Tuhaf Al-uqul ( the Masterpieces of the Mind )

Admonitions and Maxims of Jesus in the Bible

  1. Blessed be those who compassionate each other; they will be compassionated on the Day of Resurrection.

  2. Blessed be those who reestablish relations between people; they will be favored on the Day of Resurrection.

  3. Blessed be the pure-hearted ones; they will visit God on the Day of Resurrection.

  4. Blessed be the modest in this world; they will inherit the pulpits of kingdom on the Day of Resurrection.

  5. Blessed be the poor; they will possess the realm of the heavens.

  6. Blessed be the grieved; they will be delighted.

  7. Blessed be those who starve and suffer thirst out of fear (of God); they (exclusively) will be watered.

  8. Blessed be the good-doers; they will be named the choice of God.

  9. Blessed be those whom are insulted for their cleanness; they will have the realm of the heavens.

  10. Blessed be you when you are envied, insulted, or hear every false ugly word. Only then, you should be happy and delighted, for your heavenly rewards will be increased.

  11. Jesus (peace be upon him) said: O bad servants (of God), you criticize people for their conjecture, but do not criticize yourselves for conviction.

  12. O slaves of this world, you like others to say about you false things and to advert to you.

  13. O slaves of this world, you shave your heads, have your hair cut, and nod your heads down. But you do not uproot hatred from your hearts.

  14. O slaves of this world, you are just like the well constructed tombs; they attract the attentions of those who look at them, while their interiors contain only the bones of the dead that are full of sins.

  15. O slaves of this world, you are just like the lamp; it lights up others' ways while it burns itself.

  16. O sons of Israel, overcrowd the sessions of the scholars, even if you have to run to them on your knees. God will refresh the dead hearts by means of the illumination of wisdom in the same way the heavy rainfall refreshes the derelict lands.

  17. O sons of Israel, little utterance is a great perception; therefore, keep silent for it is a good meekness, fewness of sins, and forgiveness of guilt. Fortify the door of knowledge: the patience. God hates those who laugh in a meaningless way and those who take impolite courses. Moreover, God likes the rulers who behave like the caretakers whose eyes are always watching their subjects. Be ashamed of God in your secrets in the same way you are ashamed of people in your open deeds. You should know that a word of wise should be the lost of the believers; therefore, search for them before they are removed. The removal of the words of wisdom is the demise of their relaters.

  18. O seeker of knowledge, reverence the scholars for their knowledge and stop disputing them. Disrespect the ignorant for their ignorance. Do not dismiss them; you should favor and teach them. O seeker of knowledge, you should know that any grace for which you do not show gratitude is considered as a sin for which you will be judged.

  19. O seeker of knowledge, you should know that any act of disobedience of which you do not repent is considered as a matter of punishment that you will encounter.

  20. O seeker of knowledge, you are facing numerous misfortunes that you do not know when they will befall you; hence, prepare for them before they surprise you.

  21. Jesus the prophet (peace be upon him) said to his companions:

Supposing you pass by one of your brothers and find that his dress was raised and a part of his genitals was shown. Will you screen him or reveal the genitals completely?

"We will surely screen him," answered they. Jesus (peace be upon him) answered: No, you will reveal the genitals completely.

Hence, they realized that he had provided them a proverb. "O Spirit of God, How is that?" they asked. He explained: As you notice your brother's flaw, you do not cover him.

  1. Truly I say to you: I am teaching you so that you will be learning, not be self-conceited. You will never attain your wish before you desert your passions and you will not win your hope unless you tolerate the dismayed matters. Beware of gazing (at forbidden matters), for a single look may delve passion in the heart. Passion, then, is a sufficient seditious matter for its bearers. Blessed be those who make their sights in their hearts and not make their hearts in the sight of their eyes. Do not watch people's defects like lords. Look in their defects like slaves (of people). Men are one of two: either diseased or healthy. Compassionate the diseased and thank God for the good health.

