From Father to Son: Timeless Advice

December 24, 2024

A letter of advice from the Commander of the Faithful Ali ibn Abi Talib (p) to his son Imam al-Hasan (p)

Dear son, indeed, the hearts of the young are like empty [fertile] lands, accepting anything planted in them. I have found you to be part of me, rather all of me, so that if anything befalls you, it befalls me, and even if death comes to you, it is as though it has come to me. Therefore, your matters meant to me what my own matters did. So, I hastened to you with words of education before your heart hardens and your mind becomes occupied, hoping that you accept these words with seriousness, and such that you are sufficed from having to ask, and you are protected from having to learn from the pain of experience.

Dear son, when I found myself at such an [old] age, I hastened with my advice to you, including from it some [important] qualities before my fate overtakes me.

Dear son, even though I have not reached the age of those before me, I investigated their actions, pondered the reports of their actions, and walked among their ruins until I eventually became one of them. In fact, with what I know of their affairs, it is as though I have lived with all of them, from the first to the last. So, I knew the pure [of their matters] from the impure, and the benefit from the harm.

I have extracted for you the purest of every matter, highlighting its most beautiful parts and avoiding its unknown ones. Then, as a kind father concerned [for his child], I chose to give you these words at an age when you are young, active, and possess a sound intention and a pure self, so that I would begin by teaching you the Book of God Almighty, its interpretation, and the laws and rulings of Islam, and that I should not go beyond these for you. Then, I feared that you would become confounded by what the people differed about regarding their whims and opinions, just like they were confounded. Thus, the directive to warn you [about this matter], albeit detestable, was dearer to me than leaving your Islam to a matter from which you were not safe from perishing. And, I hoped that God would grant you success and guide you to your purpose, so I entrusted you with my will:

Know, dear son, that the most beloved of my advice to you is fear of God, to obey God in what He has ordered you, and to follow the actions of your forefathers and the virtuous people of your family. Certainly, as they looked into themselves as you look, and thought as you think, their thinking led them to accept what they had known and deny what they were not commanded to [accept]. But if you do not accept this without acquiring knowledge [beforehand] as they had acquired it, then you should search with learning and understanding, not by becoming involved in doubts or disputes.

Before you begin, you should seek your Lord’s help, and turn to Him for success and protection from any shortcoming that leads you into doubt or surrenders you to misguidance. Then, when you are sure that your heart is pure, it submits, and your thoughts are all focused and unified, reflect upon what I have explained to you. But, if you have not been able to achieve [the state] that you would like to achieve of clarity of observation and thinking, then know that you are only tramping the ground like a blind camel and falling into darkness, and surely the seeker of faith does not tramp nor get confused. So, avoiding such a state is better. Dear son, understand my advice.

Know, dear son, that no one delivered messages from God Almighty as the Prophet (pbuh&hp) did. So, accept him as your guide and leader towards salvation. Certainly, I did not give advice carelessly, and as much as you try, you cannot attain guidance for yourself to the extent of what I have in my insight for you.

Know, dear son, that if there had been a partner with your Lord, that partner’s messengers, too, would have come to you and you would have seen signs of his authority and power. You would have also known the partner’s attributes and qualities. But He is only One God as He has described Himself.

I advise you to fear God and obey His commands, fill your heart with His remembrance, and hold firmly to His Rope, as surely there is no means stronger than the means between you and God if you hold onto it.

Obtain [deep] understanding of religion, and accustom yourself to having patience during suffering, for indeed, patience for the sake of truth is an excellent quality. Protect yourself from the striking of worries with the firmness of patience and certainty of faith.

Revive your heart with guidance; kill it with ascetism; strengthen it with firm belief; enlighten it with wisdom; humiliate it with the remembrance of death; make it certain through dissolution of the self; show it the calamities of this world; warn it of the assaults of time and the severity of the change of night and day; show it the reports of past people, remind it of what befell those who were before you, walk among their homes and ruins, see what they did, what they left, and where they have gone and settled. You will find that they left [their] loved ones for a home of loneliness. Soon, you too will be like one of them. So, prepare yourself and do not sell your afterlife for this lower life.

Do not advance upon a path if you fear misguidance from it, as surely, refraining [yourself] from the worry of becoming misguidance is better than embarking upon its dangers.

Order good and you will be a good-doer. Forbid evil with your action and speech and avoid those who commit it to the best of your ability. Struggle the best struggle for [the sake of] God, do not let criticism affect you when struggling for the sake of God, and leap into dangers for the sake of truth wherever it may be.

Do not say what you do not know nor what does not concern you. Rather, do not say what you do not know even if what you know is very little. Do not say to others what you do not like to have said to you. Be sure not to say anything that may cause laughter, even if you are narrating it from others.

Dear son, make yourself the measure of matters between you and others. Desire for others what you desire for yourself and despise for them what you hate for yourself. Do not oppress just as you would not like to others to oppress you. Do good to others as you would like good done to you. Disapprove from yourself what you disapprove from others, and accept from others what you accept from yourself.

