Sayings of Moula Ali(AS)

Sayings of Moula Ali(AS) 

1. During civil disturbance adopt such an attitude that people do not attach any importance to you - they neither heavy load you with complicated affairs, nor try to get any advantage out of you. 
2. He who is greedy is disgraced; he who tells (people) his hardship will always be embarrassed (in front of many people); he who has no control over his tongue will often have to face discomfort. 
3. Greed is disgrace; weakness and fear is a defect; poorness often disables a smart man from arguing his case; a poor man is a stranger in his own town; bad luck and helplessness are terrible events; patience is a kind of bravery; to cut attachments with the evil world is the greatest wealth;religiousness is the best weapon of defense. 
4. Submission to Allah's Will is the best companion; wisdom is the highest-quality history; (related to ideas about how things work or why they happen) and practical knowledge are the best signs of honor/difference; deep thinking will present the clearest picture of every problem. 
5. The mind of a wise man is the safest custody of secrets; cheerfulness is the key to friendship; patience and delay will hide many defects. 
6. A stuck-up and self-admiring person is disliked by others; charity and money for the poor are the best fix (for a disease) for sicknesses and terrible events; one has to account in the next world for the deeds that he has done in this world. 
7. Man is a wonderful creature; he sees through the layers of fat (eyes), hears through a bone (ears) and speaks through a lump of flesh (tongue). 
8. When this world favors somebody, it lends him the attributes, and going past good qualities ofothers and when it turns its face away from him it grabs away even his own excellences and fame. 
9. Live among people in such a manner that if you die they cry over you and if you are alive theybadly want for your company. 
10. If you overpower your enemy, then pardon him by way of thankfulness to Allah, for being able to control/calm him. 
11. Unfortunate is he who cannot gain a few honest friends during his life and more unfortunate is the one who has gained them and then lost them (through his deeds). 
12. When some blessings come to you, do not drive them away through thanklessness. 
13. He who is deserted by friends and relatives will often find help and sympathy from strangers. 
14. Every person who is tempted to go away from what's right does not deserve punishment. 
15. Our affairs are attached to the pre-planned future said with authority by Allah; even our best plans may lead us to destruction. 
16. There is a tradition of the Holy Predictor of the future "With the help of hair-dye turn old age into youth so that you do not look like the Jews". When Imam Ali was asked to comment on this tradition, he said that in the early stage of Islam there were very few Muslims. The Holy Predictor of the future advised them to look young and energetic and not to adopt the fashion of the Jews (priest) having long, white flowing beards. But the Muslims were not in minority then, theirs was a strong and powerful State, they could take up any style they liked. 
17. For those who refused to side with any party, Imam Ali or his enemies, Imam Ali said: They have abandoned religion and are of no use to (hater of a person's religion and a person's god)ity also. 
18. One who rushes madly after excessive desire, risks meeting destruction and death. 
19. Overlook and forgive the weaknesses of the generous people because if they fall down, Allah will help them. 
20. Failures are often the results of shyness and fears; disappointments are the results ofshyness; hours of leisure pass away like summer-clouds, therefore, do not waste opportunity of doing good. 
21. If the right forcefully took/taken from us is given back to us we will take it, otherwise we willgo on claiming it. 
22. If someone's deeds lower his position, his (proof of coming from an excellent family) cannot elevate it. 
23. To make/give relief to the upset (in bad shape) and to help the badly mistreated apologize for great sins. 
24. O son of Adam, when you see that your Lord, the Honored and praised, gives His Favors on you while you disobey Him, you should fear Him (take warning that His Anger may not turn those very blessings into bad luck). 
25. Often your statements and expressions of your face leak out the secrets of your hidden thoughts. 
26. When you get ill does not get nervous about it and try as much as possible to be hopeful. 
27. The best form of devotion to the service of Allah is not to make a show of it. 
28. When you have to leave/move away from this world and have to meet death (eventually), then why wish delay (why feel nervous about death). 
29. Take warning! He has not exposed so many of your sinful activities that it appears as if He has forgiven you (it may be that He has given you time to feel deep sorrow for past sin). 
30. When Imam Ali was asked about Faith in Religion, he replied that the structure of faith is supported by four pillars (ability to last through/tolerate bad times), conviction, justice and jihad. 
(ability to last through/tolerate bad times) is composed of four attributes: eagerness, fear,religiousness and excitement/preparation (of death). so whoever is eager for Paradise will ignore temptations; whoever fears the fire of Hell will completely avoid sins; whoever practicesreligiousness will easily bear the difficulties of life and whoever expects/looks ahead to death willhurry towards good deeds. 