  2. O sons of Israel, do you not feel ashamed of God? You will not drink something before you purify it from dirt, but you do not care if you drink any quantity of ill-gotten milk. Have you not listened to that which had been said to you in the Torah? It was said to you: "Regard and reward your relatives." I, now, say to you: build good relations with those who rupture their relations with you, bestow upon them who deprived you, treat those who mistreated you with good turn, greet those who reviled at you, treat justly those who disputed you, and pardon those who wronged you in the same way you want your wrongdoings to be pardoned. Learn lessons from God's overlooking your wrongdoings. You have seen that God's sun of forgiveness has covered both the pious and the sinful. Similarly, His rainfall of mercy has covered the virtuous one and the evildoers among you. If you like only those who like you, do favors only to those who do favors to you, and reward only those who gave you, then what is your preference to the others? Even can the foolish ones who lack favors and good thoughts do so. If you want to be the dears and choice of God, you should treat those who mistreated you with good turn, pardon those who wronged you, and greet those who turned away from you. Listen to my wording, keep my commandment in your minds, and fulfill my pledge and you will keen knowledgeable.

  3. Truly I say to you: Your hearts are inclined to wherever your treasures are. For that reason, people like their treasures eagerly. Put your treasures in the heavens where mites cannot reach them and thieves cannot find a way to them.

  4. Truly I say to you: A servant cannot serve two lords, because he will unquestionably prefer one to the other although he may exert all efforts (for dealing with them equally). In the same manner, you cannot love God and the worldly pleasures in the same time.

  5. Truly I say to you: The evilest of people is the knowledgeable who prefers his worldly pleasures to his knowledge; therefore, he loved and sought the worldly pleasures and exerted all efforts for gaining them to the degree that he would engage all the people in perplexity if only he could. The enlargement of sunlight is useless for the sightless. In like fashion, the knowledge of a scholar is useless for him unless he applies what he knows to his conduct. Too many are fruits of the trees; nevertheless, not all of them are edible and useful. Too many are the scholars, but not all of them can use his knowledge soundly. Too large is the earth, but not all of it is inhabitable. Too many are the speakers, but not all their speeches are truthful. Be careful of the lying scholars who wear wool dresses and nod the heads to the ground (out of showing off) so that they will falsify to make wrongdoings. Like wolves, they send their glances from below their eyebrows. Their sayings contradict their actions. How can one expect to harvest grapes from boxthorns or figs from colocynth? Thus are ineffectual and false the words of the untruthful scholars. Not every sayer is honest.

  6. Truly I say to you: Plants grow in plain lands, not in rocky lands. Thus does word of wisdom develop in the heart of the modest, not the arrogant. Did you not know that he who raises his head to the ceiling will cause it fractured and he who lowers his head to the ceiling will enjoy its shadow and protection? In the same manner, God will debase him who does not humiliate himself to Him and will raise him who humiliates himself to Him. Honey is not always saved in skins. Similarly, words of wisdom are not always grown in the hearts. A skin may be a container of honey provided that it is not pierced, rough, or malodorous. In the same manner, hearts are good containers of wisdom provided that they are not pierced by passions, soiled by greed, or hardened by bliss.

  7. Truly I say to you: A fire that begins in one house will move to many others to burn them all, unless the first house is destructed from its base so that fire will not find wood to burn. In the same manner, if the first wrongdoer is punished and stopped, no partial ruler, whose steps are pursued, will come out after him. If fire had not found woods to burn in the first house, it would not have burnt anything. 29. Truly I say to you: He who did not warn his brother against the snake that was stepping towards him and killed him is not acquitted of being a partner in that killing. Likewise, he who did not warn his brother against the consequence of an evildoing is not acquitted of being undergoing a share in the punishment of that evildoing. He who did not censure an evildoer, while he was able to do so, is considered as same as that evildoer. How will the evildoer fear of committing wrongdoings while he is safe among you, as long as you do not warn him against so, censure, or punish him? How will the evildoers stop then? How will they stop feeling encouraged to do evil deeds? You are sufficed with saying: I do not commit evildoings and I do not care for anyone who intends to commit so. You see evildoings but you do not reproach their committers. If your claim (of neglecting the evildoers as long as you yourselves do not commit such acts) was true, you would not be added to the wrongdoers when penalties befell them in this world while you had not committed the evildoings that they had done.

