BOOK ONE, PART V. True Stories from the Hadis [traditions about the Prophet's life]
 

THE FIRST STORY

Hazrat Messenger of God, God's blessings and peace upon him, recounted this story:
    Once, a man came to a deserted place where he suddenly heard a voice in a cloud, telling the cloud to water the garden of a certain person. The cloud moved and rained down heavily on barren ground. [63] The man then followed the water, which had gathered into a channel, until he came upon someone standing in a garden, directing the water with a spade. He inquired of this person; "O Servant of God, what is your name?"
    The person answered with the name spoken in the cloud and asked in turn; "O Servant of God, why do you inquire about my name?"
    He answered, "I heard a voice in that cloud say your name and tell the cloud to water your garden. What do you do that deserves this?"
    He said, "I shall tell you only because you have asked. When my crop is ripe, I give one-third of the harvest in charity, put aside one-third for myself and my children, and invest one-third in the garden."
    Moral: Praise be to God. Such is God's mercy that help from the unknown furthers the work of those who obey him, even without their knowing it. Surely it is true that if a person belongs to God, God in turn belongs to that person.
 

THE SECOND STORY

Hazrat Messenger of God, God's blessings and peace upon him, once recounted this story:
    Among the Bani Isra'il, there were three men: one was a leper, one was afflicted with scalp disease, and one was blind. Almighty God wished to test them, and, to do so, he sent an angel.
    First, the angel went to the leper and asked, "What is your greatest wish?"
    He replied, "I wish that I might have a good complexion and beautiful skin and that this evil that makes people shun me and refuse to let me sit near them might disappear."
    The angel passed his hand over the leper's body, and, lo-- his skin was clear and his complexion beautiful.
    Then the angel asked, "What sort of goods would you most like to have?"
    He answered, "A camel."
    So the angel gave him a pregnant she-camel and said, "May Almighty God give you increase of it."
    Then the angel went to the man with scalp disease and asked, "What is your greatest wish?"
    He replied, "I wish that my hair would grow in and that this evil that makes people shun me would disappear."
    The angel passed his hand over his head, and, lo-- his scalp was healed and grew good hair.
    [64] Then the angel asked, "What sort of goods would you most like to have?"
    He answered, "A cow."
    So the angel gave him a pregnant cow and said, "May Almighty God grant you increase of it."
    Then the angel went to the blind man and asked, "What do you need?"
    He answered, "I need Almighty God to restore my sight so that I might again see other people."
    The angel passed his hand over the blind man's eyes, and Almighty God restored his sight. Then the angel asked, "What sort of goods would you most like to have?"
    He answered, "A goat." The angel gave him a pregnant goat.
    The animals of all three men bore young, and in a short time the area was filled with the camels of the first, the cows of the second, and the goats of the third.
    Then the angel, at.the order of God, came in the same fashion to the leper and said, "I am a poor man; all the goods I needed for my journey have been used up. Today I have no recourse for my return travel other than God and then you. In the name of that God who bestowed on you a clear complexion and fine skin, I ask of you one camel that I may ride on it and reach home."
    The man answered, "Be gone! Get away from me! I have other people to take care of and nothing left for you."
    The angel then said, "I think I recognize you. Weren't you that leper whom people shunned? Weren't you very poor until God gave you so much?"
    He replied, "Ha! Very good. Well, in fact, this wealth goes back several generations in my family."
    The angel said, "If you lie, may God make you as you were before."
    The angel then went in the same way to the man who had had scalp disease and asked him the same question and got the same kind of answer. The angel again said, "If you lie, may God make you as you were before."
    Then the angel went in the same way to the blind man and said, "I am a traveler and have ended up with no goods. Today, except for God and then you, I have no recourse. In the name of him who restored your sight, I ask for one goat that I might use it to complete my journey." The man replied, "Of course. I was blind, and Almighty God, [65] through his mercy alone, granted me sight. Take whatever you like and leave whatever you like. Upon God, I deny you nothing."
    The angel said to him, "Keep your goods. I need nothing. I was sent to test you, as I have. God is pleased with you and displeased with the others."
    Moral: You must reflect on the cost suffered by the first two men for their ingratitude. They lost all their blessings, and they became as they had been. God was displeased with them, and they were deprived of salvation in this world and the next. The third man, however, because he was grateful, won great reward. He kept his blessings; God was happy with him; he reaped satisfaction and joy in both this world and the next.
 