Conviction has also four aspects to guard oneself against sudden, strong loves of sin; to search for explanation of truth through knowledge; to gain lessons from (teaches things) things and to follow the (something important that came before) of the past people, because whoever wants to guard himself against bad behaviors/crimes and sins will have to search for the true causes ofsudden, strong love and the true ways of fighting them out and to find those true ways one has to search them with the help of knowledge, whoever gets fully (made) familiar with differentbranches of knowledge will take lessons from life and whoever tries to take lessons from life is actually started/working at the study of the causes of rise and fall of previous cities/people . 
Justice also has four aspects depth of understanding, very deep nature of knowledge, fairness of judgment and lonelyess of mind; because whoever tries his best to under- stand a problem will have to study it, whoever has the practice of studying the subject he is to deal with, will develop a clear mind and will always come to correct decisions, whoever tries to achieve all this will have to develop big/enough patience and delay and whoever does this has done justice to the cause of religion and has led a life of good reputation and fame. 
Jihad is divided into four branches: to convince people to be obedient to Allah; to prohibit them from sin and crime/harmful behavior; to struggle (in the cause of Allah) honestly and firmly on all occasions and to hate the evil and violent. Whoever convinces people to obey the orders of Allah provides strength to the believers; whoever discourages them from bad behaviors/crimes and sins embarrasses (in front of many people) the unbelievers; whoever struggles on all occasions discharges all his obligations and whoever hates the evil and violent only for the sake of Allah, then Allah will take revenge on his enemies and will be pleased with Him on the Day of Judgment.
31. There are four causes of (cheating on your wife or husband) and loss of belief in Allah: strong desire/strongly desiring after sudden ideas, a passion to argue every argument, moving away from truth; and disagreement, because whoever strongly desires/strong desires after sudden ideas does not incline towards truth; whoever keeps on disputing every argument on account of his (the state of having no knowledge), will always remain blind to truth, whoever moves away from truth because of (the state of having no knowledge), will always take good for evil and evil for good and he will always remain drunk with misguidance. And whoever makes a failure/mistake (with Allah and His Messenger) his path becomes very hard, his affairs will become complicated and his way to salvation will be uncertain. 
(in almost the same way), doubt has also four aspects weird and ridiculous reason- ing; fear; mood change and hesitation; and unreasonable (giving up in a fight) to (hater of a person's religion and a person's god)ity, because one who has got used to himself to unreasonable and weird and ridiculous discussions will never see the Light of Truth and will always live in the darkness of (the state of having no knowledge). One who is afraid to face facts (of life, death and the life after death) will always turn away from very best reality, one who allows doubts and uncertainties to go back and forth him will always be under the control of Satan and one who gives up himself to (hater of a person's religion and a person's god)ity accepts hell in both the worlds. 
32. A honest and good person is better then good thing/excellence/advantage and an evil and violent person is worse than crime/harmful behavior. 
33. Be generous but not fancy, be money-saving but not (hating to spend money or give things). 
34. The best kind of wealth is to give up too much/too many desires. 
35. One who says unpleasant things about others, will himself quickly become a target of their (shameful and disgraceful act or situation). 
36. One who hopes extremely (too much), damages/weakens his deeds. 
37. When Imam Ali, marching at the head of his army towards Syria, reached Ambar, the landlords of the place came out to meet him in excited energy of their love, faithfulness and respect, no sooner had they seen Imam Ali they got down from their horses and started running in front of him. Imam Ali asked the reason of their strange actions. They replied that it was their custom to show their love and respect in that way. Imam Ali replied: "By Allah, by your action you do no good at all to your rulers but you tire yourself and put yourself in works hard in this world and in trouble in the next. How unfortunate is that hard work, which brings harm here and in the After now and how useful is that ease which keeps you in comfort in this world and away from the Hell in the next. 
38. Imam Ali once said to his son Imam Hasan, My son, learn four things from me and through them you will learn four more. If you keep them in mind your actions will not bring any harm to you: The greatest wealth is Wisdom; the greatest poorness is stupidity; the worst unso- ciableness is that of self-love and self-glorification; and the best nobility of descent shows itself in politeness and in make better/make more purement of manner. The next four things, my son, are: "Do not make friendship with a fool because when he will try to do you good he will do you harm; do not make a cheap person your friend because he will run away from you at the time of your terrible and serious need; do not be friendly with an evil and violent and evil person because he will sell you and your friendship at the cheapest price and do not make friend of a liar because like a mirage he will make you see (in your mind) very near the things which lie at a great distance and will make you see at the great distance the things which are near to you". 