  8. O bad servants, woe to you! How do you hope that God would save you from the horror on the Day of Resurrection while you are neglecting the acts of obedience to Him out of your fear of people and committing acts of disobedience to Him out of your compliance with them? Furthermore, you are fulfilling people's pledges that are contrary to your pledges with God.

  9. Truly I say to you: God will not save those who betake any of His servants as lords from the horror of the Day of Resurrection. 32. O bad servants, woe to you! Only for a lowly life and an awful passion, you are neglecting the realm of Paradise and the horror of the Day of Resurrection.

  10. O bad servants, woe to you! Only for a transient favor and an interrupted life, you are going away from God and detest meeting Him. How will God then like meeting you when you dislike meeting Him? God only likes to meet him who likes to meet Him and dislikes meeting him who dislikes meeting Him. How do you claim that you are the chosen people of God to the exclusion of all other people while you hate death and hold fast to the world? The good smell of the embalmment and the snow-white of the coffin are of no benefit to the dead, for all will be buried in the dust. In the same manner, the adorned pleasures of your world are of no benefit to you because they all will expire and wipe out. The purity of your bodies and the translucency of your colors will be of no benefit for your inescapable destiny will be death and you will be forgotten in dust and encompassed by the gloom of your graves.

  11. O slaves of this world, woe to you! You carry lamps in sunlight, which is a sufficient light for you, while you leave them when you are in darkness, which is its proper time. In the same manner, you have used the illumination of knowledge for your worldly affairs while they are settled for you and have neglected using it for your affairs of the life to come for which you have been given (that knowledge). You confess that the world to come is a true event (that will inevitably occur) but, in the meantime, you arrange for your world. You confess that death is a true event while you are escaping it. You confess that God hears and sees (all your words and deeds) but, in the meantime, you do not care for His recording your deeds for judgment. How can anyone who listens to your confessions (and notices your deeds) believe you? The apology of those who lie ignorantly is more justifiable that those who lie attentively. Anyhow, no liar is ever justified.

  12. Truly I say to you: A riding animal that is not tamed and trained will not be ridden and will have its habits changed. In the same manner, hearts that are not made softened by mention of death and not fatigued by the continuous (rituals of) worship will be severe and hard. It is useless for a dark house to put a lamp on its surface when its inside is gloomy and dreary. Similarly, it is useless for you to have the illumination of knowledge on your tongues while your interiors are gloomy and dead. Hurry up to light up your gloomy houses (with lamps) and hurry up to light up your hard hearts with wisdom before they are overwhelmed by sins, and then they will be harder than rocks. How can the incapable (ones) burden the heavy loads? How can the burdens be taken down when their carriers do not pray to God to pardon them? How are the clothes be cleaned when their owners do not wash them? How can sins be acquitted when their committers do not atone for them? How can anyone be saved from drowning if he does not embark on a ship while he tries to cross the sea? How can anyone be saved from the seditious matters of this world unless he is serious and diligent? How can a traveler arrive in a place without guide? How can anyone win Paradise before he understands the features of his religion? How can those who disobey God attain His satisfaction? How can anyone know the defects of his face without looking in a mirror? How can anyone have the affection of his intimate friend in perfect without offering him a part of his efforts? How can a servant have the affection of his Lord in perfect without lending Him some of His sustenance?

  13. Truly I say to you: Nothing will reduce from a sea in which a ship sinks. Likewise, you will not affect God by any means through your acts of disobedience to Him. In fact, you only harm yourselves. Sunlight is not affected, no matter how many things are enjoying it. In fact, these things receive their survival from sunlight. Likewise, God is not affected by the abundance of His gifts and endowments that He provides to you. In fact, it is you who are survived by God's sustenance. He increases (His endowments to) those who thank Him, for He is Fully Appreciative and All-knowing. 37. O bad workers, woe to you! You are taking your wages completely, eating your sustenance (that is decided for you), wearing dresses, building houses, and spoiling the works of your employers. The employer will nearly demand you with the work that you spoiled and will inflict on you that which will disgrace you; he will give His orders to have your necks clipped from its origins, your hands amputated from the articulate, and your bodies pulled on the bellies and put on the public ways so that you will be lessons for the God-fearing and examples for the wrongdoers. 38. O bad scholars, woe to you! Do not think that time of your death will be postponed for you have not yet faced death. As a matter of fact, death is about to inflict you and take you away. From this moment, you should put the call to the right in your hearings. From this moment, you should mourn yourselves. From this time, you should weep for your evildoings. From this moment, you should supply for yourselves and be ready. Take the initiative to repent to your Lord.

