5. Contentment and Greed
48. Wealth and greed are the roots of all evils and diseases.
49. As long as we do not hope we do not fret.
50. Disappointment goes hand in glove with avarice. 51. Greed mars justice.
52. Contentment is an invaluable treasure.
53. Contentment is a perpetual honour.
54. The contented alone live in peace.
55. Avarice diminishes one’s dignity without augument- ing one’s fortune.
56. The golden and glittering ornaments of the world. spoil understanding.
57. Money does not benefit its owner except when he parts with it.
58. Innocence is incompatible with greed.
59. Riches without (the knowledge of) God are the greatest poverty and misery.
6. Aspirations
60. A man’s worth depends upon the nobility of his aspirations.
61. Love of wealth promotes the growth of ambition and
kills virtue.
62. The highest aspiration of animals is to fill the
belly.
63. The highest aspiration of wild beasts is to tyrannise others.
64. The highest aspiration of woman is to give charm to life in this world and to create mischief in it.
65. The highest aspiration of an Imam (leader of men) is to guide the world.
66. Aspire for the next world and reformation will follow at your heels.
7. Knowledge
67. The principal aim of knowledge is the inculcation of
virtue.
68. Knowledge enlivens the soul.
69. Knowledge kills ignorance.
70. Knowledge is health and life..
71. The learned lives although he dies.
72. Who teaches me a letter binds me with a fetter (of gratitude).
73. The sum total of excellence is knowledge. 74. The learned are the living ones in the dead mass of ignorance.
75. To respect the learned is to respect God.
76. There is no generosity of spirit with bad knowledge.
77. The pursuit of knowledge is better than the pursuit of riches..
78. Knowledge is the ornament of the rich and the riches of the poor.
79. Knowledge is better than wealth, for you have to protect your wealth whereas knowledge protects you. 80. A learned conversation is the garden of Paradise.
8. Charity and Avarice
81. None is more solitary than a miser. 82. Miserliness kills friendship. 83. Generosity hides shortcomings. 84. Let a fortification of alms protect your property. 85. Charity earns applause. 86. The empty coffers of the generous are preferable to the abundant treasures of the miser. 87. The wealth of a miser is as useless as a pebble. 88. Heinous sins are atoned for by helping the poor,
the destitute and the distressed.
9. Death and Desire
89. Desire is one’s most inveterate enemy.
90. Do before you die.
91. Death mocks ambition
. 92. Frequent remembrance of death mitigates one’s base desires. 93. Those who walk on the surface of the earth shall one day be interred in it. 94. Forgetfulness of death is the rust of the heart. 95. Death is the segregation of the perishable and the
mergence into the imperishable.
96. People are asleep when alive, they are only awakened when they die.
97. To loosen the rein of one’s desires is to extend an invitation to Death. 98. Every breath of man brings him nearer to death.
10. Patience
99. Patience is the fruit of faith.
100. Patience is courage. 101. Patience, belief, justice, and Jihad (holy War) are the four (great) pillars of faith; desire, fear and piety are the offshoots of patience.
102. There are two kinds of patience: the one by the help of which we put up with adversity, which is fine and beautiful; but the other kind, by which we withstand temptation is. still better.
103. Impatience is more irksome than patience. 104. Perfection consists in three things, patience in affliction; moderation in our pursuits, and the offer of assistance to a supplicant.
11. Virtue
105. Virtue never dies. 106. Prosperity consists, not in the multiplication wealth and children, but in the enhancement virtue and patience. 107. A man’s glory from his virtue is greater than t glory of his pedigree.
108. Fall in with virtues and fall out with desires. 109. To be good to the good is virtue in its highest sense. 110. It is easier to be virtuous than to be vicious. 111. No shelter is safer than piety.
12. Courtesy and clemency
112. A man’s behaviour is the index of his mind. 113. Courtesy costs nothing but buys everything. 114. Courtesy is the best inheritance. 115. Nothing is more ornamental than courtesy. 116. Courtesy creates love. sure defence against the 117. Clemency is power and is a su vengeance of God. 118. Gentle behaviour and courtesy arouse sympathy enemies.
even in one’s
119. Clemency graces power.
13. Laughter
120. A modest smile is the best laughter. 121. Excessive laughter ruins the sobriety of an individual.
14. Jealousy
122. Jealousy devours virtue as fire devours fuel. 123. Jealousy robs a man of happiness. 124 There is no peace where there is jealousy.
15. Backbiting
125. He that lends a listening ear to reproach is one of those that deserves reproach. 126. He who bears tales to you certainly bears tales about you.
16. Mercy and Forgiveness
127. What surpreme excellence, when mercy is joined with power!
128. How mean is punishment in spite of apologies.
129. Forgiveness is the crown of greatness.
Aal-e-Qutub Aal-e-Syed Abdullah Shah Ghazi 