THE THIRD STORY

Once Hazrat Umm Salama [one of the Prophet's wives], may God be pleased with her, was given some meat. God's Messenger liked meat very much; and Hazrat Umm Salama therefore told her servant to keep the meat on a shelf in case he wanted it. Meanwhile, a beggar came and stood at the door and called out, "Send something out to me, in the name of God. God will bless you."
    From within the house, she answered, "May he bless you also."
    This reply meant that she had nothing to give him. The beggar left.
    Then God's Messengers arrived and asked Umm Salama if she had anything for him to eat. She replied that she did, and she instructed her servant to fetch the meat for him. The servant went and saw that there was not even the name of meat-- only a stone.
    The Prophet declared, "The meat turned into stone because you gave nothing to the beggar."
    Moral: Reflect on the fact that this misfortune of the meat turning into stone happened because of a refusal to give in the name of God. Any persons who make excuses to beggars but themselves eat will be eating a stone whose effect is a stony heart that is increasingly hard. Because of God's great mercy and generosity to the people in the household of the Prophet, he physically changed the appearance of the meat so that they would be saved from the ill effects of using it.
 

THE FOURTH STORY

    It was the excellent custom of God's Messenger to read the prayer at daybreak and then to attend to his friends and companions, asking if [66] any among them had had some dream in the night. If they had, he would offer an interpretation of the dream. Once, following his custom, he asked if anyone had had a dream, and all replied that they had not. He then declared:
    I had a dream last night in which two men came to me and clutched my hand. They led me toward a sacred place, where I saw two men, one seated and one standing. The man who was standing had iron tongs in his hand with which he was tearing the other man's cheek off completely to the nape of his neck; then he did the same thing to the other cheek. The first cheek was then restored, and the man began again. I asked the two men who were leading me what was happening, but they told me to move on.
    We moved on until we came to a man who was lying down. At his head stood another man with a huge, heavy rock in his hand. He dashed the rock on the head of the man who was lying there. The rock rebounded and fell far away. While he went to retrieve it, the head of the first man was restored to its previous state, and the second man began again. I again asked the two men who were leading me what was happening, but again they told me to move on.
    We moved on until we reached a cave shaped like an oven, wide at the bottom and narrow at the top, with fire burning inside. It was filled with naked men and women. When the fire rose to the top, they all rose with it and almost came out. Then, when it settled, they too went to the bottom. I again asked the two men who were leading me what was happening, but again they told me to move on.
    We moved on until we reached a river of blood. One man stood in the middle; another stood on the bank, surrounded by rocks. Whenever the man in the river came toward the bank and tried to get out, the man on the bank hit him in the face with a rock with such force that :he fell back to his original place. This happened again and again. I again asked the two men who were leading me what was happening, but again they told me to move on.
    We moved on until we reached a green and verdant garden. An old man, surrounded by children, sat under a big tree. Another man sat near the tree, fanning a fire. The two men took me up into the tree, where a very fine house had been built in its midst. They led me inside. I had never seen such a house. It was filled with men, old and young, and women and children. They then took me farther up, where there was a house even finer than the first. They led me inside it also, and again it was filled with young and old. I finally said to the two men, "You have led me about the whole night. Tell me at last what all this has meant."
    [67] They answered, "The man whose cheek was being torn was a liar who told lies that spread throughout the whole world. They will keep doing this to him until the Day of Judgment.
    "The man whose head was being crushed was a man to whom Almighty God gave knowledge of the Qur'an. In the night, he slept, oblivious; in the day, he failed to act on what he knew. He will continue thus until the Day of Judgment.
    "The persons in the cave of fire were adulterers.
    "The person in the river of blood was a usurer.
    "The old man under the tree is Hazrat Ibrahim, peace be upon him. The children around him are children who died young. The man blowing the fire is the guardian of hell. The first house you entered is the house of ordinary Muslims; the second house, the house of martyrs."
    They then revealed that they were [the angels] Jibra'il and Mika'il and instructed me to look up. I lifted up my head and saw a white cloud. They told me that was my house. I asked them to leave me so that I could enter it. They said, "Your life remains unfinished; it is not completed. Only if it had been completed could you have entered your house."
    Moral: You must know that the dreams of the prophets are divine revelation. All these events are true. In this hadis many points are clear: first, the harshness of the punishment for lies; second, the fate of a learned man who does not act on what he knows; third, the punishment for adultery; fourth, the punishment for usury. May God keep all Muslims safe from these deeds!
 

