, and you fast until you become like bowstring, that shall not benefit you except with piety.
O Abu Tharr, the people of piety and abstinence in this life are the real guardians of Allah.
O Abu Tharr, whoever shall not come, on the Day of Resurrection, with three (things) shall be a loser; piety that prevents him from what Allah, glory be to Him, has prohibited, patience by which he repels the ignorance of the fool, and good manners by which he humors people.
O Abu Tharr, if you are pleased to be the strongest of people, then rely on Allah, and if you are pleased to be the most generous of people, then fear Allah, and if you are pleased to be the wealthiest of people, then be about what there is in the hands of Allah, glory be to Him, more certain that about what there is in your hands.
O Abu Tharr, if all people follow this verse, it shall be sufficient to them: (and whoever is careful of (his duty to) Allah, He will make for him an outlet, and give him sustenance from whence he thinks not; and whoever trusts in Allah, He is sufficient for him; surely Allah attains His purpose).[7]
O Abu Tharr, Allah, highly praise be to Him, says: by My honor and glory, My servant does not prefer My desires to his desires except that I make his richness in himself, and (relieve) his griefs in his afterlife, and make the heavens and the earth assure his sustenance, and suffice to him his lose, and I will be (assistant) to him from behind the trading of every trader.
O Abu Tharr, if the son of Adam runs away from his livelihood as he runs away from death, his livelihood shall come to him as death comes to him.
O Abu Tharr, Allah, the Blessed, the High, does not look at your figures or properties, but He looks at your hearts and deeds.
O Abu Tharr, piety is here. Piety is here (he pointed to his chest).
O Abu Tharr, there are four things that no one obtains them except a faithful; silence which is the first of worship, humility to Allah, glory be to Him, the remembrance of Allah at any case, and the littleness of properties.
O Abu Tharr, intend to do good deed even if you do not do it, lest you are recorded as one of the unmindful.
O Abu Tharr, beware of backbiting, because backbiting is worse than adultery.
I said: O messenger of Allah, what for?
He said: because one commits adultery and then he repents and Allah accepts his repentance, but backbiting is not forgiven until the one backbitten forgives it.
O Abu Tharr, reviling a Muslim is disobedience, fighting him is disbelief, eating his flesh (backbiting him) is from the disobediences of Allah, and the inviolability of his properties is like the inviolability of his blood.
I said: O messenger of Allah, what is backbiting?
He said: to mention your brother with what he hates.
I said: even if that which is mentioned is available in him?
The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said: know that if you mentioned what there is in him, you backbite him, and when you mention what there is not in him, you fabricate against him.
O Abu Tharr, whoever repels backbiting from his Muslim brother surely Allah, glory be to Him, will save him from the Fire.
O Abu Tharr, whoever his Muslim brother is backbitten near him and he is able to repel backbiting from him and he does that, Allah will assist him in this life and in the afterlife, and if he lets him down though he is able to repel backbiting from him, Allah will let him down in this life and in the afterlife.
O Abu Tharr, a talebearer shall not enter the Paradise.
O Abu Tharr, the practiser of talebearing shall not be relieved from the torment of Allah in the afterlife.
O Abu Tharr, he, who has two faces and two tongues (hypocrite) in this life, shall have two tongues in the Fire.
O Abu Tharr, meetings should be (held) with fidelity, and the disclosing of your brother’s secret is betrayal, so avoid that and avoid the meeting of the tribe.
O Abu Tharr, the deeds of the people of this life from Friday to the next Friday are shown to Allah on Monday and Thursday, and every faithful servant shall be forgiven except one who there is between him and his brother enmity. Allah says (to the angels): leave aside the deeds of these two until they make peace with each other.
O Abu Tharr, beware of deserting your brother, because one’s deed is not accepted because of desertion.
O Abu Tharr, I prohibit you from desertion, and if you have to do, then do not desert (your brother) more than three days, and whoever dies during them the Fire shall be worthier of him.
O Abu Tharr, whoever likes men to stand for him reverently let him take his seat in the Fire.
O Abu Tharr, whoever dies while there is in his heart inasmuch as a whit of pride shall not find the scent of the Paradise except if he repents before that (death)…pride is that when you give up the truth and overstep it to other than it, and you look at people and see that no one’s honor is like yours and no one’s blood is like yours.
O Abu Tharr, most of those who enter the Fire are the proud.
O Abu Tharr, blessed is he who is humble to Allah the Almighty with no defect, who lowers himself with no misery, spends money that he has collected in no disobedience, is merciful to the needy and the wretched, and associates with the people of jurisprudence and wisdom. Blessed is he whose inward is right, whose outward is good, and who keeps his evil away from people. Blessed is he who works due to his knowledge, spends the extra of his money, and holds back the nonsense of his speech.”[8]
Another will to Abu Tharr:
One day, the Prophet (p.b.u.h) said to Abu Tharr, “Shall I teach you some words that Allah may benefit you with?”
Abu Tharr said, “O yes, the messenger of Allah.”
The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said, “Keep (your duty to) Allah and He will keep you. Keep (obedient to) Allah and you shall find Him in front of you. Know Allah at ease and He will know you at distress. If you want to ask, ask Allah the Almighty. If you want assistance, seek the assistance of Allah, for the Pen has recorded what shall take place until the Day of Resurrection. If the whole human beings gather together to benefit you with something that has not been determined for you, they shall not be able to do that.”[9]
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[1] Qur'an, 16:90.
[2] Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 77 p. 92-110.
[3] Qur'an, 17:107-109.
[4] Qur'an, 15:98-99.
[5] Qur'an, 3:200.
[6] Qur'an, 5:27.
[7] Qur'an, 65:2-3.
[8] Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 17, p. 74, al-Amali, vol. 2 p. 138.
[9] Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 90 p. 424.
