Allah's Plan For You & Me

Good manners

✦⋆· Prophet Isa (as) was asked, "Who disciplined you?" He replied, "No one disciplined me; when I saw the ugliness of ignorance, I avoided it."

✦⋆· Prophet Muhammad (saw) said, "Good manners are the beauty of the mind."

● "Honour your children and refine their manners, and your sins will be forgiven."

● "Teach your children to pray when they reach the age of seven and coerce them to perform it when they reach the age of ten. And make them sleep in separate beds."

● "A child is a master for seven years, a slave for the next seven years, and a minister for another seven years. By the age of twenty-one, you must either approve of his manners or cut him loose, for [by then] you would have fulfilled your obligation toward Allah, most High."

● Ali b. Asbat said, 'The Prophet (saw) prohibited disciplining in times of anger."

✦⋆· Imam Ali (as) said, "O Believer! This knowledge and good manners are the value of your soul so strive to learn them, for however much your knowledge and good manners increase, so will your value and worth accordingly."

● Imam Ali (as) said to Imam Hassan Mujtaba (as), "The heart of a youth resembles an empty land - it receives all that is thrown into it. This is why I have started to teach you good manners before your heart is hardened and your soul is preoccupied."

● "Good manners are the best disposition."

● "The best inheritance parents bequeath their progeny are good manners."

● "People need good manners more than gold and silver."

● "There is no personal merit more useful than good manners."

● "Spoiled is the noble descent of a man who has no good manners."

● "There is no adornment like good manners."

● "A man who teaches his own self and disciplines it deserves more reverence than a man who teaches others and disciplines them."

● "Sit with scholars to increase your knowledge, to improve your manners and to purify your soul."

● "When man's knowledge increases his manners improve and his fear of his Lord increases."

● "A man who is preoccupied with good manners has fewer vices."

● "The intellect is sharpened by good manners."

● "It suffices man in disciplining himself to not associate anyone with his Lord in his bounties and desires."

● "The best of manners is for man to stop at his limits and to not exceed his status."

● "The best of manners is that which prevents you from committing sins."

● "Self-restraint in times of desire and fear is one of the best manners."

● "You may improve the doers of good by honoring them and rehabilitate the wrongdoers by disciplining them."

● "Reprimand your brother by being kind to him and react to his wrongdoing by being generous to him."

● "A man who is not reformed through the etiquette of Allah will not be rehabilitated through his self-discipline."

● "Misfortune is a form of discipline for the wrongdoer."

✦⋆· Imam Sadiq (as) said, "My father (as) refined my manners by three [statements]. He said to me: 'O son! A man who befriends a vile person cannot escape blame, and a man who does not restrain his words will live in regret, and a man who enters suspicious places will become subject to accusations."

● "When the verse: "O you who have faith! Protect yourselves and your kin from the Fire..." was revealed, people asked Prophet (saw), "O Messenger of Allah! How do we protect ourselves and our kin?" He replied, "Do good deeds and remind your kin about them, and discipline them to obey Allah."

● A man said, "I complained to Imam Musa Kazim (as) about a son of mine. He said, "Do not beat him, but rather ignore him [i.e. Depriving him of your company], but not for too long."

✦⋆· Imam Reza (as) said, "Instruct the child to give charity with his own hand, be it a piece of bread or a handful of [food] or any other small thing, for everything - no matter how little it is - if done for the sake of Allah and with an honest intention is very great."

✦⋆· Imam Hassan Askari (as) said, "A man devoid of reason cannot have good manners."