BOOK ONE, PART VI. On Beliefs

[Maulana Thanawi now lists the fundamental beliefs ('aqida; pl. 'aqa'id) of a Muslim. He uses language that is simple and somewhat repetitive, preferring everyday Hindi words to erudite Arabic, even for technical terms such as "worship" (pujna), "partner" (sajhi), and "singular" (nirala). Although the Deobandis often use the plural of respect characteristic of Urdu when speaking of God, here, because he is identifying doctrine, Thanawi uses the singular. Only in point nine when God is anthropomorphized as Allah Miyan does he revert to the plural. The various points emphasize both God's power and human responsibility for right action and belief. The opening beliefs distinguish Muslims from people of other religions. Points seventeen to twenty-one distinguish Muslims from those who follow "false sufis." Points twenty-four and twenty-five distinguish them from the Shi'a, [68] who give precedence to the Prophet's family. The final points on the Day of Judgment and heaven and hell make clear the reformists' conviction that their teachings are, literally, matters of life and death. --translator's note by Metcalf]

    1. The whole world was at first uncreated, but then it came into existence through the creation of Almighty God.
    2. God is One; he needs no one. He gave birth to no one. He is born of no one. He has no wife; neither is anyone his equal.
    3. He has always existed and will always exist.
    4. Nothing is like him; he is different from all else.
    5. He is alive. He has power over everything. Nothing is outside his knowledge. He sees everything. He hears everything. He speaks, but not as we speak. What he wishes, he does; no one stops him. It is he who is worthy of adoration. He has no partner. He is kind to his servants. He is a king. He is free of all faults. It is he who saves his servants from all calamities. It is he who has dignity.
    5[sic]. He is great. He is the creator of all things. No one has created him. He is the forgiver of sins. He is powerful. He is the giver of great bounty. He provides for all daily needs. He gives little to whomever he wants; he gives much to whomever he wants. He puts down whom he will and raises whom he will. He dignifies whom he will and disgraces whom he will. He is just. He is forbearing and patient. He knows the value of worship and service. It is he who accepts supplications. It is he who is all-embracing. He is the ruler of all. No one is his ruler. No work of his lacks wisdom. He fulfills the needs of all. It is he who brought forth all, and it is he who will bring forth again on the Day of Judgment. It is he who gives life, and it is he who kills. All know him through his signs and qualities; no one can know the subtlety of his being. He accepts the repentance of sins; he punishes those deserving punishment. He is the one who gives guidance. Whatever happens in the world is through his order alone. Without his order not a mote can move. He neither slumbers nor sleeps. He does not weary from guarding the whole world. It is he who sustains all things. He has thus all good and perfect qualities; there is no harm or evil in him; there is no fault in him.
    6. All his qualities have always existed and will always exist. None of his qualities can ever disappear.
    7. He is free of the attributes of created beings. As for the state- ments about these attributes reported in many places in the Qur'an and hadis, entrust their meaning to God, for he alone knows their truth. We, without undue explication, believe with certainty that whatever their [69] meaning, they are right and true. This is best. You may perhaps give the statements some appropriate meaning to make them understood.
    8. Almighty God has always known what good and evil there is in the world before it happens; he brings it into being in accordance with his knowledge. This is called predestination or taqdir. There are many mysteries concerning the creation of evil that no one knows.
    9. Almighty God has given will and understanding to his servants so that by their own will they can do works of sin and works meriting reward. But the servants have no power to create any work. Our Lord and Master is angry with works of sin and happy with works meriting reward.
