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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Masterpieces of Rhetoric Methood (nahj Al-balagha) A Group of His Letters, Sermons, Pledges and Advices The worship of free men His wonderful speech on the meaning of worship A group of people worshipped Allah out of desire for reward surely, that is the worship of traders! Another group worshipped Allah out of fear, that is the worship of slaves! Still another group worshipped Allah out of gratefulness, this is the worship of free men!
O’ People A sermon in Al-Maddinah Monopolizing is the medium of toil; miserliness is an incen-tive to stumbling into sins; greediness gathers the whole of evil vices. O’ people, there is no treasure more useful than knowledge no honour higher than tolerance, no evil worse than falsehood, and no absent closer than death!
O’ people, he who sees his own defects abstains from looking into other’s defects; he who draws out the sword of aggression is killed with it; he who digs a well falls in it; he who forgets his slips enlarges other’s slips; he who gets astonished with his view strays; he who dispenses his mind lapsed, and he who prides on people is humiliated. Through change of circumstances the mettle of men is known. Days reveal hidden secrets.
It is enough for your own refinement that you abstain from what you dislike of others’ he who scrutinized opinions understands the pitfalls. Love is a gained kinship your brother owes you a right like you owe him; no one gets anything unless he loses something else; there is a foodstuff for every living creature; there is an eater for every grain, and you are the foodstuff of death. O’ people, beware of cheating, since it is of the charac-teristics of ignoble people.
Purifying the act is more hard than the act. Purifying the intention of perversion it is more hard to the doers than long jihad (struggle). How impossible! Had it not been for piety I would have been the most cunning of all Arabs. You have to stick to the word of right in time of conten-tedness and anger; you have to stick to justice with friend and enemy; you have to stick to contentedness in hardship and well-being. Whoever leaves desire is free.
Man’s vanity of himself is a proof of his weak mind. The worst provision for the Day of Judgement is aggression on Allah’s slaves.