In all your matters, seek refuge in God, because you surely will be seeking refuge in a secure shelter and a powerful protector. Be sincere when asking from your Lord, since giving and depriving is in His hands.

Ask about the companion before the path (i.e., your own needs for the journey) and the neighbor before the home, and do not show interest in someone who renounces you.

Treat your brother with care when he treats you with negligence and with kindness when he turns away from you. Spend [on him] when he holds back, get close to him when he distances himself, be lenient when he is harsh, and excuse his wrongdoings as if you are his servant and he is benevolent to you. But, be careful not to do this in other than its place, or to other than its people. Do not take the enemy of your friend as a friend, making your friend an enemy. Give sincere advice to your brother, whether it is good or bitter. Swallow your anger, for I do not know anything with a sweeter consequence or more tasteful effect than that. Be lenient to those who are harsh on you, as they are on the verge of being lenient to you. Do not let your brother’s negligence be stronger than your care, and do not let your harm be stronger than beneficence. Be graceful to your enemy, for it is the sweeter of the two victories. If you intend to end your relationship with your brother, leave him something to return to you if he seeks to.

Know that self-admiration is the opposite of everything that is correct, and it is the calamity of the minds. So, increase your labor and do not become [merely] a storage for others. Then when you have been guided to your destiny, fear only your Lord.

Know, dear son, that blessings are of two kinds: blessings that you seek and blessings that seek you, so even if you do not reach for them, they will come to you. As for wealth, it will not last for you nor will you last for it.

Your family should not be the most miserable people because of you.

Be generous to your tribe as they are your wings with which you fly, your origin to which you return, and your hands with which you strike.

Know, dear son, that He Who owns the treasures of the Heavens and Earth has allowed you to pray to Him and has guaranteed the acceptance [of the prayer]. He has commanded you to ask from Him so that He may give you, and to seek His mercy so that He may have mercy on you. He has not placed anyone between you and Him to hide Himself from you. He does not prevent you from repenting if you sin. He does not hasten with punishment nor expose you. He is not harsh in accepting repentance. He does not question you about your sins. He does not disappoint you when it comes to His mercy. Rather, He rewards you for abstaining from sin, and counts each sin as one, but rewards you for every good deed with ten.

He has opened for you the gates of repentance and expression. Whenever you call Him, He hears your call, and whenever you whisper to Him, He knows your whisper. You ask Him your needs, reveal yourself before Him, express your worries to Him, and ask His aid in your troubles. You seek His help in your affairs and ask from the treasures of His mercy that which no one else has the power to give, like extension of life, health of the body, and increase in blessings. So, He places in your hands the keys to His treasures with what he has allowed you to ask of Him.

So, whenever you wish, open the gates of His blessings with supplication and let showers of His mercy fall on you. Do not let the delay in His answer disappoint you, for indeed, it is based on the extent of the [purity of] intention, and sometimes the delay is for the asker to gain greater reward and to better fulfill their hope. Other times, you may ask for something, and it is not given to you, but you are given something better eventually. It also may not be given to you for your own good since sometimes you ask for something that has the ability to destroy your religion if was to be given to you. So, let your prayers be for things whose beauty lasts for you and whose difficulty stays away from you.

Know that before you lies a long path and severe hardship, and it is best for you to pursue it with a light back. Do not carry on your back more than you  have power to hold, as the unnecessary weight will be heavy for you and a calamity against you. Know that before you lies a difficult obstacle, which the lightly-burdened man is in a better condition to handle than the heavily-burdened one,  that the slow is in worse condition than the quick, and that it will land you in either Heaven or Hell. Therefore, prepare yourself before the journey, and furnish the home before arriving to it, for indeed there is no preparation after death, nor is there a return to this life.

Dear son, those who have understood the world are like travelers who found themselves in a dry land, so they left seeking a fertile and green land, enduring the hardships of the way, separation from loved ones, difficulty of the journey, and tastelessness of the food to reach their final home of abundance. They do not find pain in any of this. They do not find any spending on it to be a waste. Nothing is more lovable to them than that which brings them closer to their final home. On the other hand, those who are deceived by this world are like people who found themselves in a fertile land, but they left it and went to a dry land. Nothing is more despicable to them than leaving their [current] place and going to where they will inevitably end up.

Dear son, know that you have been created for the afterlife, not for this lower world, for destruction not for persisting, and for death, not for life. You are in a temporary home and a path to the afterlife. Death which no one survives, escapes, or misses, is chasing you. So be careful for it not to find you when you are in a sinful state as you are thinking of repenting, because it will stand between you and it (repentance), and you will bring destruction upon yourself.

I trust God with your religion and world and ask Him to give you the best in the near and distant future, this world and the hereafter, and peace [be upon you].

Shaykh Mohammed Abdeh,

Nahj al-Balagha (The Peak of Eloquence),

Sermons of Imam Ali, 1412 AH edition, vol. 3, p. 37.