    10. Almighty God requires of his servants no task that they are incapable of performing.
    11. Nothing is required of God. Whatever kindness he may do is his grace.
    12. Many messengers of Almighty God have been sent to show his servants the straight path. All of them are free of sins. Only God knows fully how many of them there have been. In order to show their authenticity, Almighty God revealed many new and difficult acts through them that other people cannot do. These acts are called miracles (mujiza). Among the prophets, Hazrat Adam, on whom be peace, was the first, and Hazrat Muhammad, the Apostle of God, God's blessings and peace upon him, is the last. The rest were between them. Among them, many are very famous, such as Hazrat Nuh [Noah], Hazrat Ibrahim [Abraham], Hazrat Ishaq [Isaac], Hazrat Isma'il [Ishmael], Hazrat Ya'qub [Jacob], Hazrat Yusuf [Joseph], Hazrat Da'ud [David], Hazrat Sulaiman [Solomon], Hazrat Ayyub, Hazrat Musa [Moses], Hazrat Harun, Hazrat Zakariya, Hazrat Yahya, Hazrat 'Isa [Jesus], Hazrat Ilyas [Elias], Hazrat Alyasa, Hazrat Yunis, Hazrat Lut [Lot], Hazrat Idris, Hazrat Zu'l-kifl, Hazrat Salah, Hazrat Hod, and Hazrat Shu'aib.
    13. Almighty God has not told anyone how many messengers have been sent. Therefore, believe as follows: We believe in those messengers whom we know and also in those whom we do not know.
    14. The rank of some among the messengers is higher than the rank of others. The highest rank is that of our Messenger, Muhammad the Chosen, and after him no new messenger can come. Until the Day of Judgment, he is the messenger to all people and jinn.
    15. Almighty God took our Messenger, while he was yet awake and in his body, from Mecca to the Baitu'l-muqaddas (Jerusalem), and from there to the seventh heaven and beyond, to wherever God wished. He then brought him back to Mecca. This is called the mi'raj.
    16. Almighty God brought forth some creatures from light and hid [70] them from our sight. They are called angels. Many works are entrusted to them. They never do any act against the order of God. They do whatever task they are set to do. Among them, four angels are very famous: Hazrat Jibra'il, Hazrat Mika'il, Hazrat Israfil, and Hazrat Azra'il. Almighty God made some creatures from fire, and they, too, do not appear to us. They are called jinn. Among them, some are good and some are bad-- all kinds. They also have offspring. The most famous of the evil jinn is Iblis, who is Satan.
    17. When Muslims worship faithfully, avoid sin, do not love the world, and obey the Messengers in every way, then they are friends of God and the beloved of God. People like this are called saints (wali). Sometimes they accomplish deeds that are impossible for other people. These miracles are called karamat.
    18. No wali, whatever high rank that person may reach, can ever be the equal of a prophet.
    19. However beloved of God they may be, walis are bound to the shari'at as long as their senses and consciousness last. They are not excused from the canonical prayer or the fast or any other act of worship. It is not correct for a wali to commit any sin.
    20. Whoever is against the shari'at cannot be a friend of God. If anything amazing appears by the action of such a person, it is either magic or the work of that person's lower soul (nafs) and of Satan. It should be rejected.
    21. Many mysteries are made known to the saints either while they are awake or while they sleep: these are "openings" (kashf) or "illuminations" (ilham). Accept them as true if they are in accordance with the shari'at, and reject them if they are against the shari'at.
    22. God and the Messengers have told their servants all points of religion (din) in the Qur'an and the hadis. Now it is not proper to innovate; such novelty is called bid'at (reprehensible innovation). Bid'at is a very great sin.