  14. Truly I say to you: the diseased looks at the delicious meals but he cannot find them tasty because of the intensity of pain that he feels. The same, the worldly-minded ones cannot find the good taste of worship because they are controlled by fondness of (collecting) property. The diseased enjoys the prescriptions of the skillful physicians, but when he remembers the bitterness of the medicines, he abhors the treatment. In the same way, people that are fond of the worldly pleasures enjoy these pleasures and bliss, but when they remember surprise of death, all these pleasures and bliss become spoilt.

  15. Truly I say to you: Everybody can see the stars, but only those who have full acquaintance with their ways and situations can take them as guides. In the same way, you all study wisdom, but only those who apply it to their conducts can be guided to it. 41. O slaves of this world, woe to you! To find the sweetest taste of wheat, you should first cull its grains, clean, and mill them properly. The same thing is said about faith. To find the best taste of faith and to benefit by its results, you should first have it as sincere and perfect as possible.

  16. Truly I say to you: If you have found a torch the fuel of which is tar, in a gloomy night, you will surely seek its light disregarding its malodor. In a like manner, you should receive the wisdom from anybody with whom you find it, disregarding the scope of his desire for it. 43. O slaves of this world, woe to you! You cannot understand like wise people, cannot comprehend like clement people, cannot know like scholars, cannot fear God like slaves, and cannot behave like generous masters. This world is about to uproot you from your origins, knock you over your faces, and overturn you on the nasals. Your evildoings are about to seize you from the forelocks and knowledge will push you from the back until they hand you over to the King; the Caller to account. Therein, you will be naked and barefooted. God then will punish you for your evildoings. 44. O slaves of this world, woe to you! It was only by means of knowledge that you have been given authority over all creatures, but you deserted knowledge without application (to your conducts). You have advanced to this world to judge in it, prepare for it, prefer it to anything else, and build for yourselves in it. Until when will you live in this world? You have not dedicated any share of your lives to God.

  17. Truly I say to you: You will not attain the honor of the world to come unless you abstain from whatever you desire. Never postpone repentance to tomorrow. Before tomorrow, there is a day and a night during which God's act is coming and going.

  18. Truly I say to you: The insignificant and trivial sins are the traps of Eblis who makes you regard them as insignificant and trivial; but they will be added to each other until they become greatly numerous and will surround you.

  19. Truly I say to you: False praise and religious chastening are within the major well-known evils. The fondness of this world is the head of every evildoing.

  20. Truly I say to you: Permanent prayer is the best thing through which the honor of the world to come is attained and the worldly misfortunes are alleviated. It is surely the closest thing to the Beneficent; therefore, preserve in it and offer it as much as possible. Every good deed approximates to God, but the prayer is the closest and the most favorable for Him.

  21. Truly I say to you: Every deed of the wronged ones who could not regain their rights by means of wording, deed, or feeling of malice is considered great in the Heavenly Kingdom. Have you ever seen light named gloomy or gloomy named light? In the same way, a servant cannot be faithful and disbeliever in the same time and cannot be fond of this world and desirous for the life to come in the same time? How can a sower of barley harvest wheat or a sower of wheat harvest barley? In the same way, each one will harvest, in the life to come, only what he sowed and will be rewarded according to what he did?

  22. Truly I say to you: In wisdom, people are of two kinds; one is that who says the wisdom utterly and applies it to his conducts, and the other is that who says it utterly but wastes it through his evildoings. How difference between the two! Blessed are the scholars by deeds. Woe to the scholars by words.

  23. Truly I say to you: Herbs will surely be wider and wider until they spoil the crop unless they are cleared away. In the same way, for those who do not clear the fondness of this world out of their hearts, it will prevail all the area of their hearts until they will not find any taste of fondness of the life to come.

