Let no hopes and expectations digress you...

Let no hopes and expectations digress you, nor should you regard it as a long age; and do not be deceived by its promises.

And, if you were to roam about like a camel yearning to find its heifer and coo like a dove, calling its young one, and raise your beseeching cry like a worshipful hermit, and come out together with your wealth and children, so as to seek nearness to Him, and be elevated in His estimation; or to be forgiven the sins which His angels and scribes have recorded, it would all be too little to earn His reward which I hope for you, or to be saved from His wrath which I fear for you.

May Allah keep us and you among the repentents and the worshipping ones." The Prophet's address on the day of Arafah He said: Abul Hasan ‘Ali ibn Bilal al-Mahlabi reported to me from ‘Ali ibn Abdullah ibn Asad al-Ishfahani, who reported from Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Thaqafi, who reported from Abdul Rahman ibn Abi Hashim, who reported from Yahya ibn al-Husayn al-Bijilli, from Abu Haroon al-Abdi, from Zadhan, who reported from Salman al-Farsi - may Allah bless him with mercy, that: The messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, once appeared on the day of Arafah and said: "O, people, surely Allah glorified Himself because of you on this day, so that He may pardon you generally and pardon ‘Ali in particular." Then he said: "Come near me, O ‘Ali." So ‘Ali drew near.

Then the Prophet took him by his hand and said: "Surely, the blessed, completely and truly blessed is the one who obeyed you and loved you after I have gone. And surely, the wretched, completely and truly wretched is the one who disobeyed you, and showed his hostility after I have gone." Abu Dharr . . .

the fearless He said: Abul Hasan ‘Ali ibn Bilal al-Mahlabi reported to me from ‘Ali ibn Abdullah al-Ishfahani, who reported from Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Thaqafi, who reported from Muhammad ibn ‘Ali, who reported from al-Husayn ibn Sufyan, from his father, from Abu Jahdham al-Azdi, from his father who said that: When Uthman ordered Abu Dharr al-Ghifari - may Allah bless him with mercy, into exile from Medinah to Syria, he (i.e.

Abu Dharr) used to stand up everyday admonishing people, exhorting them to obey Allah, warning them against committing sins. And he used to narrate from the messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and his progeny, whatever he had heard about the virtues and excellence of his Ahlul Bayt, peace be upon them, enjoining upon them to follow his progeny.