39. Recommended prayers cannot reach the pleasures of Allah for you when required prayers are left unattended. 
40. A wise man first thinks and then speaks and a fool speaks first and then thinks. 
41. A fool's mind is at the mercy of his tongue and a wise man's tongue is under the control of his mind. 
42. One of the companions of Imam fell ill. Imam Ali called upon him and so advised him: "Be thankful to Allah. He has made this illness a thing to apologize (for sin) your sins because a disease in itself has nothing to bring reward to anyone, it only apologizes for one's sins and so far as reward is concerned, one has to earn it with his good words and good deeds. The God Lord grants Paradise to his creatures on account of their religiousness and noble thoughts". 
43. May Allah Bless Kabbab bin Aratt. He hugged/supported Islam of his own freewill and moved in (from another country) (from Makkah) cheerfully. He lived a satisfied and happy life. He bowed happily before the Will of Allah and he led the life of a mujahid. 
44. Blessed is the man who always kept the life after death in his view, who remembered the Day of Judgment through all his deeds, who led a satisfied and happy life and who was happy with the lot that Allah had destined for him. 45. If I cut a faithful Muslim into pieces to make him hate me, he will not turn into my enemy and if I give all the wealth of this world to a person who doesn't follow (his or her) own rules to make him my friend he will not become friends with me. It is so because the Holy Predictor of the future has said: " O Ali! No faithful Muslim will ever be your enemy and no person who doesn't follow (his or her) own rules will ever be your friend. " 
46. The sin which makes you sad and sadness for past sin is more liked by Allah than the good deed which turns you bold and obnoxious. 
47. Value of a man depends upon his courage; his truthfulness depends upon his self-respect and his (never having sex) depends upon his sense of honor. 
48. Success is the result of thinking of the future and resolution, thinking of the future depends upon deep thinking and planning and the most important factor of planning is to keep your secrets to yourself. 
49. Be afraid of a gentleman when he is hungry, and of a mean person when his stomach is full. 
50. Hearts of people are like wild animals. They attach themselves to those who love and train them. 
51. So long as fortune is favouring you, your defects will remain covered. 
52. Only he who has the power to punish can pardon. 
53. Help (by giving money, by sharing, etc.) is to help a deserving person without his request, and if you help him after his request, then it is either out of self-respect or to avoid strongly disapprove. 
54. There is no greater wealth than wisdom, no greater poorness than (the state of having no knowledge); no greater history than culture and no greater support than discussion (with other people). 
55. Patience is of two kinds: patience over what pains you, and patience against what you want. 
56. Wealth changes (from one thing to another) a strange land into homeland and poorness turns a native place into a strange land. 
57. Satisfaction and happiness is the capital which will never reduce. 
58. Wealth is the fountain head of strong emotions. 
59. Whoever warns you against sins and bad behaviors/crimes is like the one who gives you good news/information. 
60. Tongue is a beast, if it is let loose, it eats/destroys. 
61. Woman is a scorpion whose grip is sweet. 
62. If you are greeted then return the greetings more warmly. If you are favoured, then repay the obligation manifold; but he who takes the effort to begin (doing something) will always excel in good quality/good qualities. 
63. The source of success of a claimant is the (person who tries to settle an argument). 
64. People in this world are like travelers whose trip is going on though they are asleep. ( Life's trip is going on though men may not feel it ). 
65. Lack of friends means, stranger in one's own country. 
66. Not to have a thing is less embarrassing (in front of many people) than to beg it. 
67. Do not feel ashamed if the amount of charity is small because to refuse the needy is an act of greater shame. 
68. To stop illegal and not religious source of pleasures is a decoration to the poor and to be thankful for the riches granted is the decoration of wealth. 
69. If you cannot get things as much as you desire than be satisfied and happy with what you have. 
70. A (having no knowledge) person will always overdo a thing or neglect it totally. 
71. The wiser a man is the less talkative will he be. 
72. Time wears out bodies, renews hopes, brings death nearer and takes away wishes. Whoever gets anything from the world lives in fear and stress for holding it and whoever loses anything passes his days feeling extreme sadness (over death) over the loss. 
73. Whoever wants to be a leader should educate him before educating others. Before preaching to others he should first practice himself. Whoever educates himself and improves his own morals is superior to the man who tries to teach and train others. 
74. Every breath you take is a step towards death. 
75. Anything which can be counted is limited and will come to an end.