Ten advices from an Infallible to another Infallible

Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni-may God be pleased with him-from Muhammad ibn Yahya, from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn `Isa, from `Ali ibn al-Nu'man, from Mu'awiyah ibn `Ammar, who says: 

"I heard Abu `Abd Allah, may peace be upon him, say:
`In a counsel that the Prophet-may God bless him and his Family-gave to `Ali-may peace be upon him-he said: 

"O `Ali, I exhort you concerning certain characteristics (khisal) which you must preserve in yourself (as a trust) from me."
Then he prayed, "O God, help him." (Then he continued:) 

" - As to the first of them, it is truthfulness: never should a falsehood come out of your mouth. 
- The second is piety (wara'), and never venture upon a treachery. 
- The third is to fear God-sublime is His remembrance-as if you see Him. 
- The fourth is to weep a lot out of the fear of God, the Exalted, and a thousand mansions shall be built for you in the Garden for every tear. 
- The fifth is to offer your property and your blood for the sake of your religion. 
- The sixth is to follow my sunnah in respect of my salat, my fasting, and my charity (sadaqah). As to the salat, it consists of fifty rak'ahs. As to the fasts, they are to be kept on three days in a month: on the first Thursday, on the Wednesday at its middle, and on the last Thursday. As to the charity, that consists of the utmost that you can give, so much so that you say to yourself, 'I have been immoderate,' whereas you will not have been immoderate. 
- Commit yourself to the nightly prayer (salat al-layl)! Commit yourself to the nightly prayer! Commit yourself to the nightly prayer! Stick to the (supererogatory) noon prayer! Stick to the noon prayer! Stick to the noon prayer! 
- Accustom yourself to reciting the Qur'an at all times. 
- Make it your practice to raise your hands during prayer and to turn them. 
- Take care to brush your teeth every time that you perform wudu". 
Commit yourself to ethical virtues, practise them, and refrain from moral vices, and if you don't, don't blame anyone except yourself."

Imam Khomeini; Forty Hadith, Twenty Ninth Hadith

The 3 different types Hearts

...Muhammad ibn Ya`qub (al-Kulayni), from `Ali ibn Ibrahim, from his father, from al-Nawfali, from al-Sakuni, from Abu 'Abd Allah (al-'Imam al Sadiq) (A) that he said: 


"Amir al-Mu'minin (A) used to say: 
`Arouse your heart to contemplation; keep your side clear off the night; and be heedful towards your Lord."


What is the Heart? 
There are various applications and denotations of the word `heart'. 
For physicians and the common people it is a tiny piece of flesh, whose contractions and expansions cause the flow of blood through arteries and veins, which generates a subtle elan vital. 
The philosophers (hukama) use it for a certain seat of the psyche (nafs). 
The `urafa' assign to it grades (maratib) and stages (maqamat), and to go into their details is not our concern here.


In the Holy Quran and the ahadith, it has been used both in its general as well as its particular senses in different places.
In the verse `...the hearts reached to the throats ' (33:10), `heart' is used in the same sense as used by physicians.
And in "They have hearts wherewith they understand not, and they have eyes wherewith they see not' (7:179), it is used in the sense used by the philosophers.
And in `Therein verily is a reminder for him who hath a heart, or giveth ear with full intelligence' (50:37), `heart' is used in the same sense as used by the `urafa'.


Imam Khomeini; Forty Hadith, Twenty Seventh Hadith

Practical Way to increase concentration in Salat – the mysterious ascension of humankind!

Imam Khomeini; Forty Hadith, Twenty Seventh Hadith

‘‘Know that freedom from other work for the sake of absorption in worship is obtainable through:

1. Possessing unoccupied time

2. Possessing an unoccupied heart.

Attentiveness of the heart consists of two matters:

The first of these lies in possessing unoccupied time and an unoccupied heart

The second lies in making one's heart understand the importance of worship.

What is ‘unoccupied time’?

It is that one should set aside a certain time out of his day and night hours exclusively for the sake of worship wherein he should devote himself solely to worship without engaging in any other preoccupation.

If one were to understand that worship is an important thing whose significance is greater than any other activity, or, rather, that it is something of incomparable significance, he would allocate a certain time to it and be careful to observe its timings.

What is ‘unoccupied heart’?

It is that at the time of worship one must disengage himself from mundane engagements and cares and turn his heart away from all kinds of matters and cares and make it entirely empty and unencumbered for attending to worship and supplication with God Almighty.

My dear, consider the prayers you offer to God by comparing them with talk and conversation with one of His insignificant creatures. (a best friend, a spouse, a fiancée,  a tutor etc)

When talking to a stranger, you attend to him with all your attention and are oblivious of anyone else as long as you are engaged in conversation with him.

But why is it that while engaging in communication and prayer with your Provider and the Lord and Sustainer of the worlds you are totally heedless of Him and attentive to other matters?

Is the station and worth of creatures greater than that of the Sacred Essence of the Lord?

Is conversation with them more valuable than supplication with the Fulfiller of needs?

Yes, I and you do not know the significance of supplication with God.

We consider these divine duties as a cumbersome burden, and, of course, a matter that is a cumbrous weight on one will not be significant for him.’’