Nahj al-Balāgha

٤٤٠. وَقَالَ (عليه ‏السلام): مَا أَنْقَضَ النَّوْمَ لِعَزَائِمِ الْيَوْمِ.

440. Amīr al-mu’minīn, peace be upon him, said: What a breaker is sleep for resolutions of the day!

٤٤٢. وَقَالَ (عليه ‏السلام): لَيْسَ بَلَدٌ بأَحَقَّ بِكَ مِنْ بَلَدٍ، خَيْرُ الْبِلاَدِ مَا حَمَلَكَ.

442. Amīr al-mu’minīn, peace be upon him, said: No town has greater right on you than the other. The best town for you is that which bears you.

٤٤٣. وَقَالَ (عليه ‏السلام) وَقَدْ جَاءَهُ نَعْيُ الْأَشْتَرِ رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ:

443. When the news of the death of (Mālik) al-Ashtar (may Allāh have mercy on him), reached Amīr al-mu’minīn, peace be upon him, he said:

مَالكٌ وَمَا مَالِكٌ! وَاللهِ لَوْ كَانَ جَبَلاً لَكَانَ فِنْداً، وَلَوْ كَانَ حَجَراً لَكَانَ صَلْداً، لَا يَرْتَقِيهِ الْحَافِرُ، وَلَا يُوفِي عَلَيْهِ الطَّائِرُ.

Mālik, what a man Mālik was! By Allāh, if he had been a mountain he would have been a big one (find), and if he had been a stone he would have been hard; no horseman could have reached it and no bird could have flown over it.

قال السيد الرضي: الفند: المنفرد من الجبال.

as-Sayyid ar-Raḍī says: “find” means a lonely mountain (rising in height above the range).

٤٤٥. وَقَالَ (عليه ‏السلام): إذَا كَانَ في رَجُلٍ خَلَّةٌ رَائِعَةٌ فَانْتَظِرُوا أَخَوَاتِهَا.

445. Amīr al-mu’minīn, peace be upon him, said: If a man possesses a revealing quality wait and see his other qualities. [1]

٤٤٦. وَقَالَ (عليه ‏السلام) لِغَالِبِ بْنِ صَعْصَعَةَ أَبِی الْفَرَزْدَقِ، فِی كَلَامٍ دَارَ بَيْنَهُمَا: مَا فَعَلَتْ إِبِلُكَ الْكثِيرَةُ؟

446. Amīr al-mu’minīn, peace be upon him, said to Ghālib ibn Ṣa‘ṣa‘ah, the father of al-Farazdaq (the famous Arabic poet) during a conversation between them: What about the large number of your camels?

قال: ذَعْذَعَتْها الحُقُوقُ يا أميرالمؤمنين.

The man replied: They have been swept away by (discharging of) obligations, O’ Amīr al-mu’minīn!

فَقَالَ (عليه السلام) : ذَاكَ أَحْمَدُ سُبُلِهَا.

Whereupon Amīr al-mu’minīn, peace be upon him, said: That is the most praiseworthy way of (losing) them.

٤٤٨. وَقَالَ (عليه ‏السلام): مَنْ عَظَّمَ صِغَارَ الْمَصَائِبِ ابْتَلاَهُ اللهُ بِكِبَارِهَا.

448. Amīr al-mu’minīn, peace be upon him, said: Whoever regards small distresses as big, Allāh involves him in big ones.