    23. Almighty God has revealed many long and short books from heaven, through Jibra'il, to many messengers, so that they could provide religious teachings for their different communities. Four of the books are well known: the Torah of Hazrat Musa, the Psalms of Hazrat Da'ud, the Gospel of Hazrat 'Isa, and the Glorious Qur'an of our Apostle. The Glorious Qur'an is the final book. Now no other book will again descend from heaven. The order of the Qur'an will run until the Day of Judgment. Erring people have greatly changed the other books, but Almighty God has promised to guard the Glorious Qur'an. No one can change it.
    24. Any Muslim who saw our Apostle is called a Companion. The [71] Companions have many great qualities. One must love them and be well disposed to them. Any talk of a quarrel or fight among them must be considered as forgetfulness and not as evil on their part. Four were the greatest of all. Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq, may God be pleased with him, who sat in the place of the Apostle after him and managed all religious affairs, is called the first caliph. He is the best of the whole community. After him, Hazrat 'Umar was the second caliph. After him, Hazrat 'Usman was the third caliph. And after him, Hazrat ' Ali was the fourth caliph.
    25. The rank of the Companions is so high that the greatest saint cannot reach a rank equal to the lowest rank of a Companion.
    26. The offspring of the Apostles and his wives are all worthy of veneration. Among the offspring, the greatest rank is held by Hazrat Fatima. Among the wives, Hazrat Khadija and Hazrat 'A'isha are greatest.
    27. Correct faith requires the recognition that all matters relating to God and the Messenger are true, and it demands belief in all of them. Faith is lost from doubting any matter concerning God and the Messenger, or from considering any of these matters false, or from picking out faults or making jokes about them.
    28. It is false religion to deny the evident meaning of the Qur'an and hadis and to bend the text to one's own purpose in devious ways.
    29. If sin is judged to be legitimate, faith is lost.
    30. If one recognizes that he or she has committed a sin, however great a sin it might be, faith is not lost, but it does become weak.
    31. It is infidelity to be without hope or fear of Almighty God.
    32. It is infidelity to ask others about the unknown and to put faith in them.
    33. No one other than Almighty God knows the unknown, although the prophets know some things through revelation; the saints, some things through openings and illuminations; and the common people, some things through signs.
    34. It is a great sin to call someone an infidel or to curse that person. One can, to be sure, call down curses on tyrants and liars generally. It is not a sin to say a person is cursed whom God and the Messenger have cursed by name or announced to be an infidel.
    35. When a person dies--either after the burial or, if there is no burial, wherever the person may be--two angels, one of whom is called Munkir and the other Nakir, come to the dead person and ask, "Who is your lord, and what is your religion?" They ask about Hazrat Muhammad, the Messenger of God. A dead person who is faithful answers correctly and is given all kinds of comfort. The angels open a window [72] in the direction of heaven, from which come cool breezes and fragrance. The dead person sinks into pleasure and sleeps. But a dead person who is without faith and is unable to reply to the questions suffers great harshness and torment until the Day of Judgment. Almighty God excuses many from this trial. All these things are known to the dead; we do not see them. It is as if a sleeping person saw all kinds of things in a dream and the waking person sitting nearby knew nothing of it.
    36. After they have died, people are daily shown their future abode, every morning and every evening. A person going to heaven is shown heaven and thus given good tidings. A person going to hell is shown hell and thus given increased sorrow.
    37. Supplication on behalf of the dead person and charity given in the dead person's name earn reward for that person. This gives the dead person great benefit.
    [Points thirty-eight to forty-nine concern the Day of Judgment. This subject is treated in great detail in Book Seven, and the section is thus omitted here.]
 

