290 bi9"r al-anw"r; vol.

290 bi9"r al-anw"r; vol.59, chap.88, p.269, 9adith 61. 291 al-am"l: of al-?Ys:; vol.2, p.12, Najaf edition.

He also said: 'The best kind of alms is the alms of the tongue.' He was asked: 'O Apostle of God, and what is the alms of the tongue?' He said: 'To intercede to free a prisoner or to prevent bloodshed or to bring something desirable to your brother or repel something detestable from him.'293 On Truthfulness It is related that the Apostle of God said: 'The closest of you to me tomorrow when we stand before God is he who is most truthful in speech.'294 He also said: 'The adornment of speech is truthfulness.'295 He also said: 'Truthfulness is blessed and untruthfulness is accursed.'296 He also said: 'The liar only lies because of an inferiority in his own self.'297 He also said: 'Do your utmost to avoid lies for lies invite vice and criminality, and vice and criminality lead to Hellfire.'298 292 bi9"r al-anw"r; vol.71, chap.3, p.103, 9ad:th 61.

293 !uddah al-d"!:; p.71. 294 bi9"r al-anw"r; vol.7, chap.15, p.303, 9ad:th 65. 295 ibid. vol.67, chap.6, p.9, 9ad:th 12. 296 tu9af al-!uqYl; p.11. 297 al-ikhtiN"N; p.226. Najaf edition. 298 bi9"r al-anw"r; vol.69, chap.14, p.263, 9ad:th 48.

He also said: 'Among the greatest sins (is) the lying tongue.'299 He also said: 'Too much lying takes away the good aura of a person.'300 He also said: 'Lying is one of the doors of hypocrisy.'301 He also said: 'Telling lies diminishes providence.'302 He was once asked: 'Can a believer be a coward?' He said: 'Yes.' He was asked: 'Can he be miserly?' He said: 'Yes.' He was asked: 'Can he be a liar?' He said: 'No.'303 He said: 'Woe betide those who tell stories and lie in order to get people to laugh.

Woe betide them, woe betide them.'304 On Abstinence The Apostle of God said: 'O people, this worldly life is a place of grief and is not a place of joy. It is a place of crookedness and is not a place of straightforwardness. Whoever recognises this will not feel joy at [the achievement of] some hope or feel grief at wretchedness.'305 299 al-ikhtiN"N; p.339. Najaf edition. 300 bi9"r al-anw"r; vol.73, chap.106, p.58, 9ad:th 1. 301 tanb:h al-khaw"Uir; p.121. 302 j"mi!

al-sa!"d"t; vol.2, p.322, 3rd edition. 303 ibid. 304 ibid. 305 bi9"r al-anw"r; vol.74, chap.7, p.187. He said: 'This worldly life is transient. Whatever comes to you in your favour comes despite your incapacity. And whatever of it is against you, you will not be able to repel it with your power.