Pearl of Wisdom
'Allah has prohibited stealing because of the financial corruption and murder that would ensue were it to be permissible; and because of all other aggressive crimes that would result such as murder, fighting, and jealous hostilities, and because it would lead to the abandonment of fair trade and industry for earning a living, in exchange for extortion of property where nobody would have rightful ownership of anything [and everything was available for the taking].' And the reason why the right hand of the thief is to be severed [as Punishment] is because he steals things with his right hand, and because it is the best and most useful limb out of all his limbs, so its severing has been prescribed to serve as a deterrent and a lesson to mankind that they must not desire to seize anything that does not belong to them. And because most of the time the theft is committed with the right hand.'
Imam Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha [as] Nur al-Thaqalayn, v. 1, p. 627, no. 183
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Rest |
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The believer only acquires true rest when he meets Allah, although rest may also be obtained by these four things: silence, by which you recognize the state of your heart and your self in your relations with your Creator; retreat, by which you are rescued from the evils of the age, outwardly and inwardly; hunger, which kills fleshly appetites and temptation; and wakefulness, which illuminates your heart, purifies your nature and cleanses your spirit. The Holy Prophet said, 'If a man finds himself in the morning tranquil in his heart, healthy in body and with food for the day, it is as if all of this world had been chosen for him'; and Wahb ibn Munabbih said: “In the first and the last Books it is written ‘O contentment, honour and riches are to be found with you. Whoever wins, wins through you!' Abu al-Darda' said, 'What Allah has allotted to me will not pass me by, even if it were on the wing of a breeze'; and Abu Dharr said, 'The secret of a man who does not trust his Lord is always exposed, even if it is imprisoned in solid rock.' No one is in a greater state of loss, is viler, or lower than the person who does not believe what his Lord has guaranteed for him and allotted him before He created him. In spite of that, this person relies on his own strength, management, effort, and striving, and goes beyond the limits of his Lord by his seeking ways and means which Allah has caused him to have no need of.
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