The Sayings And Preaching of Al-Imam Ali (p.b.u.h)
Hadith n. 229
229. Amir al-mu’minin, peace be upon him, said: Contentment is as good as estate, and goodness of moral character is as good as a blessing.
Amir al-mu’minin, peace be upon him, was asked about Allah’s saying: (Whosoever did good, whether male or female, and he be a believer, then); We will certainly make him live a life good and pure (and certainly We will give them their return with the best of what they were doing). (Qur’an, 16:97) when he said: that means (a life of) contentment. 55
Hadith n. 230
230. Amir al-mu’minin, peace be upon him, said: Be a sharer with him who has an abundant livelihood because he is more probable to get more riches and likely to secure an increase of the share therein.
Hadith n. 231
231. Amir al-mu’minin, peace be upon him, said about Allah’s saying: Verily, Allah enjoins justice (‘adl) and benevolence (ihsan), (Qur’an, 16:90). Here ‘adl means equidistribution and ihsan means favour.
Hadith n. 232
232. Amir al-mu’minin, peace be upon him, said: He who gives with his short hand is given by a long hand.
As-Sayyid ar-Radi says: The meaning of this saying is that even though what a man spends in charity from his possessions may be small, yet Allah, the Sublime, gives good reward for it. And the two hands referred to, here means two favours. Thus, Amir al-mu’minin has differentiated between the favour of man and the favour of the Lord (Allah) — exalted be the mention of His name — since he has described the first as small and the other as big. This is because the favours of Allah are ever multiplied manifold to the favours of man since Allah’s favours are the basis of all favours in the sense that every other favour springs from it and turns to it.
Hadith n. 233
233. Amir al-mu’minin said to his son al-Hasan, peace be upon them both: Do not call out for fighting, but if you are called to it do respond, because the caller to fighting is a rebel and the rebel deserves destruction. 56
Hadith n. 234
234. Amir al-mu’minin, peace be upon him, said: The best traits of women are those which are the worst traits of men, namely: vanity, cowardice and miserliness. Thus, since the woman is vain, she will not allow anyone access to herself; since she is miserly, she will preserve her own property and the property of her husband; and since she is weak-hearted, she will be frightened with everything that befalls her.
Source: https://www.al-islam.org/nahjul-balagha-part-2-letters-and-sayings