  24. O slaves of this world, woe to you! Betake the houses of your Lord as prisons of your bodies. Make your hearts the residences of God-fearing. Do not make them the shelters of lusts.

  25. Truly I say to you: The most intolerant against misfortunes is certainly the fondest of the worldly pleasures, and the most tolerant is the most abstinent (from the worldly pleasures.)

  26. O bad scholars, woe to you! You were dead and God gave you life, were you not? But when He gave you life, you have deadened yourselves! Woe to you! You were illiterate and God taught you, were you not? But when He taught you, you have forgotten! Woe to you! You were unintelligent and God made you understand, were you not? But when He made you understand, have returned to ignorance. Woe to you! You were deviate and God guided you (to the right), were you not? But when He guided you, you have returned to deviation. Woe to you! You were blind and God made you see, were you not? But when He made you see, you have returned to your blindness.

  27. Woe to you! You were deaf and God made you hear, were you not? But when He made you hear, you have returned to your deafness. Woe to you! You were dumb and God made you speak, were you not? But when He made you speak, you have returned to your dumbness. Woe to you! You were asking for triumph, were you not? But when God gave you triumph, you have recoiled on your heels. Woe to you! You were humble and God gave you dignity, were you not? But when He gave you dignity, you have oppressed, assaulted, and acted disobediently. Woe to you! you were only a few suppressed people in the land, afraid of being terrorized by the people and God gave you shelter and supported you with His help, were you not? But when He gave you shelter and support, you have become arrogant and tyrannical. Woe to you! You will certainly suffer the humiliation on the Day of Resurrection. God will debase and belittle you so heavily.

  28. O bad scholars, woe to you! You are practicing the deeds of the disbelievers, having the same desires of the heirs (of Paradise), and enjoying the same tranquility of those whom are saved (from God's agony). God's matters are not submitted to that which you hope or choose. You are reproducing for death, building and establishing for ruination, and preparing for your heirs.

  29. Truly I say to you: Moses (peace be upon him) used to instruct you not to swear by God falsely. I, now, instruct you not to swear by God whether truly or falsely. You should say either 'yes' or 'no'. O sons of Israel, have from the wild legumes and barley bread. Beware of wheat bread, for I am afraid you will not thank for it properly.

  30. Truly I say to you: Man is either healthy or ailed. Thank God for good health and compassionate the ailed.

  31. Truly I say to you: On the Day of Resurrection, you will receive the answer of every single bad word that you uttered in your life. 60. O bad servants, if you are about to immolate to God and remember that one of your friends is angry with you, you should leave your immolation and hurry up to please your angry friend. Only then you may return to your immolation.

  32. O bad servants, if your shirt is seized from you, you should offer your other piece of wear, too. If you are slapped on one cheek, you should offer the other one to be slapped, too. If you are employed (freely) for a one-mile job, you should offer to work for another.

  33. Truly I say to you: It is useless to have a sound physique while the interior is corrupted. Hence, your sound bodies should not admire you when your hearts are tainted. It is also useless to purify your skins when your hearts are dirty.

  34. Truly I say to you: Do not be like sieves that let the good flour pass and hold the bran. Likewise, you should not speak of wisdom while treason is filling in your hearts.

  35. Truly I say to you: Leave evildoing before you seek goodness so that you will be benefited. If you add the good with the evil, you will not be benefited by the good.

  36. Truly I say to You: Water will surely wet the dress of him who wants to cross a river despite the great efforts that he exerts for saving his dress from wetness. In the same manner, he who is fond of the worldly pleasures will not be saved from evildoings. 66. Truly I say to you: Blessed be them who stay awake at night in devotion. They will inherit the permanent illumination, for they passed nights standing on their legs in their places of prostration praying to their Lord on the hope that He will save them from the hardship (of the Day of Resurrection) tomorrow.

  37. Truly I say to you: This world is as same as a ranch in which the servants plant the sweet, the bitter, the evil, or the good. The result of the good will be advantageous on the Day of Judgment, while the result of evil will be only hardship and suffering on the harvest time.

