In this part of the article titled “The Sayings of Jesus Christ in Shia Traditions”, we shall continue with the discussion on the saying of Prophet Isa as documented in the Shia hadith sources.
16. When Jesus passed by a house whose inmates had died and others had taken their place, he said: “Woe to your owners who inherited you! How they have learned no lesson from their late brothers” (1).
17. Jesus (‘a) said: This world and the next one are rivals. When you please one of them you displease the other. (2)
18. It has been reported that Abu ‘Abd Allah, Peace he upon him, said: The world took the form, for Jesus (‘a), of a woman whose eyes were blue. Then he said to her: ‘How many have you married?’ She said: ‘Very many.’ He said: ‘Then did they all divorce you?’ She said: ‘No, but I killed all of them.’ He said: ‘Then woe be to the rest of your husbands! How they fail to learn from the example of the predecessors!’
19. It is reported that ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn [Imam Sajjad], Peace be upon him, said: The Messiah, Peace be upon him, said to his Apostles: ‘Verily, this world is merely a bridge, so cross over it, and do not make it your abode.’ ”(3)
20. I heard Imam Reza (‘a) say: Jesus the son of Mary, may Allah bless him, said to the apostles: ‘O Children of Israel! Do not grieve over what you lose of this world, just as the people of this world do not grieve over what they lose of their religion when they gain this world of theirs.’(4)
21. Jesus (‘a) said: Do not take the world as a master, for it will make you its slave. Keep your treasure with one who will not squander it. The owners of the treasures of this world fear for its ruin, but he who owns the treasure of Allah does not fear for its ruin.” (5)
22. Jesus (‘a) said: ”In truth, I say unto you, just as one who is sick looks at food and finds no pleasure in it due to the severity of the pain, the companions of this world find no pleasure in worship and do not find the sweetness of it, for what they find is the sweetness of this world. In truth, I say unto you, just as an animal which is not captured and tamed becomes hardened and its character is changed, so too when hearts are not softened by the remembrance of death and the effort of worship they become hard and coarse, and in truth, I say unto you, if a skin is not torn, it may become a vessel for honey, just as hearts, if they are not torn by desires, or fouled by greed, or hardened by pleasures, may become vessels for wisdom.” (6)
23. It was said to Jesus (‘a): [Would it not be better] if you got a house? He said: The remains which are left from those before us is enough for us.” (7)
On Wisdom
24. It is reported that Jesus ( ‘a) said: ”O assembly of scholars ( ‘ulama)’. Just as the sovereigns have abandoned wisdom, leaving it to you. So you should abandon sovereignty, leaving it for them.” (8)
25. And it was said to him [Jesus ( a)]: Who trained you? He said: No one trained me. I saw the ugliness of ignorance and I avoided it.” (9)
26. The apostle of Allah [Muhammad] (s) said: Jesus the son of Mary (‘a) stood up among the Children of Israel and said: ‘O Children of Israel! Do not speak with the ignorant of wisdom, for otherwise you do injustice with it, and do not keep it from its folk, for otherwise you do injustice to them, and do not help the unjust with his injustice, for otherwise, your virtue becomes void. Affairs are three: the affair whose righteousness is clear to you, so follow it: the affair whose error is clear to you, so avoid it’. and the affair about which there are differences so returns it to Allah, the Almighty and Glorious. (10)
27. Jesus the son of Mary (‘a) said: O assembly of Apostles! I have a request of you. Fulfil it for me. They said: Your request is fulfilled, O Spirit of Allah! Then he stood up and washed their feet. They said: It would have been more proper for us to have done this, O Spirit of Allah! Then he said: Verily, it is more fitting for one with the knowledge to serve the people. Indeed, I humbled myself only so that you may humble yourselves among the people after me, even as I have humbled myself among you. Then Jesus (‘a) said: Wisdom is developed by humility, not by pride, and likewise plants only grow in soft soil, not in rocks.” (11)
28. Al-Sayyid ibn Tawus, may Allah have mercy on him, said: I read in the Gospel that Jesus (‘a) said: I tell you, do not worry about what you will eat or what you will drink or with what you will clothe your bodies. Is not the soul more excellent than food, and the body more excellent than clothes? Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap nor store away, yet your heavenly Lord provides for them. Are you not more excellent than they are? Who among you by worrying can add a single measure to his stature? Then why do you worry about your clothes?” (12)
Self-knowledge
29. It is reported by Mufaddal, one of the companions of Imam al-Sadiq (‘a), from Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq, Peace be upon him, in a long hadith, that he said: Jesus the son of Mary, Peace be upon our Prophet and upon him, used to spend some time with the disciples and advise them, and he used to say: ‘He does not know me who knows not his soul, and he who does not know the soul between his two sides, does not know the soul between my two sides. And he who knows his soul which is between his sides, he knows me. And he who knows me knows He Who sent me.’ (13)
On Prayer and Worship
30. Jesus (‘a) said to a worshipper, What do you do? He answered: I worship. He (‘a) said, Then who provides for you? He said, My brother. He (‘a) said, Your brother is more of a worshipper than you are! (14)
31. I asked Abu ‘Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq (‘a)] about the best thing by which the servant may draw near to his Lord and what is most beloved by Allah, the Almighty and Glorious. He said: I know of nothing, after knowledge (ma’rifah), better than the ritual prayer (salat). Do you not see that the good servant Jesus the son of Mary (‘a) said: ‘And He enjoined on me the ritual prayer (salat) and the alms tax (zakat) for as long as I live.’? (15)
32. It is reported that Imam Sadiq (‘a) said: Jesus the son of Mary (‘a) passed by a group of people who were crying. He asked why they were crying. It was said to him that they were crying for their sins. He said, they should pray about them and they will be forgiven. (16)
To be continued!
NOTES:
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1. Bihar al-anwar, 14, 329
2. Bihar al-anwar, 73, 122
3. Bihar al-anwar 14, 319
4. Bihar al-anwar, 14, 304; al-Kafi. 2, 127
5. Bihar al-anwar, 14, 327.
6. Bihar al-anwar, 14, 325.
7. Bihar al-anwar, 14, 327.
8. Adab al nafs. 1, 134
9. Bihar al-anwar, 14, 326
10. Kitab man la yahzorohol Faqih, 4, 400
11. Bihar al-anwar, 2, 62; Al-Kafi, 6, 37
12. Bihar al-anwar, 14, 317
13. Adab al-nafs, 2, 213
14. Adab al-nafs, 1, 215
15. Al-Kafi, 3, 264
16. Bihar al-anwar, 6, 20.