BOOK ONE, PART VII. [Sins: Listed According to Grievousness]

    At this point, in order that people might avoid them, it seems appropriate to describe the many false beliefs, bad customs, and great sins that often occur and that harm faith. They include acts of complete infidelity and polytheism, acts that verge on infidelity and polytheism, others that are reprehensible innovations, and, finally, some that are mere sin. The point is that all of them must be avoided. Once they have been described, we will then discuss briefly the harm done by sin in everyday life, in contrast to the profit earned by obedience. People do take account of what causes harm or profit in their everyday concerns, and hence they might find the resources to perform good deeds and to abstain from sin.

ACTS OF INFIDELITY AND POLYTHEISM

    1. To like infidelity.
    2. To consider matters of infidelity good.
    [73] 3. To cause another to do some act of infidelity.
    4. To regret your faith for any reason: "If I were not a Muslim, I would have gotten such and such."
    5. Upon the death of your children or someone else, to say in sorrow such things as, "God had only him to kill," "God should not have done this," "No one does such evil as you have done."
    6. To consider any order of God and the Messenger, God's blessings and peace upon him, to be bad; to find fault with it.
    7. To deprecate any angel or prophet; to impute fault to them.
    8. To believe that any elder or pir has certain knowledge of everything about you at every minute.
    9. To ask news about the unknown from a Brahmin (pandit) learned in astrology or a person dominated by jinn, to have a fortune told and consider it to be true; or to see an omen in the speech of some elder and impute certainty to it.
    10. To call on some holy person from afar and to believe that person will hear.
    11. To believe that someone other than God is responsible for all your profit and loss.
    12. To demand fulfillment of your wishes from someone other than God; to ask that person to grant you livelihood or offspring.
    13. To fast in the name of some revered person; to prostrate yourself before that person; to set an animal free or sacrifice it in that person's name; to make a vow in a revered person's name; to circumambulate a grave or building; to give precedence to some custom or to the word of some revered person over the order of God; to bow or to stand like an image before that person; to sacrifice a goat on a sacred tumulus; to slaughter an animal in someone's name.
    14. To make offerings to jinn, ghosts, departed spirits, and so forth in order to set them free.
    15. To worship the umbilical cord of a child in order to ensure the child's life. To slaughter a goat or other animal.
    16. To appeal to anyone other than God for help.
    17. To respect or venerate any place as equal to the ka'ba.
    18. To pierce a child's ear or nose in order that the child might wear a nose ring or earring in the name of some venerated person.
    19. To tie a coin on a child's arm or a string on a child's neck in someone's name.
    20. To put a wedding wreath on a child; to allow a child to grow a pigtail (choti); to have a child wear a garland of colored strings.
    21. To have a child dress as a faqir [perhaps to avert the evil eye].
    22. To give children such names as 'Ali Bakhsh (granted by 'Ali), [74] Husain Bakhsh (granted by Husain) Abdu 'n- Nabi (slave of the Prophets), and so forth.
    23. To attach the name of some elder to an animal and then treat the animal with respect.
    24. To believe that the affairs of the world derive from the influence of the stars; to inquire about auspicious and inauspicious dates and days; to seek omens; to consider any month or date ill omened.
    25. To repeat the name of some elder as your daily discipline.
    26. To say: "If God and the Messengers wish, such and such will be accomplished."
    27. To swear on someone's name or head.
    28. To keep pictures, especially to keep and venerate a picture of an elder for its auspiciousness.