  38. Truly I say to you: The wise learns lessons from the ignorant while the ignorant learns (false) lessons from his whims. I command you to seal your mouths with silence so that they -your mouths- will not utter unlawful things.

  39. Truly I say to you: You will not attain your expectations unless you show steadfastness against matters that you detest and will not achieve your aims unless you leave that for which you crave.

  40. O slaves of this world, truly I say to you: How can he whose craving for the worldly pleasures is not stopped and whose desire for it -the world- is not blocked attain the bliss of the life to come?

  41. O slaves of this world, truly I say to you: You neither love this world nor do you hope for the life to come. If you loved this world, you would honor the acts by way of which you attained its pleasures. If you hoped for the life to come, you would copy the acts of those who desire for it. 72. O slaves of this world, truly I say to you: you hate people for their conjecture, but do not hate yourselves for conviction. 73. Truly I say to you: You feel angry if some of your defects are mentioned before you, while you feel happy if characters that you do not enjoy are ascribed to you (falsely).

  42. Truly I say to you: The ghosts of the devils have found your hearts the best abode in which they are regarded. God has given you this world as a means by which you work for the life to come. He has not given it to you so that it would engage you from the world to come. He has extended the world for you so that you will realize that He is helping you worship Him, not commit evildoings. He has ordered you to obey, not challenge, Him in this world. He has provided you the legal matters as means of help for you in this world, but He has not deemed lawful the unlawful in this world. He has expanded the world so that you will regard, not discount, each other.

  43. Truly I say to you: The reward is desired, but it cannot be attained without working for it.

  44. Truly I say to you: A tree is not full unless it gives good fruits. In the same manner, the religion is not perfect except by abstinence from the forbidden matters.

  45. Truly I say to you: Planting is worthless unless there is water and soil. In the same manner, faith is worthless unless there is knowledge and deed.

  46. Truly I say to you: Water extinguishes fire. In the same manner, clemency extinguishes rage.

  47. Truly I say to you: Fire and water cannot exist in the same bowl. In the same manner, understanding and blindness cannot exist in the same heart.

  48. Truly I say to you: No rain without clouds. In the same manner, no deed intended for pleasing the Lord without a pure heart.

  49. Truly I say to you: Sun is the light of everything, wisdom is the light of every heart, God-fearing is the head of every word (or act) of wisdom, the right is the door to every goodness, and God's mercy is the door to every right. The keys of all the previous are supplications to God, submission (to Him), and deeds. How can a door be opened without its key?

  50. Truly I say to you: A wise man does not plant any tree except those that he accepts and does not choose for his male horse any female horse except the filly that he accepts. In the same manner, the knowledgeable believer should not do any action except those that satisfy his Lord.

  51. Truly I say to you: The polishing cleans and sharpens the sword. In the same manners, wisdom cleans and wipes the heart. The influence of wisdom on the heart of the wise is as same as the influence of water on wastelands. It is also considered as a torch in darkness that shows the way to people.

  52. Truly I say to you: To carry rocks from summits of mountains is easier than talking to him who does not understand what you say. Moreover, talking to him who does not understand you is as same as soaking had rocks in water for softening them and as same as cooking food for the inhabitants of the graves.

  53. Blessed be him who detains his surplus wording for fear that God may punish him for it, speaks only of what he understands, and does not praise anyone for a wording before he notices the application of that wording to the conduct (of the speaker).

  54. Blessed be him who learns from the scholars that which he did not know and conveys to the ignorant what he learnt.

  55. Blessed be him who reverences the scholars for their knowledge and stops disputing them, and disrespects the ignorant for their ignorance and does not dismiss them; he favors and teaches them.

  56. O disciples, truly I say to you: Your situation among people is as same as the existent among the death. Do not die like other existents.

  57. The Christ (peace be upon him) said:

God the Blessed the Exalted says: My faithful servants become sad when I take the worldly pleasures away from them, while this is the most lovable and the most favorable thing for Me. They feel happy when I bestow upon them with many worldly pleasures, while this is the most detestable and the remotest thing from Me.

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

All peace and blessings be upon Mohammed and his family.