The Characteristics of Pious (Sermon of Hammam) written by Imam Ali

With the Name of The Giver of Justice

They said, one of the pious companions of Imām Alī (pbuh) named “Hammam” asked him, “O, Amīr al Mu’menin! [Please] describe the pious people to me, as if I could see them with my own eyes! The Imām paused and stated, “O, Hammam! Fear God and be righteous; because, God is with the pious and the righteous!” But Hammam did not give up and persisted, until the Imām decided to explain the characteristics of the pious. So, he thanked, praised God, and sent greetings to the Messenger of God (pbuh&h), then stated:

 

1-The appearance of pious people

After the praise of the Lord [I should say], the glorious God verily created the creatures in a state that, he did not need their obedience, and didn’t get harm from their disobedience. It is because, neither the sins of the sinners harm God, nor does the obedience of the believers benefit him. He divided the livelihood of his servants among them and distributed it justly.

Anyhow, the pious have superior virtues in this world; words are true, their clothing is moderate, they walk modestly and humbly. They prevent their eyes from seeing what God has forbidden, they have devoted their ears to useful knowledge, and they have the same mental condition in both Hard times and good times [they are not confused]. If it were not for the death that God has decreed for them, their souls would not settle in their bodies even for the blink of an eye.

Due to the excitement of seeing heaven and fear of the punishment of hell, God has a great rank in their minds, but others haves low rank [in comparison]. They know heaven, as if they saw it and lived in heavenly blessings. [Similarly,] they believe in hell as if they saw it and were caught in its torment! The hearts of the pious are sad [sensitive], and they don’t harm the people. They are thin, their requests are few, and their souls are chaste and their skirts are pure. They endure [the difficulties] in the short time of the world, to get the eternal comfort of the resurrection. It is a profitable business that their Lord has provided. The world wanted to deceive them, but their destination is not the world. It wanted to captive them but they made themselves free, by sacrificing their lives.

2. Night of the pious

The pious people stand up at night and engage in praying. They read Qur’an part by part and with pondering and thought. They feel sorrowful when they read [about the difficulties] in Qur’an, and they find healing for their pains through reading Qur’an. When they come to a verse that has encouragement in it, they turn to it with eagerness and exult for heaven. They stare at it with eagerness, and they think that the blessings of heaven are in front of their eyes!

On the other hand, whenever they come to a verse that has the fear of God in it, they pay attention to it. It is as if the sound of flames clashed and reverberated in their ears. So, they bent their bodies in the form of bowing, rub their foreheads, hands and feet on the ground, and they ask God for their freedom from the fire of hell!

3- The day of the pious

Those who are pious are tolerant scholars and pious benefactors during the day; in a way that, fear of God has made them as thin as a sharpened arrow. Whoever looks at them, thinks they are sick but they are! They say, ‘The people think wrong about us’. Well, the lack of their lively appearance is the sign of something great; They are not satisfied with their little deeds, and they do not consider their many deeds as much. They blame their egos, and they are afraid [not sure] of their actions. Whenever someone praises them, they feel fear [don’t feel comfortable] and say, ‘I know myself better than others, and my God knows me better than I do! O, God! Don’t judge me for what they say, make me better than what they say, and forgive our sins that the people are unaware of!’

4-Signs of pious people

And one of the signs of a pious person [as an example] is that, you usually see him like this:

They are strong in their religiosity and gentle and far-sighted. They have a faith full of certainty, they are eager to acquire knowledge, tolerant in learning knowledge, moderate in wealth, humble in worship. They are disciplined in poverty, tolerant in hardships, happy in earning Halal [Islāmic lawful] livelihood and in the way of guidance, and avoids greed. They do good deeds but they are afraid [of God’s judgment]. They end days with gratitude and end night with the remembrance of God. They sleep at nights while they are afraid, but wake up happy. Their fear is in order not to neglect [God’s order], and happiness is for the grace and mercy that they have been gifted [by God].

If his ego does not obey what is difficult, they will deprive it of what it likes! The light of the pious’s eyes is in something that is eternal, and they leave something which is not permanent. They mix patience with knowledge and speech with action. You can see pious person, whose desire is near [reachable] their slips are few, their hearts are humble, their soul are satisfied, their foods are little, their works is easy, their religion is preserved, their lust is dead in doing the forbidden things and their anger is subdued. People hope for their good and are not bothered by their harm.

If they are among the ignorant, their names will be recorded in the group who remember God. Also if they are among those who remember God, their name will not be written in the group of the ignorant. They forgive the ones who oppressed them, forgives the one who has deprived them of, and reconnect with the one who cut tied with them. they stay away from ugly speech, their speech is soft, their evils are hidden, and their good deeds are obvious, their good deeds are for all the people, and they don’t harm anyone.

They are calm in difficulties, tolerant in adversity and grateful in happiness. They don’t oppress the one whom they see as enemies, and don’t committee sin about the one you love [they don’t play cronyism]. Before the people testify against them, they confess the truth. They don’t take advantage what they entrusted to them and they don’t forget what the people reminded them of.

They don’t call people by ugly nicknames, they don’t hurt their neighbors, they don’t rejoice when others are in disaster, they don’t interfere in wrongdoing, and they don’t go beyond the bounds of righteousness. If they are silent, their silence will not make them sad, and if they laugh, their laughter will not be loud. If the people oppress them, they will wait until God takes their revenge.

They [try] to kill their toxic ego, but the people are at ease with him. They put themselves in trouble for the resurrection, but they bring people to prosperity and comfort. When they keep far from some people, it is due to their asceticism and piety, and his closeness to others is due to their kindness and gentleness. This keeping far is not due to arrogance and self-righteousness, and that closeness is not due to trickery and intrigue!

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When the Imam stated this sentence, Hammam suddenly moaned and died. The Imām stated, ‘By God, I was afraid of this event for Hammam!’ Then he stated, ‘See what adequate advises do with the ones who accept them!’

There an individual passed there and wondered, ‘Why didn’t it happen to you?!’ The Imām reacted, ‘Woe to you! Every deadline has a specific time that it doesn’t exceed from, and has a specific [limited]reason. Calm down and don’t say such words again; the devil has put them on your tongue!’