REPREHENSIBLE INNOVATIONS, BAD CUSTOMS, AND BAD DEEDS

1. To hold fairs with great to-do at graves; to light lamps at graves; for women, to go to graves; to offer shawls to cover the grave; to build a permanent monument at a grave; to revere graves excessively in order to please elders; to kiss or lick ta'ziyas or graves; to rub their dust on your face; to circumambulate them; to prostrate yourself; to perform the canonical prayer in the direction of graves; to make offerings of candies, pudding (halwa), sweet cakes, and so forth; to keep ta'ziyas and flags and salute them or offer them halwa and cake.
    2. To consider anything too pure to be touched (achuti). To refuse to eat pan, to apply henna or black powder to the teeth, to remain with men, or to wear red clothes during the month of Muharram.
    3. To refuse to let men eat food offered in the name of Fatima (bibi ki sahnak).
    4. To consider observation of the third and the fortieth days after a death to be an obligation.
    5. To regard a second marriage for a woman as a fault, despite there being a need for it.
    6. To perform all family customs in marriage, circumcision, the ceremony initiating a child's studies (bismi'llah), and so forth, even though there may not be adequate resources; especially, to take loans in order to put on musical performances and display.
    7. To observe the [Hinduized] customs of Holi and Diwali.
    8. To say "Your servant" or some other such greeting instead of salam [an Islamic greetingJ; or to merely touch your hand to your head and bow.
    [75] 9. To go before brothers-in-law and cousins unceremoniously, or to come before any other marriageable person.
    10. To sing while bringing pitchers from the river; to listen to music and singing; to have domnis [professional performers] dance; to rejoice in watching them and give them gifts.
    11. To take pride in your lineage; to consider descent from some elder sufficient for salvation; to taunt someone about a deficiency in his or her lineage; to consider any legitimate occupation contemptible.
    12. To praise anyone excessively.
    13. To make foolish expenditures and engage in foolish acts during a wedding.
    14. To perform the customs of the Hindus: to dress the groom in a fashion opposed to the shari'at, to put a wreath on him and tie a string on his wrist; to put henna on him; to set off fireworks; to make wasteful decorations; to call the groom in among the women, and for the women to come in front of him and peek out at him; for mature sisters-in-Iaw or other such women to come and flirt with him; to play at chauthi, to gather around where the bride and groom are lying together in order to overhear them and peek at them, and, if someone finds out something, to report it to others; to have the bride sit in isolation and to force her to be so overly modest that the canonical prayer is missed; to put on airs by fixing the marriage portion at a very great amount.
    15. Upon a death, to cry aloud and weep in sorrow; to beat your face and breast; to recount the event and weep; to smash water pitchers; to have washed whatever clothes have touched the dead body; to refuse to use pickles in the house for a year; to observe no occasions of joy; to mourn afresh on special dates.
    16. To spend all your time on adornment and decoration; to consider a simple style a fault; to place pictures in the house; to use boxes of gold and silver for pan and essence or a silver or gold needle for collyrium; to wear very fine clothing or jingling jewelry; to wear a lahnga (skirt); to go into gatherings of men, especially to see ta'ziyas and to go to fairs; to adopt the style of men; to tattoo the body.
    17. To keep the nocturnal religious feast of women (khuda'i rat); to make spells (totka).
    18. To use wall or ceiling hangings solely for adornment.
    19. To embrace or be embraced by marriageable men at the time of departure or arrival from a journey.
    20. To pierce the ear or nose of a boy in order to prolong his life; to have a boy wear a nose ring or earring; to have him wear silk clothing [76] or safflower-dyed or saffron-dyed clothing; or to have him wear a necklace or an anklet or any other jewelry.
    21. To feed a baby opium in order to make it cry less.
    22. To feed a person the milk or meat of a tiger during a sickness. There are many more such customs; those above are given as examples.

