يَا هِشَامُ بِئْسَ الْعَبْدُ عَبْدٌ يَكُونُ ذَا وَجْهَيْنِ وَ ذَا لِسَانَيْنِ يُطْرِي أَخَاهُ إِذَا شَاهَدَهُ وَ يَأْكُلُهُ ١إِذَا غَابَ عَنْهُ إِنْ أُعْطِيَ حَسَدَهُ وَ إِنِ ابْتُلِيَ خَذَلَهُ وَ إِنَّ أَسْرَعَ الْخَيْرِ ثَوَاباً الْبِرُّ وَ أَسْرَعَ الشَّرِّ عُقُوبَةً الْبَغْيُ وَ إِنَّ شَرَّ عِبَادِ اللَّهِ مَنْ تُكْرَهُ مُجَالَسَتُهُ لِفُحْشِهِ وَ هَلْ يَكُبُّ النَّاسَ عَلَى مَنَاخِرِهِمْ فِي النَّارِ إِلَّا حَصَائِدُ أَلْسِنَتِهِمْ وَ مِنْ حُسْنِ إِسْلَامِ الْمَرْءِ تَرْكُ مَا لَا يَعْنِيهِ.

Hisham, an evil servant is a servant who is two-faced and two-tongued: he lavishes praise on his brother when he sees him, and devours him (1) when he is absent from him. If he is given, he envies him; and if he is afflicted, he forsakes him. And the swiftest of good in reward is piety, and the swiftest of evil in punishment is insolence. And the worst of God's servants is he whose company is disliked for his obscenity. And does anything cast people upon their nostrils in the Fire but the harvests of their tongues? And of the goodness of a man's Islam is the leaving of what does not concern him.

بيان: الإطراء مجاوزة الحد في المدح و الكذب فيه و خذله أي ترك نصرته و البغي التعدي و الاستطالة و الظلم و كل مجاوزة عن الحد و قوله من تكره إما بفتح التاء للخطاب أو بالضم على البناء للمفعول و قال الفيروزآبادي كبه قلبه و صرعه كأكبه و قال الجوهري كبه لوجهه أي صرعه فأكب هو على وجهه و هذا من النوادر و قال الجزري

Elucidation: al-itra' is exceeding the bound in praise and lying in it. And khadhalahu — that is, he left off aiding him. And al-baghy is transgression, overbearing, wrongdoing, and every exceeding of the bound. And his words "whose is disliked" is either with fatha on the ta' for the second person, or with damma in the passive construction. And al-Firuzabadi said: kabbahu — he overturned him and threw him down, like akabba. And al-Jawhari said: kabbahu upon his face — that is, he threw him down, so akabba he upon his face; and this is among the rarities. And al-Jazari said:

و في الحديث و هل يكب الناس على مناخرهم في النار إلا حصائد ألسنتهم.

And in the tradition: and does anything cast people upon their nostrils in the Fire but the harvests of their tongues?

أي ما يقطعونه من الكلام الذي لا خير فيه واحدتها حصيدة تشبيها بما يحصد من الزرع و تشبيها للسان و ما يقطعه من القول بحد المنجل ٢الذي يحصد به و قال يقال هذا أمر لا يعنيني أي لا يشغلني و لا يهمني و منه الحديث من حسن إسلام المرء تركه ما لا يعنيه أي لا يهمه.

that is, what they reap of speech in which there is no good; its singular is hasida, by likening it to what is harvested of crops, and by likening the tongue and what it reaps of speech to the edge of the sickle (2) with which one harvests. And he said: it is said, this is a matter that does not concern me — that is, it does not occupy me nor matter to me. And from it is the tradition: of the goodness of a man's Islam is his leaving what does not concern him — that is, what does not matter to him.

يَا هِشَامُ لَا يَكُونُ الرَّجُلُ مُؤْمِناً حَتَّى يَكُونَ خَائِفاً رَاجِياً وَ لَا يَكُونُ خَائِفاً رَاجِياً حَتَّى يَكُونَ عَامِلًا لِمَا يَخَافُ وَ يَرْجُو يَا هِشَامُ قَالَ اللَّهُ جَلَّ وَ عَزَّ وَ عِزَّتِي وَ جَلَالِي وَ عَظَمَتِي وَ قُدْرَتِي وَ بَهَائِي وَ عُلُوِّي فِي مَكَانِي لَا يُؤْثِرُ عَبْدٌ هَوَايَ عَلَى هَوَاهُ إِلَّا جَعَلْتُ الْغِنَى فِي نَفْسِهِ وَ هَمَّهُ فِي آخِرَتِهِ وَ كَفَفْتُ عَلَيْهِ ضَيْعَتَهُ وَ ضَمَّنْتُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَ الْأَرْضَ رِزْقَهُ وَ كُنْتُ لَهُ مِنْ وَرَاءِ تِجَارَةِ كُلِّ تَاجِرٍ.

Hisham, a man is not a believer until he is fearing and hoping; and he is not fearing and hoping until he is acting for what he fears and hopes. Hisham, God, majestic and mighty, said: By My might and My majesty and My greatness and My power and My splendour and My exaltedness in My place, no servant prefers My will to his own will but that I place sufficiency in his soul and his concern in his hereafter, and secure for him his livelihood, and make the heavens and the earth guarantee his sustenance, and am for him behind the trade of every trader.

بيان: قوله تعالى في مكاني أي في منزلتي و درجة رفعتي قوله و كففت عليه ضيعته يقال كففته عنه أي صرفته و دفعته و الضيعة الضياع و الفساد و ما هو في

Elucidation: His words, exalted be He, "in My place" — that is, in My rank and the degree of My exaltedness. His words "and secure for him his livelihood": it is said kafaftuhu 'anhu — that is, I turned it away and repelled it. And al-day'a is loss and corruption, and what is