SOME VERY GRIEVOUS SINS

    1. To assign partners to God.
    2. To shed blood unjustly. Some women who have no offspring perform spells during another woman's confinement so that her baby will die and they will have children instead. This counts as bloodshed.
    3. To torment your parents.
    4. To commit adultery.
    5. To use the wealth of orphans unjustly, as when many women take control of all the wealth and property of their husbands and squander the share that should belong to small children; to fail to give girls their share of inheritance.
    6. To accuse a woman of adultery on a slight suspicion.
    7. To oppress anyone.
    8. To speak ill of people behind their backs.
    9. To despair of the mercy of God.
    10. To fail to fulfill a promise one has made.
    11. To be unfaithful to a trust.
    12. To forsake any duty to God, particularly the canonical prayer, the fast, the pilgrimage, and the tithe.
    13. To read the Noble Qur'an and then forget it.
    14. To lie, especially to swear a false oath.
    15. To swear an oath by anyone other than God; or to swear in this manner: "At the time of death may I be deprived of the attestation of faith," "May my end come without belief."
    16. To prostrate yourself before anyone other than God.
    17. To miss the canonical prayer without legitimate excuse.
    18. To call any Muslim an unbeliever or faithless; or to say, "May the wrath of God fall on him," "The curse of God," "The enemy of God."
    19. To listen to someone's accusations and complaints.
    20. To steal; to take interest; to rejoice in the high cost of grain; to set a bargain and then insist on giving less.
    21. To sit alone with a marriageable male.
    [77] 22. To gamble. Many girls and women play round pebbles with bets and other games that are also gambling.
    23. To like the customs of the unbelievers.
    24. To say that food is bad.
    25. To watch dancing and listen to music.
    26. To fail to give advice, even though one has the capacity to do so.
    27. To shame or humiliate someone through buffoonery.
    28. To search out someone's faults.
 

BOOK ONE, PART VIII. [The Impact of Islam on Everyday Life] .

WORLDLY LOSSES CAUSED BY SIN

    1. To be deprived of knowledge.
    2. To have your livelihood decline.
    3. To be distraught at the thought of God.
    4. To be distraught before other people, especially good people.
    5. To confront difficulty in most of one's affairs.
    6. To lose cleanliness and purity of heart.
    7. To become weak at heart and often in the whole body.
    8. To be deprived of obedient devotion.
    9. To face a shortened life.
    10. To lack the grace of repentance; to quickly lose from your heart an awareness of the evil of sin.
    11. To be despicable in the opinion of Almighty God.
    12. To be cursed by others because of the harm your state causes them.
    13. To be deficient in sense.
    14. To be cursed by the Messenger of God, God's blessings and peace upon him.
    15. To be deprived of the supplication of the angels.
    16. To suffer deficiencies in your crops.
    17. To lose modesty and a sense of honor.
    18. To lose an awareness of God's greatness in your heart.
    19. To lose your blessings.
    20. To be encircled by calamities.
    21. To have Satanic forces fixed over you.
    22. To remain worried at heart.
    23. To have the attestation of faith fail to come to your lips at the time of death.
    [78] 24. To despair of the mercy of God and therefore to die without repentance.

WORLDLY GAINS WON THROUGH OBEDIENCE

    1. To have increased livelihood
    2. To have an abundance (barkat) in everything.
    3. To have all difficulty and worry be far removed.
    4. To have your intentions be realized with ease.
    5. To have a life of joy.
    6. To have rain.
    7. To have all kinds of evil forestalled.
    8. To have Almighty God as your benefactor and helper.
    9. To have the angels ordered to keep your heart strong.
    10. To have true honor and respect.
    11. To have high rank; to be loved in everyone's heart.
    12. To have the Qur'an as a cure on your behalf.
    13. To gain an even better return to replace any loss in wealth.
    14. To receive an increase in blessings day by day.
    15. To have increased wealth.
    16. To have satisfaction and comfort remain in your heart.
    17. To have this benefit reach the next generation.
    18. To receive visions of the unknown in this life.
    19. To have the angels sound glad tidings and give you words of blessing at the time of death.
    20. To have increased life; to be spared poverty and hunger; to secure more blessing in whatever is lacking.
    21. To have the anger of Almighty God disappear.